Your web browser is out of date. Update your browser for more security, speed and the best experience on this site.
Find out more
We use cookies and similar technologies to optimise your experience when using this site, to help us understand site usage, and to tailor our advertising on third party sites. Read about Cookies and view our Privacy Policy at the bottom of each page on our website at any time.

TPA/RPS Environmental Bursary

The Royal Photographic Society in partnership with The Photographic Angle is offering a 1-year bursary to support a photographic project that will promote environmental awareness.  Applications are invited from anyone living or studying in the United Kingdom with a talent for taking photographs and an interest in the environmental concerns that we face today.

The bursary will provide £3000 to assist with travel expenses, photographic equipment and other project-related costs. We are looking for a creative interpretation of the subject as well as documentary and editorial photography. In addition to the funding you will also have your portfolio printed by Metro Imaging and a portfolio review with their Creative Director Prof Steve Macleod.

ENTRIES NOW OPEN FOR 2023: bursaries.rps.org

Closes 29 May 2023

To see further information please click here

Past recipients

Joanna Vestey Profile

Joanna Vestey, 2021/22 Recipient

About Joanna's bursary-funded project:

"Foodtopia looks at the utopian future of our food. In this series of photographs I explore what it might look like to provide healthy, sustainable food for everyone without harming the environment while simultaneously contributing to the health of the planet.

“How can farming help to address climate change and protect biodiversity while continuing to feed an expanding population?” was a question posed at a recent UBS European Conference. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation, by 2050, farmers will need to increase food production by 60% in order to feed nearly 10 billion people. A challenge made harder by degraded soils, and the rise in increasingly extreme weather events caused by climate change.

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain said; “We are entering a decade in which we must achieve a radically different way of organising ourselves and organising the food system: one that restores nature, averts catastrophic climate change and ensures that everyone can live and eat well.” For this work I photograph those leading the way and pioneering emergent solutions across the UK, solutions such as urban farming, vertical farming, hydroponics, regenerative agriculture, re-wilding and cellular agriculture to name just a few."

Ngadi Smart
CREDIT: Ngadi Smart

Recipient 20/21

We are delighted to announce this year's bursary winner is Ngadi Smart.

Ngadi Smart is a Sierra Leonean photographer based in London, who focuses on documenting cultures, subcultures and intimacy. 

Ngadi's website
Cathy Hyland
CREDIT: Cathy Hyland

Recipient 2019/20

The Environmental bursary will enable Catherine Hyland to travel to the Himalayas in order to make a new photographic series and a short film about the water crisis there and how an ingenious idea to build artificial glaciers at lower altitudes using pipes, gravity and night temperatures could transform an arid landscape into an oasis. 

 

 

Click to see more of Cathy's work
Harry B
CREDIT: Harry Borden

Over 30s Recipient 2018

Harry Borden was the over-30 bursary recipient. Harry collaborated with the writer Mireille Thornton, to produce Four Hugs Wide and Into the Trees.  The work explores our relationship with the arboreal through stories of people who love, live and work with trees and woodland across Great Britain. The project considers a world where people acknowledge our species as part of a larger ecosystem and live their lives accordingly.

Marcus Doyle
CREDIT: Marcus Doyle

Ready to apply?

Apply for a bursary