For a Fairer & More Sustainable World.

Creating opportunities for talented young people to start careers in the Highlands and Islands that support our low carbon future

Our internship programme 2024

The purpose of our internship programme is to provide opportunities for young people (under the age of 25) to gain knowledge, expertise and confidence, ultimately helping them to move towards employment in a field that contributes towards a more sustainable, low carbon and equal society.

This could involve activities in topics such as local food production, energy demand reduction & sustainable energy development, sustainable transport, localisation, community-based ownership and enterprise, reducing consumption and waste, sustainable land and forest management, marine protection and conservation and relevant media.

Interns will be hosted by organisations in the Highlands and Islands which are active in these areas of work. Selection, employment and management of an intern will be the responsibility of the host organisation. Initiation of the internship could come from the host organisation, or the young person who might approach a potential host to apply on their behalf.

The Pebble Trust will offer grants of up to £10,000 for each internship and up to 100% of the internship costs. Internships must last at least 12 weeks and hosts must pay interns no less than the national living wage.

The application should clearly set out what the intern would do (i.e a clear project or structured engagement in a range of work) & how it would benefit the intern and the organisation.

The budget can be used to assist with costs additional to wages such as travel, accommodation and project costs.

Three internships will be available over the summer of 2024. A report on the activities of the intern (by the organisation) and a personal report by the intern will be required within a month of the internship end date.

Who Can Apply?
  • We accept applications from charities, community groups, businesses or individuals provided they can demonstrate that the proposed internship meets our charitable objectives and will benefit the wider community.
  • Applications should be submitted by the host organisation although individuals may approach an organisation to apply on their behalf.
  • Host organisations may only submit one internship application per year.
Which Geographic Areas Can We Support?
  • We prioritise internships in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, specifically Argyll and the Islands, Caithness and Sutherland, Inner Moray Firth, Badenoch & Strathspey, Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross, Moray, Orkney, the Outer Hebrides and Shetland
  • We will also consider internships from organisations based outside these areas wishing to host projects that have a strategic Scotland-wide impact.
When Should You Apply?

Internships are offered once a year.  Applications for the current programme must be received by 10th May 2024.  We aim to let you know the outcome as soon as possible. We may contact you to seek clarification or further information.

What Don’t We Fund?

We are unable to support:

  • Staff or interns who are already employed by the host organisation
  • Work that has already taken place

Email your completed application form to us by 10th May 2024.

We recognise that digital literacy, access and internet connectivity are not universal. If completing an online written application presents a barrier, please contact us

Please check our Application tips and FAQs before completing and submitting your application.

Applications will be judged against the following criteria:
  • Capacity of the host to develop the intern and the internship
  • Contributions to a more sustainable, low carbon and equal society
  • Scope to continue or expand beyond the successful internship project

Is your project eligible for funding?

Your application

  • Consider how to define your project. If your project is part of a bigger programme of work then please tell us how your project fits into that in the project description box
  • Include all the works that will be required to achieve the outcomes that you identify
  • Ensure that the project description, costs, anticipated outcomes and completion date are all consistent
  • Your expected outcomes should be ‘SMART’:
    • Specific – Make your outcomes clear and succinct
    • Measurable – Whatever your expected outcomes are, make sure they are quantified
    • Attainable – Be aspirational but realistic
    • Relevant – Do the outcomes support your project aims?
    • Timely – Set a specific timeframe in which to achieve your outcomes
  • Keep to the maximum word count unless the extra information is essential to your application

What are the grant conditions?

The following conditions will apply to all grants:

  • Must be consistent with the Trust’s charitable objectives
  • The Trust will normally pay grants in advance of expenditure being incurred. For grants paid in instalments, payments after the initial instalment will only be made on receipt of a statement of expenditure to date and a brief progress report
  • Applicants must agree that any assets required with grant finance will be used exclusively to advance the Pebble Trust’s objectives. In the event the grant recipient is no longer in a position to do this, the Trust will retain the right to recover the assets
  • Applicants must be prepared to demonstrate best value if required
  • A final report will be required, together with an account of all expenditure
Our internship programme 2024

The purpose of our internship programme is to provide opportunities for young people (under the age of 25) to gain knowledge, expertise and confidence, ultimately helping them to move towards employment in a field that contributes towards a more sustainable, low carbon and equal society.

