Snowdon Scholar 2021 winners

Molly Lawson

Mphil in Classics at Cambridge University

I am a recent graduate of Lancaster University studying History and am beginning a Classics MPhil at Cambridge University in the autumn. My interest lies in the experience of women in Roman Britain, using an intersectional feminist approach.

I am a Student Panellist for the Office for Students, a role in which I am able to represent students in higher education, advising on policy and meeting with government ministers to influence the organisation. During my undergraduate degree, I was also the Students with Disabilities Officer for my Students’ Union, during which I ran a number of campaigns to fight for greater accessibility on campus.

The Snowdon Masters Scholarship has allowed me to attend Cambridge University for postgraduate study. After this, I would love to go onto further study, hopefully studying for a PhD and eventually going onto an academic career. I would like to thank the Snowdon Trust for the opportunity to undertake my MPhil.

Denicia Bernard

MPhil in Education (Knowledge, Power, Politics) at Cambridge

I’ll be studying for an MPhil in Education (Knowledge, Power, Politics) at Cambridge. i.e. exploring ‘what ‘counts’ as official knowledge’, ‘how is it withheld/expressed’, ‘how can that support change’, so it’s all very engaging and interdisciplinary. My BA mostly focused on Disability and intersectional social justice, then I did access work at Cambridge SU, then research for the university looking at Disability and Time. I’m excited to learn more interdisciplinary research skills so I can focus particularly on the role of creative/artistic self-advocacy methods as a technique to dismantle various intersectional barriers, broaden perspectives, and support future innovation.

I’m an atypical student (1st Generation, Carer, FSM, State/Comp, multiple health conditions overlapping etc) but I believe that it’s important to bring perspective/lived experience to what you do. Aside from the obvious/practical, the scholarship supports a belief in me and what I do, and why I want and need to do it, not in spite of challenges arising from my conditions but precisely because they develop the kind of skill, perspective, resilience and passion to hopefully achieve the things that I aspire to. The plan is more research /PHD, or going into a creative/therapeutic field which supports other queer and disabled people [/of colour] and their self-advocacy and joy. 

Other interests: Decolonial food history and competitive food TV; Film, TV & Theatre; Online science and animal content

Richard Amm

MSc Disability, Design and Innovation at UCL

My name is Richard and I am doing an MSc in Disability, Design and Innovation at UCL. I previously achieved first-class honours in my BSc Psychology degree from Greenwich University, the home of Mile Oliver who popularised the Social Model of Disability. My dissertation there was about the subconscious predictors of disability prejudice. I am currently a research assistant at Queen Mary University and a disability commissioner for Lewisham Council. In the future, I plan to continue doing disability-related research to help our community. One of the projects I am developing is a cooperative for carers.
 
I have worked as a disability rights campaigner for many years. I am driven by a deep sense of fairness, which is informed by my personal experiences. While I have muscular dystrophy and use a powered wheelchair, I see impairment as an expression of bodily difference, one within the natural range of human diversity. In contrast to this, the Social Model conceptualises disability as the externally imposed limitations of opportunities that prevent equal participation in society. Disabled people are structurally discriminated against within existing systems.
 
I would not have been able to afford to do this MSc if not for the Snowdon grant. I have to pay for my social care which leaves me with very little money to live on. If I ever did manage to save towards the masters that would trigger a savings cap and I would have to pay even more and would likely never be able to save enough.

Ali Hemsley

MA in Digital Media, Culture and Society at the University of Brighton

As a social media activist and content creator, with a career working in Marketing – particularly for the charity sector – I am extremely interested in all that Digital Media, Culture and Society encompasses.

I am passionate about learning new techniques to create further social change through digital media, by challenging the perceptions of disability and lifting marginalised voices and stories.  

Receiving a Snowdon Scholarship provides me with an invaluable opportunity to focus on returning to academia, whilst managing my conditions. I hope to be a positive role model, both on and offline, and to be the person that I needed when I was 17, newly diagnosed with chronic illnesses, and feeling hopeless!  

Having grown up close to Brighton, I have always been inspired and encouraged by the value placed within the community on diversity and acceptance. I look forward to connecting with my fellow MA cohort and sharing these values with them also. 

Outside of work and academia, I am most often found watching football, listening to an audiobook, or cuddling my dog!

Hussain Kadhem

Advanced Study in Pure Mathematics at the University of Cambrdige

Hussain Kadhem is attending the University of Cambridge to do a master of advanced study in pure mathematics, which is also known as Part III of the mathematical tripos. He graduated from the University of Toronto, where he completed undergraduate studies in mathematics.

Being totally blind from birth, and having grown up in a low-income Iraqy refugee family, he is no stranger to the many systemic issues that disadvantage students in maths from underprivileged backgrounds; but he is determined to beat the odds and become a successful research mathematician.

His interests involve the mathematical foundations for
quantum field theory, which is currently the most successful model of high-energy physics at the quantum scale.