The John Innes Centre has established new scholarships to honour Dr Janaki Ammal, a world-renowned botanist, cytogeneticist and global plant geographer, for post graduate research students. The centre which is in Norwich, UK is an independent centre for training and research in plant and microbial science and world working in association with University of East Anglia.
The centre formerly known as John Innes Horticultural Institution was founded in 1910 at Merton in South London under the directorship of William Bateson and moved to the current site in 1967. In 1994 the Institute was renamed the John Innes Centre.
Scholarships to overseas postgraduate research students are only eligible to nationals from developing countries such as India. Other South Asian countries on the eligibility list includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka to help enable them to study for a PhD degree at the esteemed institute. Upper Middle Income Countries are not eligible for the scholarship.
The award that amounts to £13,805 per year covers the difference between the Overseas and UK/EU lab-based postgraduate research tuition fees (estimated figure for 2017/18 academic year). Each award is tenable for a full-time three or four-year PhD degree programme of study at the John Innes Centre, subject to the satisfactory progress of the student.
The Janaki Ammal Scholarship is aimed at those students in receipt of some external funding. So, the students must be able to provide evidence of additional funding to cover their living costs ie £14,553/annum in the 2017/18 academic year.
Originally from Kerala, Dr Janaki Ammal (1897-1984) was one of the first women from India to obtain a PhD in Botany (Michigan USA 1931). She worked at the John Innes Horticultural Institution briefly in 1931 and 1935, followed by a longer period between 1940 and 1945. This led to the publication of the Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants, which she wrote jointly with the then Director, C. D. Darlington. She ultimately returned to India to continue a long and distinguished career in science.
The Magnolias that are an essential part of the charm of Battleston Hill in London’s Wisley neighbourhood, were planted during the war years by Dr Ammal, when she was working at Wisley, close to the famous Kew Gardens. There is a small flowered variety named after her: Magnolia kobus Janaki Ammal.
