Tauranga man secures $300,000 scholarship

Tauranga man Jonathan Barnard, 22, with Sir Noel Robinson, Chairman of the Woolf Fisher Trust which awarded Jonathan the Woolf Fisher Scholarship to attend Cambridge University. Photo/supplied

An Aquinas College student and university graduate has been awarded a scholarship valued at $300,000.

Jonathan Barnard, 22, from Tauranga has landed himself a Woolf Fisher Scholarship to study a doctorate at Cambridge University in 2017.

The "life-changing" scholarship would enable Mr Barnard to study his PhD in Chemical Engineering, investigating the dynamics and reactivity of underwater methane plumes from deep sea methane hydrate deposits.

The investigation would help towards solving global warming and the energy crisis.

The scholarship would pay for study and living costs, estimated to have a value of $300,000 making it one of the most generous scholarships available to New Zealand students.

The scholarships were awarded to young New Zealand graduates who had the potential to become future leaders in their field.

Mr Barnard has a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours from Massey University.

For 2017 four students had been selected.

The Chairman of the Woolf Fisher Trust, Sir Noel Robinson, said that four of the seven short listed were of such a high and equal standard that the Panel had agreed to offer a scholarship to all four.

Woolf Fisher Scholarship
Sir Woolf Fisher (1912-1975), co-founder of Fisher and Paykel, set up his Trust in 1960 to recognise and reward excellence in education. The Scholarship selects young New Zealanders based on their outstanding academic ability, leadership potential as well as their integrity, vision and capacity for work.