Since the recent news about the passing of our wonderful friend and colleague Mark Lewis, the College has been touched by a heartfelt outpouring of love and shared memories of a man who in many ways represented so much of the boundless energy, spirit, and essence of College life.

Mark's passionate enthusiasm for Goodenough College's mission was abundantly clear to everyone who came into contact with him. Mark inspired many Alumni & friends of the College over the years and built strong relationships which, largely through the financial support generated from these wonderful connections, led him to raise over £3m for the College. This vital funding helped many Members to access financial aid, ensured the College could be maintained so beautifully, and made the College's extraordinary programme possible.

More than this, Mark was a fierce intellectual. His broad ranging interests, which included everything from a fascination with medieval manuscripts to his pursuit to understand conceptions of Victorian masculinity, led him to complete his MA whilst at the College and to begin studying for his PhD. He truly embodied the intellectual vigour, curiosity, and creativity that makes the College such a special place.

But most importantly of all, Mark was a true friend to all of us who knew him; always willing to share his time and dynamism, hungry to learn about people, and always delighted to meet a new face and make them feel welcome.

We know that many of the people that Mark knew during his nine dedicated years of service to the College now want to join together to honour and celebrate his infectious personality, positivity, and warmth.

At the request of many Alumni and those who knew Mark, and in order to commemorate his incredible contribution to Goodenough College, we are now raising funds to honour his memory through five Mark Lewis Community Bursaries.

Each year for five years the Mark Lewis Community Bursary will be awarded to an in-need Member to support their living costs. Mark's Bursary Fund will promote the full inclusivity of all our students, regardless of background, and will be used to:

Support wellbeing - Ensuring the awardee can afford to eat in the Great Hall and Freddie's and can therefore make new friends and share interdisciplinary ideas;

Promote inclusivity - Helping the awardee make the most of their time at Goodenough. Whilst we heavily subsidise our programme, there are some events that incur a cost e.g. travel and accommodation at The Burn or attending the Bloomsbury Opera or TEDx. We find that students with less disposable income tend to miss out on these opportunities, meaning that their experience is not as rich as it could be;

Provide emergency support - To help the awardee should they struggle financially with living costs in London. This will help with additional costs such as travel to special lectures or places of interest in the city, helping the awardee to enjoy London as a welcoming place to learn and grow.

Mark led the College's initial efforts to fundraise for our Scholarships and Bursaries programme and this element of our work was incredibly important to him. It was his dearest wish to be remembered through helping less-advantaged postgraduate students to be able to share his love of all things Goodenough.

We encourage you all to give whatever you can to make sure we can remember Mark in this fitting way. In total, we need to raise £25,000 to make these five bursaries a reality. Of course, if we exceed this total then even more awardees will benefit.

We would love you to also share your memories of Mark on this page to make his memory live on.

Thank you.