Stanley Ray Scholarship

PhD students, and Stanley Ray Scholars, Lluís, Zheyu, and Sam tell us about their studies and the impact that the award has made.

Scholarships and awards make an enormous difference to the opportunities available to our students.

The three recipients of the Stanley Ray Scholarships share their personal experiences of the impact this award has made to them and their studies. Lluís Jerez Bertolín (MRes Late Antiquity, 2019; PhD candidate in Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology) is studying the Ancient Roman gig economy; Zheyu Lin (PhD candidate, Art History and Music) is focusing on the influence of Western art and music in China following the Cultural Revolution; and Sam Powell (PhD candidate, Egyptology) is restoring the provenance to ancient Egyptian funerary figures across UK museums.

The Stanley Ray Scholarship was established in 2014 thanks to a gift left in the will of Stanley Ray. It is awarded annually to postgraduate students in the Arts, excluding Law, and with a preference for those studying French, Music, English or Shakespeare Studies, on a Masters or Doctoral Research degree programme.

Stanley Ray worked in the chemistry industry, first in research and development and then subsequently in sales. His wife Betty studied Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham and latterly the University of Nice. During his retirement, and following Betty’s death, Stanley had drawn closer to the University of Birmingham, attending music recitals and supporting postgraduate Modern Languages students. Stanley passed away in 2009 but thanks to his generosity, his legacy endures and many students like Luiz, Sam and Zheyu have since been able to follow their passion for the arts.