SCIO is delighted to announce that Megan Loumagne, a SCIO alumna from the Michaelmas 2006 Scholars’ Semester in Oxford, has been awarded a SCIO Alumni Scholarship for the academic year 2017–18. Megan, who was also a recipient of the scholarship in 2016–17, is continuing her doctoral research in the field of theology at Christ Church, Oxford.
Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity at Christ Church Oxford, notes that “Megan’s progress has been remarkable given that she taught throughout Michaelmas and some of Hilary. She passed her Confirmation without a shred of hesitancy on the part of her assessors, and the thesis is on track for completion by the end of next year. Quite an exceptional woman!”
SCIO Alumni awards are funded by a generous gift from Geoffrey and Caroline de Jager. Individual scholarships of £2,500 are open to applications from alumni of our SSO and OSP programmes, who are studying for, or have been accepted onto, a graduate degree programme 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.
Megan, who has been awarded the ‘Religion and science’ Alumni Scholarship, writes:
SCIO first came into my life in 2006 when they provided me with the opportunity to study abroad as an undergraduate in Oxford for a semester. That experience was a life-changing one for me in that it introduced me to the Oxford style of education and played a key role in developing my confidence in my abilities as a scholar. It also deepened my love of learning and gifted me with thoughtful and interesting friends who I remain in contact with to this day. I thought my connection to SCIO had concluded after my undergraduate semester abroad, but a decade later I have found myself once again in Oxford to do a DPhil in theology at Christ Church. My doctoral thesis explores the historical entanglements of the doctrine of original sin with understandings of the meaning of sexual difference, and it aims to construct a creative approach to original sin that takes seriously the evolutionary history of our species as sexually differentiated. SCIO’s generosity in awarding me an Alumni Scholarship has been significant in terms of making living abroad in Oxford possible, and I am so grateful for SCIO’s continued role in my life and scholarship.