Get 'ER to Oxford!

A project by: Emily-Rose Swirlesque

Successful

WE RAISED £26,569

from 479 donors

This project received pledges on Wed 30 Jul 2014

Only project creators and their users can post comments.

My music video, shot last November, has just been released! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO49LGD2dk4

Sorry, for some reason my first pledge failed so I've tried again. Congratulations anyway on reaching your target. The world needs more rational, scientific thinkers but we've probably got enough hula dancing singers! The course sounds fascinating and I look forward to reading your blog. Regards, Jon

So pleased I managed to join you (and all your supporters) almost at the last minute. V best wishes and excited to hear from you again in October.

Woot!

Close one! I'm glad you made it :) I wish you luck and hope for the best.

Well done on hitting the jackpot. Looking forward to reading your blogs from Oxford.

This is SUCH an awesome idea, big good luck!!

Keep fighting junk science!

Congratulations on reaching your target! Looking forward to reading and learning from your blog! x

Congratulations, very well done! Now the hard work starts! Enjoy yourself and I look forward to your blog... xx

Good Luck, enjoy, and I look forward to reading your blog!

Good luck, enjoy - look forward to reading your blog!

Congratulations lovely! xx

Think you're going to be doing that Masters now... good luck!

Good luck with your studies & congratulations!

Sorry, where?

Good Luck Emily!!!! :)

Shit I thought that was anonymous

I donated money because I pitied her choice of oxford over the far superior university of Cambridge.

6 hours to go, 99% funded – looks like you are going to make it. Knock on wood!

I hope you will enjoy Oxford! :) Grüße aus Deutschland

Hi Emily, having finished two Masters in Psychology and EU Studies and a post graduate certificate in Intercultural Communication, I totally believe in education. What you're doing is great and the topic sounds exciting. Curious to read your blog.

Well done on getting so far - been watching all the various articles, it seems there really is no such thing as bad publicity! :) x

Hi Emily - get the f... to Oxford ... ;-) Greets from Germany, Stefan

Hope you get the full amount in time!

Good luck Emily-Rose!!!!!

Good luck Emily. Hope to see you back in town very soon x

:D

Good luck Emily-Rose, love the FB page! Look forward to reading the blog.

What a resourceful girl! You deserve to succeed :) The very best of luck.

Good luck :-)

GO YOU POSH BRAT! My pledge is strictly for bubbles xx

Good luck Emily!

Emily-Rose, £5 isn't a lot I know, but I hope it helps get you towards your goal. Good on you for putting yourself out there, it's a scary, judgemental world out there so being able to rise above the comments and criticism is very admirable. All the best in your studies, as I know you'll get there, I have faith in people and people seem to be coming together for you. Take care, Heather x

Best of luck with your studies

Good idea I wish you all the luck in the world. Regards George Barrett

Wishing you the best of luck Emily! Read your article in the Telegraph and I hope one day you can pass on the goodwill and support someone who needs it. All the best with your studies. Work hard and enjoy it.

I hope this venture comes off! I admire your chutzpah, and wish you every success in your Masters. Please be sure that when the time comes, and when you can, you pay it forward. Enjoy the opportunity and best of luck!

I'm from the era when I didn't have to pay for my B.Sc., though I did for my M.Sc. However,it was cheap in comparison with what students are now expected to pay. So I think it's only fair I give a bit back. I like your idea and I like your attitude. Don't let anyone gainsay you. Good luck with the course. You never know where it will lead... I came to London to study, lived in Leytonstone for a few years and am now in Switzerland!

Only 26 hours left - with so much publicity I do hope you make it

huge good luck emily! sorry i left it so late, i've just started work but i'm really proud of you and i just wish i could have donated more. i'll be up a fair bit in oxford next year and it would be great to see you about. lots of love and luck, bea xxx

It is inspirational to see someone so driven to follow their dreams and have such definite goals. Although it is horrible to receive such negativity, I for one wouldn't have read about crowdfunding or your project - so maybe they're a blessing in disguise! Don't let them bring you down and as a recent graduate myself with a graduate job I am jealous as I have no serious career aspirations like you! Good Luck, you've inspired me.

Fantastic idea! I left university in the 80's when most degrees and further degrees were either free or affordable. Now it seems you have to have either independent wealth or be crazy enough to take on massive debts before you can think of furthering your education. I am not a left wing socialist but I do believe that education should be open to all, without barriers, and based upon the students ability and commitment. Have a fantastic year and career!

A very inspirational project - you've inspired me to follow my dreams a little bit more! Thank you and well done!

