Studentship Commemorates Stuart Warren

Stuart had a remarkable impact on his students. It is hard to overestimate his influence on generations of chemists, many of whom have gone on to fill leading roles in academia and industry.

This studentship will commemorate Stuart’s inspirational teaching by allowing an outstanding PhD student from sub-Saharan Africa to undertake chemistry research in this Department. The four-year studentship will be held jointly with Churchill College, where Stuart was a teaching fellow for many years.

One of the reasons we have chosen to focus the studentship on this area is because of Stuart’s connection with Professor Kelly Chibale, who was a PhD student with Stuart in the 1980s. Born and brought up in impoverished rural areas and townships of Zambia, Kelly was given the rare opportunity through a scholarship to study at Cambridge.
Kelly went on to found Africa’s first and only integrated drug discovery centre, H3D, and has been recognised by Fortune magazine in 2018 as on of the 50 World’s Greatest Leaders. Kelly recognises the high-quality academic training he received from Stuart as the foundation for who he has become.

After Stuart died, Kelly wrote: “Since starting my independent academic and research career at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, I have made every effort to treat people from disadvantaged chemistry backgrounds who join my group the way Stuart treated me – with patience, understanding and kindness.”

Kelly believes this studentship holds huge benefits for young Africans who are historically disadvantaged and under-represented in chemistry. You can read more about Kelly and other former students who wrote in with their reminiscences of Stuart on our Alumni pages.

The Stuart Warren PhD studentship will fully fund a student from the Southern African Development Community. We aim to raise £100,000 towards the studentship, with the rest of the costs likely to be covered by the Cambridge Trust. We also have a matching offer of £10,000 from a foundation if we can raise £10,000 before 30 November 2020.

A more ambitious target for our fundraising would be to create an endowment to fund a studentship in perpetuity. This would require at least £625,000 which (based on a 4% drawdown), which would generate £25,000 annually.  With this in hand, the remainder would likely be forthcoming as matched funding from the Trust.

Stuart was an outstanding leader, mentor and teacher whose ideas and example have inspired generations of chemists. If you would like to contribute, you can do so through the Churchill College website.

Should you have any questions about donating to this fund, please do not hesitate to contact Head of Department, Dr James Keeler,  or Fran Malarée, Development Director for Churchill College.