City University London:The Sekforde House Trust Scholarship 2025

The Sekforde House Trust (“the Trust”) was founded in memory of Professor Dame Kathleen Lonsdale FRS who received a scholarship at the age of 16 to study at University in London without which she would have been unable to pursue her career as a scientist and her life as a campaigner for peace and (following her own prison sentence served at Holloway) prison reform.

The purpose of the Trust is to promote education.

The Trust is funded, mainly by the profits generated by the Sekforde public house on Sekforde street in Clerkenwell.

The trustees are David Lonsdale (chairman), Mihail Kostov and Ms Susie Hicks all of 34 Sekforde Street London EC1R OHA.

The Trust has been offering scholarships since 2017.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirments
• Interview Process
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineMay 30, 2025
• Value£22,000
• Study LevelUndergraduate
• SponsorCity University London
• City to studyLondon
• School to studyCity University London
• Eligible CountryAll Countries

Subscribe for Scholarship Alert!

Benefits

There are a total of six £22,000 scholarships available.

An additional award of £6,000 to one of the six scholars.

Requirements

The scholarships are aimed at students who have a place at either City St George's, University of London or University College London or Queen Mary University.

UCL was Kathleen Lonsdale’s university, and she was the first woman to obtain a professorship in 1949.

Students applying will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Outstanding academic or other ability
2. Financial need
3. A desire and ability to make the world fairer and more sustainable.
4. Where a student has a conditional place, he or she may apply but the scholarship, if awarded, will only be paid after the conditions are satisfied.

Foreign students are most welcome to apply but will be required to attend interview in London in person if selected for interview.

The Trust will pay the reasonable cost of attending for interview and can provide overnight accommodation.

It is not essential to meet all the criteria. But most scholars will do so.

The scholarships are available for existing students at all levels as well as students who have places to study.

Interview Dates and Process

The Trust cannot ordinarily engage in correspondence or discussion about the scholarships with Applicants. It does not have any employees and all the trustees and external assessors are volunteers. Applicants are asked not to contact the trustees unless they really feel they must do so

The Chairman of the trustees may exceptionally be contacted at [email protected].

After the deadline, all applications will be reviewed carefully by the trustees. Approximately 12 to 15 candidates will be selected for interview and contacted by telephone.

The interviews will take place on Sunday 15 June 2025 at the Marian Anderson, public house, Bowling Green Lane, London EC1.

The interview panel consists of the trustees and three external assessors. At least one of the external assessors is a former scholar. One is a member of staff at the Sekforde.

There is no dress code for the interviews. Casual dress is entirely acceptable. The interviews are friendly but vigorous and will last about 30 minutes. If an applicant is unable to attend an interview in person on the date required, then ordinarily it will not be possible to consider the application further.

Any member of the panel may veto an applicant. This is to ensure that the decision to award is ultimately unanimous, and every member’s views are taken into consideration.

Successful candidates are informed of the decision within 24 hours of the final interview. Scholarships are paid by cheque at the scholars’ dinner which will be held on Friday 13 September 2024 in the ballroom of the Sekforde public house.

All unsuccessful applicants will not be informed of the decision. The trustees do not provide feedback.

This is because all the trustees are volunteers, and we have limited time and resources. Also, decisions are often difficult and involve disagreements. We want to be able to speak freely about relative merits without worrying about how we express ourselves.

Application Deadline

May 30, 2025

How To Apply

The application should be sent to David Lonsdale, Chairman of the Trust, at [email protected] with the following attachments sent in word.

1. A personal statement of no more than 700 words. The statement should demonstrate how the Applicant meets one or more of the criteria and provide a real insight into the person making the application. These statements often contain very personal information, and the contents will be kept strictly confidential.
   Statements generated by or with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence are easily detected and will result in the entire application being rejected. The personal statement should provide information as to what resources may be available to the Applicant including student loans, family income or assets, personal income and assets.
   Some applicants have stated in past years that their religious beliefs prohibit them from having access to student loans on which interest is charged. The Trust does not consider that any such prohibition should assist the applicant in meeting the financial need criterion. All applicants who have not accessed loans for which they are eligible will be assessed on the basis that they do have alternative sources of funds open to them.
2. A curriculum vitae (CV) on one A4 page. The cv should have attached a passport sized photograph so that the Applicant can be remembered and more easily identified. The curriculum vitae should include contact details.
3. A closed personal reference. This means that the reference should not be seen by the Applicant. It should be sent by the referee separately to [email protected] and should clearly identify the applicant by name and university. It should be provided by a person who knows the Applicant well and should focus on character potential and commitment. It should not be more than 500 words. It should avoid exaggerated praise or “gush”. Ideally the reference should arrive on the same day as the other required documents.
4. A closed academic reference. This means the reference should not be seen by the Applicant. It should be sent by the referee separately to [email protected]. The referee should critically assess the Applicant both in terms of academic achievement and potential. The reference should be rigorous objective and fair. The reference should be no more than 500 words. Academic referees of candidates who may be selected for interview should be prepared to be contacted by telephone or email for further information. Ideally the reference should arrive on the same day as the other required documents.
5. Although not required, Applicants may send an example of their work or provide details of anything published on the internet which may be relevant to the Application.

For more details, visit City University London scholarship page.