Each year the Warwick Retired Staff Association makes bursary awards to students who have submitted proposals for projects they would like to be funded. This year the Committee made three awards which were presented in University House on Wednesday 30th November. The following summaries of each award were written by a member of the Bursary Sub-Committee.

19 applications were received this year for the total of £1000 available. This sum was divided up as follows, each item being a contribution to the expenses of the project.

£500 to Carrie Hurst (3rd year MB ChB student) to document photographically for exhibition her experiences in observing clinical practices in two very different healthcare settings in Borneo (city and rainforest village). Carrie is a trained and prizewinning photographer and has been involved with WAMS, a group that organises school visits and workshops in the locality as part of a widening access programme. The bursary will help meet the expenses of organising her exhibition of photographs on her return from Borneo.

£250 to David James Coates (2nd year part-time PhD student, School of Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies) to bring the intriguing histories of private theatricals back to life, with particular reference to Chatsworth House which has a documented record of the presentation of such performances including the retention of original scenery .The theatricals will be staged professionally before a paying audience and has the support of the Head Curator of the National Trust. The events will receive wide publicity and will offer the opportunity for an increased involvement of the University Department with the National Trust.

£250 to Miranda Mylne and Thomas de Burgh (Warwick Medical School) to document photographically, and thus create, an up-to-date picture of nomadic life in the Middle East ('Empty Quarter' of Oman) at a time when such a culture is under many pressures. The foci of study will be the nomad economy, health systems and traditions, subsistence and social organisation. Miranda has gained degrees in Art and Design, and Pharmacology before coming to Warwick, and has exhibited in photographic competitions; she was raised in Oman. Tom also has photographic experience and he is currently an officer in RAMC as well as being a graduate medical student at Warwick. They plan a photographic exhibition and to write an article for National Geographic Magazine.