Read your article in the Telegraph and then checked out your page on FB. I love what you're doing in the world and want to support you for the courage and creativity you're showing in going after what you want. I also want to know what your learning too so that I can get the benefits of the information without having to study it - it's not purely altruistic ;) I'm just about to start my PhD and I have my own creative way of raising the funds to support me for that. Being able to have credible research behind the work I'm doing is very important to me. The work I've developed in my private practise whilst practical still has a high level of theory behind it as the field of ecopsychology is still emerging. I want to change this with carrying out the research to give my work and me more credibility. Wishing you a wonderful year at Oxford!

Very impressed with your drive and enthusiam - go get 'em!

I read your very eloquent article in the Telegraph and I have no doubt that you will make a great contribution to the world in whatever you choose to do. Good luck! Although from what I have read so far you will make your own luck.

Good for you Emily-Rose. I hope my son grows up as enterprising as you. Why shouldn't people invest in people? Education is what drives us forward and save us from the ignorant/ce... I am sure you will do very well and should be inordinately proud of yourself. x

Good luck with it. A fascinating area of study and I look forward to reading your digests.

I'm a graduate student, similarly in debt, but what's the cost of a drink to help someone else further their study and mind?

Dear Emily-Rose, I just read your article in The Telegraph and I am totally at your side, f**k these snobbish idiots. I think, everyone deserves to study, no matter of their social origin and financial status. I know about the astronomically high costs of graduate studies in the UK and since I am a German - still need to be supported by the state - I have a fee which is nothing in comparison to your 26,000.00 GBP. I hope you will have a great time in Oxford and be very succesful! Yours Patrick

Good luck! It's important to follow your dream and there's never any shame in asking for help. Really looking forward to reading about your studies on the blog, I've always found anthropology fascinating :)

One in the eye for the negative, the jealous and the anti-social. This funding process is an anthropological case study in itself. Good luck!

I didn't have tuition fees to pay for my Oxford undergrad (missed them by two years, phew) and I hate that you racked up double the amount of debt I did to get the same education I had. So here's a little something to help you get to your total. I think the blog is a great idea and I am looking forward to reading it.

Best Wishes!

7!? I _specifically_ pledged 6.66!

It's difficult to ask for help. Like.... really very difficult. Those that can't rise above their sense of "pride" often judge those who manage to. It is their loss because they lose out on opportunities such as this. I wish you the best of luck, not that you need it.

Good luck!

It's nice to see somebody proactively pursuing their goals, and being creative enough to find an unconventional way to do it. Aside from that, it seems to be offensive to readers of the Daily Mail. That, alone, is reason enough to support you! Best of luck.

I really wish you the best of luck Emily-Rose, you're so brave and so inspiring -- I can see my youngself in you. Although it's just £2 from me but it can't justify how I really feel and want to see you succeed with your masters; the education that is beyond my reach and I've already given up on it. I wish I can help you more but for a jobless and full-time mother of three, our family can only live from hand-to-mouth. However, I feel so proud and privileged that my £2 can contribute a little to changing your life. With all my goodwill, Chan

Innovative idea. I like this project. Crafter seems professional and I look forward to reading her blog very much. Probably the best pound ever spent.

Congratulations Emily-Rose - what an inspiring campaign you are running. I wish it could be more but I hope my little contribution helps you get to your target. Best of luck in all your endeavours. Noel x

I believe in elite education and in the promotion of talent. I had the most marvellous free education at Cambridge many years ago. You showed spirit and adventure and you deserve to be given a boost. Good luck !

Good luck getting the rest! FOR SCIENCE!!!

Get er done! Haters gonna hate. My parents paid for my undergrad and it allowed me to pay for my masters. This is me paying that forward. Good luck!

Fair play to you. Pay no mind to the haters.

Good luck!

Brilliant idea! Good luck with the crowdfunding and the Masters.

Hi Emily, I saw the article on the Telegraph website. Sorry you've had to put up with abuse from a lot of idiots! Good luck

Good luck.

It's not much but good luck with the study.

Such heart-warming comments - thank you so much. All of you people will always be so special to me! I'm truly overwhelmed by this response - words cannot express it.

If you finish and graduat, off the Cava, i'll buy you a bottle of Krug. And here's to wishing well upon others, not pulling them down for their endeavours. Robin.

Hi Emily, I was inspired to donate to help you achieve your goal of studying your masters at Oxford following a really idiotic article in a newspaper that doesn't deserve mentioning further. I ranted long and hard about it, and then thought the best way to beat them was to help sponsor you. You should be proud of yourself and what you've achieved, and I wish you the very best of luck with your course and your future.

Best of luck with your masters!

Good luck. Keep up the good work!

Good luck and every success Emily-Rose!

Good for you having the brains and the balls to come up with this idea. If you can do this you can do anything. A good education is the best gift anyone can be given. Wishing you every success.

Good for you.

Good luck Emily-Rose. I know how hard it is to get that first job, despite all the Oxbridge work you've done and success you've had. Above all enjoy your time there and I hope it leads on to a successful and fulfilling life. David

Good thinking - we should all be sponsoring a student :-)

Hi Emily, Good luck with your project. I hope you manage to fund it to completion and my small donation helps.

