A STUDENT from Glasgow is calling on young women to apply for the Amazon Future Engineer bursary after receiving the support last year.
Nazma Mulla, who is studying Computer Science at University of Glasgow, was one of 31 women students across the UK to receive the bursary in 2022.
The Amazon Future Engineer bursary, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, provides a support package of up to £20,000 to women students from low-income households progressing from A Level, or technical education courses to university education.
The bursary is granted to women students from low-income households who demonstrate a drive and passion for computing and engineering, and an understanding of how innovation and creativity in these fields can help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges.
Alongside the financial support, successful candidates are matched with an industry mentor, and provided with training and networking opportunities. During their time on the programme, awardees can expect to collaborate with like-minded peers, as well as meeting leading engineers, who’ll inspire them to think big and make their voices heard in their chosen fields.
Nazma Mulla, University of Glasgow, Computer Science
Growing up in Preston, Lancashire, Nazma knew from a young age that she wanted to study computer science. Inspired by her older brother Jamal, who would come home from university and speak about what he had been learning, she decided at age 14 that she wanted to do the same.
Now in her first year at the University of Glasgow, she is studying Computer Science along with Philosophy and Statistics. She loves that this is helping her prepare her for a dream career in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Nazma is laser focused on going straight into a master’s course then a PhD to fulfil her AI career dream and is grateful that the bursary means she won’t have to worry about finding a part-time job.
Finding out she’d been successful in the bursary application, she was overjoyed: “I remember running down the stairs to tell my family. Now I don’t have to worry about funding my degree and can put 100% of my focus into academia.”
She hopes to be part of a generation that balances gender disparity in the industry.
“I want to improve representation in the academic subject and in the industry. You have to keep putting in the effort and focusing on yourself, I try not to be phased by the fact that I’m in a class of mostly male students.”
She’s excited that the AFE programme is not just a bursary but has offered her connections and work experience opportunities so that she can begin climbing the career ladder, challenging gender representation along the way.
Applications for the Amazon Future Engineer bursary close at 5pm on 17th April 2023. For more information on how to apply, visit the Royal Academy of Engineering.
