Features : Funding from charities

If your application for Research Council funding has been unsuccessful and you cannot get a loan, don’t give up, there is another pot to explore.

Many charities, foundations and trusts award funding for postgraduate study. Whilst they rarely award total funding, they can offer some financial relief and are well worth looking into.

Charities, foundations and trusts range in size from the Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest medical charity which awards hundreds of studentships each year in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, to the British Federation of Women Graduates, which offers a small number of cost of living bursaries for female postgraduates in the second year of their research degree.

The types of scheme available include studentships, scholarships, grants, bursaries, competitions and prizes. Some awards are dedicated to a particular purpose while others have very general eligibility criteria. For example, there are awarding bodies established for the purpose of supporting the work of UK students in other countries or students of a particular ethnicity.

There are bodies which make several hundred awards a year and those that make just one. Most awards from these sources won’t cover both tuition fees and a cost of living. The majority of the awards made by the smaller bodies amount to a few hundred pounds a year and are provided to cover expenses such as travel and fieldwork. Sometimes awards are made solely for the relief of financial hardship. Even if you only receive some money for materials, securing money from one of these bodies can make a difference, as Adam Williams found out.

Back to school

After two years of teaching, Adam decided to return to university to take up a Masters.

‘I really enjoyed delivering the 16-18 classroom-based courses in sport and thought I may want to pursue a career as a university lecturer. I knew I’d need a minimum of a Masters to achieve this,’ explains Adam, who is currently studying an MA in Physical Education at Adelphi University in Long Island, New York.

‘Adelphi University not only offered me a place on the course but also a graduate assistantship that has covered two thirds of my tuition fees.’

As well as money from the University, Adam was able to secure some money from BUNAC, an organisation specialising in work abroad programmes in North America.

‘I found BUNAC through an internet search engine by typing in various combinations of “funding for study in USA”. I had to fill in an application pack, explaining why I wanted to complete further study in the US, and provide two references,’ he explains.

BUNAC’s Educational Scholarship Trust (BEST) has $50,000 to offer eligible applicants looking to gain further qualifications overseas. Individual awards typically range between $5,000 and $10,000 and are designed to cover study, living and travel costs.

‘The funding BUNAC provides is only additional money, though and should not be used as a primary source of funding. I was asked to provide a break down of my finances in terms of what I had saved, other funding I had, tuition fees and any other predicted expenditure. I was then chosen for an interview in London at which I had to present my case to five or six members of BUNAC to prove that my plan was both worthwhile and feasible.’

The BEST Scholarships are only top-up funds and candidates should actively be seeking funding from other sources. A specific award of $4,000 for sports-related studies and another $2,000 for a teaching or geography-related course are also available.

After a long application process, Adam received the Christopher J. Harbour Memorial Scholarship for postgraduate study in a sporting field worth $5,000.

‘Finding funding is very time consuming so you need to start early, even up to two years before you plan to start your course. I contacted BUNAC before Christmas 2006 and I didn’t start studying until September 2007, so that shows how much planning is needed.’

Even if your initial investigations of this field don’t yield anything, don’t give up: it’s worth reiterating that there might well be a charity set up just to support postgraduate study in your own subject area. It’s easy to be dismayed when thinking about the number of needy postgraduates and the likely pot of money available for them, but if, for example, you are contemplating scientific research that doesn’t use living animals, you will be delighted to learn that the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research provides scholarships for just that. This won’t be of much consolation to those of you who are planning a research project on the role of trade unions in the Brazilian car industry and need to make a field visit; you might prefer to direct your enquiries to the Anglo-Brazilian Society instead.