Claudia and David Harding

Cambridge 探花直播 has announced an unprecedented 拢100 million gift to help attract the most talented postgraduate and undergraduate students from the UK and around the world

探花直播donation from the David and Claudia Harding Foundation is the biggest single gift made to a university in the UK by a British philanthropist.

It will propel an ambitious 拢500 million fundraising drive, announced last autumn, aimed directly at increasing financial and wider support for students at Cambridge.

探花直播gift has two main components:

  • 探花直播Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Programme, supported by 拢79 million, will provide fully funded scholarships for the most talented PhD students.
  • 探花直播remaining 拢21 million is earmarked for supporting undergraduate students. In collaboration between the 探花直播 and the Colleges, 探花直播Harding Collegiate Cambridge Challenge Fund, worth 拢20 million, aims to encourage further donations from alumni for financial support to undergraduates.听A further 拢1 million is set aside to stimulate innovative approaches to attracting undergraduate students from under-represented groups.

Prof Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the 探花直播, said: 鈥淭his extraordinarily generous gift from David and Claudia Harding will be invaluable in sustaining Cambridge鈥檚 place among the world鈥檚 leading universities and will help to transform our offer to students. We want to attract, support and fund the most talented students we can find from all parts of the UK and the world.

鈥淲e are determined that Cambridge should nurture the finest academic talent, whatever the background or means of our students, to help us fulfil our mission 鈥檛o contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence鈥.鈥

David Harding said: 鈥淐laudia and I are very happy to make this gift to Cambridge to help to attract future generations of the world鈥檚 outstanding students to research and study there. Cambridge and other British centres of learning have down the ages contributed greatly to improvements in the human condition and can continue in future to address humanity鈥檚 great challenges.鈥

探花直播Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholars Programme, starting in October 2019, will ultimately fully fund, in perpetuity, over 100 PhD students in residence at any one time. Scholarships will be available to the most talented students for research in any discipline and the successful candidates will be offered places at applicable Cambridge Colleges. Cambridge has many more outstanding PhD applicants than it can currently fund and this gift will help to ensure that more of them have the opportunity to study at the 探花直播.

St Catharine鈥檚 College, of which David Harding is an alumnus, will receive 拢25 million of the gift to support those postgraduate scholars on the Programme at the College.听 Undergraduates at St. Catharine鈥檚 will also benefit from the wider purposes of the donation.

Prof Sir Mark Welland, Master of St Catharine鈥檚 College, said: 鈥 探花直播admirable philanthropy of David and Claudia Harding will have a tremendous and permanent impact on St. Catharine鈥檚 as well as the 探花直播 as a whole.听 We couldn鈥檛 be more honoured to receive this gift.鈥

探花直播 探花直播 and Colleges have already set a target to increase the number of postgraduates in residence by 13 per cent from 6,500 in 2016/17 to around 7,400 by the end of 2021.

In October 2018, Prof Toope announced the Student Support Initiative (SSI), with a 拢500 million fundraising target for the 探花直播 and the Colleges. 探花直播SSI has the following priorities:

  • postgraduate studentships to ensure quality and diversity of postgraduates;听
  • undergraduate听financial support and widening participation programmes; and
  • student wellbeing, sport and cultural activities, to ensure students thrive and have the best possible experience听at Cambridge.

听

David Harding founded Winton, a global investment management and data science company, in 1997. Winton鈥檚 business utilises computing technology to apply mathematical and statistical methods to the field of investing. Claudia Harding is the Managing Trustee of the David and Claudia Harding Foundation and is a Trustee of the Science Museum Foundation.

探花直播couple have donated to numerous scientific and mathematical causes in the UK and internationally, including Cambridge 探花直播, the Science Museum, the Crick Institute and the Max Planck Institute in Berlin. 探花直播main themes of their philanthropy have been supporting basic scientific research and the communication of scientific ideas.

David and Claudia Harding have been generous supporters of the 探花直播 of Cambridge and St Catharine鈥檚 College for many years. They have funded a broad range of areas including the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability at the Cavendish Laboratory, the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, and research in a diverse array of fields including exoplanets, financial history and data science.


探花直播text in this work is licensed under a . Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏 探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.听 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥 as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.