The scholarship provides £6,000 of funding for a student entrepreneur, which can be used to pay for personal and professional skills development training, provide a weekly wage outside of term time, and fund a year’s workspace and business support through the University’s award-winning SETsquared business incubator.

The funds were generously provided by alumnus David Milne (PhD Physics 1969), the founder and former CEO of Wolfson Microelectronics Ltd, to support the next generation of student entrepreneurs.

Luc’s business, Poster Placers Ltd, pays medical students to place posters (from the British Medical Association, Medical Indemnity Insurers and other organisations) in hospitals, allowing students to earn money alongside their time-intensive studies and enabling these organisations to access sites in teaching hospitals cost-effectively. Luc beat 15 other applicants to the scholarship in a very competitive process.

Dave Jarman, Enterprise Skills and Education Manager for RED, said: ‘This scheme shows how seriously we can support the development of student-run businesses. It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to involve our entrepreneurial alumni in supporting current students to develop their business ideas. The generosity involved in this donation is really welcome and hopefully we can encourage more alumni to help us support more student businesses.’

Luc said that he planned to use the scholarship‘to invest in the company infrastructure, employ another member of staff and continue my personal business development’.

‘The scholarship is a pivotal point for the company,’ he added. ‘The financial support and business mentoring will provide us with a springboard and the ability to forge new contacts and seek new ventures’.