Black British Scholarship Programme Welcomes First Recipients

In January, Gabrielle Asamoah joined the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation & Ubiquitylation Unit (Rousseau Lab) and Nneka Igwebuike joined the Division of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (Ly Lab).

Gabrielle Asamoah said, “If you love being in the lab and love research this is the perfect place for you!” 

Nneka Igwebuike, who is studying CDK4/6 inhibitors in lymphocytes said, “Thus far, my experience has been exceptionally fulfilling. The programme offers a wide-ranging training package covering everything from experimental design to data analysis, research ethics, and scientific writing. 

What's even more exciting is having fantastic supervisors, researching in an amazing lab, and participating in various SLS research discussions, which provide invaluable feedback for continuous growth. It lays the groundwork for my future aspirations of making meaningful contributions to the scientific community, including pursuing a PhD.

I wholeheartedly encourage prospective students to seize this remarkable opportunity and apply!” 

Recognising that Black British students are under-represented at postgraduate level in the UK, last year SLS started a new Scholarship programme specifically for Black and mixed Black heritage British students committing around £80k per year. With this programme, the School aims to encourage a diverse research community and help nurture a more inclusive pipeline for future researchers. 

The programme, funding two MbR scholarships per year, provides a stipend, a research & training budget and tuition fees, each award is worth approx. £40,000.

Gabrielle and Nneka, as MbR students, join our wider postgraduate researcher (PGR) community within the School. Alongside their research projects, all SLS PGRs benefit from wider training and development opportunities as well as joining in with social activities via our PGR society, PiCLS.

The School is pleased to offer another two Scholarships for 2024-25 entry and applications are open now!

What the Scholarship covers

Successful applicants will be awarded a fully-funded place on our one year MbR course, we have over 30 projects to choose from! Home tuition fees will be paid for (currently £13,625 per year) and in addition to this, we will provide you with a tax-free stipend of £19,237. Your host lab will receive a training budget of £7000 to support the research costs associated with the project. 

A stipend is tax-free and you will not need to pay National Insurance on this income. The level of stipend we offer is equivalent to an annual salary of £21,500 after tax and NI. 

Apply now

For more information on the projects available and to apply now, visit the scholarships page. Deadline: Wednesday 1 May 2024 at 23:59 (UK time)