This could involve activities in topics such as local food production, energy demand reduction & sustainable energy development, sustainable transport, localisation, community-based ownership and enterprise, reducing consumption and waste, sustainable land and forest management, marine protection and conservation and relevant media.

Interns will be hosted by organisations in the Highlands and Islands which are active in these areas of work. Selection, employment and management of an internship will be the responsibility of the host organisation. Initiation of the internship could come from the host organisation, or the young person who might approach a potential host to apply on their behalf.

The Pebble Trust will offer grants of up to £10,000 for each internship and up to 100% of the internship costs. Internships must last at least 12 weeks and hosts must pay interns no less than the national living wage.

The application should clearly set out what the intern would do (i.e a clear project or structured engagement in a range of work) & how it would benefit the intern and the organisation.

The budget can be used to assist with costs additional to wages such as travel, accommodation and project costs.

Three internships will be available over the summer of 2024. A report on the activities of the intern (by the organisation) and a personal report by the intern will be required within a month of the internship end date.

Who Can Apply?
  • We accept applications from charities, community groups, businesses or individuals provided they can demonstrate that the proposed internship meets our charitable objectives and will benefit the wider community.
  • Applications should be submitted by the host organisation although individuals may approach an organisation to apply on their behalf.
  • Host organisations may only submit one internship application per year.
Which Geographic Areas Can We Support?
  • We prioritise internships in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, specifically Argyll and the Islands, Caithness and Sutherland, Inner Moray Firth, Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross, Moray, Orkney, the Outer Hebrides and Shetland
  • We will also consider internships from organisations based outside these areas wishing to host projects that have a strategic Scotland-wide impact.
When Should You Apply?

Internships are offered once a year.  Applications for the current programme must be received by 10th May 2024.  We aim to let you know the outcome as soon as possible. We may contact you to seek clarification or further information.

What Don’t We Fund?

We are unable to support:

  • Staff or interns who are already employed by the host organisation
  • Work that has already taken place

Email your completed application form to us by 10th May 2024.

We recognise that digital literacy, access and internet connectivity are not universal. If completing an online written application presents a barrier, please contact us

Please check our Application tips and FAQs before completing and submitting your application.

Applications will be judged against the following criteria:
  • Capacity of the host to develop the intern and the internship
  • Contributions to a more sustainable, low carbon and equal society
  • Scope to continue or expand beyond the successful internship project

Is your project eligible for funding?

Your application

  • Consider how to define your project. If your project is part of a bigger programme of work then please tell us how your project fits into that in the project description box
  • Include all the works that will be required to achieve the outcomes that you identify
  • Ensure that the project description, costs, anticipated outcomes and completion date are all consistent
  • Your expected outcomes should be ‘SMART’:
    • Specific – Make your outcomes clear and succinct
    • Measurable – Whatever your expected outcomes are, make sure they are quantified
    • Attainable – Be aspirational but realistic
    • Relevant – Do the outcomes support your project aims?
    • Timely – Set a specific timeframe in which to achieve your outcomes
  • Keep to the maximum word count unless the extra information is essential to your application

What are the grant conditions?

The following conditions will apply to all grants:

  • Must be consistent with the Trust’s charitable objectives
  • The Trust will normally pay grants in advance of expenditure being incurred. For grants paid in instalments, payments after the initial instalment will only be made on receipt of a statement of expenditure to date and a brief progress report
  • Applicants must agree that any assets required with grant finance will be used exclusively to advance the Pebble Trust’s objectives. In the event the grant recipient is no longer in a position to do this, the Trust will retain the right to recover the assets
  • Applicants must be prepared to demonstrate best value if required
  • A final report will be required, together with an account of all expenditure

Penny Edwards

Trustee

Penny began her career in nature and woodland conservation, with an employment history spanning the Central Scotland Countryside Trust, Sussex Wildlife Trust, and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. Within the environmental field she has considerable experience of business and strategic planning, community engagement, volunteering and project and programme management, all of which were put to good use in her own environmental consultancy.

