The Sharon James Bursary

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 also open this bursary to Welsh, female students studying our Graduate Entry Medicine programme.

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.

Eligibility Criteria

You must be studying one of the following courses:

Healthcare Sciences (Audiology, Cardiac Physiology, Nuclear Medicine, Neurophysiology, Radiotherapy Physics, Radiation Physics, Respiratory and Sleep Physiology, Rehabilitation Engineering, Medical Engineering)
Nursing (Adult Swansea, Adult Carmarthen, Child, Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, Dispersed Learning)
Midwifery
Paramedic Science
Paramedic Science
Paramedic Science
Graduate Entry Medicine

How to apply

If you think you meet any of this criteria, and you’d like to be considered please email studyFMHLS@swansea.ac.uk stating: your name, course, year of entry and which criteria you meet from the below list:

Applicants who live in an area with low progression to Higher Education (identified from Participation of Local Areas POLAR score)
Applicants who reside in areas included within Welsh Indexes of multiple deprivation.
Applicants where parents/guardians have not previously attended Higher education and indicated so on their UCAS application.
Applicants who have spent time in care and indicated so on their UCAS application.
Applicants who have completed a widening participation programme at Swansea University such as ‘Step up to Swansea’

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 next set of Sharon James Bursaries in 2024.

Bursary Case Studies

Hear from our students on what receiving the bursary means to them...

Rebecca Williams - BSc Adult Nursing

Woman with long brown hair taking selfie in garden

The plan for my bursary payment is to support my children for the first few months of study without me having to worry about looking for a part time job whilst juggling study, placement and being a single mum.

My advice for new student would be to never underestimate your abilities. Always drive for what you what and look for and accept any help, guidance or support that is available along the way. Everyone's circumstances are different and I wasn't sure if I would be short listed let alone accepted but it has enabled me to worry less about my finances whilst adjusting to uni and a new way of life.

September 2023 recipient

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