Brian Large Bursary Fund

The Fund awards bursaries to UK residents studying full time for a transport Masters at a UK university.

 

The purpose of a Brian Large bursary is to enable students who have insufficient other funds to study full time without the need to take paid employment during normal university study hours, to undertake their selected course. The award of a Brian Large Bursary should be central to their ability to study full time for a transport Masters. 

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For the academic year 2023/24, three bursaries worth £9,250 were paid in three instalments over the year.

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While no minimum level of first degree is required, the Trustees expect young graduates to have a 2.1.  However, they are willing to relax that requirement for outstanding mature students.

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Since the aim of the Brian Large Bursary Fund is to enrich the supply of transport planning professionals within the United Kingdom, candidates are required to have long term UK residential rights and intentions.  They are also required to demonstrate a commitment to a career in transport.

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Applications, which must be from students who have been accepted by their chosen university for a full time transport Masters, are submitted to the Fund by the university, using forms provided by the Fund. The application must include a recommendation by the university, drawing on a personal interview.

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The Fund does not accept applications made directly by any prospective Masters student.  Neither does it enter into correspondence with prospective candidates.

The Trust established the annual Voorhees-Large Prize in 2009 for the best transport Masters dissertation submitted by a UK resident studying at a UK university and is currently worth £1,000.  The Prize celebrates the memories of both Al Voorhees and Brian Large. 

 

Al was one of the fathers of transport modelling and planning and founder of Alan M Voorhees and Associates, a Washington DC based consultancy which established a UK company in 1968 and which Brian joined in 1974.  After serving in the second World War as a US Navy SEAL, Al won the 1955 Institution of Traffic Engineers Past Presidents' Award for his paper  ‘A General Theory of Traffic Movement’.  He went on to be President of the American Institute of Planners and Chairman of the Transportation Research Board.  He died in 2005.

 

Each year, every UK university providing a transport Masters course is invited to select the best dissertation submitted by a UK resident student during the twelve months to the end of November.  The Trustees do not consider dissertations submitted directly by students.

 

Universities can only submit one dissertation, which has to be received by the Trustees, together with a completed set of documents they provide to the universities, by the closing date in mid-December set by the Trustees each year.