The Eva Koch Scholarships

The Eva Koch scholarships provide practical support and time for individuals to work on research, documentation and creative projects.

Woodbrooke offers tutor support, opportunities for worship and networking. We will support you to disseminate your work within the Quaker community.

Topics can include:

  • Research into Quaker spirituality or practice related to the climate crisis;
  • Inquiry into historical and cultural approaches to the natural world and what we can learn from them;
  • Documentation of learning and good practice relating to Quaker responses to the climate crisis;
  • Development of creative work that might deepen understanding of and response to the climate crisis.
  • Inquiry into Climate Justice, the intersection of multiple systemic issues, and how this relates to and/or can inspire witness around Quaker testimony.

Scholarships from previous years can be viewed here:

https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/resource-categories/eva-koch-presentations/

Who is it for?

The scholarships are open to Quaker individuals (members or attenders) or groups. Participants will be responsible for putting aside time to do the work primarily in their own homes or in a venue of their own choosing. You will be largely working on your own.

What we offer

  • Tutor support via Zoom – 7 meetings – including support for dissemination following the presentations in January 2024.
  • An online space where people can meet to connect and to discuss their work;
  • £350 in expenses to visit libraries, purchase materials, travel to group meetings, etc.;
  • Regular Meetings for Worship.

Dissemination Options

This will depend on the purpose of the work and the intended audience. Options include:

  • An essay published in Friends Quarterly or Friends Journal;
  • A series of articles published in The Friend;
  • A Pendle Hill Pamphlet
  • A dedicated website or blog;
  • A Woodbrooke course (on-site, off-site or online);
  • Online learning materials;
  • An audio and/or video presentation;
  • A lecture delivered and then published online;
  • An exhibition or installation.

Applications

Applications are currently closed.

About Eva Koch

The Eva Koch Scholarship was originally started by the generosity of Hugh Lawson, Eva’s second husband, whom she married at the age of 88.

Eva was born on 4 August 1900. Both she and her first husband, Richard, were Berliners and, although they had Jewish ancestry, were brought up as Protestants. They suffered persecution under Hitler and Richard was held in a concentration camp for nine months. He had been a successful solicitor but all their possessions were confiscated in 1939. After the war they received compensation from the German State and, as they lived simply, much of what Eva left Hugh on her death on 26 January 1991 enabled him to endow the Scholarship in her name.

Eva came to Woodbrooke many times, especially at Easter and Christmas. A fuller account of her life generously lived, can be found in the Proceedings of London Yearly Meeting 1991 (pp 152-3) where we can note that she and Hugh often asked themselves why they had been so lucky as to find, late in life, a love that was both unexpected and unsought.

Hugh was born on 13 February 1912 and was MP for Skipton 1944-5. He worked as Deputy City Engineer for Nottingham for 25 years, and then as the City’s Director of Leisure Services in the three years before his retirement. He married Dorothy Mallinson in 1937. They had two sons, and joined Friends later in life. Dorothy died in 1982 and after Eva’s death 1991, Hugh planted a wood in their memory, ‘The Two Wives Plantation’ at Newstead Abbey. He died on 23 March 1997.

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