Oliva Anderson, who attended the Scholar’s Semester in Oxford in Michaelmas Term 13 and Hilary 14 is the first student to be awarded a SCIO Alumni scholarship towards her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford, beginning in Michaelmas Term 16.
Dr Elizabeth Baigent, SCIO’s Senior Tutor, noted that Olivia is an ‘impressive student’ with ‘a well developed research proposal’ and referees from Oxford University who are ‘unequivocally supportive ‘of her application.
SCIO Alumni awards are funded by a generous gift from Geoffrey and Caroline de Jager. Applicants must be alumni of our student programmes (SSO and OSP). Scholarships of £2,500 each can be awarded to alumni registered for a graduate degree at the University of Oxford. One scholarship is offered in each of the following areas:
- Texts and manuscripts with a focus on New Testament studies
- Religion and science
- Subjects in, or broadly related to, SCIO’s teaching fields
Those interested in applying for these scholarships can find further details on the Graduate scholarships page of our website.
Olivia comments
I am incredibly grateful to Caroline and Geoffrey de Jager and to the SCIO team for their generosity and support in helping me to actualize my dream of continuing on to doctoral studies here in Oxford. The SCIO Alumni Scholarship is not only a great encouragement and financial help, but bears many happy memories of my time as a SCIO scholar—the precious friends that were made, the spiritual journey that was trekked, and the academic interests which were broadened and intensified. It was during my time with SCIO that the Lord first began to teach me how to perceive learning more as an act of worship than a hectic assortment of deadlines and essay topics. This ongoing lesson is one of the key inspirations of my DPhil proposal which seeks to uncover the ways in which seventeenth-century, English clergymen counterbalanced the secularization and brokenness of family life in popular literature through their own written portrayals of the family unit. I’m positive that the invaluable lessons which I first began to grasp as a SCIO scholar will continue to shape my personal and academic life throughout my DPhil and thereafter. Thanks for everything, SCIO!