The Dr Sharon James bursary offers four bursaries of £1,200 to Welsh, female students. The bursaries are limited to those studying clinical courses within our Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Life Science. These courses provide individuals with the most in demand skillsets within the NHS, and include: Healthcare Sciences, Nursing, Midwifery, Paramedic Science, Occupational Therapy and Operating Department Practice.
We are committed to widening access to our healthcare and clinical courses. Therefore, the bursary is only open to Welsh, female students who also meet the Welsh Multiple Deprivation Index criteria.
Who is Dr Sharon James?
Originally from the Cardigan area, Dr Sharon James currently sits on the Board of Healthcare and Biotechnology companies in Sweden (Mölnlycke), Denmark (Novozymes) and Canada (Algae-C) where she is relentless in her pursuit of innovation and delivering quality of life improvements to consumers and patients. She also believes strongly in that we have an absolute duty to care for the environment and has become a strong influencer and champion of her Board companies’ Sustainability agendas.
She has many years of international experience at the Chief Technology Officer/Board level in global, blue-chip companies (Bayer, Reckitt, PepsiCo) where she led and transformed large global Research & Development teams in the Household & Healthcare sectors. Her personal mission has always been to empower consumers and patients to make choices that support their personal health - strongly believing that the ability to control your own health and wellness is a basic human right for all. To that end, she has delivered transformative and consumer-loved health innovation internationally.
She is a strong and vocal advocate for women in science and acts as a mentor for many female young professionals. She is committed to opening the doors to science education for young girls through STEM programmes and initiated the ‘Making Sense of Science’ movement for Bayer USA to encourage children to study and embrace science.
This bursary scheme shows Sharon’s firm commitment to supporting young people, particularly women, by giving them opportunities to achieve their potential. Having come from a working-class background herself, she fully understands the barriers and challenges that financial constraints can present. Swansea University is extremely grateful to Sharon for providing this crucial support and we look forward to awarding the first set of Sharon James Bursaries in 2023.
