Scholarships & Awards

The Rosemary Murray Academic Needs Fund provides postgraduate and undergraduate students with funding in connection with their studies, such as research expenses for dissertations or projects, or special equipment needs. Applications are not normally considered for books or laptops.  Please note, awards are usually for something which would provide added value to your studies, they are not intended to cover compulsory elements of courses. This fund can assist with research or fieldwork expenses for postgraduate students, such as travel costs to present papers at seminars or conferences, or to consult archives. 

Rosemary Murray Scholarships

Rosemary Murray Scholarships of £400 are awarded each year to those undergraduates who perform outstandingly well (a First Class result in any part of the Tripos, including Part III). It is also offered to those doing one-year LLM, MCL or MAST courses who obtain marks equivalent to a First.

Robin Hammond Prize in English

One award of £250 is made annually to the English undergraduate who obtains the highest mark in an exam paper or dissertation for English Literature Part I, Paper 4 (Renaissance 1500-1700).  Dr Robin Hammond was appointed College Lecturer in English at New Hall in March 1954 and, along with Dame Rosemary Murray, was one of the two senior members at New Hall at its foundation. Dr Hammond directed studies in the Arts subjects, and she and Dame Rosemary worked as a team to manage the College and its students.  After New Hall moved to Huntingdon Road, Dr Hammond was Tutor and then Senior Tutor before retiring in 1974. Before her death, Dr Hammond was delighted that alumnae wished to establish this prize in her honour.

Dorothy Gabe Scholarship

One award of £400 is made annually to the student with the best first from the MML finalists.  (The recipient of this award may not also receive a Rosemary Murray Scholarship.)

The Barbara White Fund provides support for undergraduate students undertaking academically-related placements over the summer vacation, such as working in a laboratory or assisting in a research project at Cambridge or another university.  Usually made to help with costs of living away from home. 

• Awards: £100 per week may be made for a total of up to five weeks.

The Posen Fund provides support – often accommodation costs - for Natural Sciences students undertaking academically-related placements over the summer vacation.  Undergraduate Medical and Veterinary students taking Part II Natural Sciences in the following academic year will also be considered.

• Awards: up to £1000

• AMES, HML and MMLL students in their first or second year may apply for funds to take an academic-related language course abroad during a vacation period. A total of £600 from the Guthrie Fund and the Rosemary Murray Academic Needs Fund is available to all students in these Triposes for language courses during their degree. Students in financial hardship who would otherwise be unable to attend may be considered for additional needs-based funding.

• Guthrie Fund for Year Abroad Students

  AMES, HML and MMLL students may apply for funds in the Easter Term of their second year to assist with expenses related to their upcoming Year Abroad. Up to £400 will be awarded. Students in receipt of the Cambridge Bursary will be prioritised for funding if necessary.

• Cambridge University Language Programmes (CULP)
  Any students (undergraduate or postgraduate) wishing to take any of the courses offered through Cambridge University Language Programmes (CULP) may apply for help with the cost. The standard award is 50% of the course fee, paid on production of the end of course certificate.
• AJ Pressland Fund Travel Bursaries
  Administered by the Language Centre, the AJ Pressland Fund offers bursaries of up to £1,000 to support language study abroad during the Long Vacation for students within the Schools of Biological Science, Clinical Medicine, Physical Science and Technology.

These funds are available one time only for supporting travel for Murray Edwards College's veterinary and medical students. However, they are mainly used to support the expenses incurred by clinical students in connection with their electives or equivalent activities. The sum of money available for distribution each year is not large enough to underwrite completely the projects submitted. The Awarding Committee tries to make grants which can be regarded as "pump priming" rather than total funding.

Allocation of the awards, as with virtually all grants for professional development or research, is on the basis of competition; the sum awarded reflects not only the total costs that the applicant envisages incurring but also the quality of the presentation. It is hoped that an application to the Clinical Elective Funds will form the basis for further applications to other bodies. In this respect, the awarding committee may sometimes feedback what are intended to be friendly criticisms when the application is felt to be in need of improvement. Candidates are advised to discuss the matter with their Director of Studies before submitting.

The College is delighted and impressed by the number of Murray Edwards students who are playing sport at Blues level (representing the University in competition against Oxford University). We are very keen to offer an easily understandable way of rewarding students for their Blues achievements that can be applied across all cases.  

In any academic year:

• Any student who is in Blues training (but has not received a Blue as yet) will be eligible to apply for £100 towards their training costs.  
• Any student who has achieved a Half Blue will receive £150, and any student who receives a Full Blue will receive £200.

Students in receipt of a Blue will be eligible to apply for one award annually, irrespective of the number of sports they play. Any student who receives money for Blues training, and subsequently receives a half or full Blue, can apply for the remainder of the appropriate award (i.e. a further £50 for a Half Blue and £100 for a Full Blue); any student who receives money for achieving a half Blue and who then goes on to achieve a Full Blue, can apply for a further £50 to bring their total award up to the Full Blue award of £200: the application for the top-up to the award must be made in the same academic year as the initial award.  

The Hawks Charitable Trust provides grants to current Cambridge University students whose sporting activities are inhibited by financial constraints. For further information and an application form, see the Hawks Club website.

Any student who plays a musical instrument may apply for College music awards. Murray Edwards College runs an annual Music Awards competition. It's open to all undergraduates and postgraduates in any subject, and all instruments and styles of music are very welcome.

