The Marsh Trust was established in 1981 and runs a portfolio of awards which recognise the contribution of dedicated individuals working in different sectors – to improve the world we live in. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) on behalf of The Marsh Trust coordinate the Marsh Award for Education in Botanic Gardens. This Award recognises an individual in the early to mid-stages of their career who has made an outstanding contribution to promoting public awareness of the importance of plants in various ways, including undertaking impactful education activities within a botanical garden.

Foreword by Helen Miller, BGCI

In January 2023 I joined the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as the Education Outreach Officer and since then I have created an extensive Scotland-wide outreach programme reaching over 18,000 pupils from every local authority in Scotland. Much of my job involves traveling around Scotland and visiting schools to deliver in person workshops or inviting pupils to visit the garden virtually via online live lessons. The workshops I create and run are varied, covering topics from soils and tropical rainforests to green careers and global citizenship. These workshops are interactive, hands-on and aim to immerse young people in the work of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Botanic Gardens not only hold knowledge about plants and conservation but also hold the stories of people, places and history of this work. My approach to education in this context is one of creativity and storytelling so that I can share these stories to inspire young people to value and protect plants. This approach as a storyteller as well as an educator influences all my work and everything I create aims to take learners on a journey where there should be a beginning, a middle and a satisfying end.

One of the in-person workshops where this approach has been at the forefront is called Scottish Roots. This workshop, aimed at upper primary pupils, highlights our cultural connections to plants through heritage plant uses, herbology, Scottish folktales and our own personal experiences of plants. In the workshop pupils choose a plant they have a personal connection to; they then draw the plant and write down what this connection is. After the workshop I bind these stories into books and take them to other schools to read out loud to other learners. Pupils share many different stories – plants that remind them of family, plants they play with, plants they eat, plants they find peaceful and more. It is incredible to see how proud pupils are to share their thoughts with others and how fascinated they are to hear the thoughts of their peers. Excitingly, when the project ends these works are going to be accessioned into the Botanics archive so that this collection of over 800 plant connections can be preserved.

Another approach I find valuable is developing collaborative working relationships with partners. A highlight of this is a live lesson called The Hidden Herbarium. This was a session for Maths Week Scotland co-created with Scotdec, who support teachers in taking a rights-based and global citizenship approach to education. Scotdec were an important partner to work with for this live lesson because we aimed to recognise the value of the herbarium collection but couldn’t do this without also recognising the damage caused by the colonial practices under which many specimens were collected. Working with a partner gave me the confidence and expertise needed to share these stories in a meaningful way. This 45-minute workshop was our most popular online lesson to date with 1600 pupils joining us.

It is an incredible honour to be awarded the Marsh Award because it recognizes the hard work and effort I have put into creating our outreach programme and shows that this approach to education in Botanic Gardens is impactful. I am delighted that the work has been meaningful to the pupils I work with in Scotland and hope that it might also inspire other educators.

Eve Armstrong

Education Outreach Officer at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh & Marsh Award Winner 2026

Congratulations Eve from all of us here at BGEN!

You can join Eve for a special webinar where she will be receiving her award. 

Thursday 4th June | 1-2pm

Read more and reserve your spot at the webinar here