In her second career Penny established Falkirk Wood, a local timber processing company which provided characterful local hardwood timbers into local markets. This was sold as a going concern in 2008. She now runs Stoneybank Furniture Workshop, a small furniture and upholstery business.

Penny has worked in a voluntary capacity for a wide range of environmental organisations. She is a past Trustee of Transition Black Isle and is a past Chair and current Director of the Culbokie Community Trust which is working to develop a new community hub in the village.

Penny lives on the Black Isle and her spare time is spent in the garden and in the local countryside.

Martin Sherring

Trustee

Most of Martin’s working life has been as a chartered accountant, including 9 years with Price Waterhouse (now PWC) in London and 12 years as Finance Director of Canvas Holidays. He also worked with Penny Edwards as a partner in Falkirk Wood, and when that was sold he retrained and briefly carried out consultancy work on domestic energy before putting his training to use in the construction of his and Penny’s new Passive House in Culbokie, one of the most northerly in Britain.

Martin is also a trustee of Transition Black Isle and The Highland Good Food Partnership, and a director of Scotland the Bread. He enjoys being outdoors, in the garden or the hills.

Nicolas Gubbins

Trustee

Nicholas worked in the field for the Nature Conservancy Council for 10 years before joining Scottish Natural Heritage where he focused on policy and project development around the wide area of sustainable development. In 2000, he moved to Highlands and Islands Enterprise where he was Head of Community Regeneration, working on community development programmes and social enterprise initiatives.

He was the founding CEO of the Highlands and Islands Community Energy Company and then Community Energy Scotland which has supported hundreds of community energy projects of all sorts across Scotland. He retired from CES in 2021. Along with being a trustee of the Pebble Trust, Nicholas is a director of HISEZ & helps with the work of Community Energy Malawi.

Sarah Allen

Trustee

Sarah began her career as an Adviser with the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Scottish Natural Heritage (now NatureScot) and Highland Council. She also worked in a self-employed capacity producing short broadcasts for BBC Radio Scotland on rural issues, and as a consultant for Rural Analysis Associates.

From 2002-09 Sarah was appointed to the board of the Crofters Commission (now Crofting Commission) and subsequently chaired the Scottish Government’s Review of the Bull Hire Scheme. She also worked as a Regional Assistant for a Highlands & Islands MSP, managing constituents’ casework.

More recently Sarah was Head of Tenant Farming at the Scottish Land Commission which focussed on promoting good relationships between agricultural tenants and landlords. To assist this, she set up a mediation scheme which subsequently led to her becoming a Trustee of Scottish Mediation.

Currently Sarah is a consultant at BiGGAR Economics helping to deliver their ethos of “meaningful impact” in their increasing portfolio of innovative community and rural projects.

Custom mega menu, created with the theme’s page builder.

Custom mega menu, created with the theme’s page builder.

Custom mega menu, created with the theme’s page builder.

Catriona Mallows

Trustee

Catriona grew up on the shores of the Cromarty Firth and has since returned to her Highland roots. She has worked in Scotland, Canada and New Zealand in community development, rural and environmental policy and campaigning, and research.

She currently works as a Research Associate with the Centre for Mountain Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands, where she has interests in coastal and mountainous ecosystems and the people who depend upon and contribute to them, rural community development, and land reform.

She loves running in the hills, climbing, or being by the sea.

Julie Shortreed

Administrator

After studying languages, Julie spent the first part of her career in the European travel industry working in France then for 9 years with Canvas Holidays as Contracts Manager. After returning to study in 1999, she spent her second career in Information Services at Abertay University.  Julie took early retirement and moved to the Black Isle in 2017.

She joined The Pebble Trust as administrator shortly afterwards. She spends most of her spare time in the outdoors, cycling, hillwalking or kayaking as well as trying to develop an edible and wildlife friendly garden.

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