Five Stories from the MTST

by Jessica Mannix

The Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust was established in 2013 to offer students who excel against all odds scholarship opportunities to shape this world for the better. In 2016, thanks to the extraordinary support of our donors, we welcomed our first generation of scholars. Now, as the MTST enters its fifth year, we take a moment to look back on five stories that embody this remarkable programme.

A voice where it matters

Among the first postgraduate Thatcher Scholars, Sean Butler gained his Bachelor of Civil Law from Somerville in 2017. On graduating, Sean took up a summer fellowship at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, where he co-authored an analysis of the EU Withdrawal Agreement which has since been used as a basis for questions to the Government. Sean next spent a year as judicial assistant to the Master of the Rolls in the Court of Appeal, where he worked on high-profile cases such as Campaign Against Arms Trade v Secretary of State for International Trade. In the past year, Sean taught contract law at UCL while doing his Bar Professional Training Course under a Wilfred Watson Scholarship. He is now undertaking a pupillage at Blackstone Chambers.

“The financial security provided by the MTST let me pursue opportunities that would have been impossible had I needed to work alongside my studies.”

An advocate for the natural world

Anna Gee graduated in 2020 with first-class honours in all three years of her Biological Sciences degree. Thanks to the support of the Thatcher Scholarship, Anna was also able to work with organisations promoting sustainability and the environment, such as Echo Bonaire, an NGO working to save the endangered Yellow-Shouldered Amazon Parrot. Passionate about the role of plant science in reversing biodiversity decline, Anna is now building a career at the research-implementation interface of conservation biology, starting shortly with an internship at a marine conservation charity in Indonesia.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the Thatcher Scholarship and feel privileged to be a part of a community that contains such interesting, intelligent people!”

A compassion against all odds

Malak Al-Shaikhali became a doctor in Gaza in 2016, in spite of rolling blackouts, movement restrictions and security fears. Shortly after, she met a group of Oxford University doctors while volunteering with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, who encouraged her to consider Oxford. She duly won a scholarship to Somerville as an Oxford Qatar Scholar – but her journey wasn’t over. Denied permission to travel through Israel, Malak had to cross the Sinai Desert by car, a journey which took 4 days through innumerable military checkpoints and terrorist strongholds. Not long after, Malak finally began her MSc in Immunology. With it, she

will specialise in Gaza’s highly under-represented field of oncology, meaning that once again this exceptional scholar will be making all the difference.

“Arriving at Somerville felt like a miracle. Without the generosity of the Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust and Qatar Fund for Development, there is absolutely no way I could have found this wonderful community.”

A historian changing the future

Second year historian Luca Webb, who this year received the Michael Bishop Foundation Thatcher Scholarship, is the embodiment of a Thatcher scholar. He is not only academically brilliant, being in the top 10% of historians in the University, but also passionately committed to social justice. In his role as president of Schools Plus Oxford, Luca helps place Oxford students as volunteer tutors in economically disadvantaged schools. Drawing inspiration from the Development Programme run by Thatcher Scholarship Programme Director, Dr Claire Cockcroft, Luca also launched a new Schools Plus project this summer to create a free online textbook for GCSE English.

“To leave university debt-free will not only make further study a possibility, it will also give me the independence to choose jobs based on their capacity to effect change.”

A sustainable entrepreneur

In addition to its scholars, the Thatcher Scholarship Programme benefits all Somervillians through the Thatcher Development Awards. Gideon Laux (2017, MSc Economics for Development) received a £2,000 Development Award in 2018 to support his project to bring electricity to remote communities. Travelling to India that summer, Gideon implemented sustainable energy solutions in six villages, including solar-powered charging, rechargeable LED lamps and other energy-enabled devices that villagers could rent. Full capacity was soon reached, with initial results showing kerosene usage down by 70% while brighter LED lamps enabled students to study longer and the women who earned extra income making leaf-plates to double their output. Gideon’s business received angel investment soon after and Gideon is now working full-time on his company’s expansion.