The Statistical Science E. J. Gumbel Scholarship

The department offers an undergraduate scholarship named after Emil Julius Gumbel who made seminal contributions to extreme value theory that underlies many modern designs from flood defences designed to withstand the “100-year flood” to reliability of airplane parts. Following his emigration from national socialist Germany, Gumbel ended up in troublesome financial circumstances and much of his groundbreaking statistical work was only made possible by generous donations.

The department has made available funds to provide up to seven individual E. J. Gumbel scholarships per year of study in the academic year 2025/26. The award is £3,200 in three equal termly instalments per year of study, and is tenable for the normal duration of the degree programme studied as long as the following requirements are both satisfied:

• The recipient continues to be registered as a full time student of the department.
• The recipient demonstrates a good level of progress in each year; in normal circumstances this would mean achieving an average mark of at least 65% at the end of each year of study.

To be eligible for this scholarship, new undergraduate entrants to the department need to:

• Take up an undergraduate degree programme based in the Department of Statistical Science at UCL, i.e. be registered as a full time student on one of the degree programmes with UCAS codes G300, GN32, GLN0, GLR0, LG13, G305, G303 at UCL.
• Hold UK fee status (overseas fee paying students are not eligible).
• Achieve one of the following sets of qualifications by the application deadline in the year of admission:
  • A-levels: Grade A* in Further Mathematics and grade A* in Mathematics
  • Scottish Advanced Highers: Grade A1 in Mathematics and either grade A1 in Mathematics of Mechanics or grade A1 in Statistics
  • Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP): grade 2 or better in any STEP paper

Eligible students must apply using the application form below. Please complete either the Word or PDF version; you can fill out the form by hand if you wish and submit a scanned copy. All applications must be submitted by email to Dr Takoua Jendoubi by 12 noon (BST) on the 31st August 2025. Applications received after this deadline, or those received through means other than email, will not be considered. 

Successful candidates will be notified as soon as possible after the deadline. 

This is a competitive scholarship. If more than seven students satisfy the criteria, the most deserving seven applications will be successful - applicants will be ranked at the department’s discretion with due regard to the three criteria above and in the spirit of Gumbel’s life and work.

NOTE: All scholarship and student funding schemes are subject to availability of funds, and details given here are subject to change at any time. Potential applicants are urged to check information regularly to ensure they are aware of current procedures, deadlines etc.