The College has at its disposal a number of funds to help students meet expenses related to academic, sporting and cultural activities, including travel.
There are different application procedures depending on the nature of the financial need. In the first instance, for all needs apart from travel, students should consult the list of subject-specific funds below, and apply to the appropriate Director of Studies if their need is covered by one of these funds.
If there is no appropriate subject fund, then please scroll down the page for further information about sports bursaries, travel grants, supra-curricular course expenses, Friends of Queens' Music, arts and crafts, support with general living expenses and funding offered by the University.
The College also provides substantial funding for nonspecific financial assistance, principally through the Cambridge Bursary scheme, with the College providing more than 50% of the amount awarded to Queens' students and the University providing the remainder. All recipients of Cambridge Bursaries also receive an Additional Queens' Bursary. Beyond the Cambridge Bursary, students who encounter unexpected financial difficulties may apply to the College for assistance.
Awards are normally made as credits to College accounts, so please do not send bank details with applications.
Subject Funds
Please use this application form to apply for an award from a subject fund. The form should be submitted to the appropriate Director of Studies, as indicated under each heading below.
Architecture and History of Art
Students may apply for an award from the Seear Fund, which supports the academic and educational activities of students reading Architecture and History of Art. Please send completed application forms to Professor James Campbell.
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Nourhan Nassar Memorial Fund, which provides grants to support any academic or educational activities of students reading Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Please send completed application forms to Professor Andrew Marsham.
Classics
Students may apply for an award from the James Diggle Fund, which supports the academic and educational activities of students reading Classics, including provision (where appropriate) of copies of the Cambridge Greek Lexicon and the Oxford Latin Dictionary. Please send completed application forms to Dr David Butterfield.
Computer Science
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Robin Walker Fund, which provides grants to support any academic or educational activities of students reading Computer Science. Please send completed application forms to Dr Jasmin Jahić.
Economics
Students may apply for an award from the Milgate Fund, which provides small grants to support the academic and educational activities of (normally) undergraduate students reading Economics. Please send completed application forms to Dr Charlie Brendon.
Education
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Joan Whitehead Fund, which provides grants to support any academic or educational activities of students reading Education or any related subject. Please send completed application forms to Dr Tyler Denmead.
Engineering
Undergraduates have access to the Queens' Undergraduate Engineering Learning Fund (QUELF). No application form is required, the Director of Studies in Engineering will advise how to go about making a claim. Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for a Spearing Travel Grant, to promote technical and industrial visits abroad which are not part of normal coursework. Preference is given to students studying one of the branches of Engineering. Applications should be made using the standard travel grant application form.
English
Students may apply for an award from the Patterson Fund, which provides small grants to support the academic and educational activities of students reading English. Please send completed application forms to Dr Andrew Zurcher.
Geography
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Geography Fund, which supports the academic activities of all Geography students at the College. They may also apply for a Pomfret-Pearson Award for Geography Dissertations, to help with expenses incurred for any aspect of students' dissertation work. Please send completed application forms to Professor Graham Denyer Willis.
Law
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Macpherson Fund, which supports the academic and educational activities of students reading Law. Please send completed application forms to Dr Federica Paddeu.
Mathematics
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Paul Barber Fund, which supports the academic and educational activities of students reading Mathematics, including support of the Mathematics Society. Please send completed application forms to Professor Claude Warnick.
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Medics and vets may apply for an award from the Barry Scott Fund, which provides small grants to support the academic and educational expenses of pre-clinical, clinical and postgraduate students studying Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. Medics and vets also have access to the Nightingale Fund, to help purchase and access books, online subscriptions and any other learning resources. Medical students underaking medical electives may apply for support from the Pang Fund. Please send completed application forms to Dr Janet Maguire. Second year medics are eligible for the Armenian General Benevolent Union Global Leadership Programme, to travel to Armenia for an internship during the summer vacation. Enquiries regarding this programme should be sent to Dr Janet Maguire. Further information about the programme can be found in this report from Samuel Amey, a previous recipient of the award. This internship programme is generously supported by Grace Knadijan Davidian, in honour of her brother Dikran Knadjian (1970), who disappeared in 1972. Dikran came to Queens' from Kingswood School, Bath, to read Medicine.
Modern and Medieval Languages
Students may apply for an award from the Smith Fund, which provides small grants to support the academic and educational activities of students studying Modern and Medieval Languages. Please send completed application forms to Professor Martin Crowley. Students may also apply for a Taylor Travel Bursary, which helps students with academic-related travel costs, including assistance with the year abroad undertaken as part of the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos, and also more generally travel to countries relevant to students’ studies, especially European countries. Applications should be made using the standard travel grant application form.
Natural Sciences
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Streetly Fund, which provides small grants to support the academic and educational activities of students reading Natural Sciences. This includes support for summer internships, provided applications are received before the end of Lent Term. Chemists may also apply for an award from the Haszeldine Fund, which provides assistance for academic-related travel, research projects, books, equipment, dissertation expenses, events and the Queens' Chemistry Society. There is also the Darlington Fund, which provides grants to support any academic or educational activities of students reading Earth Sciences. Finally, postgraduates studying at the Cavendish Laboratory may apply for a Grahame John Dickins Award, which assists with academic-related travel, research expenses, unforeseen funding difficulties and fourth year/overrunning PhD expenses. Please send completed application forms to Dr Mairi Kilkenny.
Psychological and Behavioural Sciences
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the James Russell Fund, which provides grants to support any academic or educational activities of students reading Psychological and Behavioural Studies. Please send completed application forms to Dr Jane Garrison.
Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion
Undergraduates and postgraduates may apply for an award from the Henry St John Hart Fund in Theological and Religious Studies, which provides small grants to support the academic and educational activities of students reading Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion, or any associated course. Please send completed application forms to Professor Richard Rex.
Sports Bursaries
Queens' offers substantial bursaries to help meet the costs of elite level sports, as well as smaller grants for College sports and subscriptions to join University sports clubs. Please click here for further information about the bursaries and how to apply.
Friends of Queens' Music
This fund, which is available to any undergraduate or postgraduate student at Queens', supports the musical life of the College. Please click here for further information about Friends of Queens' Music and how to apply.
Language Courses
The College will reimburse the cost of all courses undertaken at the University Language Centre, apart from in-sessional English courses. Please apply for reimbursement using this form.
Travel
The College is able to provide funding to assist with academic and certain types of non-academic travel. Further details and an application form are available here.
Arts and Crafts
The Greta Maxwell fund supports arts and crafts in the College. Students may apply for an award using this form, which should be submitted to Professor James Campbell.
Other
Applications for all other types of financial support should be made using this form. This includes assistance with general living expenses in cases of unexpected financial difficulties or Covid-related PhD overruns. Please also use this form for assistance with the costs of any supra-curricular courses you wish to take (including online conference attendance), except for courses taken at the University Language Centre, for which there is a specific form (see above).
Funding offered by the University
- Financial Assistance for Undergraduate Students
- Financial Assistance for Postgraduate Students
- Cambridge Bursary Scheme
- Hawks' Charitable Trust
- Assistance with Medical Costs (Crane's Charity)
- The Donald Robertson Travel Fund, based in Trinity College, but open to undergraduates (other than final-year undergraduates) from any College. This fund is intended to help students take strenuous open-air holidays during the Long Vacation either in the UK or abroad, preferably among mountains. Application forms are available from the Great Gate Porter's Lodge, Trinity College. The closing date varies each year, but is generally in late April or early May. An example of a previous year's application form is available here.