First students to receive prestigious scholarship graduate
The first students to receive a prestigious scholarship designed to improve representation in academia have graduated from their Master’s courses at Keele, and have already begun PhDs.
Grace Buffery and Haadhi Shabar were among the graduating class at Keele’s recent winter graduation ceremonies, where they graduated from their MSc programmes.
Grace studied Human Geography and Sustainability Research, while Haadhi studied Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology, with both of them successfully receiving Master’s Plus scholarship awards from the Leverhulme Trust for their studies, as part of Keele’s Sustainable Rural Futures Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Programme (SURF).
The Master’s Plus awards cover a stipend and fees for Master’s and PhD students, and are restricted to scholars from underrepresented and/or low-income backgrounds.
They are designed to offer targeted support to ensure better progression of low income and Black students to doctoral study, and represent the Leverhulme Trust's ambition to improve representation in academia, particularly in research on rural communities.
Grace said: "When I was doing my undergraduate degree, a Master’s and a PhD didn’t even cross my mind as being something that would be an option for me, so accepting this scholarship has been a massive privilege for me and has completely changed everything. It’s opened up so many opportunities in the academic community that I didn’t know about.
“The scholarship has helped to create such an inclusive academic community where effort is recognised, and everyone’s different life experiences are valued and adds to what we’re doing.”
Haadhi said: “I can happily say my Master’s year has felt very well supported, from supervisory support on my assignments to mental stress ease from Professor Clare Holdsworth regarding my progress through the year. The transition from undergraduate to Masters was very smooth and didn't feel as crazy as a jump as I'd anticipated. I appreciated the early integration into PhD SURF meetings and seminars as they helped prepare me for this 1st year of the PhD and get to know other PhD students along the way.
“Before going to university I spoke with my parents about the possibility of becoming a doctor through doctoral research, however up until my final semester of my undergraduate I had forgotten about this and didn’t think it would be attainable for me. What the Leverhulme Trust’s scholarship provided me with was a door to fulfilling academic desires without the financial burden postgraduate research can put onto some students.”
Professor Clare Holdsworth, Director of SURF, added: “The SURF Masters Plus Awards are an innovative initiative by the Leverhulme Trust designed to widen participation in PhD research. Grace and Haadhi have been outstanding ambassadors for the programme, and their excellent Master’s results reflect both their dedication and the strong foundation they have built for future doctoral study.”
