Professor Claire Warden (School of Design and Creative Arts) presented the certificates in her capacity as Chair of the Arts Committee and Professor Sam Grogan (Pro Vice Chancellor for Education and Student Experience) and Dr Joanne Jennings (Visiting Member) were also present.
In addition to a £200 cash prize, each scholar receives a tailored package of support to help them develop their talent during the year, such as one-to-one tuition, mentoring, funding for exam fees or short courses, and opportunities to attend special events. Each scholar's work will be showcased during the year with a special showcase event in the summer term.
The 2025/26 scholarship winners:
- Neda Abbasimaleki – Creative Writing (non-fiction)
- Kai Benjamin – Music (rap)
- Eloise Mair – Performing arts (dance)
- Cath Phillips – Music (singing)
- Alex Whawell – Visual arts (portrait painting)
Neda Abbasimaleki’s writing is rooted in creative nonfiction, drawing from personal experience, women’s voices and everyday realities to explore how belonging is shaped, complicated and sometimes unsettled. Over time, Neda realised how essential it was to develop a reflective, voice-driven approach that could carry the complexities of multilingual life.
Through this scholarship, Neda aims to continue developing her voice in English while staying anchored in her multilingual background. She hopes to refine her craft, expand her portfolio and write pieces that capture the beauty and layered complexity of living across languages and places. Most of all, Neda wants to reach readers and writers who, like her, navigate multiple languages and carry several senses of home.
Kai Benjamin (also known for his music as B3nji) is a rapper and singer/songwriter. Born in Japan and raised in the Southwest of England, he has been creating and performing since the age of seven, experimenting with a range of sounds, spanning acoustic/folk to hip-hop to UK grime. Kai has reached the semi-finals of The Voice UK, performed at Glastonbury Festival, and co-headlined at his international debut in Japan.
Kai has been releasing music consistently since 2020, and is particularly committed to collaborative work, with the last run of singles all released together with other artists and producers. Moving forward, Kai is looking to continue his collaborations, whilst finding a personal sound that is authentic and unique. He is currently finishing a joint album, which focuses on past relationships, his time travelling and his future ambitions. The LU Arts Scholarship will contribute to the final touches needed on the album, as well as allowing for its successful release and promotion.
Eloise Mair started dancing from the age of three and has since developed her passion for dance and performing arts in many genres. Growing up, she trained in ISTD Tap, Modern, and Rock'n'Roll dance, as well as Cecchetti Ballet and Contemporary dance with the CAT Satellite scheme in conjunction with The Place, London. Where she really became involved with performing arts was with RARE Productions from a young age, and further on worked for them as a Choreographer in Loughborough. Her work was chosen to be performed at a 20th Anniversary Gala at His Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End.
To Eloise, dance is her ultimate form of expressing her innermost energy and her desire to tell stories through movement. With the support of this scholarship, she cannot wait to begin focusing on more choreographic ventures. Whether this be through taking classes with industry professionals, or filming choreographed music videos across campus, she hopes to project her passion for others to join in with and enjoy.
Cath Phillips started performing from a young age, including singing at Covent Garden each Christmas to performing at the Royal Albert Hall with Lesley Garrett. Alongside choral work, Cath developed a strong interest in musical theatre, eventually taking on lead roles in productions including Chicago and Legally Blonde. In 2017, as part of Angelicus Celtis, she performed in the Semi-Finals of Britain’s Got Talent.
From joining Tuxedo Swing as a saxophonist in 2021, to becoming the band’s lead female vocalist in 2023, Cath transitioned from classical and musical theatre techniques into jazz, swing, and soul. This transition demanded greater stylistic flexibility, improvisation skills, and a more dynamic form of musical communication. Cath’s contributions to the University’s creative community have been recognised through the Marvis Stone Loughborough University Award for Music and the LSU Societies Lifetime Achievement Award.
Cath is hoping to use the scholarship to strengthen her understanding of vocal health, by learning about breath support, stamina, recovery, and safe technique to improve consistency of her performances.
Finally, Alex Whawell is an oil painter who specialises in portraiture. He began painting when he was 14, specialising in portraiture a couple of years later as part of his Art A-Level. Being the only person on the course, Alex spent a lot of time alone in the art studio silently working on his practice, or having one-to-one sessions with his teachers, who refined his technique and process to what it is today. His paintings explored the troubled mind of a creative who is torn between the quality of his paintings and the potential of what they could be. The seven pieces form a narrative that follows feelings of self-destruction, regret and finally resolution.
Alex is part of the Urban Sketchers drawing club, and he continues to practice art in his free time, although he is hoping the art scholarship can provide a studio space that will allow him to work on larger canvases like the ones he produced for his A-Level course.
The Arts scholarships are managed by LU Arts, the University’s extracurricular arts programme. They recognise and reward talent, potential, passion and commitment in any art form. They encourage involvement in the arts outside of a student's studies and are not related to an individual’s degree or postgraduate studies.
If anyone at the University has an event that you would be interested in a scholar performing at then please email LU Arts at LUArts@lboro.ac.uk.
Read more about the 2025/26 Music and Arts Scholars on the LU Arts website.