Donati Frmrt£oa1iF0,on5 optre, mr0roi5t5 moFtion r,timoo .../file/YourGift.pdf · Donation Form Please complete in block capitals and return to the address overleaf. Please turn

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Harnessing the power of the sun

Discovering a cure for deafness

Crowdfunded guillemots!GIFTYOUR

A fundraising update for University donors and friends 2015

1905 Fundraising PosterFrom its founding days, philanthropy has been vital to the University of Sheffield. Thank you for helping to continue this tradition.

Development, Alumni Relations & Events University of Sheffield40 Victoria StreetSheffieldS10 2TN

Email: [email protected]

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C. To make a single gift today

3Thank you for your support

4What you’ve given and where your money goes

6The Sheffield student experience

8Supporting talent

10Opening the door to postgraduate study

11Discovering a cure for deafness

12Crowdfunded guillemots

13Harnessing the power of the sun

14Overturning injustice

15What your support funds

Your

GIFT

YOUR GIFT 15

WhaT YOUR mOneY can FUnd

£10,000A donation of £10,000 provides a fully-funded scholarship to a student embarking on a postgraduate course.

£5 per monthFive people giving £5 per month can provide an Alumni Foundation grant to a student club, society or sports team to fund new equipment, competition fees or travel.

£10 per monthAccess to academic journals costs between £56 and £3,000. Five people donating £10 per month could fund up to ten journal subscriptions each year.

£20 per monthFive people donating £20 per month is enough to fund one undergraduate scholarship for a year

£500A donation of £500 can help to provide a department with a grant to improve the academic facilities for current and future students.

£3,000A gift of £3,000 provides an undergraduate student with a scholarship of £1,000 per year throughout their time at university.

As an exempt charity (x1089), donations to the University of Sheffield are eligible for Gift Aid, making your money go even further. Gift Aid adds an additional 25p for every £1 you donate.

YOUR GIFT 3

More than 100 years ago, the local people of Sheffield – captains of industry and factory workers alike – understood the tremendous impact that a University for Sheffield would have on improving their children’s lives through education; on regional and international trade; and on society’s health, wellbeing and future prosperity. So strongly did they believe in higher education as a force for good, that they raised £50,000 in penny collections (c.£15 million today) to build a university in their city.

The University of Sheffield was born with high principles. It would be a university ‘for the people’, which would bring ‘the highest education within the reach of the working man’. Today we must work harder than ever to ensure that these ideals continue to be realised.

When I first joined the University I met with three students who were receiving scholarships funded by philanthropic donations. Ben was British and taking a PhD in English; Blerta, a refugee from Kosovo, where she had been rescued by British troops, was studying Medicine; and Simon, from Ghana, was undertaking research into AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

In miniature, these three students represented the whole University – diverse, international, and full of talent. In January 2015, at our Winter Graduations, Simon received his PhD – and he said he was “humbled” by the opportunity the University had given him.

The provision of scholarships is vital for the health of our University and, indeed, our society. Many of our top professions require a postgraduate qualification to enter. It would be a very poor society in which these positions of influence were occupied by people from only certain backgrounds.

I’m therefore proud to be able to tell you that Sheffield is leading the way in overcoming barriers to funding for postgraduate courses, giving poorer students the opportunity to take up places on Master’s programmes. Last year, we led a small group of universities in persuading the government to fund a pilot scheme to award grants of £10,000 each to students who would otherwise not be able to undertake postgraduate study. Thanks to the success of last year’s pilot, we’ve been awarded £1.1m to run the scheme again this year. But to trigger this award, the University must find the funds to match it pound for pound. You can find out more about the scheme on page 10.

As you will see from this edition of Your Gift, the donations you make to the University of Sheffield have a huge impact. On behalf of the whole University I’d like to thank you for your generosity and support.

Professor Sir Keith Burnett, FRSVice-Chancellor

Thank you for your supporT

It is an honour to be Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield – a University which has for over a century been a centre of discovery and understanding, which has a long and proud tradition of giving

the opportunity of higher education to all and which today is ranked as top for student experience in the UK.

