The Professor Mike Walker OBE Scholarship 2027

About the project

One scholarship is available to a full-time or part-time student with Home or International fee status, studying one of the courses listed below.

This scholarship is provided as a tuition fee reduction. If your course fee is less than £12,000, only the fee will be covered (no additional cash award will be made).

Am I eligible?

• Offer to study one of the following courses: MSc Information and Cyber Security MSc Information and Cyber Security with a Year in Industry MSc Computer Science by Research MSc Artificial Intelligence MSc Artificial Intelligence with a Year in Industry MSc Computational Finance MSc Computational Finance with a Year in Industry MSc Data Science and Analytics MSc Data Science and Analytics with a Year in Industry
• MSc Information and Cyber Security
• MSc Information and Cyber Security with a Year in Industry
• MSc Computer Science by Research
• MSc Artificial Intelligence
• MSc Artificial Intelligence with a Year in Industry
• MSc Computational Finance
• MSc Computational Finance with a Year in Industry
• MSc Data Science and Analytics
• MSc Data Science and Analytics with a Year in Industry
• Achieved, or be expected to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree or equivalent (please contact enquiries@rhul.ac.uk if you're unsure whether your achieved or predicted grade is equivalent to a 2:1)
• Applying for your first Masters degree
• Able to demonstrate financial need (i.e. unable to undertake further study without the financial support of the scholarship).

How do I apply?

You’ll need to submit your application, including a scholarship statement, on our applicant portal.

Read the guidelines below to find out everything you’ll need to submit your application.

The deadline to apply for this scholarship is Sunday 30 May, 2027. We’ll let you know whether you’ve been successful from 21 June 2027.

About the donor

The scholarship was set up in memory of Professor Mike Walker OBE, a name synonymous with the Information Security Group (ISG) at Royal Holloway.

Professor Walker joined Royal Holloway in 1966 and he successfully completed his BSc in Mathematics, before becoming the second PhD student to be supervised by Professor Fred Piper, who founded the ISG. He obtained his PhD in 1973.

Throughout his career in industry, Professor Walker maintained his keen interest for academic research and for many years he held the Vodafone chair as Professor of Telecommunications at Royal Holloway, as part of the ISG. In 2002, Professor Walker was instrumental in founding the ISG Smart Card Centre which continues today.

Application guidelines

You’ll need to provide a supporting statement outlining why you should receive the scholarship. You should ensure you demonstrate why this scholarship is necessary financially for you to pursue further studies.

Your answer should include answers to the following:

Your application will be scored based on how effectively your statement answers the above points.

Statements are limited to 6,000 characters (including spaces).

Find out more about how to complete your scholarship application .

• Reflecting on your academic and personal journey so far, what is the single greatest challenge or barrier you have had to overcome, and how did navigating this experience shape your achievements and future goals?
• If awarded this scholarship, how specifically will it transform your university experience, and how do you plan to use the time and financial relief it provides to pursue excellence in your field or community?
• How do your future aspirations align with the values of this specific scholarship, and how do you intend to use your university education to create positive change for others in the future?

Terms and conditions

Read our full terms and conditions.

For details of all our individual scholarships read our terms and conditions appendix.

• You may not hold any other Royal Holloway tuition fee scholarship or discount alongside this scholarship. For example, this includes the Royal Holloway and University of London Alumni discounts
• If you are eligible for, or win (in the case of competitive awards), more than one scholarship, you will be awarded the scholarship or discount with the highest value.

Contact us

If you have any queries please email rhps@rhul.ac.uk

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