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Rigby Enterprise Award

Applications will open in Spring 2025.

The University of Liverpool and Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust are pleased to offer three competitive scholarships to support undergraduate students from widening participation backgrounds. The scholarships are made possible as part of a £1M gift from the Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust, which establishes the new Sir Peter Rigby Centre for Enterprise.

The Sir Peter Rigby Centre for Enterprise will ensure that more young people have the enterprise skills to thrive – whether they want to start their own business or be a talented employee, by supporting the work of the University to ensure all students have the skills they need to flourish.

Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the UK and undertaking an undergraduate programme starting in the academic year 2024/25.

The award

The bursary will provide a maintenance stipend of £5,000 each year, for three years of study, to a total of £15,000 per student. The bursary is awarded subject to satisfactory academic progression. Three awards are available per academic year.

You cannot hold this award in combination with other University of Liverpool widening participation bursaries.

Eligibility criteria

You must meet all of the following criteria to be considered for this bursary:

  1. Be studying in Year 0 or Year 1 of a full-time undergraduate degree programme, commencing study in the 2024/25 academic year at the University of Liverpool
  2. Have participated in one of the following outreach programmes: Liverpool Scholars, Realising Opportunities, Pathways to Law, Pathways to Banking and Finance or Pathways to Engineering
  3. Have a household income of £25,000 per annum or less
  4. Have been assessed for fee status as a ‘home’ student, or expect to be assessed as a ‘home’ student
  5. Have made an application to Student Finance England. We will seek confirmation that you will be in receipt of full financial support for the 2024/25 academic year. Please ensure you have given consent to share this information with the University, as it will be used to determine eligibility.

You won’t be eligible if you:

  • Transfer to Liverpool from another UK University. We can only accept applications from students beginning a new course at Liverpool
  • Already hold a degree or equivalent higher level qualification.

Please carefully check your eligibility before completing the application form. Awards may be withdrawn if we later become aware that successful applicants have not met the eligibility criteria or have provided false information.

How to apply

Applications open in Spring 2025. A link to the online application form will be added to this page when applications open.

The Rigby Enterprise Award is competitive and you should attempt to complete your application to the very highest standard if you wish to be seriously considered.

Completing your application

As part of the application process, you'll need to provide:

  • Your full name
  • Your University student ID number
  • Your programme of study
  • The name of the school or college you previously attended
  • Your email address
  • Confirmation that you meet the eligibility criteria outlined above
  • Confirmation that you understand representatives from the Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust will view your application as part of the selection process.

To help us to get to know you, we will also ask you for a personal statement in response to the question ‘What goals or achievements do you aspire to accomplish as a future entrepreneur, and what steps will you take to reach them?’

Your statement must be entirely your own work and not include any AI-generated content.

Closing date

The closing date will be published when applications open.

Decisions

A panel of representatives from the University of Liverpool will assess applications and compile a shortlist of the strongest applications. This will be shared with the Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust who will make final decisions.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications in early September 2024.

Please do not contact the Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust directly, as all awards and notifications will come from the University of Liverpool.

Enquiries

If you have any questions about the award or how to apply, please contact wpscholarships@liverpool.ac.uk.