4 YOUR GIFT

Philanthropic gifts to the University of Sheffield are transformational. They help us to invest in world-changing research, first class teaching and

learning facilities and in ensuring that the brightest students, regardless of background or financial ability, are able to achieve their full potential.

Over the past year 4,211 of you, our alumni, staff and friends, have donated more than £3.2m to the University of Sheffield. We’d like to thank each and every one of you for your support. Together your generosity makes a huge

impact on the University and its students.

MakInG a DIffErEnCE

World-leading researchOur research has a global reputation. It influences policy, changes lives and helps us to understand the world so that we can make it a better place. The 2014 Research Excellence Framework placed us in the top 10% of UK universities for the quality of our research.

You can be proud that you helped to put us there. Last year over £1.1m of donations played a vital role in supporting some of our most high-profile and important research projects.

We’ve received multiple gifts, large and small, to support our research into Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), which is continuing to make gains in the fight against these terrible diseases.

A generous legacy from Mr Mat Batley was left to the University of Sheffield for peace studies. This will allow researchers in several University departments to undertake high-impact projects for advancing peace around the world.

Individual gifts have also helped to support PhD research scholarships in subjects including Ocular Melanoma, Geology, Chemical Engineering, English and History. These all add to the rich tapestry of research being carried out at Sheffield and ensure that we are able to provide opportunities to postgraduate students taking the first steps in academic careers which could go on to have a world-changing impact.

An outstanding student experienceYour gifts help us to ensure that as many students as possible can take full advantage of the myriad of experiences and opportunities on offer during their time at the University of Sheffield.

Donations to the Alumni Fund support this cause in three distinct areas; by providing scholarships to students; by making grants to student clubs and societies to support extra-curricular activities; and by funding improvements to department facilities and equipment.

Widening participationFrom its founding days, the University of Sheffield and its benefactors have been committed to widening participation in higher education. Last year, thanks to your support, we were able to continue this proud tradition and provide scholarships totalling over £403,000 to 209 talented and deserving undergraduate students who met our widening participation criteria.

We were also able to fund 20 scholarships, worth £75,000, to students embarking on taught postgraduate courses, helping to ensure that our top professions are open to all and benefit from talent from across all sections of society.

Supporting extra-curricular activitiesThrough clubs and societies, our students are able to keep active, try new activities and enrich their social and academic experience of university. The Alumni Fund gave out £27,784 to clubs and societies last year, enabling them to buy new equipment, enter competitions and host events. Grants included money to help set up new clubs, like the Engineers’ Rugby Club, Life Saving Club and Baseball Club, which received between £500-£600; £500 each for events celebrating the culture of Japan, Singapore and Malaysia; £2000 to enable four theatre groups to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe; and £500 to help the Weightlifting Club buy new equipment.

Enhancing teaching and learningOver the past year, you’ve helped to fund over £170,000 of improvements to our faculties and departments, ensuring that they continue to offer the best teaching and learning experience possible. Grants have been provided to a range of projects across the University including; £10,000 to help refurbish parts of Western Bank Library; £5,115 to provide audio-visual equipment for BioMedical Science tutorial rooms; £5,000 given to the Medical School to host a series of events about Sheffield Doctors in the Great War; and £10,000 to modernise the Turner Museum Glass, part of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

YOUR GIFT 5

Who gives?

Organisations

Trusts

Patients

Parents

Staff

Friends

Alumni

Number of donors

20Countries given from

£565,063Largest gift

from the Ross CASE Survey for 2013/14(over £1m more than in 2013)

(an increase of 1,446 from 2013)

4,211

Beneficiaries include:

Total to undergraduate scholarships

£403,141Number of undergraduate scholarships 209

Total to clubs and societies

£27,784Number of grants 34

Total to departments

£170,166Number of grants 24

Total to research

£1,135,678

Total to postgraduate scholarships

£75,000Number of postgraduate scholarships 20

6 YOUR GIFT

ThE shEffIElD sTuDEnT ExpErIEnCE

University is about more than academic study. With over 250 types of extra-curricular activities available, our students are able to pursue new interests, meet new people, explore new experiences and expand their horizons. Your

support means that each year we are able to provide dozens of grants to support these activities, helping our students to flourish and succeed beyond

the lecture hall. These relatively small amounts have a huge impact - our ranking as the No. 1 University in the country for student experience in 2014

stands testimony to the importance of these opportunities and the effect they have on our students’ time at Sheffield.

