There are lots of opportunities for you whilst studying at Sidney and Cambridge.

Thanks to the generosity of its alumni and supporters, the College is able to offer financial support for a number of student pursuits including:

  • Professional and research internships
  • Study awards
  • Vacation travel
  • Arts and music
  • Sport

While it will not be possible to provide support in all cases, current students are strongly encouraged to apply if you have a project which would benefit from financial support.

There are plenty of other opportunities to get involved with whilst you're studying in Cambridge - check them out below!

Awards and prizes

The Waldmann Music Award

The Waldmann Award was established as a result of a gift from Professor Herman Waldmann. Professor Waldmann is a Sidney alumnus (Medicine, 1963), Fellow of the Royal Society (1990) and Honorary Fellow of Sidney (2008) with a distinguished career including Head of the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford (1994-2012). He has a keen interest in music, and is a generous supporter of music at Sidney. The prize is intended to celebrate musical excellence by students of the College.

Blake Citizenship Prize

The Blake Prize was established in 2006 through a generous donation by the family of Julian Blake (Social and Political Sciences 2000): the prize celebrates distinguished contributions by a Sidney undergraduate to the governance, and/or to the artistic, intellectual or sporting life of the College, achieved alongside excellent industry and strong academic performance.

Mike Phillips Award

The Mike Phillips Memorial Award was established by the Committee of the Sidney Sussex Society, with the support of Mike’s widow, Jane, to honour the memory of its first Chairman Mike Phillips (Natural Sciences 1963). The purpose of the Award is “to support current Sidney students in the pursuit of "excellence” in a particular field - for example those who need funds to support their pursuit of a Cambridge Blue or to compete at national standard in sport or the performing arts.”

The John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan poetry prize

The John Kinsella and Tracy Ryan poetry prize is open to those in statu pupillari in the University of Cambridge. The prize will be awarded for an original verse composition in any form, of not more than 500 lines in length. The prize will be a single award of £500, though a shared prize may be awarded in the event of two equally appropriate candidates. The winning poem will be published in The Churchill Review.

Sports Awards

The University of Cambridge maintains a long tradition of student participation in sport. The earliest known established sports club was the Cambridge University Boat Club in 1828, and now, nearly 200 years later, the University has more than 50 sports clubs.

The College makes small financial awards to those students receiving Blues or Half Blues, as a result of representing the University in their chosen sport, and who also perform satisfactorily in their academic work.

In addition to the awards for Blues and Half Blues the College is also able to provide some additional support, for a limited number of students, towards the cost of participating in sport at a university level. Awards are expected to be in the region of 75% of the amount sought up to a maximum of £125 per student.

Work

Cambridge University Careers Service

The Cambridge University Careers Service website features information about current vacancies and opportunities, vacation work, bursaries and internships, further study, and advice on finding work.

Volunteering

Give your time for your own mental wellbeing

Most people would agree that giving to others is a good thing. But it can also do a lot of good for your own mental wellbeing.

Small acts of kindness towards other people, or larger ones like volunteering in your local community, can give you a great sense of purpose. It can make you feel happier and more satisfied with life. Giving to others and co-operating with them can stimulate the reward areas in the brain, creating positive feelings.

Giving our time to others in a constructive way helps us strengthen our relationships and build new ones. Relationships with others also help mental wellbeing.

Sometimes we think of wellbeing in terms of what we have: our income, our home or car, or our job. However, evidence suggests it's our actions and our thoughts that have the biggest impact on mental wellbeing.

Positive mental wellbeing means feeling good about yourself and the world around you, and being able to get on with life in the way you want.

Helping and supporting other people, and working with others towards a shared goal, is good for our mental wellbeing.

Opportunities

Camvol Summer Placements

Camvol has been sending students to volunteer in India since 2007. It has sent well over 100 students from Cambridge. Camvol is affiliated to the Centre of South Asian Studies, the University of Cambridge.

Open to undergraduates and postgraduates.

Social Impact Voluntary Placement Scheme

Social Impact Voluntary Placement Scheme has various community volunteering projects for you to get involved with, tackling issues as diverse as educational disadvantage, loneliness, and homelessness.

They also offer Skilled Placements to support you to gain invaluable skills and experience whilst making a huge difference to organisations across Cambridge, and in your life beyond.

Research and travel

Research and Professional Experience Grants

Through its Research and Professional Experience Grants, College supports undergraduates wishing to gain experience in academic research or professional, science-based practice. The awards are intended to enable students to develop research and scientific skills, and are therefore particularly valuable to anyone considering careers in academic research or research-related fields.

College Long Vacation Travel Awards

Each year, the College is in the fortunate position of being able to support its junior members through the distribution of a large number of travel awards. These grants enable our students to visit different lands, experience different cultures, and apply their learning and skills beyond what they could afford otherwise: for this, they and the College are extremely grateful to the many benefactors who have built up the Travel Award Fund over successive generations.

Donald Robertson Travel Fund

The Donald Robertson Travel Fund, in memory of the late C.D. Robertson, Fellow of Trinity College, exists for the purpose of assisting those who would otherwise find difficulty in doing so to take strenuous open-air holidays, either at home or abroad, preferably among the mountains. The Fund is administered as informally as possible and as resources are limited, grants rarely exceed £300.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

Gladstone Memorial Trust

The Gladstone Memorial Trust awards are intended to give students an opportunity to travel abroad and extend their knowledge of foreign countries.

The awards are not intended to support scientific expeditions or projects connected with academic courses of research.

The maximum award is £600 per applicant.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

Pressland Fund Bursary Scheme

Administered by the Language Centre, the AJ Pressland Fund offers bursaries of up to £1,000 to support language study abroad.

Students should be planning to study a language overseas for up to 4 weeks during the Long Vacation and funds awarded may be used to support course fees, accommodation and travel as required.

Open to students within the Schools of the Biological Sciences, Clinical Medicine, the Physical Sciences and Technology.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

Study

Fox Fellowship

The Fox International Fellowship is a postgraduate student exchange program between Yale and 20 world-renowned partner universities, including the University of Cambridge. Fox International Fellows are selected for their potential to become leaders in fields that are policy significant, historically informed, and socially meaningful.

Fox International Fellows undertake independent research in one of the focus fields for an academic year at one of the Fox exchange partner universities.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

Further information can be found on our Studentships and funding page.

Cambridge University Language Programmes (CULP)

Cambridge University Language Programmes (CULP) supports the teaching and learning of languages throughout the University.

You may have come to Cambridge with a language skill you simply do not wish to lose, for personal reasons or enjoyment, or perhaps there is a language that you have always wanted to study. Perhaps you have a "heritage language" spoken by members of your family that you wish to develop or improve, or maybe you want to travel to a particular part of the world where you would like to be able to speak the language. Whatever your reasons, CULP are keen to offer as many avenues as possible for enjoying your language.

Francis Crick Institute

The Francis Crick Institute PhD programme is designed to attract the brightest scientific minds and is a fabulous opportunity for highly motivated and exceptionally talented people to embark on their career in biomedical research.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

Frank Knox Fellowships

Frank Knox Fellowships were established in 1945 by Mrs Annie Reid Knox as the Frank Knox Memorial to enable students from the UK, along with those from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, to undertake graduate study at Harvard University.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

The Kennedy Trust

The Kennedy Trust supports the Institute’s aim to attract high calibre early stage scientists as well as established investigators. It does this through a programme of support for Fellowships, doctoral studentships and Senior Investigator Awards.

Please check the eligibility criteria carefully.

The Tutorial Office would welcome any feedback or recommendations.