Applications open for UCL East London Scholarships

The East London Scholarship scheme is open to UK-based students interested in studying full or part-time taught graduate degree programmes in areas as diverse as digital innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, urbanism, health, finance, history and the creative industries, starting from September 2023. 

Eligibility is based on financial need as well as specific evidence of having lived or studied in east London. Applicants must be applying for or already hold an offer for one of the eligible Master's programmes. The deadline for applications is 5pm BST on Thursday 29 June with successful applicants studying from September 2023 informed by mid-late July. 

Two of the ten scholarships available in the pilot year will be reserved for current UCL undergraduates from east London who are interested, eligible and due to graduate this summer. 

Aims of the UCL East London Scholarship scheme 

UCL’s new campus in Stratford has been designed to bring together diverse disciplines to collaborate with communities, businesses and organisations in east London to tackle the biggest challenges facing people and the planet, themes that shape the UCL Grand Challenges research strategy. 

The UCL East London Scholarship scheme is one of a range of initiatives helping to ensure that UCL’s research and teaching is embedded in and relevant to the communities it serves, with activity starting locally to impact globally.  

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world attracting research investment and applications from students from across London, the UK and the globe. Following a review and evaluation of the pilot, this new scholarship scheme is expected to launch officially in full in the autumn, targeting both postgraduate and undergraduate students in east London for 2024. 

Dr Anne Preston, Associate Professor UCL East, who is working with staff running the eligible degree programmes to develop the scheme, said: 

“We are determined to be relevant and accessible in this fast-growing, richly diverse and exciting part of our capital city, which is home to our new UCL East campus and our existing UCL School of Management. The UCL East London Scholarship is one of a range of opportunities we are providing in collaboration with and exclusively for east Londoners, from our developing UCL East schools programme through to our research and community collaborations supporting innovation, enterprise, learning and skills development. “ 

Prof Paola Lettieri FREng, Pro-Provost UCL East, said:  

“UCL, or University College London as it was originally called, began life in Bloomsbury nearly 200 years ago in what is now central London but was then a developing area on the outskirts of the city. We were the first university to welcome people of all faiths, and the first to educate women on an equal footing with men. That disruptive thinking helped bring progress and developments that benefited London and society more widely at every level. 

“Nearly 200 years later, we are grateful to all our east London partners and to our UCL community at large for helping us to spread the word about this opportunity. Together we will ensure that our new UCL East London Scholarship helps to create London’s next generation of disruptive thinkers.” 

Postgraduate interdisciplinary degree programmes eligible for the UCL East London Scholarship 

• MA Audio Storytelling for Podcast and Radio 
• MSc Business Analytics
• MSc Connected Environments
• MSc Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media
• MA Creative and Collaborative Enterprise 
• MASc Creative Health 
• MSc Digital Health and Entrepreneurship
• MSc Disability, Design and Innovation
• MSc Ecology and Data Science 
• MSc Ecology and Urban Engineering
• MA Ethnographic and Documentary Film 
• MSc Entrepreneurship
• MSc Finance
• MSc Global Healthcare Management (Analytics, Leadership or Finance)
• MA Immersive Factual Storytelling 
• MSc Management 
• MSc Manufacturing with Innovation and Enterprise
• MSc Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• MSc Prosperity, People and Planet
• MA Public History 

London Boroughs covered by the pilot scheme

• Barking and Dagenham
• Bexley
• Greenwich
• Hackney
• Havering
• Lewisham
• Newham
• Redbridge
• Tower Hamlets
• Waltham Forest

Find out more and how to apply 

Interested applicants are advised to check full details of eligibility and how to apply for a UCL East London Scholarship, as well as supporting information, on the UCL Scholarship and Funding section of the UCL website. 

Talk to us informally about the UCL East London Scholarship 

If you would like to know more about the UCL East London Scholarship scheme, either as a prospective applicant or with a view to helping to promote it in your area or organisation, you can talk informally with one of our team by emailing Anne Preston via ucleast@ucl.ac.uk, titling your email ‘UCL East London Scholarship’. For prospective applicants, this informal chat will not in any way influence the assessment process, so please feel free to discuss any aspect of the Scholarship or the application process with us in confidence. We look forward to hearing from you. 

Support the UCL East London Scholarship

If you are interested in supporting the UCL East London Scholarship, please contact Nick Marsden, Associate Director of Development (UCL Faculties) for an informal conversation via n.marsden@ucl.ac.uk or visit the UCL philanthropic support for scholarships web page to find out more.

Fund your future with a UCL East London Scholarship