Here’s a flavour of the type of activities you’ve supported over the last year.

Students performing in Firth Hall, conducted by Masters’ student Matthew Malone.

Musical opportunityA grant of £15,000 was awarded to the Department of Music to purchase a professional sound system for use in the University’s concert series. There was a desperate need for this equipment in particular for the series of concert performances of Broadway musicals that the department has been developing over the past few years. This has led to the UK premieres of two ‘lost’ musicals of the pre-rock era (Goldilocks and Subways are for Sleeping) as well as a complete performance of the classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

The grant means that Firth Hall is now properly furnished with a sound system, removing the need to repeatedly hire in equipment at extra cost. Most importantly, it allows students both on stage and behind the scenes to gain experience of performing and using professional sound equipment, preparing them for the types of technology they will encounter if they enter a performing career.

YOUR GIFT 7

Debating successTwo separate grants of £450 to the Sheffield Debating Society over the last year have helped students compete in both the European and World Universities Debating Championships.

The European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, saw 240 teams from across Europe competing. After five gruelling days of debate, the Sheffield team emerged champions, beating Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh in the final on the motion ‘This House Believes That the Feminist Movement Should Oppose Military Interventions that Claim to Further the Rights of Women’. In doing so they became the first non-Oxbridge European Champions in 10 years and the first winners of the competition to represent Yorkshire.

At the World Championships, held in Chennai, India, the Sheffield team faced competitors from some of the world’s top universities, including Toronto, Sydney, Yale and Harvard. Having covered topics ranging from international politics to LGBT activism, the team eventually finished 67th out of 340 teams.

Scaling new heightsThe Sheffield Mountaineering Club benefited from a £1,500 grant, allowing them to buy new equipment and replace aging kit which no longer met current safety standards.

The club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, organises regular trips to the Cairngorms, as well as encouraging and supporting members taking on bigger challenges abroad. It also organises and takes part in competitions, including the annual Varsity between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University. We’re pleased to let you know that the club won two out of three events against their city rivals at the 2014 event!

Cricketing kitThanks to a grant of £330 the Sheffield Women’s Cricket Club was able to buy a range of new kit and equipment to enable the club to continue its development and keep its members safe. The improved standard of kit also helped the club attract a new sponsor, and it will now be working with online cricket suppliers Batting 46 to encourage more women to take up cricket.

Adam Hawksbee (History and Politics) and Matthew Willmore (Politics and Philosophy) celebrate their victory at the European Universities Debating Champions.

Members of Sheffield Women’s Cricket Club with their new kit.

Sheffield mountaineers taking on a climb.

Tweet powerThe University of Sheffield Rowing club entered a competition recently with law firm Linklaters. The company was offering funding for projects which would make a difference to their community, class mates, club or society.

The Rowing Club was in need of a new women’s four boat to replace their 20-year-old boat. However, to win the £5,000 on offer they needed to gain the most ‘retweets’ of their Twitter pitch in a short space of time.

Competition was tough with 33 other entries, but the power of the Sheffield community shone through. Coming together, the University’s media team, Sport Sheffield, the Students’ Union and our alumni social media pages helped the pitch gain 1,784 retweets – beating their nearest rivals by over 680 and winning the team the £5,000 needed for a new boat.

a

@Shefunirowing Our ambition is a new women’s 4+ to replace our 20 year old boat #thisgirlcan #liveyourambition

1,784

8 YOUR GIFT

supporTInG TalEnT

A major focus for our fundraising activities is on ensuring that poorer students get the financial help they need. You can be proud

that your donations help to widen participation in higher education and enable any student who earns a place at Sheffield to study here,

regardless of their personal circumstances or background.

