Funding for Aphrodite's Cambridge Zoology Master's

SUMMARY: I got into Cambridge which is amazing but I need £32,458 by the end of September to secure my place :)

If I had told 10 year old me that amongst bucket list items of getting cats, a tattoo and riding a motorbike that I got into Cambridge I would’ve thought ‘Damn. That’s amazing’. I do feel that sometimes, but honestly it hasn’t quite sunk in; it was a difficult, chaotic process and if I’m honest, I’m not sure I’ll be able to go. Perhaps you’re a close friend or family member and this is the first you’re hearing about it. Perhaps you feel slightly offended I didn’t tell you in person - it wasn’t for lack of care, it’s just that this doesn’t feel real, because it’s not guaranteed. Among the many academic and administrative assessments, one of the final requirements to secure my place is proving financial viability. I’ve been offered a place to study an MPhil in Biological Sciences (Zoology) by Thesis, and to attend for one year, I need:

“£32,458”

I have included a breakdown of costs below for complete transparency:

Course fees: £13,458 (Student finance does not cover the whole amount)

Accommodation: £14,685

Bills: £2020

Living expenses: £1480

Academic materials: £815

"Mi nuh like it." "A wah dat?" These were my grandma’s reactions when I showed her pictures of my cats, reptiles or other animals. Raised in a rural parish in Jamaica, she’d been taught to approach nature with caution. Her fear wasn’t irrational. For her and others raised in biodiverse, tropical climates, animals were neither idolised nor anthropomorphised; they were understood as unpredictable, equal counterparts in the natural world. My Mother is scared to death of rodents, yet, if she were told she had to look after one, it would probably live beyond its natural lifespan. When my brother was little he would call out for me to get rid of the ‘chunky spiders’ in his bedroom. Now, he could probably hold a tarantula. My sister got stung by a bee the other day, she will still plant them flowers. My Grandad never had a pet and now he thinks he never can. Yet, I have pictures of him smiling with a little grey kitten, so maybe he’s wrong? My family continues to shape my understanding that relationships with wildlife are complex, paradoxical and changeable. It became clear that effective biodiversity conservation requires both scientific insight and cultural sensitivity. This led me to pursue a Zoology BSc.

I’ve gained crucial hands-on experience from my undergrad degree, carrying out global fieldwork with natives across Scotland, Croatia, Canada and South Africa. I found a fossil that is now in the Tyrell Museum archives! I served as a science ambassador for 3 years at my university. I designed a novel project aiming to eradicate a neglected tropical disease - this led to me being featured as a category finalist in the STEM Telegraph Awards. Your support would be a meaningful investment into someone who is willing to make it count.

Beyond my degree I have presented to multidisciplinary panels at GlaxoSmithKline and IBM’s Women’s Conference. My commitment to inclusive science shaped my role as Vice President of Science & Engineering where I evaluated student data to secure funding for underrepresented demographics contributing to the Athena SWAN Bronze Award for gender equity. I have supported a national swift bird conservation campaign gaining 100,000 signatures (featured on the BBC), earned Carbon Literacy certification to better understand climate change, and presented my research on aviation mechanics and honeyguides at the Natural History Museum. A postgraduate environment would allow this engagement to flourish further. Simply put, I’m just a little poor.

My Master’s is a 12-month independent research project exploring how shifts in body size and ecological niches in Elapoidea (a clade of venomous snakes) correlate with major prehistoric climate events. I aim to reconstruct ancestral traits and fill gaps in the fossil record, offering a rare deep-time view of how ecological pressures shape evolution. The project’s novelty will generate a valuable comparative dataset with wider research applications and real-world conservation value, helping predict species’ responses to environmental change and identify those most at risk.

Due to having to represent myself in court in a sexual harassment case earlier this year, I missed all internal Cambridge funding deadlines. I’m now solely reliant on external funding and my small savings pot.

If you don’t feel comfortable donating, consider sharing this fundraiser or commissioning a piece from me @alonewithapparel on Insta.

Thank you for your time!