The Garden Club of America/Royal Horticultural Society Interchange Fellowships

FOR RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES IN HORTICULTURE, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE,
OR A RELATED FIELD

Purpose: To foster British-American relations through the interchange of scholars in horticulture, landscape architecture, and related fields and to promote the exchange of information in the horticultural field.

History: Founded in 1948, the Interchange Fellowships are a reciprocal exchange program, sponsored by The Garden Club of America in the US and the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK. More than 100 students have participated in the Interchange Fellowship Program, and many have gone on to hold prominent positions in public garden management, horticulture, education, and landscape architecture. The opportunities available to the fellows are unique in the horticultural field, and the network of past Fellows is a lasting legacy.

Provisions:

• The RHS Interchange Fellowship provides up to 12,000 GBP for one American student to spend ten months working and studying at leading horticultural centers or historic and botanic gardens in the UK, gaining valuable exposure to British horticultural techniques and developing contacts with the wealth of experience that the RHS has established with British horticulture.
• The GCA Interchange Fellowship provides up to US$30,000 for a British recipient to attend a graduate program in horticulture, landscape architecture, or environmental studies at a US university for one academic year or for a one-year internship at Longwood Gardens in the US. Financial support for the internship is shared among Longwood Gardens, The Garden Club of America, and the Royal Horticultural Society.

Eligibility: The RHS Interchange Fellowship is open to a single, unaccompanied American college graduate who has earned a BA or BS degree. Applicants must be 26 or younger, because of the age limit on student travel vouchers in Great Britain and Europe. Selected finalists are required to attend an interview at their own expense and will be notified of the time and place.

The GCA Interchange Fellowship is open to a British university graduate with a degree in horticulture, landscape architecture, botany or environmental studies, or to a British student horticulturist with a recognized horticultural qualification.

To Apply:

• See American scholars to the UK: application and information. Applications must be received at GCA Headquarters in New York by January 15 preceding the year of study.

• See British scholars to the US: application and information. Applications are due to the RHS by October 1st preceding the year of study. 

Selection: Selection and administration is by the GCA Scholarship Committee in the United States and by a committee appointed by the Martin McLaren Trust in the United Kingdom. 

Fund: The Interchange Fellowship Fund is managed by the GCA. 

Contact: Connie Yates, Garden Club of America, 14 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022. Phone: 212-753-8287, fax: 212-753-0134, email: cyates@gcamerica.org.