❝

My gratitude to you is beyond words. Ever since I was granted this scholarship I was able to

maximise my learning and buy more resources for my studies. I feel privileged to be one of the few

to receive this grant. Having received it I worked harder than ever before and I will continue to do so

❞

❝

Things were becoming increasingly difficult to me, and the letter confirming the scholarship arrived at just the right time - it was the confidence boost I needed and it motivated me to keep going when I was almost ready to give up. Thank you - so much -

for your continued support❞

❝

Your donation has not only been of practical worth but has given me the feeling that someone that isn’t my family or is close

to me believes in me and my story. I simply cannot put that feeling into

any more words❞

❝

It should be a source of pride to the university as a whole that we have alumni who are so willing to support current students and so generous in

their contributions to the scholarship programme, one which ultimately benefits all students at the

University❞

For every scholarship we award there are two students who do not receive the support they need. Your gifts are essential in helping us to provide more scholarships than ever before to talented students.

Alumni Fund scholarshipsLast year we awarded 209 Alumni Fund scholarships to students beginning their studies here at Sheffield. These scholarships are funded from the thousands of one-off, monthly and annual donations given by our generous supporters.

Successful students are awarded a scholarship of £3,000 (£1,000) per year - to help towards living costs whilst at university. Whilst this might sound like a drop in the ocean when compared to the headline figures of debt students will have when they leave university, this small sum does make a huge impact on students’ lives on a day-to-day basis.

Here’s what some of last year’s scholarship recipients have to say…

YOUR GIFT 9

Christopher Shawe Scholarship FundIt was with great sadness that we received the news of the death of alumnus Christopher Shawe in 2014. Chris studied Accounting, Financial Management and Economics at Sheffield, graduating in 2000. He joined Coutts as a graduate in 2002 where he went on to establish himself as a successful Senior Portfolio Manager.

In his memory, Chris’ wife Nicola, his family, friends, colleagues and the Coutts Foundation have raised over £13,000 to establish the Christopher Shawe Scholarship Fund at the University of Sheffield. Chris had always been passionate about higher education and was particularly interested in biomedical sciences and the impact they can have on the world. The funds will provide scholarships for two talented students to undertake a master’s degree in biomedical sciences who might otherwise have been prevented from continuing their studies due to financial circumstances.

SIID was launched in 2013 to support the University’s strategy of “celebrating, promoting and increasing the volume of the work that we do to improve the lives of others through our international relationships, locally and abroad”. It brings together International Development researchers into one inter-disciplinary centre and can count employees of USAID, Oxfam, WHO, EU Delegation China and of other important local and regional development organisations.

Making an international impactA gift of £150,000 from the Alan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust is helping students from developing countries to study on one of our International Development postgraduate programmes.

Thanks to this donation, along with matched funding from the University, 12 outstanding international students will be offered scholarships at the Sheffield Institute for International Development (SIID) over the next three years. With a focus on International Development, students can specialise in subjects including Public Health, Global Justice, Environmental Change, Planning, Social Policy and Globalisation. A postgraduate qualification is usually a pre-requisite to working in the field of international development, meaning that students from poorer countries miss out on the opportunity to make an impact both on the international stage and on contributing to the development of their own countries.

The Dr Mo Sacoor MRCP Scholarship ProgrammeThanks to Dr Mo Sacoor (Medicine (MB ChB), 1963), a remarkable 47 students have been supported through their studies at Sheffield. Since 2013, Dr Sacoor has funded 11 scholarships for medical undergraduates, 29 bursaries for medical electives, giving students the opportunity to travel to different countries, and awards to allow medical research students to attend and present their work at national and international meetings.

Dr Sacoor also supports another cause close to his heart by providing scholarships to music students who demonstrate excellence in performance, helping them to buy and maintain instruments and pay for extra tuition.

