It is with great pleasure that we can report applications are coming in thick and fast, and awards are being made from the Tom Fund.

In this first year of running the fund we were not sure at what point students would wish to apply for funding and quite when it would start making a difference. The third year Design students at Goldsmiths submit their dissertation early in the calendar year, and then start working on their final year projects. These are completed in May ready to be exhibited in June.

We have established the fund with the aim of Third Year BA students, working on their final projects, overcoming financial barriers to realising an important aspect of their project. The award can be used for, but is not limited to, acquisition of materials, travelling to undertake site specific work or hiring of equipment.

The Tom Fund administrative team, consisting of Tom's Goldsmiths friends, his tutors and us, his family, work together to approve or reject funding requests swiftly enabling momentum to be retained on project work.

We have been asked to fund a great range of items including;

Oculus Rift virtual reality systems,
UK native plants and seeds,
polaroid film,
equipment to build an oscilloscope and sub-woofer,
the hiring of an actor,
a wireless bird box camera,
a trail camera, and
a galvanic skin response sensor

Each recipient has been asked to write a small article to explain how the award has helped them. In due course we will be circulating these. In the meantime, I would like to pass on thanks from everyone involved, and the current third years who are extremely grateful for this financial support.