Skip to content
Churchill College Logo
  • Quick Links
    • Alumni and Supporters
    • Think Forward
    • Conferences
    • Fellows
    • Staff Resources
  • Study At Churchill
  • Student Hub
  • Archives
  • Donate
Hamburger menu icon
Search button

Quick Links

  • Quick Links
    • Alumni and Supporters
    • Think Forward
    • Conferences
    • Fellows
    • Staff Resources
Twitter logo Facebook logo Instagram logo YouTube logo LinkedIn Logo Pinterest Logo
  • About the College

    About the CollegeView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Churchill Identity

        Churchill IdentityView Page

        • Music at Churchill
        • History of the College
        • Churchill, Empire and Race
        • Women at Churchill
        • Grounds & Gardens
        • Publications and Recordings
      • Music at Churchill

        Music at ChurchillView Page

        • Instruments
        • Music Scholarships and Bursaries
        • Churchill Music Society ChuMs
        • Inter Alios Choir
        • Orchestra on the hill
      • News and Events

        News and EventsView Page

        • Upcoming Events
        • Events Calendar
      • Working at Churchill

        Working at ChurchillView Page

        • Current Vacancies
        • Academic Vacancies
        • Employment Policies
        • Staff Directory
        • Staff Resources
      • Master and Fellowship

        Master and FellowshipView Page

        • Fellowship Directory
        • Fellowships at Churchill College
        • Academic Vacancies
        • Nobel Prize Winners
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
      • The Chapel
      • Visit Us
      • Staff Directory
      • Conferences
  • Study At Churchill

    Study At ChurchillView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Undergraduates

        UndergraduatesView Page

        • List Left Col Wrapper
          • Study At Churchill
          • Apply | Undergraduates
          • Courses | Undergraduates
          • Fees and Costs | Undergraduates
          • Application FAQs | Undergraduates
          • Online Q&As and Schools Liaison
          • Visit Us
        • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Postgraduates

        PostgraduatesView Page

        • List Left Col Wrapper
          • Applying to Churchill
          • How to apply
          • Fees and costs
          • Life at Churchill
          • Accommodation | Postgraduate
          • Partners and families
          • MCR Committee
          • CHUtalks
        • List Right Col Wrapper
          • Visit Us
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Executive Education
      • Meet Our Students
  • Student Hub

    Student HubView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Living at the College

        The CollegeView Page

        • Clubs and Societies
        • Map of Cambridge
        • Upcoming Events
        • Events
        • Music at Churchill
        • Latest News
        • Graduation
      • College Dining

        College DiningView Page

        • College Bar (The Buttery)
        • Formal Halls
        • Weekly Menus
      • Health, Welfare & Support

        Health, Welfare & SupportView Page

        • College Nurse and Surgery
        • Counselling Services
        • Welfare and Medical Support
        • Financial Support
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Quick Links
      • Churchill Enterprise
      • Resources
  • Alumni and Supporters

    Alumni and SupportersView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Giving to the College

        Giving to the CollegeView Page

        • How to give
        • Making a Tax Efficient Gift
      • Why give?

        Why give?View Page

        • Think Forward
        • How you can help us to go forward
        • Making a Tax Efficient Gift
        • Current Projects
      • Get Involved

        Get InvolvedView Page

        • Events
        • Churchill Connect
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Current Projects
      • Contact Us
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
  • Conferences

    ConferencesView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • What We Offer

        What We OfferView Page

        • Accommodation
        • AV Equipment
        • Bespoke Conferencing
        • Dining
        • Grounds and Facilities
        • Grounds and Tours
      • Our Meeting Rooms
      • Christmas Functions
      • Pricing
      • Contact Us
    • List Right Col Wrapper
Back to list

Rebecca Heath

Economic Research (G19)

“The day I heard that I had received the Studentship was one of the happiest of my life. I spent over a week in utter disbelief. The funding offer took a massive weight off my shoulders.”

Rebecca Heath (G19) is currently studying for the one-year MPhil in Economic Research and is funded by a Cambridge UK & Churchill Møller Studentship. She has a particular interest in behavioural economics, game theory and empirical economics.

Originally from Spaldwick, a small village in rural Cambridgeshire, Rebecca attended her local state school until the age of 16 before securing an academic scholarship at her local independent school, that enabled her to study A level Economics. Fascinated by the application of the subject to a wide range of real-world issues, including gender, wealth and education inequalities, Rebecca hugely enjoyed studying for her BA in Economics at King’s College, Cambridge and aspired to continue her studies in the field, but she knew this would be impossible to achieve without securing major financial support.