❝

I feel honoured to have been chosen to receive this award and it has

inspired me to achieve my goals and ambitions and one day, give back to the University. The award has had a major

impact on my life as a student, giving me equal opportunities

and allowing me to get more involved within

University life.❞

Christian, MBChB, Medicine

10 YOUR GIFT

opEnInG ThE Door To posTGraDuaTE sTuDy

From its founding days, the University of Sheffield and its benefactors have been committed to widening participation

in higher education. We believe that funding for postgraduate scholarships stands proudly alongside this tradition.

With most UK undergraduates now completing their first degree holding substantial debt, the cost of postgraduate study can seem daunting, despite the intellectual and employment-enhancing benefits a Master’s degree provides. The least well-off students and those who do not come from backgrounds with a history of university attendance are the ones most discouraged by this, meaning many professions are deprived of a rich vein of talent and social mobility is hampered.

Last year, your university led a consortium of six Russell Group universities in piloting a range of ways of attracting under-represented groups into postgraduate study. As part of this project, we received matched funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which meant we were able to provide 100 scholarships to students who met the University’s widening participation criteria. 20 of these were funded directly by donations from our alumni, some of whom chose to apply their gift towards an area of particular interest to them, including medicine, geography and engineering.

Because of the success of last year’s project, not least in attracting philanthropic donations, this year HEFCE has made £1.1m of matched funding available to the University of Sheffield, one of the largest awards in the country.

This means that in 2015 we’re hoping to support more students than ever before. With matched funding we will be able to provide 220 scholarships to students who meet our widening participation criteria. These include students who were in receipt of a maintenance grant as an undergraduate; who are registered disabled; came to university from a care background; were themselves a carer; or come from a deprived area or one with a historically low university attendance record, as defined by the Government.

We’ll also use this initiative to address some long-standing imbalances in certain fields; for example, to help more women to take up engineering, more men to enter nursing, midwifery or psychology and to encourage more black and ethnic minority students to take up postgraduate study generally.

Following the success of last year’s pilot project, we know that this match funded scholarship scheme is an effective way to attract students into postgraduate study. We hope that you will consider supporting us in helping to expand the pool of talent available to our top professions and demonstrating to the Government the merits of continuing to fund postgraduate scholarships.

❝

Being a recipient of this scholarship has made a

significant difference to me. I am able to focus solely on

my studies without having to stress about my tuition fees and how I would be funded.

With this experience I hope to pursue a PhD in neuroscience chiefly in the subject area of neurodegenerative disorders

❞Farhana Ahmad, MSc(Res)

Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Neuroimaging, 2014 scholarship

recipient

YOUR GIFT 11

DIsCovErInG a CurE for DEafnEss

Deafness is a condition that has an enormous personal, social and economic impact. It currently cannot be cured. More than 10 million people in the UK have some level of hearing loss; 800,000 people are severely or profoundly deaf and there are over 45,000 deaf children.

Our Centre for Stem Cell Biology, which was the first to undertake research on human embryonic stem cells in the UK in 1999, has made major breakthroughs which offer real potential to reverse hearing loss.

Stem cells have the remarkable ability to develop into many different cells types in the body. They have the potential to be used to replace or repair other cells damaged by injury or disease.

Using these cells our research group, led by Professor Marcelo Rivolta, has developed a method to turn human embryonic stem cells into ear cells. In tests, these were then transplanted into deaf gerbils, improving their hearing by almost 50% - the equivalent of going from not

being able to hear traffic to hearing conversation-level noise.

The type of hearing loss successfully treated by the scientists is similar to a human condition known as auditory neuropathy, a form of deafness in which the damage occurs at the level of the cochlear nerve. It is thought to represent up to 15% of the population across the world with profound hearing loss.

As well as proving that stem cells can be used to repair damaged hearing, it is hoped the breakthrough will lead to new treatments and therapies in the future. The team is now working to understand the long term implications of this treatment and its safety.

