Marion Redfearn studied Chemistry at Cambridge and followed with a career in the Chemistry Department at the Central Electricity Research Laboratories (CERL) in Leatherhead, Surrey. After a lifelong career in a profession dominated by men Mrs Redfearn made a bequest to the University for a Trust to allow female postgraduate students to gain a postgraduate qualification involving Physics, Chemistry, Maths or Electrical Engineering.

The Marion Redfearn Trust provides funding for new or existing postgraduate research students that satisfy the eligibility criteria:

• be female and born in the UK
• have at least one degree gained at a university in the UK
• have demonstrated academic merit in the past and, in the opinion of the reviewing committee, be capable of demonstrating academic merit in the future
• be enrolled or accepted on a full-time postgraduate research programme in Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Electronic Engineering or Sound Recording at the University of Surrey

Scholarships cover tuition fees, an annual stipend and £1,000 pa for research expenses for three years in the first instance.

The 2011/12 competition has now closed. The Advisory Panel will meet in December 2011 to determine whether or not there will be sufficient funding for new scholarships in 2012/13.