Funding an economics Masters degree can be highly problematic. Non-subject specific external funding bodies are highly competitive, and many external funding bodies have very specific eligibility requirements. Without the Studentship, I would have been unable to study at the University of Cambridge. The MPhil in Economic Research currently has tuition fees in excess of £21,000. Once the cost of accommodation, electricity and food is taken into account, the estimated financial commitment is just under £35,000 for the year. Unfortunately, there are very limited funding opportunities from the Government and external funding bodies. The maximum government loan for masters is £10,000 per annum, leaving a large funding shortfall.

As a result of these significant challenges it was a huge relief to Rebecca when she received notification that she had been awarded the Cambridge UK Masters & Churchill Møller Studentship. The Studentship covers Rebecca’s tuition fees and provides a maintenance allowance, which meets the cost of her accommodation and food during the term. She is very clear about the dramatic impact that receiving the Studentship has had on her life and academic ambitions.

The day I heard that I had received the Studentship was one of the happiest of my life. I spent over a week in utter disbelief. The funding offer took a massive weight off my shoulders. Beforehand, I was under immense pressure as I had to search for funding alongside studying for my finals. I will forever be grateful to Churchill College for the excellent funding that I have received.

Rebecca loves the friendly atmosphere at Churchill and recalls being made to feel immediately welcome when she first arrived in Cambridge. She also has praise for the fantastic postgraduate accommodation available at the College as well as the excellent welfare support available:

I identify as a disabled student. When I was three years old, I was diagnosed with oral dyspraxia. I went through intensive speech therapy in primary school. In addition, I was recently diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Due to this, I can sometimes find Cambridge overwhelming. There are a wide variety of welfare staff at Churchill, including the college nurse Jo, college tutors and the college counsellor. The welfare staff at Churchill are extremely attentive and caring. They are more than happy to listen to your problems. The staff will email you to check up on your progress and to make sure that you are doing okay!

Despite the upheaval caused by the pandemic Rebecca continued to thrive and grow in both academic ability and confidence during the year. She achieved 90% in the preparatory mathematics exam and came top of her co-hort in her mid-term exams, achieving 91% in R300 econometrics and 86% in R100 microeconomic. Rebecca is currently working on her dissertation studying the effect of ancestry on trust and trustworthiness and reports that she was ‘extremely fortunate to be awarded £500 from Churchill College and £500 from the Old Kimboltonians’ Association to fund her online experiments.’

In her spare time Rebecca enjoys writing, organising College events and photography. She is currently Varsity Investigations Co-Editor and recently published a report on disabled access at the University, which is available online here. An active member of the College community, Rebecca has organised several events in her capacity as MCR First Year Representative including masterminding the MCR’s first virtual event series, The Great Churchill Bake Off.

Going forwards, Rebecca plans to do a PhD in Economics at Churchill and is delighted to have been offered a conditional PhD place in the Economic Theory group under Dr Gallo. In April, she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s & Churchill Møller Scholarship which will cover her fees and living costs, ‘I am extremely excited to continue studying Economics at Churchill College for the next three years!’

For Rebecca, pursuing a career in academia combines her aspiration to research economic issues in depth whilst interacting with and supporting students; ‘With so few women taking academic positions in economics, I would love to be a role model to encourage other women into the profession.’ Thanks to the vital funding support she has received, this dream can become a reality.

 

Read more stories here

Cambridge University Logo

Follow us:

Twitter logo Facebook logo Instagram logo YouTube logo LinkedIn Logo Pinterest Logo
  • Student Hub
    • Quick Links
    • Events
    • Health, Welfare & Support
    • Resources
    • Churchill Enterprise
  • Study At Churchill
    • Undergraduates
    • Postgraduates
    • Meet Our Students
    • College Clubs and Societies
  • Alumni and Supporters
    • Giving to the College
    • Why give?
    • Current Projects
    • Get Involved
    • Contact Us
  • About the College
    • Churchill Identity
    • Staff Directory
    • Working at Churchill
    • Visit Us
    • Contact Us
  • Archives Centre
    • Our Collections
    • Visit us
    • Copies and Research
    • Online Resources
    • About Us
  • Conferences
    • What We Offer
    • Our Meeting Rooms
    • Christmas Functions
    • Pricing
    • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Statutes and Ordinances
  • Official Documents
  • Race Equality
Website design by Crucible

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.

Churchill College
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.