On this page is more information about some of the Snowdon Scholarship winners of 2022; including their chosen masters, university and hope for their future careers.
Emma Beeden
Masters in International Child Rights and Development; Kings College London
My name is Emma, a 21 years old and from England. In September I will be studying a Masters in International Child Rights and Development at Kings College London. Prior to this I graduated with a first-class degree in Childhood and Youth: Theory and Practice from the University of Sussex. A child rights module during my degree began my interest in this topic. It has also been influenced by my own experiences as a disabled young person not always feeling their voice was heard. This is something I want to make sure does not happen to others.
My main interests include increasing youth voice and improving the transition to adult healthcare services. I have already worked in this area with the NHS Youth Forum and the National Children’s Bureau but during my course I look forward to expanding my knowledge by looking at these topics from a global perspective.
Being awarded the scholarship means I can afford to live in central London without having to commute. This will help me massively as my disability means I find travelling very tiring and can cause a flare up in my conditions. Being able to join the Disabled Leaders Network means I will get to meet a new group of people who are passionate about improving society for disabled people
In the future I hope to work at a human right’s organisation where I can promote the right of children and young people to share their views and feelings on things that affect them.
Harry Patient
Masters in Mathematics and Data Science; University of Bath
Hi I’m Harry. I’ll be studying a master’s in Mathematics and Data Science at the University of Bath. I recently graduated from the University of York studying Mathematics. I’ve always had a love for the subject in both pure and applied mathematics, but my focus recently has shifted towards data science. I’m a firm believer in the science’s ability to make meaningful improvements in the world, machine learning and AI have so many incredible applications for improving the lives of billions and I hope to be a small part of that in the future.
Despite growing up with cerebral palsy I’ve always been an avid sportsman, at University I began fencing, later becoming president of the club. I ended up regularly competing for the University in able bodied competitions but also wheelchair fencing. As a wheelchair fencer I have competed internationally, am a SportsAid sponsored athlete and a member of the Team England Futures sport development program and I hope to compete at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Receiving a Snowdon Scholarship is life changing, it will allow me to focus on my academics, while freeing up time and funds for training and competing that will hopefully let me fulfil my sporting dreams. I hope that one day I will be able to be a positive role model to disabled youth and encourage and inspire the next generation of disabled athletes, and this Scholarship is an integral part of making that a reality.
Katy Evans
MSc Mad Studies; Queen Margaret University
Katy did her undergraduate degree in Disability Studies and has worked in the area as a policy adviser, advocate and most recently as a co-researcher on the ESRC funded project Living Life to the Fullest. This project was a three-year study into the life experiences of disabled young people, specifically those with life threatening and life limiting conditions. Katy worked on all aspects of the project and co-authored the book. It is this work that reignited her passion for academia.
In her personal life Katy has experienced emotional distress. She felt dissatisfied with mainstream approaches to distress which tended to silence rather than provide meaningful person-centred support. During Katy’s search for understanding she came across others questioning traditional approaches which led her to Mad Studies.
Katy is excited to be starting the world’s first masters program in what is a new and quickly growing area of academia. With lived experience and activism at the heart of the course, Katy hopes to combine her Disability Studies knowledge with Mad Studies so that she can highlight the issues for disabled people experiencing distress. Katy’s experiences have taught her there is often a great lack of both access and understanding for disabled people.
The Snowdon Scholarship has given Katy the confidence to pursue her goals as well as the financial security she needs to be able to focus on her studies.
Kimberley Burrows
MA Painting; Royal College of Art
I’m a recent graduate of Leeds Arts University, specialising in abstract expressionism, and will begin my MA at the Royal College of Art in the Autumn. Painting is a powerful and proficient cognitive experience which I embrace as a healing tool for complex trauma after sight loss. My practice centres around an authorial, performative approach. I have an emotional, challenging, and purposeful relationship with art. Since going blind it has become more engaging and profound. I’ve featured on BBC News and in Marie Claire, among others. At present, I’m painting for the Wellcome Collection and will soon release a limited clothing range with Warehouse. It’s my sincere hope to be an exhibited artist and to inspire positive social change, drawing significant attention to disability in the art world. Our artistic voices are just as valuable!
I have a wealth of skills and experience in campaigning for disability rights, as well as fundraising and public speaking for sight loss charities including Guide Dogs, RNIB, and Henshaws Society for Blind People. I’ve spoken at both UK and European Parliament, and co-chaired a campaigning network with RNIB.
Being awarded the Snowdon Scholarship has allowed me to accept my offer to study at such a prestigious school, to join the ranks of outstanding alumni, and be afforded opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise had access to. It felt worlds way from a working-class artist from Salford but the Snowdon Trust have given me a much brighter future. Thank you!
Grace Harvey
Masters in Public Dental Health; University of Manchester
I have recently graduated from the University of Manchester where I studied immunology. My research project was heavily focused on oral health. My final year project focused on the role of macrophages in tooth eruption and my review focused on the global prevalence of periodontitis and its relationship with other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. I am incredibly excited to be starting my Masters at the University of Manchester in Public Dental Health. In the future I would like to study dentistry, but before I embark on this journey I thought that it was incredibly important to understand the vital needs of the public, their interaction with oral health services and to gain a wider knowledge of the health policies that govern not just our society but the world.
