About Nuffield Ireland - Nuffield Ireland

What is Nuffield Ireland?

Nuffield Ireland’s mission is to enable Irish Agriculture, Farming and Food to be the best in the world by developing effective leaders and promoting positive change.

Nuffield Ireland is part of Nuffield International, a valuable global network which includes Nuffield organisations in 8 countries.

What we do

The Nuffield Farming Scholarship is a leadership development programme, in which scholars who demonstrate potential are given a bursary to travel, research and present a report on their chosen topic.

Nuffield Ireland Annual conference featuring panel discussions from industry experts along with presentations from returning scholars

Networking events throughout the year

Provide guidance and support to scholars past and present

Provide connections through our global network

The Nuffield Foundation and beginning of Nuffield Ireland

In 1943, Morris established the Nuffield Foundation for “the advancement of health and social well-being and the care and comfort of the aged poor”. By 1947, encouraged by Jack Maclean, Vice President of the NFU, these objectives had been widened to include agricultural advancement.

In 1978 the Trust changed its name to “The Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust” to recognise and honour its illustrious benefactor. In 1950, the Nuffield Foundation started a parallel scheme covering farmers from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Kenya, the Rhodesia’s and Tanganyika. In 1976, the Foundation asked those countries still in the scheme to fund their own awards. France joined the scheme in 1982 and Ireland joined in 1996.

Irish involvement began with an initiative by the Irish Farmers Journal, the Irish Farmers Association and the FBD Trust. From 1996 until 2011, Irish scholars travelled to the UK Annual Nuffield Conference to present their reports. By 2011, Nuffield Ireland had grown to almost 50 scholars, and the first Nuffield Ireland Annual Conference was held.

Our History

The ethos and focus of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship owes a lot to its founder, William Morris (who later became Lord Nuffield). Morris, an industrialist and philanthropist in the United Kingdom, made his fortune building bicycles and later launching Morris Motor Company. As part of his journey to learn about building cars, Morris sought out other leaders in the sector to see what they were doing. This curiosity, experiential learning, and transformative travel helped shape his success, and it is the foundation of the journey each Nuffield Scholar undertakes.

More detail on William Morris, his career and philanthropic focus, and the establishment of the Nuffield Farming Scholars program in 1947 can be found in the book ‘Nuffield, The Man’ by Caroline Nixon.

Our Governance

The Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust Ireland Limited is a company limited by guarantee. It was registered on 27th September 2006, CRO number 427190.
Registered Charity Number: 20062002

Nuffield Ireland is governed by a Board of Directors, and they can delegate some activities to sub committees.

Chairperson: Karen Brosnan

Treasurer: Mary Webb

Executive Secretary: John Tyrrell

Board of Directors

Roberta McDonald

Brian Rushe

Joe Leonard

Mary Delaney

Mark Rochford

Karen Brosnan

Mike Brady

Mary Webb

What is Nuffield International

The vision of Nuffield International is to develop people to make a difference in the world of agriculture. This work is done by developing the individuals in agriculture who will shape the future of agriculture and our local and global communities.

A non-profit organisation with a global footprint, Nuffield International encompasses our member countries of Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe. In addition, Nuffield International leads efforts to support the engagement of the program into new countries. Currently, Nuffield International is administering the development of the scholarship program in Brazil, Chile, South Africa and the United States of America – with a view to continually expand this unique opportunity to other agriculturists from all over the world.

Visit Nuffield International – https://www.nuffieldinternational.org/