The South African Association of Botanists (SAAB) is the professional society for plant scientists in South Africa. It runs an annual conference, publishes the South African Journal of Botany and, every year, gives a handful of scholarships to strong students starting postgraduate work in botany. The awards are few and modest, but SAAB has made them every year since at least 2010, and the names of past winners are on its site.
Two awards: Honours and MSc
- Honours scholarship: three awards of R12 000 each for one year of Honours, or a fourth year of study, in any botany-related science.
- MSc scholarship: up to three awards of R50 000 each, paid as R25 000 in the first year and another R25 000 in the second year if the student makes satisfactory progress.
These are the 2026 values on SAAB’s bursaries page. SAAB’s council gave three Honours and three MSc scholarships in each year from 2023 to 2026.
The 70% bar and the membership link
SAAB awards its scholarships competitively to graduates from SADC countries, not only to South Africans. To be considered you need:
- a grade average of 70% or higher (for the MSc award, a BSc Honours passed with at least 70%);
- registration at a South African university or other tertiary institution;
- SAAB membership, or an application to join;
- a supervisor who is a paid-up member of SAAB.
The supervisor rule matters most. If your supervisor doesn’t belong to SAAB, you can’t win the award however good your marks are. Student membership costs R140 a year, and you can apply through the form on SAAB’s membership page. Members also get access to SAABnet, the association’s email group, which SAAB uses to send out bursary and job adverts.
No closing date on SAAB’s site
SAAB’s bursaries page does not publish an application form, a document list or a closing date, and SAAB has not announced its next round. Since SAAB circulates bursary notices on SAABnet, joining early helps. Ask your supervisor about the award, and write to the SAAB secretary at SAABsecretary@gmail.com for the current form and deadline.
Pairing SAAB money with larger grants
R12 000 or R25 000 a year won’t cover a postgraduate year on its own, so plan to combine it with a main grant. The NRF Honours funding is the usual starting point, and our postgraduate bursaries list shows more. Students in applied horticulture rather than research botany should also look at the Hortgro bursary.
Conference prizes for SAAB student members
Students who present at SAAB’s annual conference can also win small cash prizes, such as R500 for the best Honours talk, R750 for the best MSc talk and R1 000 for the best young scientist under 30. Students who register for the conference automatically become SAAB members for that year.