Change Studentship

The Change Studentship application form will ask you to write three 200-word statements covering the following points:

How will the studentship transform your personal and professional development?
What are the top three challenges faced by the sector and how do you think they should be addressed?
What contribution do you hope to make to the sector after you complete the course?

The evaluation panel is made up of museum and heritage professionals, including practitioners and representatives from Arts Council England and the Museums Association. They will evaluate your application in relation to your:

• communication skills
• current understanding of the museum and heritage sector
• commitment to and vision for the future of the museum and heritage sector.

Awards are intended to nurture ambition and realise potential they are not made purely on the basis of academic excellence. Please note that the evaluation panel for the Change Studentship will not have access to your general application for a place on the MA, so you may reuse material from that application as you wish.

To be considered for this award you must:

have applied for a place on the Curating Collections and Heritage MA
be prepared to start the course in October 2025
be domiciled in the UK and not required to pay international rate fees
be self-funding (students taking out a Postgraduate Master's Loan can apply, but applicants who will be funded by employers or other schemes are not eligible)
be an African diaspora, Asian diaspora or ethnically diverse person and/or have refugee status. For the purposes of this scholarship opportunity, people from Arab, Black, Asian, Chinese, mixed minority ethnic backgrounds and other Minority Ethnic backgrounds are welcome to apply.

It is one award for 2025 covering postgraduate course fees and travel expenses to access a mentoring programme organised by the university.

The studentship is open to those already working in the museums and heritage sector, as well as to new entrants, and applicants can study full-time or part-time.

The award has been developed to help promote diversity in museums, heritage and arts curation. Recent research has shown that only 10% of managerial positions in museums are held by African diaspora, Asian diaspora and ethnically diverse people. This award is intended to help a wider range of people consider or continue a career in the sector and support museums and heritage organisations to become more representative of our society.