Enable talented Greek students to study at Wageningen University with a Pavlos Condellis Scholarship
The fund provides the Pavlos Condellis Scholarship for Greek students who aim to support the development of agriculture in Greece, with a special focus on precision farming. The first scholarship is awarded in September 2016.
The impact of your gift
Your gift enables talented Greek students who cannot afford to pay for their tuition to study at Wageningen University with a Pavlos Condellis Scholarship. Preference is given to students admitted to the MSc Programme Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering. They return to Greece with their newly acquired expertise and knowledge and apply it in the agricultural sector.Donate
Address
University Foundation Wageningen
P.O. Box 9101
6700 HB Wageningen
The Netherlands
In memoriam - Pavlos Condellis
Pavlos Condellis, initiator of the Condellis Scholarship Fund at Wageningen University, has passed away at the age of 86 in October 2017.
His long and successful working life has entirely been devoted to agriculture in its many aspects. From the urgent needs for mechanization in the early days to the advancement of knowledge necessary for today’s world. After his retirement he stayed involved in encouraging new developments in the agricultural sector till the very last moment.
Always open to new ideas, his wish was for young farmers to learn to adapt to the many new methods opening up. At the same time, he wanted to create the means for young Greeks, outside the direct field of farming, to realize his vision for his country: Greece, with its great potential for quality farming, should take its deserved place in the world through innovation of the agricultural sector.
The Pavlos Condellis Scholarship shall be continued in his memory and according to his wishes and will continue to support young talented Greeks to study at Wageningen University.
He has touched the lives of many people and will be remember by many.
Testimonial Mr Pavlos Condellis - founder
Story of the founder
"Although I was born in Athens, my real roots are in a small village in the island of Lesbos, where both my parents came from. There, among the olive trees, I got my first feeling and enthusiasm for agriculture, watching the farmers and understanding the hard work that was involved. My biggest impression was the ploughing - to watch a horse dragging behind him a strange wooden tool, the plough, and see how a furrow was created. And so from an early age on, I decided that instead of the car business which my father had left us, I would prefer to deal with farm machinery.The Ford company, which my family represented, luckily also made tractors, - thus I had two chances: to forge ahead on my own and prove myself, and to change the lives of farmers through using machinery and modern tools. So after finishing high school, I left for England to train in a Ford Management course, working my way from foundry to assembly line at the factory and learning what it meant to organize a good dealership.
I remember those endless discussions with friends from other countries: about our future, and the future of farming – most of us coming from countries where at that time, you could still find horses dragging wooden ploughs…
I returned in 1952 to Greece, passionate about agricultural machinery and new farming methods. This passion continues until today, and gave me the strength to create a dynamic company which has sold many thousands of tractors, harvesters, harrows, ploughs and has helped farmers to improve their lives. There is a great satisfaction to meet old customers, who tell me how their life has changed for the better the moment that blue tractor came into the farm yard. I also meet their children and by now even grandchildren, who all understand that a more and wider ranging knowledge is required in today’s world, apart from the ownership of new and sophisticated machinery.
This is the reason I wish to help Greek youngsters to face tomorrow’s world and the future of our country, and give them the chance to prove themselves."
Mr Pavlos Condellis
Founder of the Pavlos Condellis Fund
First scholarship student Nikos Mylonas
--> 2019
Nikos graduated and tells his story in an article in Wageningen World. Today he develops agricultural applications for artificial intelligence in Athens, but he got his inspiration in Wageningen where he took the MSc in Biosystems Engineering with support from the Pavlos Condellis Fund. The grant from this fund, established by the Greek entrepreneur Pavlos Condellis, largely covered his expenses. Without that money, it would have been very difficult for Nikos to study at WUR. Read the article entitled 'I want to bring technology and knowledge to farmers' here.
--> 2016
"I am Nikolaos Mylonas from Greece. Studying in Wageningen university was a lifetime dream for me, as I always wanted to combine my mechanical engineering Bachelor studies, with an agriculture oriented Master program. But, lately Greece experiences a deep economic crisis, unemployment rates are in high levels and many young people are forced to seek for opportunities abroad and quit their studies.
As a result, studying as a Biosystem engineer and affording the living cost, would be an unachievable goal for me, if it was not for Pavlos Condellis Scholarship. The Pavlos Condellis Fund also motivates me to implement the knowledge and innovative methods in gain in Wageningen to my home country, in order to contribute to the sustainable growth of the Greek agriculture sector.
I am very grateful for this scholarship. Giving someone the chance to make his dreams come true, is an act of generosity that everybody should encourage and I strongly believe that we can all benefit from such actions."