I have two major passions in life, the first being health and the second being sport. I have always thought that the two complement eachother well. I joined my local swimming club when I was 9 and by 15 I had broken numerous British Records. I am a Paralympic silver medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, a Commonwealth silver medallist (Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games) and a world champion (2021 World Para-Swimming Championships). I train 20 hours per week at the British Para-Swimming National Performance Centre in Manchester; balancing academia and sport has been challenging but it is one that I will be continuing throughout my Masters as I aim to become Paralympic Champion at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
The Snowdon Masters Scholarship is absolutely fantastic and I feel incredibly honoured to be a recipient alongside so many inspirational students. Without the Scholarship I would not be able to study this Masters. I believe that the pursuit of knowledge shouldn’t come with the worry of ‘can I afford this’; the scholarship has enabled me to fully pay my course fees as well as helping me to access suitable accommodation that is wheelchair friendly.
Above all else, the Snowdon Masters Scholarship has enabled me to feel supported in the academic field that I wish to pursue. Often-times I have been met with surprise from individuals when I express my wish as a disabled woman to become a dentist. But now I feel supported in my ambitions and I’m incredibly excited to continue on my journey to become a dentist who happens to have a disability.
Wasim Iqbal
Bar Practice Course with Master’s in Law, University of Law Birmingham.
My name is Wasim and I recently graduated with an LLB Honours Law Degree. I am now starting the Bar Practice Course with Master’s in Law with the University of Law Birmingham.
I am an aspiring disabled Barrister and have significant interest in helping others overcome adversity and do a significant amount of voluntary work to that affect, such as Amicus ALJ’s Death Penalty Project, food banks and welfare and advice centres.
I vowed to be part of policy making and influence in the community so I could raise awareness and lead action for change; primarily at grass roots level; including education, mental wellbeing, and social and moral justice.
Here more about Wasim’s ambitions here: “We must stop treating the leaders of tomorrow, as the enemies of today.”
Sophie Anson
MPhil in Sociology (Media and Culture); Cambridge University
I am a recent graduate of Human, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge (specialising in Sociology) and will be studying for an MPhil in the Sociology of Media and Culture at Cambridge this year. My proposed research will build on the work I completed for my Undergraduate dissertation, examining how state and public usage of social media affects the visibility of marginalised groups. By centring the voices of those subject to unwanted online exposure, this work intends to deepen our understanding of how existing inequalities are reproduced and extended in online space.
I am extremely grateful to The Snowdon Masters Scholarship for allowing me to embark upon this project without the additional strain of precarious employment that has underpinned my studies since high school. Participation in the Disabled Leaders Network will also allow me to learn from and be inspired by others. My journey navigating disability is a fairly new one, having only been formally diagnosed with a chronic health condition in October of 2020. The self-advocacy of others in this network and beyond serves as a valuable and motivating example to follow.
Outside of work and academia, I enjoy (albeit very amateur) arts and crafts, as well as admittedly spending far too much time on the very social media platforms my academic work criticises. When I get the chance I also cherish the opportunity to return home to the Northeast of England, which will always have my heart.
Anna Ward
MPhil in Film and Screen Studies; Emmanuel College, Cambridge University
I am Anna, 25 years old from York, England. I recently graduated with a degree in Modern and Medieval Languages from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, specialising in Italian Cinema. I am a wheelchair user with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which has been challenging whilst studying at a university with such historic buildings! I took a year out to work for Cambridge SU as the Disabled Students’ Officer with the aim to implement a variety of policies to improve the lives of disabled students within the university. Following this, I will be starting my MPhil in Film and Screen Studies also at Emmanuel College in October.
I aim to research the representations of disabled people in Italian Cinema which draws on the work I started in my undergraduate dissertation. I am passionate about this area of research, as I believe that media representations of disabled people have real world consequences for our social conditions, yet there is a relatively small amount of writing on this topic.
The Snowdon Trust previously gave me funding to allow me to purchase my first electric wheelchair, which enabled me to embark on a year abroad to Milan to take part in an Erasmus programme studying film at Università degli Studi di Milano. Now receiving the Snowdon Scholarship has allowed me the financial stability to remain living in Cambridge in an adapted flat, and I hope will also allow me to take future research trips back to Italy!
Outside of my area of study, I am a Eurovision super fan and I attended this year’s contest in Turin. I also love sewing and embroidery, and of course I watch way too many films.
Emily Green
Masters of Arts in Performance; The Royal Academy of Music
I am studying a Master of Arts in Performance at the Royal Academy of Music as it is one of the best music academies in the world with outstanding instrumental tutors and facilities. I have a moderate cookie bite sensorineural hearing loss between 500Hz-2kHz in both ears and am currently using Signia Pure Pure 13 BT 5nx hearing aids in both ears. This has not stopped me from wanting to become a professional musician, but it has certainly made the process a lot harder.
Due to my disability, I have to study and practice more as it takes me longer to process aural information, and funding will enable me to study more which gives me less time to be able to work due to having a disability.
My hearing disability has always made it more difficult in all aspects of my musical playing and having these extra two years of study would enable me to become a serious professional classical musician with access to some of the world’s best tutors that are not available in Australia. With this scholarship, I can grasp the opportunities that it would provide, to become a successful musician and make a valuable contribution to the musical life of our community, in both Australia and the UK. Audiences want to see a reflection of themselves making music and the lack of diversity in orchestras deters people from coming to concerts. It’s a significant systemic problem.
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