Celebrating academic excellence

Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning celebrated its student community’s academic achievements, and continued high-performance, in an awards presentation on Tuesday 5 December 2017.

The presentation is held annually to celebrate and recognise the hard work and commitment of students. It brings together top performing undergraduate students (who have achieved the highest average marks in their first and second years) and postgraduate students who have received bursaries or scholarships.

This year, in addition to recognising the top 10 undergraduate performers, the School has added five awards for improved undergraduate performance. These awards are for students who have made significant progress between their first and second years.

Head of School, Professor Paul Milbourne explained: “We have added these new awards to recognise those students who, through hard work, commitment and perseverance, have improved their academic performance.

He added: “I am immensely proud of all our students’ achievements. They are curious, motivated, and eager to embrace academic challenges to grow their knowledge, understanding and experience. I feel confident that they will, after graduation, effect positive change in society, helping to transform people, places and environments around the world.”

Alongside the undergraduate prizes, the event also provides an opportunity to recognise current postgraduate scholarship holders and bursary beneficiaries. They include:

• Six Cardiff University Master’s Excellence Scholarship recipients;
• Two Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) bursary recipients;
• One Rees Jeffreys bursary recipient;
• One Brian Large bursary recipient.

The RTPI bursary recipients (Matthew Hewitt and Rachel Jones) received their certificate and prizes from Dr Roisin Willmott, Director of Wales and Northern Ireland RTPI.

The School also welcomed Duncan Chadwick, Partner at David Lock Associates, who presented a special prize for Best Live Project to a team from the MSc Spatial Planning and Development.

Rhys Richards, an MSc Transport and Planning student, who received the Rees Jeffreys bursary said: “This award has provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity to undertake postgraduate study at one of the country’s best universities. I feel very privileged and fortunate to have received it, especially considering that it has only been presented a handful of times in the past.

“My decision to pursue a master’s degree at Cardiff University is one of the best I’ve made to date, and one which I am confident will benefit me greatly – both professionally and personally. I cannot recommend postgraduate study at the School, and the University, more highly. It offers the opportunity to hone and develop the skills you acquired at undergraduate level while providing new motivation and confidence to achieve your future ambitions.”

All undergraduate prize winners (rewarded for achievements in the 2016/17 academic session) received Amazon vouchers and a certificate of recognition.