News and Alumni
Applications for scholarship grants for the academic year 2023/24 are open! Please contact us direct at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request an application form, to be completed and emailed back to us by the deadline of 11.59pm on Friday 21st July. Good luck!
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman is another lucky recipient of a 2022/23 WEST grant!
Written by West
Atlanta Sonson-Chapman
BA Theatre Directing and Production
Middlesex University
Inspirational quote upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“The brain takes in their opinions, but it is controlled by your commands."
Edgar Kuteesa, studying a BSc Medical Biochemistry, receives a grant!
Written by West
Edgar Kuteesa
BSc Medical Biochemistry
Middlesex University
Inspirational quote upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
"I’m so excited to have the opportunity of being a UK WEST scholar. I’d like to thank my lecturers who have supported me up to date throughout my university journey as a Medical Biochemistry student. The nomination from my lecturers alone made me happy. The scholarship will definitely boost my confidence during my studies. I believe that many people are in the same situation as me and I wish most of them would get to know more about this opportunity in order to ease their university life. I’d like to thank WEST again for the wonderful opportunity”.
Another one of our lucky 2022/23 grant recipients: Nia Tackie
Written by West
Nia Tackie
BA in Fashion Textiles and Design
Middlesex University
Inspirational quote upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“I’m grateful to WEST for granting me the opportunity to use this grant to help me in my degree and I hope it encourages other BAME students to know that WEST can help give them assurance to study whichever course they want to, creative or academic and feel confident in themselves and their careers after graduating."
Meet our four 2022/23 grant recipients! In no particular order...
Written by West
Ikari Reese JR
BA in Theatre Performance and Production
Middlesex University
Inspirational quote upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“Nothing is impossible, The word itself says I'm Possible!"
Fast approaching deadline for 2022/23 grant applications!
Written by WestThe deadline for applications for 2022/23 grants is 23:59 on Friday 22nd July 2022. All applications are to be made online by going to the Scholarships page on our website and clicking on "Apply Here". For those applicants who are successful in progressing to the second round of the application process, we will be conducting interviews in the first half of August. Final decisions on grants are expected to be made by the end of August. Good luck to all those who apply!
It is exciting to think that soon (by the end of June) we will be starting on the next cycle of WEST grants by opening up applications for the upcoming academic year 2022/23!
In the meantime, we are working on promoting our charity to potential sponsors who can help with funding. Previously these grants have been entirely self-funded by the Board of the charity, but in order to continue the valuable work which we are doing, we now need to concentrate on securing external funding.
We are reaching out to potential individual donors or organisations who are known for supporting ethnic communities charities, whom we could contact to tell them more about the work we do, and whom we could ask for support through, for example, funding.
Please click to download a 1-page flyer which you can share with anybody who could be interested in supporting us. This flyer provides a little more information about what we do and the British students who have been the extremely well-deserving recipients of our grants so far. It also includes a quote from one of our grant recipients which highlights how much it means to be awarded a WEST scholarship grant.
Our website offers opportunities for individual donations of amounts starting from as small as £5. We also have a page for corporate donations, whereby an organisation can sponsor a particular student or students for a defined number of grants. For example, to sponsor one student, it would involve a donation of £1,000 for a full one-year scholarship grant.
Thank you in advance for your time and support!
Middlesex University article on just how amazing some of our 2021/22 grant recipients are!
Written by WestPlease read the following article just published by Middlesex University. It tells just how amazing the 2021/22 grant recipients from Middlesex University are – a true inspiration to others!
University of Oxford Masters Student receives a WEST 2021/22 grant
Written by WestHannah Lloyd
MPhil Development Studies
University of Oxford
Peer comment upon Hannah being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant for a second consecutive year*:
“Working with Hannah over the year, I got to witness her passion for developing young people first hand. She works daily to support and shape young leaders, and crucially to help them improve access to Oxford University. And now it’s vital that Hannah be able to take this step for her own development and future at a University which a. is ridiculously expensive, but most importantly b. Hannah has worked so hard to improve and open up!"
Olubunmi Obayomi, studying a BA Fashion Textiles and Design, receives a grant!
Written by WestOlubunmi Obayomi
BA Fashion Textiles and Design
Middlesex University
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“The WEST scholarship is a step further in the achievement of my dream to give back to the community. Thanks a lot, WEST.”
Nicolette Porter is another lucky recipient of a 2021/22 WEST grant
Written by WestNicolette Porter
BSc Midwifery
Middlesex University
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“I am delighted and feel honoured to be receiving the WEST scholarship grant. I massively appreciate the work that WEST does to help students like myself in the BAME community and I hope that other students will feel encouraged keep working hard and believe in themselves.”
Another one of our lucky 2021/22 grant recipients: Kyle McAdam-Whyte
Written by WestKyle McAdam-Whyte
BSc Mathematics
Middlesex University
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste. This has become more evident to me the last couple of years since I’ve become paralysed and has inspired me to use my mind to better myself by studying a mathematics degree.”
