MacDiarmid scholarships for entrepreneurship and commercialisation

5 August, 2020

In 2019, we again offered competitive business scholarships to our alumni and awarded the following:

Dr Lita Lee, PhD 2015: Postgraduate Certificate in Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland

With this scholarship, Dr Lee (Senior Scientist at Mint Innovation) hopes to gain a better understanding of the challenges involved in the commercialisation process. She’s keen to be able to help start-up companies with their commercialisation journey.

Dr Amy Zheng, PhD 2017: Postgraduate Certificate in Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland

Dr Zheng (Research Fellow, University of Auckland) plans to use this scholarship to gain practical tools and a solid commercialisation mindset. She is keen to pursue a long-term R&D and science-led commercialisation career with a focus on translating biomaterial research into products that can benefit human wellness and social wellbeing.

Our 2018 MacDiarmid Business Scholarship recipients reflect on their studies

Dr Eldon Tate, 2018 Business Scholarship recipient

"The Business Scholarship opened up an amazing opportunity for me to upskill, helping me tackle the challenges I've been facing in start-up life."

Dr Akshita Wason, 2018 Business Scholarship recipient

"The programme makes you view each idea through the lens of strategy, finance and risk - a mould required for any concept to be a commercial success."

Dr Sam Yu, 2018 Business Scholarship recipient

"Business is about managing people, money and risks. Being able to balance these factors in a rapidly changing environment is the resilience we should all learn to build and strengthen."

Dr Hannah Zheng, 2018 Business Scholarship recipient