Students We've supported
Over the last 100 years, our Trust has been able to help thousands of postgraduates complete their studies and research. Our grants have enabled them to focus more on their subjects and less on financial pressures.
Here are just a few recent examples:
James Batty
MMus Composition
Student, Royal Academy of Music
Ever since I began playing the piano at the age of eight, I also had a passion for creating my own music. In fact, I was usually keener to do this than to practise the pieces for my piano, violin and oboe lessons!
Ondřej Soukup
Conductor, MMus
student at the Royal College of Music
After a year filled with opportunities at RCM, I will be making my debut with the Czech Chamber Philharmonic, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic, and will assist Jac van Steen with FOK Prague Symphony Orchestra on two programmes this season. These engagements come at a perfect time as I am still receiving the generous support and learning opportunities at RCM while preparing for the next stage of my career.
Demi LeNette-Dawson
I'm very grateful for being awarded a grant for this year, which will be invaluable especially as I am starting clinical rotations this year, leaving little time for part-time work.
Dr Doaa AlthalathinI
Lecturer in
Business and Enterprise, Oxford Brookes
I finished my doctoral study in May 2020 from the University of Plymouth, and started working as a lecturer in business and enterprise at Oxford Brookes in June 2020.
Isabel Birds
PhD candidate
researching long non-coding RNA
Approaching the end of my PhD in a pandemic was not what I’d expected, but it’s also presented me with new opportunities that I may not have otherwise considered. I’m really grateful to the Trust as my funding has given me the financial stability to take advantage of these opportunities.
Dr Beth Murton
Recent graduate now
foundation trainee doctor
My journey to become a doctor has been challenging yet immensely rewarding. I started my first degree in physiology eight years ago. I soon realised that despite enjoying the subject immensely, I was in search of a more practical and human application to the theory I was learning. I was accepted on to the MBBS Medicine course at the University of East Anglia three years later to pursue my aspiration of becoming a doctor. Due to the integrative nature of the course, I found myself continually exposed to the clinical environment. I enjoyed each opportunity that was given, knowing that this career was something I was passionate about.
Ray Jarvis
Retired teacher and
examiner awarded the MBE for
services to education
I notice that most if not all of the alumni who send in their thanks for the crucial contribution of the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust to developing their careers are relatively young. I am different – I am an old boy!
Chris Lyes
DPhil student studying
Classical Archaeology
I’m in the third year of my DPhil researching the use of stone in antiquity. Previously I had worked on the professional services side of Universities, but a serious illness (Crohn’s Disease) affected my ability to continue to do this kind of work which was highly stressful and intermittent.
Dr Amber Roy
Archaeology
Researcher
In December 2019 I graduated with a PhD in archaeology from Newcastle University and I have since published my research in leading archaeological journals. My doctoral research addressed the uses and significance of Early Bronze Age stone battle-axes and axe-hammers from Northern Britain and the Isle of Man, objects which are central to debates about prestige, status, and ritual. Previous scholars assumed that battle-axes were purely ceremonial, while the rougher axe-hammers were neither functional nor prestigious, being too large and crude to be prestige items.