Scholarships

Life-changing Scholarships

Scholarships have a significant impact on the daily lives of students, benefitting their studies and their whole university experience in so many ways – so much so that it very often makes the difference between someone being able to study and realise their dream or not.

Here Christina Bosbach tells us about her PhD research and the difference a scholarship from The Galloway Trust has made to her and her studies.

"I moved to Aberdeen from Switzerland in September 2019 to take up a PhD studentship funded by The Galloway Trust in the Department of Anthropology. The research I am planning to do is about how mobilities are part of and come to shape everyday life in remote communities in Scotland. The project will be exploring questions like: How do the particularities and politics of transport influence the way people experience and make their lives in these places? What does mobility – moving around for work, education or to attain necessary services – and staying in place mean to people? I came to the idea for the project when travelling around the islands of Scotland. Through chance encounters, I was drawn into conversations about daily life there and how it differed from what I knew about rural communities in Switzerland. These first glimpses sparked my curiosity. They eventually led me to spend four months last year living and working on the Isle of Coll in the west of Scotland – seeing people dealing with ferries and the transient fresh food supplies to the island, for example. This brought me via a dive into academic literature to the University of Aberdeen. Being accepted into the PhD programme and receiving a scholarship for my PhD means being able to study in a welcoming and supportive environment that challenges my thinking in all the right ways. Receiving a scholarship is an incredible privilege, allowing me to delve freely into my project, profit from all the opportunities for learning at the University, and spend my free time exploring life in Aberdeen. Alleviating financial strains and giving me a positive outlook overall, the scholarship not only benefits me but also the quality of my work and thereby hopefully the people I will be working with."

One recent example of a family changing lives through their generosity is US-based, but  Aberdeen-born, businessman Dave Cormack, his wife Fiona and their family gifting over £270,000 to the University to establish the Cormack Family Foundation Scholarship Programme.  This is enabling talented and aspirational students from widening access backgrounds to realise their dreams by studying medicine or business courses at Aberdeen.

“It was a huge relief when I found out I had been chosen for the scholarship.  This will allow me to study effectively without too much worrying about money.  I’ll now be able to focus on my ambitions to work in acute medicine and come out of university with the best degree possible.” Sebastian Siegrist, 2nd year medical student

This type of funding is instrumental if we are to continue to attract a diverse student body and help remove financial barriers to higher education.

We need your support to offer scholarships for all the courses we provide from Accountancy to Zoology and from Medicine to Music. Donations of any size are appreciated and will contribute towards a fund for greatest need but if you wish to create a scholarship then naming opportunities are available.