The Dr H. Morag M. McCallum awards for classical singing are micro grants that fund projects that facilitate the performance of classical singing. 'Classical singing' is defined in its widest remit including performance, pedagogy, musical works, interdisciplinary events, with a preference for projects that engage underrepresented groups with classical singing, or seek to promote such an engagement.
- facilitate the performance of student 'classical singing'
- provide support for archival research or field work on 'classical singing' which will not necessarily result in a performance
- provide support for individuals wishing to undertake adhoc extra training in the form of summer courses, masterclasses, coaching sessions in preparation for external auditions, etc.
- provide support to activity including, but not limited to venue hire, the purchase of scores, travel, promotional and other event costs.
Elegibility criteria
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be studying in Music at undergraduate or postgraduate level at the University of Glasgow; or
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be a representative of a University of Glasgow music ensemble, club or society.
Selection Process
- quality of the proposed project
- feasibility of the proposed project
- benefits to the academic, professional and/or personal development of the students involved
- benefits to the wider community.
Terms of award
- These awards are funded by the generous bequest of Dr H. Morag M. McCallum for the purposes of supporting students engaged in classical singing.
- The number and size of awards made each year will be at the discretion of the awarding panel.
- Each awardee will be expected to submit a short Project Report within 3 months of the event funded, including details on how monies were spent.
- The awards will normally only fund a single personal project per student per year. Ensembles, clubs and societies may apply in both funding rounds.
- Applicants can apply on behalf of an ensemble/club/society proposal and their own separate, unrelated individiual proposal in the same funding round.
- Funds must be spent within one calendar year or by graduation (whichever comes earliest).
Helen Morag Morris McCallum (1928–2022) was a biomedical researcher and academic. Born in Glasgow’s West End, she won an entrance bursary to the University of Glasgow, graduating MBChB in 1950 and MD in 1962. She worked for much of her career at the University of Glasgow and the Western Infirmary’s Department of Pathology, and later at Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary.
Throughout a long and varied career, Dr McCallum published extensively in leading journals, including Nature, The Lancet, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, British Journal of Dermatology, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, The Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology and Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. She was also a major benefactor to medicine at Glasgow, supporting the capital appeal for the new Medical School and naming a room in honour of her father, Dr Gavin McCallum.
Dr McCallum had a lifelong connection to music. As a child she spent time with her maternal grandmother, who had studied music in London in the 1880s, and her maternal aunt, Jean, was a professional singer. Through these influences, Dr McCallum was immersed from an early age in music, particularly classical and opera.
Dr McCallum died peacefully at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, in 2022, at the age of 94. In her will she stated that ‘one half of her gift should be applied for the purposes of medical research’ and ‘the other half for the purposes of supporting students engaged in classical singing’.