Last summer, 36 Engineering for Sustainable Development (ESD) MPhil students submitted their Dissertations. Six of those students received funding assistance donated by former students of the course.
The financial support of the network of MPhil alumni is extremely valuable to current students as we navigate our coursework and research during our year at Cambridge and as we pursue our future careers.
Jeanie Ward-Waller, ESD MPhil student
The ESD MPhil Alumni Fund was started by the outgoing MPhil students from the class of 2008-2009. They launched the fund at the Annual Course Dinner to help future students pay for any expenses associated with the completion of their Dissertations. Current and former students of all years pitched in and £450 was collected. A fund committee was formed with representation from different years of graduates. An application process was developed and awards were made. Just one year later, six students in the 2009-2010 class benefited from the generosity of the students before them.
"The financial support of the network of MPhil alumni is extremely valuable to current students as we navigate our coursework and research during our year at Cambridge and as we pursue our future careers. I am especially appreciative of the award from the ESD MPhil Alumni Fund as it enabled me to fund my dissertation research travel and gain invaluable insight first hand." - Jeanie Ward-Waller, ESD MPhil student, 2009-2010
At the 2010 Annual Course Dinner, committee members and award recipients celebrated, with their professors and colleagues, the network of support within the ESD MPhil Alumni. Again another collection was taken and over £2,500 was raised. The committee has set lofty goals for fundraising and hopes to be able to grow the fund to a sustainable size! For the first time a significant donation was also made from an industrial sponsor, with Anglian Water providing support for students on the MPhil Programme through the ESD MPhil Alumni Fund.
While the fund, and its potential impact, is exciting, even more so is the grass roots movement of former students helping current and future students. Exciting but not surprising given the leadership that the Centre and MPhil Programme have; a "lead by example" spirit permeates throughout.
