Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Support research and education

Give the gift of positive change

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With generous help and support from alumni and supporters, we continue to develop initiatives that make a meaningful difference to the Australian and global community.

Thanks to philanthropic donations and bequests, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is able to produce life-changing research, award scholarships and international residencies, upgrade campus facilities, create literary and artistic prizes, and much more.

Together, we're making a difference.

How you can support research and eduation

Every gift we receive makes a positive difference to our work and contributes to the important role that research and education performs within our community - both in Australia and globally.

You may wish to consider helping us in one or more of the following ways:

  • Annual gifts – contribute towards a groundswell of support for our core programs
  • Memorial gifts – allow you to express your love for a family member, friend or colleague
  • Major gifts – make a significant impact in a discipline or project that’s special to you
  • Principal gifts – have a momentous and far-reaching impact on our mission
  • Legacy gifts – sustain your values and vision for the benefit of future generations

Looking to give back in other ways? Find out how you can get involved in volunteering opportunities to support our students, staff and graduates.

Options to support the humanities and social sciences include the following, which may be established on a faculty-wide basis or within a specific academic department or subject:

  • Professorial Chair
  • Lectureship
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • Postgraduate Research Scholarship
  • Undergraduate Scholarship

Endowed gifts, which have a long-lasting impact and provide the faculty with increased certainty in the planning process, work in the follow ways:

  • Gifts are professionally managed through the University of Sydney’s Investment and Capital Management program.
  • Steady annual distributions of income are managed to fund ongoing academic positions and annual student scholarships.
  • Gift projects can be named in recognition of the donor, their family, or for someone they wish to remember or honour, such as a parent or inspiring teacher.
  • Regular reports are provided to you, for assurance that educational enrichment and public benefit is being established.

Investing in the arts, humanities and social sciences gives tomorrow's leaders and big thinkers a head start. Your support allows our students to pursue their dreams, deepens the exceptional expertise of our academic community, and advances the general knowledge of society today.

Student scholarships help remove financial barriers to education, allowing our brightest and hardest working students to strive towards excellence in their chosen fields.

Investing in research enables our academics to tackle the big issues and problems of the world today. Your support means our scholars can push themselves harder, follow their curiosity further and discover the insights that genuinely expand the wider community’s understanding of politics, history, society, philosophy, art, economics, education, languages and cultures.

Stories of giving

Philanthropic support provides opportunities for further studies, allowing students and researchers to pursue rigorous investigation and breathe new life into their fields of interest – and yours.

Read some of the scholarships and projects that were made possible thanks to generous gifts and contributions from our community:

  • Carole Muller’s bequest to support research on Bali - in memory of the former University of Sydney student, two scholarships totaling $1 million have been established for postgraduate research and overseas fieldwork on Balinese culture. Click here to learn more.
  • Ann Kirby's gift to Jewish studies – an alumna of the University, the late Ann Kirby (nee Plotke) has left a $2 million bequest to the University to be used for teaching modern and biblical Hebrew, Jewish civilisation and subjects associated with Judaism, with the aim to promote understanding and tolerance between Jewish and non-Jewish faiths. Find out more.
  • Peter Pontikis's gift to Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies - also a graduate of the University, Peter Pontikis generously pledged to donate a total of $175,000 for the teaching of Modern Greek language and culture. The gift will enable new teaching material for Beginners Greek. Click here to learn more.
  • Equity Scholarship in History – This scholarship was made possible by the anonymous donation of $150,000 to allow prospective students to study a major in history.
  • Sandra Cadwallader Indigenous Economics Scholarships – A first-of-its-kind scholarship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander economics students, kindly gifted by a family with three economics graduates from the University of Sydney. Read more about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will be supported by these scholarships.
  • Honorary Associate Professor Sakuko Matsui’s gift of Japanese language and literature – After 41 years as a lecturer and professor at the University of Sydney, Professor Matsui has established a prize for undergraduates, a Japan travel scholarship for postgraduates, and endowed a bequest to support research in the study of Japanese literature.
  • The Gwen and David Moore Aboriginal Scholarship –  A visionary testamentary trust worth more than $850,000 in support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students studying a major in archaeology, anthropology, history or sociology, with a focus on Aboriginal heritage and Australian pre-history.
  • The Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Artists' Travel Scholarship – A bequest from Renee Fauvette Erdos in memory of her mother, Fauvette Loureiro, which supports a Sydney College of the Arts graduate to continue developing their practice through international travel. The bequest also funds international exchange scholarships for Sydney College of the Arts students.
  • Kenneth Reed bequest to English Studies – University of Sydney alumnus and renowned Australian arts patron Kenneth Reed donated $500,000 to fund scholarships for PhD students in English literature, and bequeathed $5 million and a collection of 'Old Master' Dutch paintings, to his alma mater.
  • Frances Merenda Travelling Scholarship – Frances Merenda dedicated her life to migrant welfare. At the beginning of 2009 she established a fund to promote the study of Italian languages and culture, by giving students the opportunity to travel to Italy to pursue further study or research.
  • To Wing Chinese Language and Culture Fund – This fund was established to support the In-Country Study Program in China offered by the Department of Chinese Studies, and to offer awards to top-performing students studying Chinese at Sydney.

  • Tom Austen Brown Fund for Pre-History –  The late solicitor and alumnus, Tom Austen Brown, left a major bequest of $6.9 million to the University of Sydney for the study of prehistory, the area of interest that absorbed much of his life.
  • Kerkyasharian and Kayikian Fund – Established in 2015, this fund supports awards, grants and scholarships for University of Sydney academic staff, honours students and postgraduate students carrying out research related to Armenian history and culture from the 19th century and earlier.
  • Lectureship in Tibetan Buddhism – This five-year lectureship within the School of Languages and Cultures is expanding expertise in Buddhist Studies in Australia and has been made possible thanks to a jointly funded donation from the Khyentse Foundation, the University Buddhist Education Foundation and the Aberbaldie Foundation.
  • Nicholas Anthony Aroney Research Fund – This annual scholarship program for academic staff and postgraduate students promotes research, learning and education in Greek language, culture and history. Recipients have included researchers from a range of departments including classics and ancient history, English and archaeology.
  • Content Policy Research on Social Media Platforms’ Research Award - This award is funded by Facebook to help the social media giant understand how to better regulate hate speech online in the Asia Pacific region - see news article.

I am grateful for the opportunity to delve further into an area of Armenian history that has not been widely researched. I am hoping to make new discoveries and better understand what was happening in Armenia prior to 301, a period in history that we currently know very little about.

Professor Iain Gardner

Co-recipient of the Kerkyasharian and Kayikian Fund Armenian studies research award

The financial support is one side of it, but actually allowing yourself to do it is the other. To say, 'I can take three months out of my life to focus on my practice'. I felt so privileged to be able to go.

Artist Catherine O’Donnell

Recipient of the Power Institute’s residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Contact us

Guy Houghton

Associate Director, Development

Phone: +61 2 9036 6269

Email: guy.houghton@sydney.edu.au

Make a gift today and help make lives better.