❝

We spend about one to two pounds per person affected

by deafness in the UK. That’s about a tenth of what we spend

in blindness, a twentieth of what we spend in terms of

diabetes and approaching one hundredth of what we spend in

heart disease❞

Matthew Holley, Professor in Hearing Research, University of

Sheffield and team SUFFER rider

❝

After reading about Dr Rivolta’s research I was moved to make my first donation to

the University. I have suffered from auditory neuropathy since birth and, although I

won’t benefit personally, I am hopeful that a cure can be

found for future generations. I am pleased to be able to

support this important work in Sheffield

❞Donor of £3,000 to hearing

research at Sheffield, (BEng 1966, Washington State, USA)

In support of our ground-breaking research into deafness, a team of lecturers, researchers, support and professional services staff, alumni, students and the Students’ Union Sports Officer took part in the 2014

Deloitte Ride Across Britain. Over a period of nine days the team, known as SUFFER (Sheffield University Fundraising For ‘Earing Research) cycled 969 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

At the end of the gruelling ride, the team had raised £43,808 for hearing loss research at the University of Sheffield, which will be used towards new equipment and to train more scientists in the fight against deafness.

Riding across Britain for deafness research

12 YOUR GIFT

CrowDfunDED GuIllEMoTs

Every year since 1972, Professor Tim Birkhead, FRS, from our Department of Animal and Plant Sciences has visited the tiny island of Skomer, a mile off the

Pembrokeshire coast. His visits weren’t only to enjoy the stunning 200-foot cliffs or the mass of bluebells, red campion and sea pink which carpet its plateau, but to try to understand why the island’s population of guillemots had dropped from over

100,000 pairs in the 1930s to fewer than 2,000 pairs in the early 1970s.

What began as a three-year PhD whilst studying at the Edward Grey Institute in Oxford developed into a research project which would last over forty years, continuing when Tim began a lectureship at the University of Sheffield in 1976.

Over this time, Professor Birkhead and his team of researchers have built a methodology to help them understand how Skomer’s population of guillemots works and what factors influence its rise or fall. Most catastrophic of these are events such as oil spills (of which there have been four huge incidents over the period) and severe weather, such as the ‘seabird wreck’ which struck in February 2014, killing around 40,000 birds, including many from Skomer.

Perhaps most importantly, the long-term nature of the study has shown how changes to the wider environment are affecting wildlife. Climate change has led to consistently earlier breeding year on year over 25 years, until recent years when the timing of the breeding season has become chaotic. The research also provides a health check on the oceans and the level of food they are providing to the guillemots.

Just as the team was beginning to study the likely impact of the massive ‘wreck’ on the guillemot population, it learnt that the body which was responsible for funding the project had decided to end its support. Despite stressing the value of long-term data, the decision was not reversed and Tim was left looking for other sources for the £12,000 needed to keep the project going for another year.

It was here that he turned to crowdfunding. Following articles in national newspapers and the top scientific journal Nature, we launched a JustGiving page which in a little over two weeks attracted over 650 individual donations totalling more than £14,700. Many of these came from Sheffield alumni who had fond memories of Tim as a teacher and of helping him with the project during their time at the University.

Tim is now hoping that the increased visibility given to the research by the crowdfunding campaign will help to secure additional funding for future years.

You can still make a donation to Tim’s work by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/skomerguillemots2015

❝

The main benefit of long-term studies is that they

allow researchers to address problems that no one has yet

imagined. If we are to have any hope of conserving species,

we need to understand them, and we need to understand

the way they are affected by environmental change. The whole crowdsourcing

experience has been exhilarating. I want to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has donated

to my guillemot monitoring research on Skomer

❞Professor Tim Birkhead

❝

After re-sorting decades of Guillemot data back in 2005

how could I not support this? Best of luck!

❞Rachel Lenane (BSc Ecology 2005),

donor to the project

YOUR GIFT 13

harnEssInG ThE powEr of ThE sun

Projections point to a global increase in energy demand of at least 50% over the next 20 years, whilst by 2030 we’ll need a 50% increase

in food production to feed the world’s growing population.

How do we solve these challenges in a sustainable and ethical way?

