Imperial hosts special event celebrating support from Santander Universities

Sarah Porter Waterbury, Vice President for Advancement greets Michael Wilson, Universities Regional Manager for Santander UK

College leaders welcomed representatives of Santander UK to campus recently, to thank them for their continued support of Imperial and its students.

Over the past seven years Santander Universities has donated over £800,000 to scholarships, mobility awards and student entrepreneurship. More than 100 of our brightest students and postgraduate researchers have benefited as a result. 

Sarah Porter Waterbury, Vice President for Advancement, attended the event and thanked Santander Universities for its sustained commitment to the College. “We are so grateful for Santander’s belief in our work,” she said. “This is a great opportunity to celebrate the impact of its support and I look forward to continuing our strong partnership and collaboration in the future.”

During the celebration, those benefiting from this support were able to meet representatives from Santander UK and explain the impact it has had on them personally. Christina Petersen (Innovation Design Engineering, 2016) spoke about her experiences on the Althea-Imperial programme, a personal and professional development programme for women which Santander Universities contributes to. She explained how the programme helped her develop her ideas for a product that minimises the impact of artificial light on wellbeing, and turn these ideas into a commercially viable start-up. Mobility award recipient Dr Eleonora D'Elia introduced her research into smart materials, which could help to develop material composites that sense, shape and heal autonomously. 

Dr Eleonora D'Elia discusses her research with Michael Wilson from Santander UK and John Neilson, College Secretary and Registrar

Michael Wilson, Universities Regional Manager – London and East for Santander UK, said: “I was extremely proud to hear how the support from Santander Universities is enabling students to pursue their ambitions, and to see the potential their ideas have to bring about real benefit in our society. Tonight’s event really reminded me of our how partnership with Imperial is having an impact not only on individuals, but on the community as a whole.”

Michael Wilson with Imperial College London students and researchers