RAU offers work placements to local students with learning difficulties

17 Feb 2022

Two students, who both have learning difficulties, have taken up placements at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) as part of their college course to help them get into paid work.

The pair, who are both from Cirencester, are students on South Gloucestershire and Stroud College’s (SGS) Supported Internship course and, as part of their course, they have been working with the Catering and Estates and Maintenance teams at the University’s Cirencester campus since November.

Lycetts Summer Scholarship

10 Feb 2022

**This Scholarship is now closed to applications**

The Lycetts Summer Scholarship is a ten week research project, giving you the opportunity to build a network of contacts and find out more about the world of insurance, as well as giving the chance to develop commercial research and presentations skills.

There are up to two scholarships available, exclusively to RAU students, at £2,500. To apply, you must be a current student on any course.

This year’s questions are:

Royal Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor

08 Feb 2022

Dame Fiona Reynolds, Chair of the Governing Council of the RAU, has announced the Council’s decision that Professor Peter McCaffery’s appointment as Vice-Chancellor will run until the end of August 2024.

Towards the end of this period the Council will recruit externally for the next Vice-Chancellor. 

Royal Agricultural University launches two new Ethnic Minority Excellence Scholarships

07 Feb 2022

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) has launched two new undergraduate scholarships to attract and reward the brightest applicants from the UK’s under-represented minority ethnic communities.

The awards, which are for both full and part time students, are each worth £9,000 a year for a maximum of three years.

Agricultural universities team up on research plan

27 Jan 2022

More than a dozen universities, which offer courses in agriculture and carry out agricultural research, are getting together to agree on joint agricultural research priorities, working with farmers and others who have a stake in the industry’s future.

With farming in the UK currently going through a rapid transition, the initiative responds to calls for more joined-up research and to ensure public investment in agricultural innovation makes a difference on the ground.

Dame Fiona Reynolds to chair the Governing Council at the Royal Agricultural University

05 Jan 2022

Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE, former Director-General of the National Trust and, most recently, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, has been appointed as the Chair of the Governing Council of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU).

Fiona, whose family home is close to the RAU’s Cirencester campus, has served as Vice-Chair of the RAU’s Governing Council since March 2021 and this month (January 2022) she takes over from the previous Chair Professor Jonathan Kydd whose term as a Governor has concluded after eight years.

Contacting the RAU over Christmas

23 Dec 2021

The University will be closed from 24 December 2020 to 4 January 2021 for the Christmas break

However, if you have an emergency, our contact number during the holiday period is 01285 889834 / 07960031821.


Enquiries relating to Covid-19 can be raised by emailing Covid19@rau.ac.uk. Please note a response may take up to 72 hours during this period. 


The RAU wishes you a safe and happy Christmas.

New generation of on-farm experiments can transform agriculture

23 Dec 2021

Research carried out with farmers in the driving seat is crucial to finding practical answers to the urgent problems facing agriculture, such as climate change, according to an international team of researchers including the Royal Agricultural University’s Professor Tom MacMillan.

A new study, which reports on experiments involving more than 30,000 farms across eight countries, was carried out by an international team including Professor MacMillan and UK colleagues at the University of Gloucestershire and the independent agricultural consultants ADAS.

Improving the safety and quality of our global agri-food supply chains

14 Dec 2021

A new book, edited by the Royal Agricultural University’s Professor Louise Manning, has highlighted how malicious contamination of food at vulnerable points in agri-food supply chains is a global issue and a major threat to consumer health.

Developing smart agri-food supply chains: Using technology to improve safety and quality features contributions from more than 20 internationally established researchers in the field of food safety and quality, and is an authoritative reference on current methods and protocols used to assess product i

Four RAU agriculture students awarded Sustainable Agriculture Bursary

02 Dec 2021

Four RAU agriculture students have been chosen as recipients of this year’s Jordans Cereals and The Prince’s Countryside Fund Sustainable Agriculture Bursary.

The students - Phoebe Collins, Alexandra Godfrey, Jen Hawkes, and Alex Young - will all receive a £3,000 cash award in their first year as well as a further £1,000, from the RAU, in both their second and third years of study.