Six new fellowships per year will be available from 2004 to UCT master's and doctoral students in the commerce, engineering, humanities, law and science faculties. This prestigious new programme is planned to run for five years and should support a total of 14 fellowships.

The David and Elaine Potter Fellowships will be awarded to candidates who aim to further civil society in South Africa and who plan to use their degrees to contribute to the country's economic and social development.

The fellowships will also be conferred on the basis of academic excellence and financial need.

The tenure of the awards is three years for doctoral degrees and two years for master's degrees. Successful candidates will be expected to complete their degrees in the requisite time.

Applicants will be asked to submit a 3 000 word essay on their intended role in civil society. PhD applicants should also submit an approved research proposal.

Candidates should be prepared to participate in one or more seminar programmes each year, related to their line of study. They are also expected to engage in community-based projects.

Dr David Potter's grandfather was Professor Alfred Snape, who as head of department made a distinguished contribution to UCT's engineering faculty. Potter spent one year at UCT before wining a Beit Scholarship to read natural sciences at Trinity College. He has a doctorate in mathematical physics from Imperial College. Potter is the founder of Psion, which in 1984 created the first high volume, hand-held computers. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The entrepreneur is a member of the United Kingdom government's Council for Scirence and Technology, is a non-executive Director of the Court of the Bank of England and in South Africa he is on President Thabo Mbeki's Science and Technology Advisory Committee. Dr Elaine Potter, a Wits graduate with a DPhil in politics from Oxford, was a journalist on the London Sunday Times for 13 years and has co-authored two Sunday Times books.

Applications for the fellowships should be submitted to: The Director, Postgraduate Funding Office by September 12, 2003. Enquiries should be directed to gradcentre@uct.ac.za.

---

---