The Syncona Foundation today announced a donation of £301,500 over three years to charity Generating Genius, becoming their largest scholarship funder.
The charity, which was founded in 2004 by Dr Tony Sewell CBE, supports low-income students across the UK to obtain places at top universities and in careers to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
The donation will provide five of Generating Genius’s students with scholarships to go to university, covering all their university fees as well as most living expenses whilst there. The Scholarship fund will be named the David Twumasi Syncona Foundation Scholarship after the Syncona team member who introduced Generating Genius to the Syncona Foundation.
The Syncona Foundation is supported by Syncona Limited, a leading healthcare investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Syncona, the Syncona Foundation and Generating Genius are aligned in their desire to improve the number of low-income households entering into STEM degrees and careers, removing any financial barriers for these students from being able to attend university whilst also giving them the financial freedom to achieve their full academic potential. Members of the Syncona management team will also support these students through networking, insight workshops and potential internship opportunities to help them gain skills which will enable them to enter companies such as Syncona.
Tom Henderson, Chair of the Syncona Foundation and Non-Executive Director of Syncona said: “Generating Genius has an impressive track record of successfully supporting and encouraging black and other under-represented minorities through their school years and onto STEM undergraduate degrees. We are proud to be making this donation and I am delighted that the Syncona team will be supporting students as part of the programme. More broadly, this is a critical step for Syncona and the Syncona Foundation to seek to contribute to increasing diversity in the scientific and investment communities. This is both a business and moral imperative.”