Tim Lovett Scholarship

"Giving Back To What Gave Me So Much": Tim Lovett's £100,000 Gift To UEA

When UEA alumnus Tim Lovett MBE (BIO66) pledged a further £70,000 this year to endow his scholarship fund, he was doing more than investing in the future of students. He was paying tribute to a university experience that shaped his life - and a community that still means the world to him.

The new gift brings his total support to £100,000, establishing a permanent fund for the Lovett Scholarship, which will support a final year Biological Sciences student from 2026 onwards. It will go to the most improved 2nd year student to encourage even greater progress in their final year, hopefully relieving some of the financial stress.

It’s a strong statement of belief in the importance of accessing education, in potential, and in UEA’s next generation of leading scientists.

For Tim, who arrived at UEA in the mid-1960s, where he met his wife of 50 years, Jennie Lovett (née Miller) (EUR67) the University was a blank canvas of opportunity.

“There was no sense of entitlement,” he recalled. “Things happened because you wanted them to - because you made them happen.”

The memories tumble out easily: negotiating band contracts for student dances, playing football, rowing in clapped-out boats in regattas including the Head of the River on the Thames. “We were being given the most amazing opportunities. If something wasn’t there, you created it.”

It’s this sense of initiative, agency and camaraderie that fuels Tim’s enduring relationship with UEA. “For me, it’s a sense of identity,” he said. “As you get older, you look back - and UEA is where so much started. I always feel welcome here. It’s part of who I am.”

He isn’t alone. Tim remains close friends with so many fellow graduates like Robert Cornford (EAS65), and Julian Chisholm (SOC65), who joined him on a return visit to campus earlier this year. The three of them walked through the Archives, flicked through old editions of Chips and Mandate, and laughed over stories of student union coups and rag week antics.

That exceptional start is something Tim wants others to have too - particularly students facing financial pressure.

“Our fees were paid, and we had (modest) grants. My son, who went through university more recently, is still paying off student debt. That just wasn’t our experience.”

Tim sees his scholarship not as a handout, but as a hand up - a way to reward ambition and progress; to honour the spirit of the University he loves. “UEA was unbelievably good news for Norwich - and for us students in the vanguard.”

A shared story, still being written, Tim is clear that the future of UEA rests not just with students and staff, but with its alumni. “Tell people the right stories and make them feel part of it,” he said. “That’s how you build a community.”

And it’s why he keeps coming back - to mentor, to reminisce, and to give.

“I look around and I’m just grateful,” he said. “UEA gave me so much. This is my way of giving something back. I hope others will help fund scholarships in whatever way they can, big or small.”