Every hour the amount of energy from the sun reaching the earth’s surface is enough to meet mankind’s energy demand for a year, but at present only a fraction of this energy is captured. The University of Sheffield has set up Project Sunshine with the aim to harness the power of the sun to tackle the biggest challenge facing the world today: meeting the increasing food and energy needs of the world’s population in the context of an uncertain climate and global environment change.

Project Sunshine draws on researchers from across our faculties of science, engineering and social sciences to look at every element of the challenge. Our mathematicians are discovering how the sun works and how sunshine can be used to better fuel and feed the world. Our chemists, physicists and engineers are developing cost effective photovoltaic devices, revolutionising the way we capture the sun’s energy. Our biologists are learning how to increase the efficiency of plant photosynthesis, in order to provide greater yield for crops using less water, fertiliser and pesticide. And our social psychologists, human geographers and supply chain specialists are working to ensure these new technologies are suitable for the world beyond our laboratories.

In August 2014 the importance of the work being carried out by Project Sunshine was recognised when it attracted the largest ever single donation from an alumnus to the University of Sheffield. The £2.6m gift from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, established by Sheffield alumnus Jeremy Grantham (BA Economics 1961) and his wife Hannelore, will be used to establish the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures. The new Centre will work as part of Project Sunshine, focussing on advancing the science of sustainability and connecting it with the policy debate about how humans can live in a more sustainable way.

It will also recruit at least 20 new Grantham Scholars, the first 11 of whom started in autumn 2014. These ambitious young scientists will have the passion and commitment to ‘make a difference’, undertaking interdisciplinary PhD research projects in areas that tackle the challenges of sustainability. They will also develop the leadership and advocacy skills needed to become our next generation of policy advocates, engaging with all parts of society to drive forward sustainability issues.

❝

Project Sunshine addresses head on the central challenge

of our time: dramatically reducing greenhouse gas

emissions by making global energy and food systems truly

sustainable. I commend the University of Sheffield for

making this issue the strategic priority it deserves to be!

❞Jeremy Grantham

❝

Being surrounded by people passionate about the same

thing as you is an incredible driving force. It emboldens us to get involved wherever

possible, and to start looking at things we might never have

looked at before because we lacked the companions to

do it with. Our community is also made of people from

many disciplines, so we begin to understand how our

research can link with the work of others, and we begin to understand things from

foreign points of view❞

James Thackery, 2014 Grantham Scholar studying how to increase

crop seed yield

Jeremy Grantham, a world-renowned investment manager and co-founder, with his wife Hannelore, of the Grantham Foundation, was brought up in Doncaster and graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in Economics in 1961. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University in 2012.

The Grantham Foundation is based in Boston in the United States of America and is dedicated to raising awareness of urgent environmental issues and supports individuals and organisations working to find solutions.

2014 Grantham Scholars

14 YOUR GIFT

ovErTurnInG InjusTICE

Since 2007, students at our School of Law have been taking part in a project to help innocent victims of miscarriages of justice have their wrongful convictions overturned. Until last year this was as part of the Innocence Network UK, a group of 35 Innocence Projects based at universities around the country. With this project ending in 2014, the University has set up the Miscarriages of Justice Review Centre

(MJRC) to continue this essential work.

The MJRC gives law students the opportunity to assess and accumulate evidence which is used to support the referral of cases back to the Court of Appeal via the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Students develop their critical thinking and analysis, learning case management and how to complete funding bids, along with other more generic skills such as effective working with others and time management, and dealing with ethical issues.

Involvement in the project equips students for professional practice

beyond their studies, and offers them a unique first-hand experience. It can count as an assessed module towards students’ final degrees and is also accredited on Higher Education Achievement Reports (HEAR), the national record of extra-curricular activities students are involved in whilst at university.

The project and new centre have been generously supported over recent years, including a £10,000 individual gift; a legacy worth £2,000 and a grant from the Alumni Fund of £1,000.

