BSSC announces two new scholarships to encourage women in leadership roles

To contribute to the growth in representation of women in construction leadership roles, a generous donation from Julia Prescot has enabled The Prescot Scholarship for Women in Leadership for Infrastructure and Construction at BSSC. In addition to this, BSSC has also launched The BSSC Women in Construction MBA Scholarship.

Julia Prescot is an Honorary Professor at UCL and brings extensive experience of infrastructure and major construction as co-founder of leading global investor Meridiam. Deputy Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, and as a member of the Government’s UK Investment Council, creating new opportunities for women in the industry has been a passion for Julia throughout her career.

Both The Prescot Scholarship for Women in Leadership for Infrastructure and Construction and The BSSC Women in Construction MBA Scholarship will provide one scholarship each to enable a woman with UK/ Home fee status to pursue a two-year degree on the Major Infrastructure Delivery MBA at The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at UCL. The scholarships will be awarded based on academic merit and provide support for full fees as well as contribute to living costs.

Industry data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in the last decade there has only been a growth of 0.1 per cent to 16.2%, in the proportion of women in leadership roles in 2022. These two brand new scholarships were set up in an effort to work towards positive change in this area, based on the recognition that the industry needs diverse voices and perspectives and this requires diversity in leadership roles. The Major Infrastructure Delivery MBA is a one of a kind programme designed specifically for professionals in the infrastructure industry in which leaderships is essential to navigate several aspects of project delivery. The aim of the programme is to provide project managers with the necessary training to assume increasingly higher management positions in organisations delivering major infrastructure projects.

Julia Prescot said: “Throughout my career I have been passionate not only about the role of major infrastructure in tackling the global challenges we all face but also that much more needs to be done to allow women to become the future leaders of these vital projects. It is clear we need to go further and faster in opening the door to women leaders, so I am honoured to support this scholarship which I hope will attract some of the best and brightest to industry.”

The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction’s Acting Director, Professor Priti Parikh, said: “I am grateful to Julia Prescot who has been an inspiration and role model in the sector of infrastructure programme delivery. Through this scheme and the BSSC scholarship, we want to remove barriers for women in mid-management to enable them to be future leaders in construction. Now is the time to act and Julia has set the bar high through her support of this endeavour.”

For more information and to apply for the scholarships please visit here.