Climate action scholarships launched for small island nation students

Students from small island nations will be supported in their work to address climate change through new scholarships inspired by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and announced today by the Universities of Cambridge, Toronto, Melbourne, McMaster and Montreal.

Launched to coincide with Commonwealth Day, the climate action awards recognise the disproportionate effects of climate change on Small Island Developing States and will support students on courses that engage with sustainability, helping them develop their existing skills and knowledge to address the severe effects of climate change in the countries they come from.

Working with HRH The Prince of Wales, the initiative was developed by Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and the programme will see scholarships provided at the five Universities which have come together to address this critical issue.  In Cambridge, 10 fully-funded scholarships will be awarded by the Cambridge Trust over the next two years, with the first recipients expected to take up their places at the University of Cambridge in October 2022.

The Trust was established in the 1980s with the specific objective of providing scholarships to students from the Commonwealth and wider world who lacked the means to fund their studies at the University of Cambridge.  His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, himself a Cambridge alumnus having graduated from Trinity College in 1970, has been involved in the work of the Trust for many years, serving as Patron since 2010.

Speaking about the new scheme, Helen Pennant, the Trust’s Director, said: “I hope that these scholarships will make a difference both to the students who receive them and to their countries as they grapple with the many challenges of climate change.  I would like to thank HRH The Prince of Wales for his support of this important initiative.”

See more on the University of Cambridge website.

HRH The Prince of Wales meeting Cambridge Trust-supported students

HRH The Prince of Wales meeting Cambridge Trust-supported students