Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Postgraduate Bursaries and Scholarships

Note: Application deadline for entry in 2024/25 - Monday 5 February, 12pm (UK time)

This Scholarship has been established to commemorate the significant contribution Dr Alex Holder made to the field of psychology and aims to support others to follow in his footsteps. Dr Alex Holder (1931-2018) dedicated his working life to child and adult psychoanalysis. Alex trained at Anna Freud, where he worked for almost 30 years helping children and families. 

This Scholarship is available to those individuals who might otherwise be deterred from applying due to financial restrictions and limited their ability to cover the costs of further studies. The funding offered will cover UCL tuition fees in their entirety and will provide a contribution to living costs across the complete duration of this two-year programme. 

Value: Full tuition fees as advertised for the programme in 2024/25 plus 50% of estimated living costs (over a two-year period). 

Eligibility criteria: 

• Available only to candidates applying to the MSc Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice programme. 

• Based on both academic merit and financial need. 

• Ordinarily applicable to permanent residents in the UK only.

Guidance notes: View here

Note: Application deadline for entry in 2024/25 – Monday 5th February, 12pm (UK time)

This scholarship is specifically aimed at supporting Black students who are seeking to undertake Masters-level study. Note that applying for this scholarship does not preclude application to any of the other bursaries for which you may be eligible.   

Value: £4,500 per year of study (total of £9,000 over a two-year period). 

Applicable to candidates interested in applying to the following programmes: 

• MRes Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology. 

• MSc Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice. 

• MSc Early Child Development and Clinical Applications. 

Eligibility Criteria: 

• Based on both academic merit and financial need. 

• Ordinarily applicable to candidates who are a permanent resident in the UK and who are also of Black or Mixed Black ethnicity. 

Guidance notes: View here

Note: Application deadline for entry in 2024/25 – Monday 5th February, 12pm (UK time)

MRes Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology 

Value: £4,500 per year of study (total of £9,000 over a two-year period).  Applicable to all candidates interested in applying to the MRes Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology programme.  Eligibility Criteria: 

• Based on both academic merit and financial need. 

• Ordinarily applicable to permanent residents in the UK only. 

 MSc Early Child Development and Clinical Applications 

Value: £4,500 per year of study (total of £9,000 over a two-year period).  Applicable to all candidates interested in applying to MSc Early Child Development and Clinical Applications programme.  Eligibility Criteria: 

• Based on both academic merit and financial need. 

• Ordinarily applicable to permanent residents in the UK only.

Guidance notes: View here

Note: Application deadline for entry in 2024/25 – Monday 5th February, 12pm  

This scholarship has been established in memory of Barbara Ann Throckmorton Drinka (1943-2020), a practicing psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. 

Barbara was born in Kansas City and attended Iowa State University from 1961-1965, earning a degree in Child Development. During that time, she took a practicum at the Merrill-Palmer Institute in Detroit, Michigan. She channelled her love of working with children into teaching sixth grade students in suburban Chicago before moving to Portland, Oregon. She obtained her Master's in Clinical Social Work in 1976 from Portland State University. In 1982, she completed a fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital, Boston MA, where she met her husband, George Drinka. In the following years, she was enrolled in a doctoral program at Smith College and continued clinical training at Boston Children's. She and George relocated to Portland, where she began a private practice in psychotherapy with children, but later expanded her practice to focus on deeper work with adults. She completed advanced training in psychoanalysis in 2006 at Oregon Psychoanalytic Center. She was the first graduate of the Center to become nationally certified in psychoanalysis.  

 Value: £2,250 per year of study (total of £4,500 over a two-year period)  

Applicable to candidates interested in applying to the following programme, where the curriculum is primarily orientated towards psychoanalytic education and training: 

MSc Early Child Development and Clinical Applications. 

Eligibility Criteria: 

• Based on both academic merit and financial need. 

• Ordinarily applicable to permanent residents in the UK only. 

• Students currently underrepresented in the field in the UK, including students from Black and minoritised ethnic backgrounds, and other minoritised groups.  

• At least half of all recipients of the scholarship will be individuals who identify as female.  

Guidance notes: View here

Note: Application deadline for entry in 2024/5 - Friday 28th June, 12pm (UK time)

This bursary is for individuals seeking to return to postgraduate study after some time away from education.

Value: £4,500 for a full-time student (or £2,250 for a part-time student, with a total value of £4,500 over a two-year period).

Applicable to candidates interested in applying to the following programme:

• PgDip Child and Adolescent Psychology and Neuroscience in Practice

Eligibility Criteria:

• Based on both academic merit and financial need.

• Applicable to mature students only, where a mature student is defined as someone who was aged 21 or over when they commenced their undergraduate studies or the applicant will be aged 25 or over at the time of enrolment on their Masters level postgraduate programme.

Guidance notes: View here