Academic honours
An abridged version can be found on my academic webpage.
Keith Tse
Student
Here is a list of all competitive academic honours, including scholarships, funding and prizes, that I have won in reverse chronological order:
2018-present Ronin Institute (United States)
I was invited by Jon Wilkins, President of the Ronin Institute for Independent Scholars, to join their institute as their Research Scholar in Linguistics, and I have since been the recipient of two generous pieces of travel grants in support of my conference activities at Ohio State University (2018), Beijing Language and Culture University (2018) and my participation at the Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute at University of California, Davis (2019).
List of awards at Ronin
Conference Travel Scholarship (July 2019)
Conference Travel Scholarship (November 2018)
It has been such an honour to be associated with such an exclusive group of elite scholars who work on all fields in modern academia and to be affiliated with an organisation as generous, supportive and innovative as the Ronin Institute. I was touched by Jon's immense enthusiasm to transform academia and create an intricate network of independent-minded scholars, and wherever I go, I am proud to be a Ronin. scientiam consecemus!
2014-2016 University of York (United Kingdom)
At York, I was the recipient of a scholarship from the National Scholarship Programme (NSP) (SFDU14530336N) which covered the entirety of my tuition fees. I also received financial subsidy from the School Competition Act Settlement Trust Financial Support Award due to my school's (Sherborne) involvement in the inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading into the exchange of fee information in 2005 as well as the Leatherseller's Education Award for 2014/2015, which covered the vast majority of my living costs. I also received two retrospective funding grants in July 2015 and February 2016 from the students finance unit at the University of York which covered much of my living costs for 2015-2016. Furthermore, I received travel bursaries from my department (Languages and Linguistic Sciences) in April and July 2015 for my conference participation at the PhD course: 'Loss and gain in language' at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway and 'Workshop on copulas across languages' at the University of Greenwich, London respectively. Moreover, I won a scholarship from the Institute of Ideas Academy for my short submitted essay 'Which comes first? The Individual or Society?' and was invited to attend their residential course in Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre in Bedfordshire in July 2015 where we discussed the development of western political philosophy from the classical era through to modern times. My performance at the residential course led to another resident scholarship at the Battle of Ideas in the Barbican Centre in London in October 2015 where we discussed contemporary politics.
List of awards at UoY
Retrospective funding from the University of York (February 2016)
Resident Scholarship for 'Battle of Ideas', Barbican Centre, London (September 2015)
Retrospective funding from the University of York (July 2015)
Academy Scholarship for the 'Institute of Ideas Aademy' Residential course, Wyboston Lakes Executive Centre, Bedfordshire (July 2015)
Travel bursary for my conference presentation at 'Workshop on copulas across languages', University of Greenwich, London (June 2015)
Travel bursary for my conference presentation at the PhD course, 'Loss and gain in language', University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway (May 2015)
National Scholarship Programme (December 2014)
Master's bursary from the School Competition Act Settlement Trust Financial Support Award (September 2014)
Leatherseller's Education Award (September 2014)
Finding postgraduate funding for York was HARD. I browsed through the internet for funding opportunities and all the funding opportunities I found were only available for TAUGHT programmes whereas mine was a RESEARCH course. For this reason, I am most grateful to the NSP (now renamed Postgraduate Support Scheme (PSS)) for funding my course and research at the University of York. I also consider myself very lucky to have been eligible for the School Fair Trading Scheme due to my school's scandalous involvement in exchanging fee information back in 2005. I heard about it when I was about to leave school in 2005 and was quite ashamed by it. Little did I know it then, however, that this would support my postgraduate degree almost ten years later. I can't say that I am necessarily grateful to my school for what they may or may not have done, but I am happy nonetheless that I got this generous piece of funding. My department also acted generously by granting me travel subsidies for my conference presentations at Agder and London, and on both occasions I made some very important contact with major figures in our field, not least with Professor Elly van Gelderen, who was later appointed external examiner for my York dissertation. I can assure my department that I did not let them down in my performance and representation of UoY at the conferences (!).
2009-present Philological Society of Great Britain
(United Kingdom)
Soon after I commenced my postgraduate studies at the University of Manchester (see below), I registered with the consent and backing from my supervisor Professor Nigel Vincent as a student member of the PhilSoc with which I am affiliated till this day. I have been an active participant in the Society's activities, attending the Annual AGM at Downing College, Cambridge (2013), writing a blog on my research on Romance prepositional infinitives and earning financial support from the Martin Burr Fund for my conference participation in the Third International Workshop in Syntactic Cartography (IWSC2019).
List of awards from PhilSoc
2009-2010 University of Manchester
(United Kingdom)
In January 2010, I was informed by the Arts and Humanities Council (AHRC) that as a British citizen I was eligible for postgraduate funding at the University of Manchester. I submitted an application for the newly established Block Grant Partnership (BGP) studentship at the University and was granted tuition funding for the rest of my M.A. (February-September 2010) as well as partial retrospective funding for the first semester (September 2009-January 2010), which covered for significant parts of my living costs during my time at Manchester.