Good luck

I have nothing but admiration for your ingenuity and determination to grasp your opportunity. Your courage in publicly taking on your detractors in your incisive article is a rallying cry to collaborative thinking everywhere. This is the fastest route to lifting the sum total of happiness in the world. You should be proud of getting us there a little faster! Good luck in your MSc.

Good luck with your campaign.

The very best of luck to you! Your initiative is infectious. I hope it spreads to others who need encouragement. This country needs more people like you!

Best of luck - and kudos to you for having the guts to do this.

Love your FB page, love DRH's work & hope you get there - go hard, go well, Emily-Rose!

I hope you reach your target- £1 better going into your brain than my belly!

Just read about this on the Telegraph website, can't stand negativity. You come across as genuine and committed, which is all one can really ask for in life. I know what it's like to saddle yourself with huge debts to orchestrate a change, and if someone had offered me help, I would have gratefully accepted, conscience clear. Most of all, I donated because all the negativity (jealously masquerading as righteousness) is partly why life can get people down and why there is a lack of mobility in careers or passions. Fuck 'em.

Good luck.

Read your comments/article in the telegraph to those negative people. Great for you and hope you live your dream. Anyone trying to get in your way are not worth your time as there are always so many other more important people to meet along the way. Good Luck and I hope to see that picture of you with the Cava.

Hi there, I have to admit I was very skeptical when I first heard about what you were doing. But I read your article in the Torygraph and was completely turned around. Fair play you. Using the tools around you to get you to your goal and writing so well in your defence certainly made me change my mind and I like that. So I thought I'd sponsor you to do your Masters and see what happens next. Good luck. Cheers...Paul

Pledged a couple of quid because of science, because of your face and because you 'thank you' at the end of your video. Good luck!

Good luck!

Wishing you an amazing year full of sweet science to come!

From Pete and Lucy, GOOD LUCK!!! Hope all goes well.

just made my pledge, very happy to do so. Wish you the best of luck getting the rest and with everything.

Good luck with the rest of the fundraising Emily!

Absolutely! And your name will appear in it in the acknowledgements section, alongside the other 7 people who've pledged 500 or more. Thank you for all the lovely comments, everyone. And for your donations too, of course!

Hi! Ive made two pledges, both £250, im entitled to the £500 reward, right!?

Good luck with your degree, wishing you all the best in the career you dream of x

Good luck Emily-Rose and we certainly need more women scientists. Barbara & Frank. x

Go get them! :-)

Hope all goes well for you!

Hope you make it. Best of luck

Saw an article about you in the Daily Mail this morning and donated just so I could write a message! Can't believe that some people are being so negative about you and your efforts, and I just want to encourage you - YOU'RE FLIPPIN AWESOME!! Amazing dancer, amazing singer, and clearly a super-successful fundraiser, and your response to the plonkers was spot-on. Hope you have the best time on your Masters :) xxx P.S. I'm a busker too! Come say hey :) www.facebook.com/SophieTheBusker

Hi Emily Rose, good luck with your course - you should have the minimum together now to do your MA. Do not let yourself be deterred by negative public comments. A quick note on the side: As part of what you are experiencing at the moment and part of your MA you might find Gary Silverman's article in Today's Financial Times about "Gaza, Ukraine and antisocial media - The wonderful new tools of engagement are sending out the wrong sort of digital message" interesting. This is a something completely new and unexpected development which is shaping our world now. It needs clever, courageous people to assess these developments. All the best - I look forward to hearing from you and how you are getting on through your blog. Cornelia

Best of luck with your studies. Hope it all goes well.

I too had a mad mission to go to Cambridge, Natural Science Tripos. Its bloody expensive to be an adult student these days. I burnt myself out by manically overworking for two years and then I still ran out of money after the first year. Wishing you the best of luck in your adventure.

Go for it Emily xx

I think this a fantastic way to fund your masters and good on you for giving it a go! This is much better than any scholarship out there because you are actually giving something back to each and every one of your supporters. I wish I could donate more, but sadly my funding is rapidly running out as I approach the end of the 3rd year of my DPhil. Don't listen to those negative comments out there, you clearly have tonnes of supporters who really want to see you hit your target!! GOOD LUCK!! :D

Good luck! Looking forward to having science explained me!

So close!

I hope that you make it!

I'm Caroline Dearnley's husband, muso and drop-out physicist (Manchester, 1977). You deserve support just for your Facebook page. I'm not entirely sure that the triumph of ignorance is avoidable in the medium term but we must do what we can. Good luck!

Bon chance!

Good luck Emily! xx

I hope you get the remaining funds! look forward to seeing how you get on!

Another IFHP follower right here. I love what you do and how you look at life and I wish I could do more to support you. Good luck!

