The impact of your generosity
Because of you, futures are being transformed and lives changed. Thank you.
Your generosity helps unlock transformative opportunities for gifted students through scholarships and financial aid, while also advancing LSE’s world-leading research and fostering a dynamic academic environment. Thanks to your support, our students and staff are empowered to excel, flourish, and feel deeply connected to the LSE community.
For over a century, science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) has driven extraordinary progress—remaking industries, economies, and daily life. But as we face the consequences of these seismic shifts – ethical dilemmas, inequality, climate change – the social sciences now rise as essential guides. With STEM's legacy as our foundation, it's now LSE and social scientists who will help the world navigate complexity, rebuild trust, and ensure technology serves people – not the other way around.
Your generosity enables the social scientists of tomorrow to confront the world’s most pressing challenges – from defending liberal democracy and reducing entrenched inequalities, to shaping inclusive economies, guiding ethical technology and driving sustainable progress.
Our research and students will play a defining role in shaping the future. And we need to ensure this remains open to all, regardless of financial background. It’s because of your support that we’re able to make this vision a reality – and for that, we’re profoundly thankful.
Helping to nurture the brightest minds
Your generosity will change the lives of eight students this September, as their LSE journey begins thanks to their New Futures Fund Scholarship.
Thanks to the support of donors like you, we’re delighted to announce that the number of scholarships awarded in the 2025/26 academic year is growing, allowing the Fund to help with the increased need for support. This year, the New Futures Fund is empowering eight exceptional incoming students, up from the seven scholarships on offer last year, with vital support to help them thrive. Because of your generosity, one more deserving student than usual will be joining LSE this year with a New Futures Fund Scholarship – an opportunity that simply wouldn’t have been possible without your support.
Two of these students are Hisham and Phool, and together your generosity means students like them can realise their dreams of studying here at LSE.
Below you can hear firsthand how your support has transformed their lives, and how the ripple effect of your support goes far beyond their time here.
Hisham graduated from LSE in July with a First Class with Honours degree in Economics. He has a full-time consulting job lined up, which he has temporarily deferred for a year so that he can return to LSE as a pre-doctoral researcher within the Economics Department. His research will focus on poverty and social mobility in the UK, specifically a project led by Professors Oriana Bandiera and Nava Ashraf at LSE’s STICERD Altruistic Capital Lab.
My first year has been so transformative for me. Thanks to your support, receiving a New Futures Fund Scholarship has meant I’ve not only been able to focus on my studies, but also enrich my LSE experience with things outside my academics.
Before coming to LSE, I didn’t really have the opportunity to do anything other than focus on my studies and support my family. During sixth form I was able to move home with my mum after being in the care system, which I was so glad I was able to do. I supported my mum in tasks like managing bills and making sure we had a stable place to live. The combination was a lot to carry, but I did what I could to support our family and focus on my studies.
Now, thanks to you, I have the financial stability to do things I have always wanted to do, like learning to swim and taking up karate, and I can support my mum without worrying about my own finances. I feel more fulfilled and it helps me to focus on my studies even more and vice versa. It’s made everything easier and I’m even more motivated now.
I’m doing a degree that I love, and I've learned so much this year – a grounded understanding of how the world works. And even when it comes to all these big problems that we're facing in society, I think Geography has allowed me to approach these issues from different angles and try to think of solutions that will shape the world. I’m really looking forward to starting second year in a few weeks.
Without this scholarship, my time here would be very different. I will be forever grateful to you for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to embrace all LSE has to offer. Thank you.
Phool, BSc Geography 2027,
New Futures Fund Scholar 2024-2027
As you can see from Hisham’s and Phool’s words, your kindness breaks down financial barriers and opens a world of opportunity for the brightest students from a range of backgrounds.
Thank you.
The legacy of the AFLSE community
For 45 years, the Alumni and Friends of LSE in the US (AFLSE) community has been a driving force behind the AFLSE Scholarship, opening doors for more than 150 talented students from the US to study at LSE.
Earlier this year marked a milestone: thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our alumni and friends, the AFLSE Scholarship Endowment Fund reached its $1.5 million goal. This achievement ensures that deserving students like Destiny and Bryce will receive support from the AFLSE community every year, forever.
