The Hannah Trust Fund
The
land on which the Hannah Research Institute was built was
transferred to the Institute under an arrangement with
John M Hannah, the West of Scotland Agricultural College
and the Institute, detailed in a Minute of Agreement
drawn up in 1930. Under this Agreement, the two
beneficiaries had to use the gift to further agricultural
education, in the case of the College, and agricultural
research, in the case of the Institute, in the West of
Scotland.
The terms of the Agreement allowed the land to be sold at
a future date provided any proceeds therefrom were used
for the original purpose of the gift. Following the
withdrawal of government funding for the Institute’s
research programme in 2006 and the transfer of its
scientists to the university sector, the Institute’s
governing body decided that John Hannah’s original
objective could best be achieved by the development and
sale of part of this land, the proceeds from which will
create a Trust Fund to enable agricultural research to
continue, albeit elsewhere.
It is envisaged that the Fund will be used for
agricultural research studentships in the short-term with
the additional long-term aim of providing one or two
annual research grants.