Leading the charge against wrongful convictions in the murder capital of America.Since 2011, the project has enabled two students each year to undertake internships at the Centre for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA. The students spend eight weeks over summer at the centre, working on special projects and hearing from guest speakers of their experiences of the American justice system, whether as a victim of crime, someone who was wrongfully convicted or who is involved in law for their career.

They are also given the opportunity to see the work of the centre in action, for example when they witnessed the release of Daniel Taylor, a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years having been convicted of murder in 1995 when he was 17.

❝

My time in Chicago taught me that there are a lot of great

people in the world doing great things to save people from the injustices of evils that

could be avoided with sense of compassion, conscience and

diligent investigation❞

Christopher Musgrave, LLB Law final year student and 2014 Centre for

Wrongful Conviction intern.

Daniel Taylor released










Continued from overleaf

• I enclose a cheque for the value of £______________ (cheque payable to ‘The University of Sheffield’)



Name _________________________________________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________ Postcode ______________________

Signed ____________________________ Date ____ / ____ / ____



3Thank you for your support

4What you’ve given and where your money goes

6The Sheffield student experience

8Supporting talent

10Opening the door to postgraduate study

11Discovering a cure for deafness

12Crowdfunded guillemots

13Harnessing the power of the sun

14Overturning injustice

15What your support funds

Your

GIFT

YOUR GIFT 15

WhaT YOUR mOneY can FUnd

£10,000A donation of £10,000 provides a fully-funded scholarship to a student embarking on a postgraduate course.

£5 per monthFive people giving £5 per month can provide an Alumni Foundation grant to a student club, society or sports team to fund new equipment, competition fees or travel.

£10 per monthAccess to academic journals costs between £56 and £3,000. Five people donating £10 per month could fund up to ten journal subscriptions each year.

£20 per monthFive people donating £20 per month is enough to fund one undergraduate scholarship for a year

£500A donation of £500 can help to provide a department with a grant to improve the academic facilities for current and future students.

£3,000A gift of £3,000 provides an undergraduate student with a scholarship of £1,000 per year throughout their time at university.

As an exempt charity (x1089), donations to the University of Sheffield are eligible for Gift Aid, making your money go even further. Gift Aid adds an additional 25p for every £1 you donate.

Donation FormPlease complete in block capitals and return to the address overleaf.

Please turn over for more options.

If you Gift Aid your donation, the University of Sheffield will receive an additional 25p for every £1 you donate.



Name ___________________________________________________________________________

Address _________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________ Postcode ____________________

Signed __________________________ Date ____ / ____ / ____


per month / quarter / year (please circle), starting ____ / ____ / ____ until further notice

or for ______________ years (delete as appropriate)

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For bank use only






Harnessing the power of the sun

Discovering a cure for deafness

Crowdfunded guillemots!GIFTYOUR

A fundraising update for University donors and friends 2015

1905 Fundraising PosterFrom its founding days, philanthropy has been vital to the University of Sheffield. Thank you for helping to continue this tradition.

Development, Alumni Relations & Events University of Sheffield40 Victoria StreetSheffieldS10 2TN

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0114 2225598

Fax: 0114 2221044










• I enclose a cheque for the value of £______________ (cheque pay-able to ‘The University of Sheffield’)



Name _____________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________

___________________________ Postcode ______________________

Signed ____________________________ Date ____ / ____ / ____



DONATION FORMPlease complete in block capitals and return to the address below.

If you Gift Aid your donation, the University of Sheffield will re-ceive an additional 25p for every £1 you donate.



Name ______________________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

Postcode ___________________________________________________

Signed __________________________ Date ____ / ____ / ____


per month / quarter / year (please circle), starting ____ / ____ / ____

until further notice or for ______________ years (delete as appropriate)

Account holder name __________________________________________


___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

______________________________________ Postcode ____________

Name ______________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

______________________________________ Postcode ____________

Signed ____________________________ Date ____ / ____ / ____

For bank use only






Donati Frmrt£oa1iF0,on5 optre, mr0roi5t5 moFtion r,timoo .../file/YourGift.pdf · Donation Form Please complete in block capitals and return to the address overleaf. Please turn

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