Leakey Foundation Francis H Brown African Scholarship

Funding to support research into human origins in East Africa by expanding knowledge and capacity in earth sciences and botany.

Formed in 1968 to support the work of Dr Louis Leakey, the Leakey Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in San Francisco, United States. It is dedicated to increasing scientific knowledge, education and public understanding of human origins, evolution, behaviour and survival.

The Foundation’s Francis H Brown African Scholarship funds East African researchers and students pursuing research to expand human knowledge and scientific interest in earth sciences and botany related to human origins. The scholarship is named after Dr Francis H Brown (1943-2017) whose study of the Omo-Turkana basin provided the basis for the timeline of human evolution. He devoted more than 50 years to mapping and analysing the geology of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, and he was co-chair of the Leakey Foundation’s Scientific Executive Committee from 1993 until his death.

A further aim of the scheme is to build capacity in the earth and botanical sciences in East African institutions and countries, which builds on the work of Dr Brown.