Fourteen projects were awarded funding by the Trustees of the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund in 2008. For group projects, the lead applicant only is listed:

• Sarah Batson: Scaling new heights: rock climbing in Thailand
• Fiona Cox: Feather-Headed Operations Presents You're a Good Man Charlie Brown: an Edinburgh Fringe Event
• Felix Faltin: The impact of Fairtrade programmes on coffee farmers in Peru: a short film experience
• Timothy Franklin: The Warwick Sketch Group - taking an original sketch show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival*
• Samuel Gayton: Clockheart Boy and the Beautiful Search
• Abigail Hunt: Gender and Human Rights - the Case of Mexico*
• Laura Kutnick: A Cultural Study of Death Penalty Discourse in Texas
• Svend Larsen: Discovering talent within the townships of Johannesburg, South Africa
• Elettra Legovini: Detained asylum seekers: insights on the norms and the practices within the walls of detention centres
• Benjamin Lim (Beng Tiong): An Alaskan Dog-Mushing Photographic Adventure
• Hien Nguyen Chi: Why are the traditional handicrafts villages disappearing in Vietnam?
• Merle Stein: Volunteering in educational, community aid and health programmes in Nepal
• Vicky Tuke: Japanese women as deru kugi: Why is the birth rate in Japan continuing to fall?

*These reports received additional awards of £200 - £500 for being of outstanding calibre, at the discretion of the Committee.