Up to five scholarships (up to a maximum combined value of £800) will be awarded each year, to be spent on instrumental/vocal tuition. The applicants will be judged on a short recital performance and a short informal interview at which we discuss their music-making and proposed contribution to the College’s musical life.

See the Music section for further details.

Any student who is part of the Inter Alios Choir may apply for a Choral Scholarship of £100. 

Rosemary Murray Travel Awards are made each year to undergraduate students (postgraduate students are not eligible) for travel which may be for academic or other purposes. The value of awards may be up to £200.

Final year students are eligible for these awards but must intend to use the award before October. Year abroad students are eligible to apply. The funds must not be used to fund the year abroad itself but may be used to travel elsewhere in Europe after the end of the year abroad. No student will receive a total of more than £500 in Rosemary Murray Travel Awards during their degree.

All recipients are expected to submit a report on their travels upon their return.

Rhiannon McKinnon, née Evans (NH 1997-2000 History), has set up a travel fund in her father’s name. Rhiannon lives in New Zealand and has donated funds for students who wish to travel to New Zealand for academic purposes.  The donor is happy for the award to be made to a student of any discipline. She has met a number of students from the UK who are in New Zealand on electives. She would hope to meet with the student during their time in the country.

Applications will be assessed on the academic value of the trip to New Zealand. If there are two applicants who both have excellent plans and good reasons for wanting to go to New Zealand, then the award may be split in that year. There is a maximum award of £1,000 per student.

The Panton Trust is a small registered charity, which provides grants for projects concerned with any of the following:

• any animal or animals
• wildlife in any part of the world
• the environment of the UK or any part of the UK

The Trust provides sponsorship for student projects (graduate or undergraduate), with the support of their College. These should not be conventional laboratory research projects; they are normally expedition projects with serious animal/wildlife objectives. The projects may be in any relevant field including (but not limited to) geography, botany, veterinary medicine, zoology or biology but in all cases, they will have serious objectives.

The Gladstone Memorial Trust Travel awards are intended to give students in their first or second undergraduate years at Oxford or Cambridge an opportunity to travel abroad and extend their knowledge of foreign countries. Final year students are not eligible but students in the third year of a four-year course are allowed to apply. The awards are not intended to support scientific expeditions or projects connected with academic courses of research.

A Master's scholarship programme, launched in 2024, that fully funds postgraduate tuition for talented British Muslim women.

The scholarship is run in partnership with the Aziz Foundation, a charity which funds British Muslim scholars to study at UK universities and then supports them to make meaningful contributions in their careers, communities and wider society. The programme is the first to be targeted by the Foundation exclusively at women.

Under the new partnership, funded jointly by the College and the Foundation, recipients of the Scholarships will have their tuition fees paid for an eligible Master's degree at Murray Edwards College.

To qualify, candidates must demonstrate active engagement in British Muslim communities, and show a long-term commitment to the development of their community and society.

Applications for the scholarships will open in January 2026, with the first recipients joining the College for the 2026-27 academic year. In the initial year, up to three scholarship places will be on offer.

For more information and to apply for the Murray Edwards Aziz Foundation Scholarships, please visit Scholarships (azizfoundation.org.uk). Candidates must first be accepted for a scholarship, and then apply to Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge.

These prestigious awards are for current Engineering students who meet the following criteria:

• Second or third year students who have achieved a 1st or high 2:1 at the end of the previous year
• Demonstrable interest in mechanical/electronic/aerospace/aerothermal engineering
• Passionate about engineering

The Award is £2,500. Recipients of this scholarship will be required to write a report  for the donors. 

An opportunity for an academically exceptional woman pursuing a Master’s degree in Scientific Computing.

Exclusively available at Murray Edwards College, this scholarship awards £14,574 to cover tuition fees and is granted to the top candidate selected by the course department during the application process.

The scholarship is named in honour of Professor Ruth Lynden-Bell, a distinguished Fellow in Chemistry and an Honorary Fellow of the College.

• Candidates must have applied for admission, or already received an offer of admission, to study for an MPhil in Scientific Computing at the University of Cambridge.

• Candidates must agree, and be eligible, to join Murray Edwards College.

• Candidates should apply for their desired postgraduate course of study in the normal way. There is no need for a separate application or reference as, once we have determined eligibility, we will use the University’s ranking system to determine the top-ranked candidate.

• Candidates may use the 'Statement of Interest' and 'Career Goals' sections of their Master’s application to indicate their particular desire to be considered for the Scholarship.

• The successful applicant will be selected by the College and should be notified between May and June. 

A fully-funded postgraduate scholarship for one female student annually studying the MPhil in Data Intensive Science course at the University of Cambridge.

• Candidates must apply for the MPhil in Data Intensive Science program at Cambridge University before the deadline of 3 December. They should express their wish to be considered for funding.
• Candidates must have ‘Home Fees Status’. You can check if you have Home Fee Status here.
• Candidates must agree, and be eligible, to join Murray Edwards College.
• Preference will be given to candidates with a keen interest in astronomy. Applicants should use the 'Statement of Interest' and 'Career Goals' sections of their MPhil application to highlight how they meet these preferred criteria.
• All eligible candidates who apply before the deadline will be considered.
• Candidates should note that they do not need to have nominated Murray Edwards as one of their preferred colleges on their application to be eligible.
• Interviews will be held in January and candidates will be notified shortly after.