Leathersellers’ Alumni

I received a Leathersellers’ scholarship to study for a doctorate in particle physics at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford. Before that I did a Master’s in physics at Imperial College London, with an Erasmus year at the University of Padua. I have dual British and French nationality.

I currently run a small business in education, based out of Geneva (Switzerland), which is my hometown.

I received the scholarship in conjunction with a scholarship from my university, and together these provided me with a full stipend. Without these I could not have pursued my studies. But on top of the monetary value, a scholarship means that someone is willing to bet on your future. It says, “we believe in you”, and that meant a lot to me. I tried to live up to the trust put in me and I was an active member of the college during my time there. I ended up representing the graduate community in college (MCR President) which gave me an insight into how organisations are managed. This in turn set me on the future path to entrepreneurship.

After university I went to live in Peru, where I lectured at a university, and set up a couple of research programmes in cosmic ray physics (subatomic particles that reach earth from outside of the solar system). Having been a scholar helped me have the confidence to enter this path. A couple of those projects are still active today, and my company funds a part scholarship for a university student working on one of the projects.

Ambitions is probably not the term I would use. Many of the paths that opened to me after my studies are not ones I had anticipated. I prefer to think about it in terms of participating in opportunities that can arise in a career. Completing a PhD (made possible thanks to the scholarship) equipped me with tools that I otherwise would not have had. So, did the scholarship help with opportunities? Absolutely.

One of my most vivid memories of the scholarship was being invited to lunch at Leathersellers’ Hall, and meeting members of the Company. They were senior managers of companies, navy captains, entrepreneurs. I remember being inspired by the profiles I met, and grateful they had shared their time over lunch with me. I hope the alumni network will help connect today’s scholars with those of us who graduated some years ago. And where there is a match, help us in turn to share our time with the new generation of scholars.

My company is currently embarking on a new journey, and we are sponsoring the creation of the International Institute for Accessible Technology. Our ambition is to create scholarships for students in low- and middle-income countries to work on technologies that can be used to solve local challenges. Currently we are focusing on neo-natal technologies in Congo Brazzaville, but if things work out, we will expand to more countries and more technologies. I hope this is a venture we can replicate in many locations, and offer opportunities to many students who otherwise might not have them.