Meet our five 2021/22 grant recipients! In no particular order...
Written by WestSavannah Gordon
BSc Biochemistry
Middlesex University
Inspirational quote upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“Life can be tough, confusing and hard to navigate. There will be times when you’re stuck and don’t know what to do. You will have times where you mess up and make mistakes. You’ll have times where you question yourself and your abilities. I sure have. What I’ve learnt is, that it’s okay. I’m not the only one, you’re not the only one – it happens to the best of us. However, in those moments I really had to dig deep and re-adjust my focus to not only achieve all I’ve achieved but exceed all expectations.”
We are delighted to announce that we now have a second cohort of recipients of the WEST scholarship grant! At the start of the academic year 2021/22, after a thorough application and selection process, we decided to award £1000 scholarship grants to 5 very deserving British students of Black African and Caribbean heritage. We will be publicising individual information about them very shortly!
Sharon Nakiyimba
BA Education Studies
Middlesex University
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
"The WEST scholarship is a life changer for those like me that never stop believing BUT continue to achieve at any given opportunity."
Hannah Lloyd
MPhil Development Studies
University of Oxford
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
"Thanks so much to WEST for this scholarship! It helped me get a step closer to my dream of studying an MPhil in Development Studies at Oxford University. I intend to use my degree to develop strategies, programmes and research insights that promote sustainable development back in the Caribbean, and bridge generation gaps in our Diaspora. There are very few funds available specifically for Black British students - rather than a ‘diversity initiative’, this scholarship feels like a gift from my own community, which makes it extra special."
Augustine Kwaw
BSc Mental Health Nursing
Middlesex University
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“I'm honoured to be in receipt of the WEST grant in particular for recognition of my hard work and commitment to improving my community. In a time of uncertainty and an ever growing pressure on people's mental health, there is an increasing demand to improve our awareness of mental wellbeing. The grant stretches far beyond financial gain but more so towards a collaborative working partnership with WEST to create more awareness and provide support to others.”
Another grant recipient from this academic year 2020/21...
Written by WestGeorgina Ramsay
MA in Comparative Literature and Critical Theories
University of Birmingham
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“I am humbled to be part of the first cohort of students benefitting from the Wilkes Education Scholarship Trust. As the first person in my family to go to university, navigating academia has been a challenging experience at times. Both my parents and grandparents were born and raised in Jamaica, so my heritage has undeniably shaped my academic interests. Over the course of my undergraduate degree in English and French at the University of Oxford, I have made a conscious effort to focus on literature that either centres, or is written by, people of African and Caribbean descent. I hope my work will make a valuable contribution to academia and to our historical memory. My commitment to doing what I can to tackle inequality of educational opportunity is inextricably linked to my own experience as a Black-Caribbean student in the education system. By relieving some of the financial burden of a Master's degree, this scholarship allows me to spend more time doing this alongside my degree. I am a firm believer in paying it forward - I currently serve as a mentor for the Caribbean Scholars Foundation and School Liaison Coordinator for Thinking Black. I am so grateful to the Wilkes Education Scholarship Trust and I have every intention of giving back through the Alumni programme once I am able to do so.”
More...
With the deadline for 2021/22 grant applications fast approaching, we'd like you to meet our 2020/21 grant recipients. In no particular order, please meet...
Daniel Tella
LLB Bachelor of Laws
Middlesex University
Upon being awarded a £1,000 WEST scholarship grant:
“There is no Mohammed Ali without solid training. You can’t have Bill Gates without creativity. There is no King David without defeating goliath. I am honoured to be here as a graceful reflection of my sacrifice and steadfastness in pursuing my educational attainment which WEST recognises, we can all do. Sacrifice is a must, and activating one’s skill for the public good is a blessing for you to then inspire others.
In this, stems great change and improvement which leads to the achievement that begins from the sky!
#ThankyouWEST”
We are delighted to announce that we have a first cohort of recipients of the WEST scholarship grant! At the start of the academic year 2020/21, after a thorough application and selection process, we decided to award £1000 scholarship grants to 5 very deserving British students of Black African and Caribbean heritage. Their grants were paid in two instalments, the second being paid after they had fulfilled certain criteria regarding course progression at the end of semester 1, etc. With all five recipients now in receipt of their full grants, we will be publicising information about them very shortly!
WEST - News and Alumni
The 2019 – 2020 academic year will see the first cohort of students benefit from the Wilkes Education Scholarship Trust (WEST) scholarship grants. We would like to thank our key launch partners, United Kingdom Investor Equality Diversity (UKIED) and Cislyn Wilkes for their generous support, without which we would not have been able to launch this important charity.
We look forward to posting further details of the WEST scholarship grant award recipients in the coming months. We are looking to make up to a 100 scholarship grants a year, depending on funding, if you would like to get involved or make a donation please contact us using any of the below contact points.
