Fermor Fund anniversary
Early in 1991 the Society received a significant bequest from Lady Frances Mary Fermor to establish the Fermor Fund as a memorial to her late husband, Sir Lewis Leigh Fermor KT OBE FRS (1880- 1954), for the “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 Precambrian rocks, including extraterrestrial occurrences.”
To commemorate the Fund’s 20th anniversary the Society invited bids for small research grants, travel awards to support attendance at a major conference in the UK or overseas and funds for research workshops designed to promote networking. Bids were also invited for 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.
A committee, chaired by Professor Philip Allen, and including Professor David Vaughan (Manchester) and Dr Richard Herrington (NHM), met in September to review 12 applications. Seven awards were made, details of which can be found online. The winner of the Fermor Prize, Ross Anderson of Harvard University, also won a research grant that enabled him to attend the 2012 Fermor Meeting.