I am trying to raise £13,285 to pay for my tuition fees for the MRes in Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation at University College London, The Natural History Museum, and the Institute of Zoology (Zoological Society of London).
Who I am and why I am doing this campaign
My name is Keziah Conroy. I have just finished my undergraduate degree in physical geography at University College London, for which I was awarded First Class Honours. My final year physical geography dissertation 'Vegetation dynamics during the Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions: dung fungal spores as a proxy for megaherbivore abundance' won the departmental prize (£100) for the best in the year. I'm currently collecting more data to submit the results of my thesis for publication.
I have been offered a place to complete a MRes in Biodiversity,
Evolution and Conservation. I was so happy to hear I got a place on this
course, which will offer me further training in conducting scientific
research and will prepare me to go on to a PhD. However, I may not be
able to take up my place due to the cost of the course.
The MRes is a one-year, full-time, research-based degree which will involve completing two 16-week research projects at University College London, the Zoological Society of London and the Natural History Museum. Nature is inherently interesting, but I'm particularly looking forward to the challenge of unfamiliar statistical and computational analyses.
Although I have won a £2000 scholarship towards my tuition fees for outstanding academic achievement, I've lost out on the other, larger scholarships which would have made it possible for me to study this MRes. This leaves me with a few options: take out a career development loan, take on a full-time job while studying, or crowd source.
Obviously, I do not want to take out a loan, considering the amount of
debt I have from my undergraduate degree. For me to pay both my tuition fees and living costs, with a full-time job, would be unfeasible.
A bit more about me
I'm a rationalist, free-thinker, sceptic, feminist, environmentalist chick. I'm president of the UCLU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (or find us on Facebook). I hate food waste, which why I am an active freegan and urban scavenger: you can check out my blog here. I'm a powerlifter and my best lift is my squat. I play the ukulele, and enjoy painting animals, particularly pigeons and Cambrian fauna!
Where will the money go?
All money raised will go directly to the university tuition fees for the course, the full amount being £13,285.
UCL's payment deadlines mean that I need to pay half of the fees (£6642.50) by the time I enroll at the end of September, which is my "minimum needed" by the end of this hubbub campaign.
Any additional funds raised will go towards PayPal fees (~£465) and any funds further to that will go to my rent, which is about £7,000 per year.
Rewards
As a token of my gratitude I can give you something cute, something beautiful, or something interesting.
Have a look at my SEM pics below:
Find me here
You can find me on Facebook or Twitter if you're interested in my progress.
Help me succeed!
You don't need to give money to help me succeed! Please share this project with anyone you think would support me – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog. A hashtag is all the rage these days: #MRes4Kez.
