The Department of Music is delighted to announce – and welcome – the latest recipients of its postgraduate scholarships and bursaries.
Each year, the Department is honoured to be able to offer a range of financial awards thanks to various endowments and monetary gifts left in support of students on our master’s programmes.
The Rushworth Scholarship – Alice MacDonald
The Rushworth Scholarship is worth £6,000 and is awarded to a UK student on the MA Music Management programme. This year’s recipient is Alice MacDonald, from Glasgow.
“I had pretty much accepted that I might not be able to start my master’s this year due to financial reasons, so receiving the scholarship was a complete game-changer for me”, commented Alice. “It meant a lot to me because completing the master’s is something that I had always wanted to do.
“I’m excited to build on my previous studies in music by focusing more on the business side of the industry, and I found Liverpool’s rich music scene to be the perfect place to do this. Ultimately, I hope to use this experience to launch a career in the business side of the industry, while continuing to pursue my passion as a performer.”
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The Sarah Barrow Bursary – Rebecca Grant and Benjamin Mathôt
The Sarah Barrow Bursary provides up to two needs-based bursaries worth £6,000 each to UK students of the MMus Music Performance and Education. Two awards were made this year, to Rebecca Grant and Benjamin Mathôt.
Rebecca, a vocalist from Watford, said: “I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to receive this bursary, not only in a practical sense, but also as a vote of confidence in my work and ambitions. This support will enable me to continue my education and pursue a master’s degree, which I am deeply passionate about.
“I hope to continue building on the knowledge I obtained during my undergraduate studies here at Liverpool, while laying the foundations needed to start a successful career once I have completed my master’s.”
Benjamin, a pianist from the Wirral, commented: “I am very grateful to have been awarded the Sarah Barrow Bursary! I aspire to perform professional classical and jazz piano performances that showcase rhythmic, melodic and harmonic complexity”.
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The Martha Vidor Scholarships – Meg Owens and Jess Wood
Now in its second year, the Martha Vidor Scholarship scheme provides two awards to aspiring composers: a full-fee waiver for UK students pursuing composition studies through MRes Music, and an award of £5,000 for UK students on the MA Composition for Film, TV and Games.
The recipient of the MRes Music full-fee waiver for 2025/26 is local student Meg Owens, who said: “I'm so grateful and proud to have been chosen for the scholarship – it is truly a life-changing opportunity for me.
“I'm so excited to get stuck into my artistic research and I'm really hoping to hone my practical skills over the duration of the course to give me a fighting chance at taking my passion for music further into the future. I think my long-term goal is to become a University professor in music technology, but I'm open to letting life take me in another direction”.
She added: “I've found it so important to have female role models in music technology because they're so few and far between, so it would be an amazing feeling to possibly become one for other women at some point in my lifetime, which is what I hope to one day achieve!”.
The scholarship for screen composition was awarded to Jess Wood, from West Yorkshire.
“Hearing that I'd received the Martha Vidor Scholarship filled me with excitement, immense joy and deep appreciation for the recognition of my efforts”, commented Jess. “I am so grateful for this opportunity.
“My hopes and aspirations at the University are to thoroughly delve into the world of film composition and learn as much as possible about this field, gaining the skills, knowledge and experience needed to prepare me for a successful career in film composing.”
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