Bangor University student Richard Belcher was delighted to receive a special award at his graduation ceremony on 18 July where he was named the Institute of Chartered Foresters’ Best Student on the University’s Forestry degree course.
Richard’s challenging final year dissertation looked at the “Spatial correlation between environmental/climatic variables with Net Ecosystem Production and Net Primary Production (biomass production) whilst statistically taking into account variance likely caused by individual variables (multiple regression).”
Presenting the award on behalf of the Institute, Ed Clark MICFor, Assistant Manager at UPM Tilhill, said:
“The Institute of Chartered Foresters is committed to maintaining excellence in forestry and arboriculture, and the ‘Best Student’ award is an essential part of this commitment. We are proud to support young men and women as they embark on their careers as tree professionals, and it gives me great pleasure to present this award to Richard, who has proven to be an outstanding student in his field.”
After the presentation, Richard said:
“To be given the ICF award for best student is a privilege and it is satisfying to know that all my hard work this year has paid off. The Forestry course at Bangor University gave me specific training in the field but also covered skills needed for a wide array of environmental careers. This broad information base has inspired me to pursue further academic study in the field of environmental policy.”
Richard initially worked as a self-employed Gardener. He subsequently gained the National Certificate in Forestry and Arboriculture from Capel Manor College before enrolling at Bangor University on its BSc Forestry course. Richard’s future plans are to gain work experience in environmental policy whilst saving enough money to complete an environmental policy masters starting September 2013.
Photo: Richard (right) pictured receiving his certificate from Ed Clark
