Fermor Fund
In early 1991 the Society received a significant bequest under the terms of the will of Lady Frances Mary Fermor who died in November 1990. The Fermor Fund was established as a memorial to the life and work of her late husband, Sir Lewis Leigh Fermor KT OBE FRS (born 1880, died 1954), formerly Director of the Geological Survey of India and a Fellow of the Geological Society who was awarded the Bigsby Medal in 1921. The terms of the bequest were to support “furtherance of research into those branches of geology that deal with the study of the principles governing ore deposition the occurrence of minerals and of mineral bearing rocks and fundamental research into the origins of pre-cambrian rocks including extra terrestrial occurrences.”
The first award made under the terms of the Fermor Fund was in 1992. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of that event the Society invited bids against the following headings:
-
small research grants, travel awards to support attendance at a major conference in the UK or overseas; funds for research workshops designed to promote networking.
- a Fermor Prize to be awarded to the best, second and third undergraduate independent projects
on the basis of nomination by the student’s supervisor.
2012 awards
A committee, the membership of which was Professor Philip Allen (chair), Professor David Vaughan and Dr Richard Herrington, met in September 2012 to review the twelve applications. The standard was high and the committee had to make difficult decisions but the Society is pleased to announce that seven awards were made:
| Applicant |
Affiliation |
Purpose of grant |
Title of programme |
Amount (£) |
| Sally Anne Gibson |
University of Cambridge |
Travel for conference |
On the nature and origin of highly-refractory Archean lithosphere |
£1830 |
| Christopher Clark |
Curtin University, Australia |
Research workshops |
Participation of 12 Indian students in Field Workshop on the Precambrian Granulites of India |
£3420 |
| Thomas Michael Gernon |
University of Southampton |
Small research grant |
An impact origin for the diamondiferous Majhgawan lamproite, India? |
£5000 |
| Naveen Hakhoo |
University of Jammu, India |
Small research grant |
Rhenium-Osmium (RE-Os) Geochronology of the Sirban Formation, Jammu, India |
£3500 |
| Ross Peter Anderson |
Harvard University, USA |
Travel for conference |
On the Origin of Micaceous Spherules from the Neoproterozoic Bonahaven Formation, Islay, Scotland |
£1000 |
| Daniel Paul Le Heron |
Royal Holloway, University of London |
Small research grant |
The size of Cryogenian (~715 Ma) ice sheets: unravelling aspects of the sedimentology and micro-structure of glaciogenic deposits of California and Utah |
£5000 |
| Robert John Pankhurst |
Retired |
Small research grant |
Dating of the oldest granites in Northern Patagonia |
£4360
|
The Fermor Prize of £1,000 was awarded to Ross Anderson. The title of his project was On the Origin of Micaceous Spherules from the Neoproterozoic Bonahaven Formation. Congratulations to all, and thanks to the committee.