A new scholarship for post graduate civil engineering students has been launched in Northern Ireland.

The £3,000 a year William Bald scholarships will open for students attending Queen’s University of Belfast and the University of Ulster, and will be awarded for a dissertation in the field of highways and transportation, as part of a post graduate course in civil engineering.

Preference will be given to projects focusing on improved transport links, or that reduce the impact of severance between communities.

William Bald was the civil engineer who, amongst other things, built the Antrim Coast Road.

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The scholarships will be funded jointly by the Department for Regional Development's (DRD) Roads Service and Highway Management Construction (HMC), who will each contribute £1,500 per year per scholarship to support both William Bald Scholarships for a period of five years.

Roads Minister Conor Murphy said: "These two scholarships will help young local budding civil engineers of the future who will hopefully excel in the field of engineering and transportation.

"It is important that we help and encourage our young people in society to mature and develop, so they can play a full and meaningful role in improving our society."

Mr Murphy said the scholarships would his complement own Ministerial Bursaries that were presented to ten undergraduates at an awards ceremony in Clarence Court in September.

The first engineering scholarship will be awarded for the 2009/10 academic year and the winners will be required to share their knowledge with the sponsoring organisation.

(PR)