List of awards at UoM
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Block Grant Partnership (BGP) Research Preparation Master's Studentship (2009-2010)
I was initially registered at Manchester as a self-funding international student, since that was my status at my undergraduate institution (University of Oxford- see below). I was not aware that I could apply for funding in the UK which seemed to cover for Home and EU students only. However, as a British citizen due to my affiliations with Hong Kong, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was indeed eligible for competitive funding at any HE institution in the UK, in which case I immediately submitted an application and was granted funding on the basis of my academic credentials. Not bad being a former colonial subject, eh?
2005-2009 Balliol College, University of Oxford
(United Kingdom)
I was awarded the Domus Fund by my college (Balliol) upon matriculation in October 2005 which provided yearly financial support throughout my undergraduate degree (2005-2009). Furthermore, I was granted the Junior Maintenance Grant by my college for each of the four years there for my participation and contribution to our college Junior Common Room (JCR) and graduate annex (Hollywell Manor). I was also awarded a college Academic Exhibition in 2007 for my performance in the first part of my undergraduate degree ('Mods') as well as a faculty prize (Classics) for coming top in the university in Latin Prose Composition at 'Mods'. I was informed that I had also come in the top five in the university for Greek Prose Composition. In 2008, I entered for the Oxford Classics Faculty Latin and Greek Prose Composition Competition (Chancellor Prize and Gaisford Prize respectively) and came second (proxime accessit) in both with my Roman adaptation of a passage in Joseph Conrad's 'Typhoon' and my Greek adaptation of an article on war in the Daily Mail.
List of awards at Balliol Oxford
Junior Maintenance Grant, Balliol College, University of Oxford (October 2008)
Gaisford Prize, second place (proxime accessit), Classics Faculty, University of Oxford (July 2008)
Chancellor's Prize, second place (proxime accessit), Classics Faculty, University of Oxford (July 2008)
Junior Maintenance Grant, Balliol College, University of Oxford (October 2007)
Academic Exhibition, Balliol College, University of Oxford (October 2007)
Faculty Prize for top mark in Latin Prose Composition at Honour Moderations (Classics) (May 2007)
Junior Maintenance Grant, Balliol College, University of Oxford (October 2006)
Junior Maintenance Grant, Balliol College, University of Oxford (October 2005)
Domus Fund, Balliol College, University of Oxford (September 2005)
A few months before going up to Oxford (in the midst of doing my A-levels), I received a letter from my College (Balliol) informing me that I had received a college scholarship (Domus Fund) for my performance at admissions in December 2004. I had no idea where that had come from but I accepted it with enormous gratitude. Throughout my time at Balliol, they also offered me very generous financial aids (literally thousands of GBP every single year), for which I am eternally grateful. They truly are very good at supporting and taking care of their students. Wherever I go, I am a proud Balliolite for life (!).
2000-2005 Sherborne School, Dorset (United Kingdom)
I was awarded an Internal Music Exhibition in February 2002 for my contribution to music at school, which covered all my music tuition fees for the rest of my time at school. I was also awarded an Academic Exhibition in September 2003 for my performance at GCSEs. In June 2003, I was awarded the Kirby Mathematics Prize and the Paddy Whelan Physics Prize for being ranked as the best mathematician and physicist in the Junior School, and in June 2005, I was awarded the Wildman Latin prize and the Aston-Binns Spanish prize for being recognised as the best Latinist and Hispanist at school. Furthermore, I received an academic prize for my performance at A-levels and an honorary academic prize for being one of four people in my yeargroup to have gained entry to Oxford and Cambridge.
List of awards at SS
Honorary award for entry to Oxford and Cambridge (September 2005)
Academic Prize for Excellent performance at A-level (September 2005)
Aston-Binns Spanish Prize (July 2005)
Wildman Latin Prize (July 2005)
Senior Strings Prize (July 2005)
Internal Academic Exhibition (September 2003)
Academic Prize for Excellent performance at GCSE (September 2003)
Junior Strings Prize (July 2003)
Kirby Mathematics Prize (July 2003)
Paddy Whelan Physics Prize (July 2003)
Kirby Mathematics Prize (July 2002)
Internal Music Exhibition (February 2002)
When I first started at Sherborne, I had no financial backing, as I was not a scholar or exhibitioner. I worked hard during my time there and was granted two heavy internal exhibitions for music and academic work along with numerous academic prizes which covered much of my costs at school. It was also very nice to receive a post-graduation prize for my performance at A-level and entry to Oxford. After leaving school, I did not expect to hear from them, let alone receive money from them, so that was a very pleasant surprise, and money well spent too (!).