Wilkins Colley to support PhD student with full scholarship

Essex graduates interested in pursuing a PhD in Psychology are now eligible for a full scholarship thanks to Arnold Wilkins, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychology.

The Wilkins Colley Scholarship, which is due to be awarded this autumn and is worth over £50,000, is the product of a generous gift from Professor Arnold Wilkins and match-funding from a legacy gift to the University from the local Silberrad family. 

Professor Wilkins, who worked at Essex in the Department of Psychology for nearly twenty years, designed the Intuitive Colorimeter, which was launched in 1993, and was a co-lead on the new Intuitive Colorimeter Curve which he describes as ‘the brainchild of a knowledge transfer partnership between Cerium and the University of Essex’. The Curve enables practitioners to accurately and quickly prescribe tinted lenses to patients with visual stress-related reading problems and associated medical conditions.

With the royalties received from his life-enhancing lens development, he was inspired to donate a large sum to the University which now forms the Wilkins Colley scholarship – a full scholarship to be offered to an Essex graduate registered for a PhD in Psychology. The research topic is open to any topic that can be supervised by a staff supervisory team within the Department.

We are so grateful to both Professor Wilkins and the Silberrad family for their generous donations which now offer a life-changing opportunity for an Essex graduate.