New fully funded graduate scholarship to support refugee students at Oxford and Exeter College
Following a very generous gift from the Sandys Charitable Trust, which unlocked 2:1 match funding through the University of Oxford’s Graduate Endowment Matched Scholarship (GEMS) scheme, the College is delighted to announce the establishment of the Oxford–Exeter–Sandys Graduate Scholarship.
The scholarship, which forms part of the University’s Academic Futures programme, will be awarded to graduate students with refugee status or lived experience of displacement. What distinguishes the Oxford–Exeter–Sandys Graduate Scholarship from other similar scholarships within the programme is its academic focus: recipients must undertake research on a refugee-related topic.
Exeter College worked closely with colleagues at the Refugee Studies Centre and in the University’s student funding team to ensure the scholarship provides not only access to graduate study but also the academic framework and support needed to pursue research relating to displacement and migration.
“This scholarship represents an important commitment both to widening access to postgraduate research and to advancing rigorous scholarship on forced displacement. By combining full financial support with a clear academic focus, it will enable outstanding doctoral researchers from a wide range of backgrounds to undertake research that deepens our understanding of the issues surrounding refugees and forced migration. We are profoundly grateful to the Sandys Charitable Trust for making this possible.”
– Professor Tom Scott-Smith, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre
The Sandys Trust was established through the estate of the late Richard Michael Oliver, 7th Baron Sandys. Lord Sandys and his wife had a life-long commitment to supporting refugee causes and the executors of their estate wanted to ensure that their legacy should be used to benefit refugees through education and research.
Exeter College looks forward to welcoming the first Scholar soon.
Bicycle shop in Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan, from the film Shelter Without Shelter by Mark E Breeze and Tom Scott-Smith.