And now, your continued support is going even further. The scholarship will provide full tuition and a stipend, allowing AFLSE Scholars to fully embrace life at LSE without the weight of financial stress. Your kindness is not only transforming individual lives – it’s securing the legacy of the AFLSE community for generations to come. Thank you.
Destiny, the 2024/25 AFLSE Scholar, is one of those lives. Her year in London has been nothing short of transformative, marked by academic success, personal growth and unforgettable experiences.
I am writing to you from London where I am just finishing up my dissertation. This year, as I knew it would be, was the best year of my life.
I had such a high and diverse calibre of experiences, and I learned things I didn’t realise I didn’t know. I will be leaving with answers, of course, but to leave with more questions—better, richer questions—that I’m looking to find more answers to is exactly what an institution of learning should provide. London delivered.
Picking my favourite part of this year is difficult. Still, I’d probably have to pick my core module: political sociology, the study of macro-historical trends to understand modern-day interactions between political institutions and societies. I first discovered this subject during my undergraduate years when I was simply googling the question “Why is there no labour party in the United States?” To give the algorithm its flowers, a book by Robin Archer, the director of LSE’s postgraduate political sociology programme, appeared with that very title.
I came in wanting to learn “Why there was no labour party?” and “What sustains a welfare state?” but quickly I realised the beautiful reality that everyone selected for my course had come for answers to radically different questions.
One student of Galician descent came to understand “What is nationalism?” and the basis of nationhood. An Emirate citizen and a lifelong immigrant of the Emirates both came to understand how citizenship forms a basis for political inclusion and exclusion. Meanwhile, another student from South Africa sought to understand why some former colonies can overcome underdevelopment and build strong democracies while others struggle.
That list goes on in 35 different directions. Just like me, every student in the room was searching for different answers and finding new questions. Being blown away by each other’s lives in how different we all are yet sharing a passion for politics and agency in social change that brought us together for an endless well of life. Pain and laughter. Anger and admiration. Sadness and joy. All the most important feelings felt together. LSE is a community unlike any other.
For my dissertation, I researched Labour Politics in the Age of AI, specifically the concept of “reskilling” and how economic narratives rationalise institutionalising further precarity for working and middle-class employees. This research directly applies to my fall internship at the Social Market Foundation, a think tank in London, where I’ll be analysing the economic and social impacts of UK AI policy. While I’ll work on multiple projects, my focus will be assessing how the economic benefits of AI implementation in the public sector could be transferred back to the workers most affected by these changes.
Beyond the internship, I aim to build a career at the intersection of labour rights and emerging-technology policy and, eventually, pursue a PhD so I can continue both research and advocacy.
This experience, every step of it, was made possible by your generosity. Truly, thank you. A donation to a student’s education is an investment in a more inclusive and equitable future. I will spend my life paying it forwards in spades.
Thank you for welcoming me into the LSE community – and now, into the alumni one.
Destiny, MSc Political Sociology 2025
AFLSE Scholar 2024/25
Bryce, the incoming AFLSE Scholarship recipient, will begin his Master’s in Economics at LSE in just a few weeks. Whilst here, he’s looking to deepen his understanding of how communities on the margins build enduring economic alternatives, building on the research into the political economy of collective action he undertook during his undergraduate degree at Princeton.
Having experienced homelessness himself, Bryce has poured his energy into building stronger, fairer communities. From a young age, he’s been committed to challenging systems that leave families marginalized or dispossessed. In high school, he worked closely with tenants and workers in Florida, helping mobilize around elections and social housing.
As a college student in New Jersey, Bryce’s drive to positively impact communities went even further. He led efforts around workplace organizing, mutual aid, migrant justice and international solidarity. He’s also made a big difference on campus, mentoring fellow first-generation and low-income students.
Bryce is thrilled and honoured to be the 2025/26 AFLSE Scholarship recipient and looks forward to joining the AFLSE community and taking his learnings from his year at LSE forward to continue supporting communities around him.
Supporting students when they need it most
Because of your generosity, students have been provided a lifeline in their most challenging moments. Since March 2020, nearly 1,000 students have received critical hardship funding – providing immediate financial relief when they needed it most.
Hardship awards, ranging from £500 to £4,000, are awarded to students who need some short-term financial support. As the cost of pursuing a degree continues to climb, even the slightest shift in a student's circumstances can derail years of hard work and aspiration. In moments like these, the need for stability and support becomes more crucial than ever.
