Without any financial support from the Hardship Fund, I wouldn’t have been able to afford accommodation in London or the transport costs to reach my placement every week. I’m beyond grateful that the generous donations provided to me in the last couple of years have allowed me to continue to pursue my goal of becoming a doctor. Thank you to all the kind alumni who have allowed me to keep following my dream. There are no words that could describe how thankful I truly am.
Alex, medical student
13 October 2022
How you're shaping the future
Thank you for supporting King's.
The Stewardship Report for 2022 has now been published.
In it, you can find out more about how King's donors have supported students, driven forward King's world-leading research, and continued to serve our local and global communities.
Below, we share some extracts from the report. If you would like to read the document in full, you can do so here.
Shitij’s Foreword
Thank you
Dear alumni, members of our King’s community and friends, as my first year at King’s draws to a close, I would like to say a big thank you for all your support. It has been an eventful year at King’s College London, filled with many celebrations, astonishing achievements and some surprises. Thanks to your remarkable resilience, passion and commitment, we can continue to support our students, drive forward our research and serve our local and global communities.
One of the highlights of my role as Principal is hearing about the many ways that our former students are making the world a better place. This summer, I had the privilege of attending our Distinguished Alumni Awards, where I met some extraordinary King’s alumni, including the mastermind developer behind the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the current president of the Law Society, who is the first person of colour to hold this position in its 200-year history. After a challenging couple of years, it was wonderful to be able to get together in person and celebrate examples of our inspirational alumni who are going forth to make a real and lasting difference in the world.
Our alumni, students and staff come from every community from every corner of the world. As a diverse institution based in the heart of London, we are in an ideal position to challenge inequality and find inventive solutions to global issues. From innovations in healthcare to our scholarship programmes and world-leading research, I’m extremely proud of everything we have achieved.
Over the past few years, our dedicated researchers have been working hard to tackle pressing global challenges. This includes a landmark six-year study into depression, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis that explores how smartphones and wearable technology can transform how we diagnose and manage these illnesses.
We’re also helping our students to develop the skills they need to contribute to society and, in doing so, find their passion, purpose and direction in life. Programmes like K+, the Civic Leadership Academy and the Sanctuary Hub provide vital financial and academic support to talented young people who may not be able to access the same opportunities as some of their peers. You can read more about these innovative programmes and how they’ve helped exceptional students like Alex, Liam, Prina and Mariana.
I am extremely thankful to everyone who has helped to make these projects possible. With your ongoing support and feedback, I believe we can continue developing more of these initiatives, generating knowledge with purpose, and shaping future leaders and innovators.
With my best wishes,
Professor Shitij Kapur
President & Principal, King’s College London
Student hardship
Student Hardship Fund
The past few years have been incredibly tough for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and just as things have started to turn around, we’ve been hit by the worst cost-of-living crisis since the early 1980s.
The impact is being felt across society, but, as is so often the case, it’s those from disadvantaged backgrounds who are disproportionately affected. There are many students who are already struggling financially due to personal circumstances and/or the impact of COVID-19, but this number is increasing with the cost-of-living crisis as students find themselves squeezed even further, with some facing the very real dilemma of how to continue funding their studies.
The need to support students facing financial hardship has never been greater. Thanks to the continuing generosity of our alumni community, King’s is able to provide vital financial support through scholarships, bursaries and the Hardship Fund.
I’ve loved every moment of my education at King’s. The level of tuition and access to materials is the best I’ve ever experienced. To those alumni who have donated to the Hardship Fund, please take heart that your support is helping ordinary people access learning that enables them to quantum leap in their personal and professional lives – for the betterment of themselves and all those they support.
Student recipient of King’s Hardship Fund
When I found out that I was successful in my application, I was over the moon! I didn’t need to worry about money in my master’s year anymore… Now I am able to enjoy my programme and learn everything I came here for. It was very special. I felt supported and valued by King’s as an international student. To all the people who have donated to the Hardship Fund, THANK YOU! You are helping students all over the world to pursue their dreams at King’s.
Mariana, MSc Human Resource Management & Organisational Analysis
Research highlights
Research at King’s
As the home of world-leading research, King’s is proud to share the positive impact it has on the world’s greatest challenges while striving to benefit society.