Good Luck...Looking forward to reading your blogs..

Good luck Emily. I really hope you get all the funding you need! Looking forward to reading your progress updates :)

You can have a fiver from me clever lady. I think it's the bare minimum I can pledge in return for the highly entertaining and informative resource that is IFHP. The freeloaders who have left negative comments on your page, while feeling no debt for its content, can go fuck themselves :) Best wishes Adrian Stewart

you go girl xxx

Good luck, Emily! It would be brilliant if you can make this happen, and I'd look forward to the theories on evolution, religion, recursion, genes, etc. etc., that would come out of your Masters.

Good luck Emily! I hope you reach your target and life follows the path you have laid out!

Good luck ! Exciting subjects. Ido van der Heijden

Good luck! The course sounds fantastic. I'd donate more but I'm pretty crippled by my own MA debt. Fingers crossed student funding will undergo a paradigm shift sooner rather than later! X

Fingers crossed that you make it - I feel your fee pain! xx

good luck :) !!

For *that* speech, well worth a quid. I also f*cking hate pseudo science. Good luck!

Good luck!! Hope you get to the total! All the best, Paul & Hannah

Good luck Emily. XX

Good luck. Stay sceptical and remain imaginative!

From one struggling post-grad to another. I'm Having to find 3/4 years of funding for phd after just completing a 2 year masters! Good luck emily.

Good luck Emily! You'll be amazing x

Hey Emily - see you at Spanish tomorrow!

Hope this helps! Sorry it's not more but I support quite a lot of causes so have to share it around x

Good luck in raising the rest! Looking forward to reports from Oxford!

Good luck!

Fingers crossed! Best wishes Andreas

i really hope you achieve your target!

Good luck Emily!xo

Hi Emily I'm Paul ,a friend of your lovely mum . My 2 daughters are at Ruskin college in Oxford at the moment so I know how expensive going to Uni is . I really hope you raise the money you need !! Good luck Paul

Definitely worth a tenner for such a great page! Keep up the good work and look forwards to seeing your updates soon.

Pay no attention to the naysayers, Emily. Supporters of reason like me have your back. Hope you get this fully funded. --A fellow skeptic

Good luck - hope it all works out! Best wishes, Paul Willey

Good Luck Emily Love Clare and Chris x

you said this: "I fucking hate pseudoscience because I fucking love people. I love their funny brains and their silly faces and their laughter and their beautiful vulnerability. I don’t want any of them to suffer, or to miss out on any of the good stuff, and the fact that they often do makes me weep." and I really like all of those words in that order! keep it up, hope you make it.

very impressed and wishing you very best of luck. pedro

Damn New-Agey touchy-feely whale-huggy nonsense. Go for it. XX

Not only do I love the aims and posts on IHfP , Wadham was my college. I'm also immensely fascinated by the subject matter of the masters and wish I could study it myself.

Sounds an amazing masters!

Good luck Emily!

Good luck Emily - I really, really hope it works out for you.

Pretty sure I out-debt you, but I can spare a few quid with all the awesome stuff you've done with IFHP. Looking forward you reading your blog posts. Also, never suspected your looks would be as amazing as your mind :)

Good luck Emily-Rose xx

Good luck, and hope you make it. Deb x

Emily, good luck with this and I have finally managed to give my donation of £50 Trish Calnan

Hope all goes well, and I also hope you do not drop the IFHP page because you are too busy!

I hope you make it Emily. Good luck, Vic

Hello Cathy. I hope this pledge helps a little. Laurie x

Thank you for all the content on FB.

Good luck.

Thank you all for your sweet comments! xx

Good luck Emily! xxxx

Hi Emily I want to to support you in this. I was feeling sorry for myself this morning and didn't want to make the 100 mile roundtrip to the west end of London to do 2 shows of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I was going to call in sick and send a dep. I just read the email from your mum about the sad news about Paul and also the good news that I could do something positive today by sponsoring you. I am now leaving for the west end to do the show and my fee for both shows is going straight to you! I feel much better and will stand proud in the band room today in the knowledge that my work is helping someone as talented as you. Take care Pete B

I applied for a Human Sciences Lectureship at Wadham only yesterday. I'm fairly certain I'm too old and tired and sick and stupid to get it but it was worth a try and if it works they'll pay me almost exactly what you need to raise. So its worth my while to underwrite the cost of a kitten on the off chance that we'll both be there together.

hope you reach your target lv Bill xx

Hi ems! Good luck. Hope to see you graduate soon!

Thanks so much, everyone. x

Thanks for all you do for the skeptical community! And, I hope you reach your goal! Nick T

Love your page, wishing you every success.

I fucking hate pseudoscience! Keep fighting the good fight.

Saving for my MSc too, but I can spare you a pound :)

Thanks, Angela! And thanks for your donation - it's much appreciated! :D

Good luck & best wishes!