Awards

The AVTRW Acorn Award

The AVTRW committee are pleased to announce the launch of the AVTRW Acorn Award to support undergraduate research projects relating to veterinary medicine and teaching.

The award is open to undergraduate students studying at UK or Irish universities. Awards of up to £1,500 are available to support undergraduate research projects that have a veterinary application (applicants do not need to be studying veterinary medicine).

This year one of the available awards is designated for equine research projects and has been kindly sponsored by the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB). A further award is designated for animal welfare research projects and has been kindly sponsored by Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW).

Scroll down for further details and to read about previous winners.

Applications for the 2026 Acorn Awards are now closed. Thank you to everyone who has submtted this year, applicants will be notified of the outcome by 1st March 2026.
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Previous award winners

2025 Acorn Award Winner

Probiotic effect on Cryptosporidia in dairy calves

The aim was to establish if the pro-active supplementation of a probiotic reduced both the incidence and severity of Cryptosporidia, which is the leading cause of diarrhoea and neonatal mortality in calves.
Read Philippa's story →
2025 Acorn Award Winner

The effect of clinical treatments to disrupt and kill in-vitro equine reproductive biofilm-forming pathogens

The aim of this project was to determine the best treatment for equine endometritis and to identify the bacteria present in clinical cases.
Read Áine's story →
2025 Acorn Award Winner

Exploring Vaccine Uptake in UK Veterinary-Attended Horses Using Electronic Health Records

Highlighting the effectiveness of the Equine Veterinary Surveillance Network (EVSNET) in monitoring vaccination coverage and identifying adverse events during 2023 and 2024.
Read Lucy's story →
2024 Acorn Award Winner

Alpaca Anatomy: Foetal Circulatory and GI System Dissection

Focusing on foetal anatomy with a comparison of Alpaca to existing species via dissection and information in the literature.  
Read Matilda's story →
2024 Acorn Award Winner

Clinicians’ Views on a New Core Syllabus of Veterinary Anatomy

Evaluating the clinical relevance of a newly proposed veterinary anatomy syllabus by gathering views from first-opinion clinicians
Read Linyan's story →
2023 Acorn Award Winner

Canine mitral valve disease research

Understanding how extracellular vesicles contribute to the progression of canine mitral valve disease
Read Rowan's story →
2023 Acorn Award Winner

3D co-culture angiogenesis assay

The development of a 3D co-culture angiogenesis assay using equine cells’, aimed to optimise assay protocols for use with equine ECs
Read Andrea's story →
2022 Acorn Award Winner

Retrospective multicentric study

Research into the prevalence of meningoencephalitis of unknown origin (MUO) in the UK canine population
Read Yeonsoo's story →
2022 Acorn Award Winner

3D intranasal modelling

The development of a 3D printed calf head model to assess dispersal of intranasal vaccine application
Read Macy's story →
View all posts
Award details

AVTRW Acorn Award

Following on from the success of our AVTRW Diamond Jubilee award launched to celebrate our 75th anniversary, we are pleased to announce we are continuing to support undergraduate research with the renamed, annual AVTRW Acorn Award.

Who can apply for the AVTRW Acorn Award?
The AVTRW Acorn Award is open to undergraduates studying veterinary medicine or animal-related science degrees. We will accept applications from students in any year of their course, who will not have graduated by the time their project starts. Applicants must be affiliated with a UK or Irish university or college and be a student member of AVTRW - details can be found on our membership page.
What is the scope of the research project?
We are looking for projects that will be of interest to the veterinary profession, including veterinary education, which are based on sound scientific principles. The awards are for supervised, extra or intra-curricular projects.

This year we particularly welcome submissions in support of equine-related research projects for our equine focused award kindly sponsored by the HBLB.
Award details
  • Up to £1,500 is available for projects completed during the allocated academic year. Start and end dates, along with timings of the project should be clearly stated in the application form.
  • The student must be supervised by a staff member at the institution where they are studying, who has relevant research experience. The supervisor is responsible for supporting the student at all stages of the project.
  • Awards are subject to ethical review by the host institution, evidence of which must be provided to AVTRW.
  • Acceptance of an award carries an obligation to present an oral abstract at the AVTRW conference in September 2026, to be held at the Royal Veterinary College, London. The AVTRW will provide free registration to the conference and a ticket to the conference social evening for the presenting student. Additional funding for conference expenses (travel, accommodation etc.) cannot be provided by the AVTRW but can form part of the award application
  • Funding applications for anything that supports the student's research experience will be considered including applications for a stipend (based on the national minimum wage as of April 2026) to support extra-curricular projects.
Applications are now closed