Our research spans a wide range of fields, from working to save and improve lives to looking for ways to enhance the economy. We advance discussion and debate, influence policy and shape the cultural landscape. These projects would not be possible without additional funding from generous alumni and donors like you. You can read about some of the inspiring research projects from the last year in the following highlights.
Paving the way for future research
In the last year, gifts from our generous alumni and supporter community have helped King’s to reimagine the new Department of Engineering building spaces. Thanks to your support, we’re creating brand-new research areas, including Maker Spaces, where students and researchers can learn, develop and test new technologies. And, with 100 per cent of King’s engineering research reported to be ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ in the latest Research Excellence Framework results, we are ideally placed to find novel solutions.
Philanthropy has also provided vital cutting-edge equipment for the new Centre for Engineering a Sustainable Future. Sustainability is the golden thread running through King’s engineering research, and we’re excited about how these research activities will make people’s lives greener, easier and safer – for example, by scaling food protein technology to help feed the world. Your support is accelerating the research programmes that could transform the most pressing sustainability challenges facing global communities.
King’s expertise on the war in Ukraine shared around the world
Since the war in Ukraine broke out, researchers and academics from King’s have been using their expertise to inform discussion and debate around the war and its far-reaching consequences.
Our experts have seen their work reach audiences far and wide – from Europe to the US and Australia. The Ukraine Explained series contains pieces covering a wide range of topics, with everything from what the EU and international community could be doing, to how the war is being perceived in Russia, the use of social media in the war, and the potential risk from biological or chemical weapons.
Driving the response to COVID-19 through the COVID-19 Symptom Study app
Throughout the pandemic, King’s has been at the forefront of COVID-19 research. The ZOE COVID Symptom Study app was launched right at the beginning of the outbreak. With over four million users, the app became the world’s largest ongoing study into the virus.
The study has helped shape health policy, flagging key symptoms of the virus – such as loss of taste and smell – and highlighting how early symptoms may differ among age groups. The app also helped to predict local hotspots, such as Leicester in the second wave.
While COVID-19 is not as prominent as it was, the app continues to analyse data in an ever-increasing vaccinated population, with a focus on long COVID. King’s has also collaborated with other institutions to identify the key symptoms of long COVID, focusing on future research. This will help accelerate the development of evidence-based treatments for this major healthcare challenge.
I’m incredibly proud of everything that the teams at ZOE and King’s College London have achieved. Thanks to the 4.7 million app users, we’ve published 50 scientific papers, often uncovering key findings around symptoms and vaccines before anyone else. We’re committed to using what we learnt from COVID to tackle global health issues.
Tim Spector, ZOE Scientific Co-Founder and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, King’s
Shaping the next generation of mobile networks with ‘6G Futures’
Last summer, King’s combined its expertise on 5G and future networks to establish ‘6G Futures’, a leading centre for 6G research, education and innovation, in collaboration with the University of Bristol.
The centre is home to globally recognised experts from the two universities, whose pioneering work brought 5G into the mainstream. Through the partnership, we hope to put the UK and King’s at the forefront of mobile networks, research and innovation, helping to improve community connectivity and address digital poverty.
Reversing US policy on torture evidence
Research led by students at our King’s Legal Clinic has helped bring about an important reinstatement of the principles of international law in relation to evidence obtained through torture.
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a new submission in the case of Guantanamo detainee Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, mirroring the argument made in an amicus (‘friend of the court’) submission from The Dickson Poon School of Law.
The submission drew on research into international human rights law carried out by students from King’s Legal Clinic. In its submission, the DoJ accepted (for the first time in this case) the inadmissibility of statements obtained while Mr al-Nashiri was in CIA custody.
It’s incredible that since the amicus submission was filed, the US Government has reconsidered its position and concluded that the prohibition on admission of statements obtained through torture applies to all stages of a military commission case.
Sue Willman, Assistant Director and Supervising Solicitor at King’s Legal Clinic
Research and opportunities like the ones highlighted above are only made possible through the generosity of our supporter and alumni community. To find out more about how you can make a difference through donating to King's, click here.