Your generosity has been a lifeline for students navigating extraordinary challenges – from constant financial strain to the upheaval of conflict. Because of you, no student is forced to walk away from their education for lack of funds. You’ve made it possible for them to persist, to learn and to build a future they might otherwise have had to abandon.
Hear from Reem and Andrei about the transformational impact your support has had for them.
Receiving hardship funding allowed me to continue pursuing my degree at LSE. As soon as I started my program, war escalated in Lebanon, and my family and loan provider were directly impacted. I was under financial stress, which further deteriorated my mental health and confidence to fully engage in class. I really feared my first term was going to be my last.
However, thanks to donors like you, I was awarded hardship funding that relieved the bigger part of my financial stress. This support allowed me to move forward with ease and confidence, ensuring I was able to continue with my studies and graduate on time alongside my course mates. I was able to be more engaged in my classes, and most importantly, I was able to have a more positive attitude, impacting all aspects of my life in London and at LSE.
Reem
MSc Applied Social Data Science 2025
Receiving hardship funding lifted me out of a difficult situation and if I hadn't received this support, I would still be struggling with the financial pressures of university life. With how expensive London is, even with a part time job, I didn’t have enough income to cover my basic living costs, and taking on more hours would have significantly impacted my studies.
Thanks to the funding, not only do I have the financial means to cover my living costs, I have more freedom to pursue a fulfilling university life and experience all that LSE has to offer.
Coming from a less privileged background, I feel that LSE has given me the opportunity to overcome this adversity. The support I've received has reinforced this opportunity, giving me financial freedom and motivating me to throw myself into everything LSE has to offer.
I'm extremely grateful for this funding – thank you.
Andrei
BSc Economics 2026
Reem and Andrei represent just a glimpse of the hundreds of students you've supported over the past five years. Their journeys reflect the profound impact of your support – offering financial stability when it’s needed most and creating an environment where every student can thrive at LSE. Thank you for making that possible.
A celebration of your support
This year, we welcomed donors like you to campus for a celebratory event spotlighting their support. At the event, donors could enjoy Campus Art Tours, a reception in the Alumni Centre and a lecture delivered by Professor Sir John Kay on the corporation in the 21st century. Donors also had the chance to hear from Hisham in detail about his time at LSE, along with speaking to other New Futures Fund Scholars. Enjoy a taste of this year’s event by in the images below - you can flick through the full album of photos here.
We look forward to welcoming the donor community back to campus again in the spring, so keep your eyes out for an invite in the new year. We hope you’ll be able to join us if you are in the UK.
Thank you
Thank you for being a catalyst for change.
Your generosity is more than a gift – it's a powerful commitment to a brighter, fairer future. By supporting LSE, you’re helping talented students access an education that equips them to tackle the world’s most urgent challenges.
In a time shaped by rapid technological advancement, the need for thoughtful, socially-driven leadership has never been greater. With STEM laying the groundwork for innovation, it’s the social sciences that now help us navigate complexity, rebuild trust, and ensure that progress benefits everyone. Thanks to you, students from all backgrounds are empowered to become those thinkers, leaders and changemakers that our world needs.
Your support ensures that LSE remains a place where bold ideas thrive, and where the next generation of social scientists can shape a fairer, more inclusive future.
Thank you.
Uncover more at LSE
Unmissable Lectures from Leading Thinkers
Join Professor Peter Trubowitz on Wednesday 8 October at the Phelan Centre as he hosts Professor Charles Kupchan to explore ‘The Promise and Peril of Trump’s America First.’ Kupchan, former adviser to President Obama and now Georgetown’s Professor of International Affairs, will examine whether the US can find foreign policy consensus in a divided political landscape. Click here to register for the online event.
Catch Up with LSE Player
LSE Player is home to the latest films and podcasts from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Here you can watch videos on cutting edge research, find the award-winning LSE IQ podcast and listen to more than 5,000 public event recordings featuring some of the world’s leading thinkers. You can catch up with all our online content here.
The Alumni Centre
If you’re in London, please do visit the LSE Alumni Centre – a home for our alumni on campus with space to work, relax, learn and reconnect with friends. It’s the perfect base to start your trip to campus – pick up one of our self-guided tours, collect your alumni campus card or simply relax in our lounge with complimentary refreshments and newspapers. To find out more about the Centre, its perks and the alumni events on offer click here.
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