Undergraduate scholarships and bursaries

Our scholarships are developed with iconic professionals, offering the opportunity to be hand-picked by some of the biggest names in the industry.

If you’re passionate about working in the creative industries, here you can see the financial assistance we offer to help undergraduate students from underrepresented groups access higher education.

Undergraduate scholarships

We're delighted to offer five one-year fee scholarships to talented students on our undergraduate courses. This is an opportunity to have your first year's tuition fees paid and help launch your future in the creative industries.

How to be considered

  • Apply through UCAS
    Apply online to the degree(s) of your choice by the UCAS equal consideration deadline.

  • Submit your portfolio
    If you meet our entry requirements, you will be invited to submit a portfolio. All portfolios will be considered for a scholarship.

  • Longlist
    Our Admissions Team will let you know if your portfolio has made the longlist.

  • Results
    The winning portfolios are selected by our industry expert panel below! Selection is usually after enrolment has taken place.

Eamonn Butler, Head of Animation at Cinesite

Eamonn Butler started his career at Walt Disney Animation Studios as a 2D Animator. He spent 10 years at Disney, working on Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur and Chicken Little amongst other films. He trained under veteran Disney Animator Dave Brain at Dublin’s Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design.

Eammon then transferred to the world of VFX animation. As Head of Animation at DNEG he worked on box offices hits such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Iron Man 2 and Edge of Tomorrow. Eammon has been Head of Animation at Cinesite since 2012 - an award-winning film and TV visual effects company based in London’s Soho.

Tara Saunders, Chair at BAFTA Games

Tara Saunders studied art, design and animation before graduating with an MA in Computer Animation from the National Centre of Computer Animation in 2000. She started a 20+ year career at Sony Interactive Entertainment at the launch of PlayStation 2 and has worked on projects including The Getaway franchise, Singstar, EyePet, Wonderbook, and virtual reality gaming. 

Her career has seen her grow from a Junior Artist to a leadership role as Studio Head at PlayStation London Studio, where she focused on creative, people, environment and team culture. During her career Tara has been an active member of the BAFTA Games Committee and made a conscious effort to support game developers of tomorrow through academia and mentorship programmes.

Paul Franklin, Creative Director at DNEG

Paul Franklin, Co-Founder of DNEG (one of London's most prestigious post houses), has worked on some of the most memorable and successful films of recent times, titles such as Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

His work on Inception (2010) won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects and he won a second Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Interstellar (2014).

Eugénie Von Tunzlemann, Assistant Director - Visual Media at Universal Creative

Eugénie started out as a programmer, working on feathers for the Hippogriff which featured in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She worked in feature film visual effects for 12 years with a focus on FX simulation, her work appearing in films such as Batman Begins, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Interstellar.

Following her work in film, Eugénie then moved into VFX supervision of location-based work, including theme park rides, museums and attractions. She was previously Head of VFX, Attractions at Framestore, supervising ride projects in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Dr Ian Palmer, Principal - Escape Studios

Dr Ian Palmer’s career spans developing programmes in digital media, games, animation and visual effects.

Ian began his career working on state-of-the-art software and hardware for communications and radar systems. His interest in research led to studying computer graphics and developing animation software such as the REALISM system which incorporated behavioural features into animated objects. This work led to Ian being awarded a DPhil in 1994.

Whilst at Bradford, Ian developed programmes with Creative Skillset, BBC and Mute Records, combining practical skills with academic practice. He also oversaw the integration of professional production facilities into the learning environment, such as motion capture and broadcast facilities, providing opportunities for students to use real facilities during their studies. This work was recognized by the Higher Education Academy in 2014 with the award of a National Teaching Fellowship. Ian joined Escape Studios in 2015 to lead the development of its degrees in Animation, Games and VFX.

Bursaries and financial support (UK students only)

We offer financial assistance to ensure students can access our learning, no matter their background. For 2024/25 undergraduate entrants, this includes the following.

  • Access and Participation Bursary
    A bursary of £1500 per year is available to students who experience barriers to participating and succeeding in higher education.
    (We expect bursary support details for the 2025/26 academic year to be available from early 2025.)

  • Applicant travel expenses
    Some applicants can claim expenses for travel to open days and applicant days.

  • Laptop loan
    We offer a laptop loan to care leavers, students who have a household income below £25,000, and students from neighbourhoods where young people are least likely to go on to higher education.

  • Access to learning fund
    Available to help current students who have made realistic provisions to fund their studies and experienced unforeseen financial hardship. Awards are made towards maintenance costs only in the region of £250. In exceptional circumstances a larger award may be made.