The Barnaby Levy Memorial Travel Grant awards a student travel grant of up to £500 for travel to be undertaken during the long vacation. Preference will be given to applicants who would not otherwise have the financial means to take the proposed trip.

A group of Churchill College alumni have set up The Barnaby Levy Memorial Travel Grant in tribute to their friend Barnaby Levy, who studied philosophy between 2004 and 2007.

Barnaby was talented, funny, kind and curious – a man with a legendary laugh, never one to turn down the opportunity for a debate, or a dance. He threw himself into making the most of his time at university and loved life at Churchill: acting in college productions, serving on the Spring Ball Committee, writing for Winston and maintaining a very active social life too. He always had a passion for travel and alongside his very successful academic studies found time to organise many far-flung adventures during the holidays, an approach he continued after graduation. While working as a lawyer in Hong Kong he also travelled widely around Latin America, the United States, Africa and South-East Asia – reliably returning to the UK for Churchill reunions and weddings, the life and soul of the party despite the long flights he’d taken to get there.

Tragically, in February 2020 Barnaby died in an avalanche while skiing in Japan. This travel grant has been set up in his memory to help Churchill students who would not otherwise have the financial means or opportunity to explore new parts of the world in a way he would have encouraged and enjoyed. In his final year at Churchill, Barnaby himself had received support from the College’s Tizard Fund to travel to Connecticut, USA, to compete in the Atlantic Cup with the Cambridge University Polo Club. It is therefore a fitting tribute that current and future Churchillians can be supported in his name.

Two awards were made in 2023 and four in 2024. Students have so far received support to travel to countries including Geneva, Morocco, Portugal and Taiwan.