Applications for 2014 Industrial Fellowships invited

What does the Great Exhibition of 1851 have to do with studying for an engineering doctorate in 2014?

Well, applications for 2014 Industrial Fellowships from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 are now being invited (see AEngD news). The Fellowships are worth up to £80,000 over three years, and the most recent cohort of successful candidates included three EngD candidates.

A 2012 Fellow, Maria Felice, will be at the AEngD conference in London on 26 November as one of the shortlisted finalists in the AEngD Engineering Research Writer of the Year competition (post).

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 was established in 1850 by Queen Victoria to organise the Great Exhibition. Prince Albert was appointed President and took personal charge of the whole complex operation.

The Exhibition was an enormous success and made a substantial profit. The Commission, about to be dissolved, was enjoined by Royal Charter to remain constituted and to administer the profits for charitable purposes. The Charter charged the Commission with 'increasing the means of industrial education and extending the influence of science and art upon productive industry'.

To this end the Commission purchased 86 acres of land in South Kensington and established the unique cultural site of three great museums, the Royal Albert Hall and what have become renowned institutions of learning, including Imperial College and the Royal Colleges of Art and Music. It continues to own the freehold of, and manage, much of this estate.

When this huge undertaking was largely complete, there remained sufficient funds for the Royal Commission to set up, in 1891, an educational trust to perpetuate its aims. In spite of generous funding of many worthy enterprises right from the outset, these slender resources have been carefully husbanded over the years. Today, with capital assets of over £60m, annual charitable disbursement approaches £2m.

Giving fellowships and grants to pure research in science and engineering, applied research in industry, industrial design and other projects, the Commission supports the development of science and technology, and its profitable exploitation by British Industry. The first Industrial Fellowships were awarded in 1990