Scholarships and Bursaries

Prospective students considering applying to Imperial should visit the College pages for information on scholarships and bursaries available to students via the College.

In addition to College support, the Department is honoured to support undergraduate study through the following scholarships:  

The R W Barnes Scholarship

The R W Barnes Scholarship was made by possible by a legacy gift from an alumnus of Imperial.

The Department of Mathematics aims to use the R W Barnes Scholarship to promote our black scholars as well as Imperial College’s commitments to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity.

Applying for a R W Barnes Scholarship

To be eligible for the R W Barnes Scholarship, applicants must be of black heritage; they must also be eligible for Home fees and must have completed an application via UCAS for one of the mathematics undergraduate degrees offered by the our department. (Note that the Joint Mathematics and Computing BSc/MSci Programme does not qualify for the R W Barnes Scholarship.)

Prospective scholars should apply by filling in the application form available here: R W Barnes Scholarship Application. As part of the application form, prospective scholars will be asked to explain why they want to study mathematics at Imperial (max 1000 characters). They will also be asked to confirm their black heritage. Eligible applicants will be assessed for the scholarship on academic potential and their answers to the question on the form.

Please note that the deadline to submit an application for the R W Barnes scholarship is at 18:00 PM (UK London time) on the 23 February 2024.

Terms of the Scholarship

Recipients of the scholarship are awarded a bursary of £14,500 in Year 1 of their UG programme. A bursary of the same value will be awarded in each of Year 2 and Year 3, so long as they earn an average of at least 60 in the preceding year.

Continuation of a R W Barnes Scholarship into Departmental Masters Programme

Scholarship recipients wishing to complete an MSci, MSc,or Mres programme offered by the Department of Mathematics will awarded a bursary of £14,500 in Year 4 (the masters year) so long as:

1. They meet the Department of Mathematics requirements for continuation into Year 4 of an UG MSci programme OR apply and are admitted into an MSc or MRes programme offered by the Department.
2. Earn an average of at least 60 in Year 3 of their UG programme.

Students in the Joint Mathematics and Computing MSci do not qualify for the R W Barnes Scholarship.

The Doris Chen Undergraduate Scholarship

The Doris Chen Scholarship has been established through the generous support of the husband of the late and esteemed mathematician, Dr Doris Chen. Mr Shou-Lum Chen CBE is an alumnus and Honorary Fellow of Imperial. Their son, Professor William Chen, is a double-graduate of Imperial’s Department of Mathematics and is a former member of its academic staff.

The undergraduate award of £10,000 per annum will be available to students defined as ‘Home/UK’ by the University & College Admission Service (UCAS) and who are in financial need according to Student Finance England (SFE). To be classified in financial need the student’s household income must be less than £60,000 per annum. The scholarship will be awarded based on excellence within the group of students who qualify as being in financial need.

Since 2014 all prospective undergraduate students that the Department believe have the potential to be accepted onto a course will be invited to take a new entrance exam, which has been developed in collaboration with Imperial’s peers at the University of Oxford. The Department will therefore use the entrance exam together with the candidates’ predicted grades to determine the best candidate who is in financial need, and they shall be awarded the Doris Chen Undergraduate Scholarship.

The most recent Undergraduate Doris Chen Scholarship was available for a student starting in the academic year 2017-2018.

The Doris Chen funds also provide PhD awards

UG Women’s Scholarship funded in part by Imperial alumna Marjorie McDermott 

This scholarship was made possible by a generous legacy gift from Marjorie McDermott, an alumna of Imperial’s Department of Mathematics.  She graduated with a BSc in Mathematics in 1951 and then completed a DIC (MSc) in 1952. The Department also make an annual contribution to fund the scholarships.

The Department aims to use the Marjorie McDermott’s scholarship to promote our women scholars as well as Imperial College’s commitments to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity. Recipients of the scholarship are awarded £1000 during each of their second and third years. Recipients who continue into an MSci, MRes, or MSc degree offered by the Department will be awarded £7,500 in two instalments during their masters study. 

Currently applications to this scholarship are open only to Year 2 women in Imperial’s undergraduate mathematics programme, we hope to open up other routes to this in the near future.

Donating to the College to support our students

If you would like to consider supporting the students in the Department through prizes or scholarships, please contact the  College Development Team or the Mathematics Undergraduate Office.