Five women STEM students from South Asia will secure full tuition fee scholarships and stipends at the University of Aberdeen, thanks to a British Council initiative to support women in STEM subjects.
The institution has been named one of 10 UK universities to become a partner in the British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM for South Asia.
The funding will be open to women from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The scholarships are available for those studying one of several STEM Postgraduate Taught Masters programmes - Data Science; Information Technology; Artificial Intelligence; Renewable Energy Engineering; Medical Physics; Medical Imaging; Biomedical Engineering; and Geographical Information Systems.
In addition to the scholarships, stipends for the five students and up to three dependants each is included in the funding.
To apply to the scholarship opportunity, prospective students would need to hold an offer of a place on one of the relevant programmes and submit a separate application form for the scholarship by 1 April 2022. For full eligibility criteria and to apply, please see here.
Professor Adelyn Wilson, Dean for International Stakeholder Engagement said: “It is an honour to be a partner for the British Council Scholarships for Women in STEM for South Asia. We are grateful to the British Council for this funding opportunity for our students, and look forward to welcoming our new students under this scheme. This is an exciting time for students to join Aberdeen’s STEM community, with two of our Schools having won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for excellence in STEM research in the last four years.”
Professor Angel Cuesta Ciscar, Interim Head of the University of Aberdeen’s School of Natural and Computing Sciences, said: “The developed and rapidly developing nations of South Asia face challenges brought about by climate change, the pandemic and the need for sustainable development and continued economic growth. The growth in rapidly available data sources and easily accessible computing power can enable decision-makers to undertake informed decisions to address these challenges, but also requires a workforce capable of harnessing these tools. Data scientists and computer scientists are fundamental to this task, and a significant investment in ensuring an information-literate workforce is critical to not only meeting the region's twenty-first century challenges, but also harnessing the opportunities brought about in doing so and in the transforming the region to a knowledge-based economy.
Professor Siladitya Bhattacharya, Head of the University of Aberdeen’s School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition said: “The School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition has academic partnerships with South Asia and welcomes a number of postgraduate students from this region each year. We are delighted to be given this opportunity to support women through this initiative.”