Kate Lloyd, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, was announced as the winner of the inaugural Bursary Recognition Award at SDC’s recent Day of Celebration in York, UK.

The event was an opportunity to highlight the support SDC provides emerging student talent through the SDC Bursary Scheme with an exceptional showcase exhibition and awards presentation. The award highlighted the outstanding work of the bursary recipients who have pushed the boundaries of their innovative colour research and study with the help of SDC funding.

SDC is the leading independent, educational charity dedicated to advancing the science and technology of colour, which aims to educate the changing world in the science of colour through education, promoting good ethical and environmental working practice, and acting as an advocate for the textile and coloration supply chain.

Thermochromic dyes

Kate’s research focuses on thermochromic dyes. These dyes change colour with the stimulus of heat and have found applications to textiles for both aseptic and technical purposes.

The bursary enabled her to present her paper Development of a Robust Method for the Dynamic Colour Measurement of Thermochromic Textiles at the 14th Autex Conference in 2014.

“I am delighted to have received the Bursary Recognition Award and am extremely grateful for the support of the SDC. My SDC bursary allowed me to attend and present at an international conference, which was an invaluable experience and formed an integral part of my research experience at university,” she commented.

Diverse range of work

At the exhibition showcase, delegates enjoyed a diverse range of work displayed by the bursary recipients, including resin lightboxes, sportswear, metallic embellishments for couture, textiles for the home, womenswear designs, photochromic textile materials, and thermochromic dye research.

“This event has been an invaluable opportunity to gain an insight into the colour industry and to gain first hand information and experience of how SDC works,” commented Laura Fernandez, who exhibited her sportswear collection.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the bursary, it greatly helped me with my graduate collection and allowed me to push my ideas further, that without the help of SDC I would have been unable to do.”

Bursary Scheme and runners up

The Bursary Scheme is a key part of SDC's charitable activity. From 2012 SDC has received 99 applications from 28 universities, and awarded 32 bursaries, totaling over £12,000.

The runners up were Joanne Horton and Amber Stefani. Joanne Horton is a PhD by Practice student at De Montfort University and has been successful in obtaining two bursary awards. Her practice led research was focused on design problem solving in order to create novel applications of metallised embellishments in mixed media.

Amber’s work is based on using colour and transparency with an interest in stained glass windows. She has used the hexagon shape produced by bees to create a honeycomb of endless hexagons. She has produced wonderful pieces of work that utilise LED lights to show the beautifully coloured hexagons.

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