“Without support from the University of Opportunity Fund, I wouldn’t have been able to take the placement that helped me secure my PhD - it genuinely changed my life.”

When I look back at my time at the University of York, I can see just how much a single opportunity can change the course of your life.

I graduated from York in 2025 with a degree in Medical Engineering. I’m now studying for my PhD at the University of Cambridge, while also undertaking a fellowship at Yale University. It’s a journey I’m incredibly proud of but it’s also one that I know would have looked very different without the opportunities and support I received at York.

Coming from a low-income, under-represented background, university always felt like a big step. Before York, a scholarship to attend a grammar school for my A levels was my first real chance to level the playing field. From then on, every opportunity mattered. Each one gave me the chance to make sure I wasn’t held back by my circumstances, rather than my ability.

York was the only university campus I was able to visit in person because of the COVID restrictions. But as soon as I arrived, I had a feeling it was somewhere I could belong. It was welcoming, close enough to home that I could stay connected to my family, and its new Medical Engineering course offered exactly what I was looking for: the opportunity to use engineering and research to make a difference to people’s lives.

Once I arrived, I found much more than a degree. I made lifelong friendships, joined societies and became a student ambassador and mentor. Those experiences helped me grow in confidence and, importantly, find my voice.

In my second year, a travel award enabled me to go to Istanbul and work with an international research team on microfabrication and nanotechnology projects. The University of Opportunity Fund funded a research placement at the University of Sheffield. Without that financial support, I simply wouldn’t have been able to take up the opportunity.

The funding covered my travel and living costs, which meant I could focus completely on the experience: learning advanced techniques, adapting to a new research environment and working alongside scientists and researchers. I developed mechanically graded, electrically conductive biomaterials – research that was outside my degree but became highly relevant to the bioengineering and neuroscience questions I wanted to explore in the future. I also had the opportunity to present my work at a symposium and at the White Rose Biomaterials Conference. Public speaking had once been something I found daunting. These experiences helped turn it into one of my strengths.

Looking back, those opportunities didn’t just add to my CV – they changed the direction of my future. 

They gave me practical research experience, introduced me to new areas of science, built my confidence and helped me understand what I was capable of. They also played a direct role in helping me secure PhD offers from both Oxford and Cambridge.

Today, I’m continuing that journey at Cambridge, researching at the next stage of my academic career, while also undertaking a fellowship at Yale University. It’s an incredible position to be in. But I don’t see it simply as a personal achievement. I see it as a reminder of what can happen when someone is given the chance to realise their potential.

The support I received didn’t just pay for a train ticket, accommodation or a research placement. It removed barriers. It allowed me to say yes to opportunities that might otherwise have been impossible. And each opportunity built on the one before it. Those opportunities helped me take the next step towards a PhD. And now, I’m at Cambridge and Yale.

I know there are students at York today with just as much talent, ambition and potential. What they may not always have is the financial freedom to take every opportunity that comes their way. That’s where the University of Opportunity Fund can make such a powerful difference.

You might be helping a student travel to a research placement, take up an internship, attend a conference, buy the equipment they need or simply have the financial security to focus on making the most of their time at university. You may never know exactly where that opportunity will lead.

I’m incredibly grateful that someone chose to invest in my future. I hope that by sharing my story, I can show what that investment can mean.

Find out more about the University of Opportunity Fund and how it's helping students like Maciej.