Queens' announces first Stamps Scholars

We are delighted to announce new graduate funding opportunities at Queens', through a new partnership with the Stamps Scholars Programme.

The Queens' Stamps Scholars Program seeks to attract the most promising PhD candidates from the United States in an effort to foster their development as scholars, leaders, and citizens of the world. Through purposeful programming, mentoring, and enhanced educational opportunities, it is designed to ultimately graduate stellar, well-rounded individuals who will serve as leaders in our ever-changing world. These students represent the pinnacle of academic achievement and leadership accomplishment.

These post-matriculation scholarships make a significant contribution to fees and maintenance costs and also provide extra funding opportunities for enrichment activities, such as studying or volunteering abroad, conducting research or participating in a leadership programme or academic conference.

The first two students to be awarded Stamps Scholarships are Jerry Chen and Gerard Kuenning.

We hope to announce more scholars for the 2020-2021 academic year in due course. Applications will open next year for 2021-2022 scholars.

Gerard (pictured above) is a fourth-year PhD candidate studying opioid misuse and substance misuse in the United States, specifically looking at the political economy of health and how it affects healthcare outcomes across different contexts, and also looking at how technologies can be used to support those people experiencing substance misuse. He says:

"Receiving this scholarship has been tremendously exciting; it has secured my ability to continue my research and finish my degree. I come from a part of the country that has been very hard hit by the opioid crisis and has had over the past decade one of the highest per capita death rates in the country. It has been very interesting and fulfilling work researching this, so I am greatly indebted to the Stamps Scholarship for enabling me to continue and complete this research, which I hope will ultimately have real-world application and bearing.

I hope that my research will have the ability to affect people’s lives and help the stories of people who are experiencing substance misuse have happier endings.

I feel really very honoured to have been selected by this group to be part of their organisation and community, and to represent them; I think it’s a fantastic organisation. One of the things that I have loved so much about speaking with everyone at Stamps and working with this organisation to date is their emphasis on leadership and personal growth, and how important it is to them, as an organisation, that you are maturing as an individual, and that these life experiences are just as important as the schoolwork."

Jerry's PhD is at the Department of Land Economy and researches the impact of the urban built environment on wellbeing. He says:

"A major reason for my application to Cambridge was to study at the Department of Land Economy, which is at the intersection of Economics, Law and Environmental Studies. With a background in Economics and Public Health, I greatly enjoy pursuing my PhD in this interdisciplinary environment. In bringing together experts from across fields, including brilliant legal scholars, leading economists and environmental policy-makers, the Department is unique to Cambridge in facilitating collaboration and giving me the flexibility I need: I want to establish a bridge between the new, emerging field of wellbeing science and the traditional discipline of urban planning and, through that, bring in a human-centric element to urban planning.

An integral part of my research involves case study work in China. This scholarship will therefore enable me to complete this fieldwork to the highest possible standard by covering an array of costs.

Looking ahead, I would like my research to have real-life implications. I want my research to be translated into planning policy, and to empower those who are affected by the built environment, the residents. To quote my favourite urbanist Jane Jacobs, 'there is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans'.

I am very excited to join the community of Stamps Scholars and grateful to the Strive Foundation and Queens' for this opportunity."

Jerry at his matriculation in 2019.