BLACA Bursary Award

• Course: Intellectual Property LLM
• Number: one or more
• Value: Up to £9,000 towards tuition fees
• Home students
• Deadline: midnight BST 15 August 2025

The British Literary & Artistic Copyright Association, BLACA, is the UK national group of the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI) founded in Paris in 1878 under the Presidency of Victor Hugo. It provides a British forum for the examination of matters affecting authors’ rights and neighbouring rights.

The full designation of the Stationers' Company is The City of London Livery Company for the Communication and Content Industries. Through its Charitable Foundation the Company supports selected postgraduate courses that are related to a range of trades from paper, print, publishing, packaging, office products, newspapers, broadcasting and online media.

The BLACA-Stationers' Company Professor Sterling postgraduate bursary award scheme is designed in line with the institutional aims and objectives of the two awarding organisations. It aims to benefit candidates in the relevant cohort who can show commitment to developing professional and transferrable skills in the content industries.

Eligibility and Nature of Award

The award consists of one or more bursaries from a BLACA/Stationers' Foundation fund of up to £9,000 payable as a contribution towards the tuition fees of the successful applicant(s). To be eligible for an award a student:

• must be enrolled during the academic year 2025–2026;
• must be enrolled for the Intellectual Property Law LLM, at Queen Mary University of London OR for the LLM in Intellectual Property and Information Law at King’s College London OR for the Postgraduate Diploma/MA in UK, EU and US Copyright Law at King’s College London;
• must take the requisite minimum number of credits in specified modules as set out in Schedule A below.

Payment of an award will be made directly to the University following confirmation from Queen Mary or KCL that the student has elected to read the requisite minimum of credits in the specified modules.

Criteria and application procedure

The following criteria will be taken into consideration: academic merit, financial need, the quality of the application and the applicant's interest in becoming an active member of the Stationers' Company. Short-listed candidates will be required to provide documentary evidence to substantiate their financial needs and to give information about other sources that will support their participation in the chosen course. 

Applicants should submit their application, on the form available here, to their relevant College administrator listed by midnight BST on 15 August 2025. The information required by the form includes Curriculum Vitae information, evidence of financial need (examples are given) and a short statement of motivation (maximum 600 words).

For Queen Mary Applications, please email your application to: pglaw-scholarships@qmul.ac.uk, g.dimita@qmul.ac.uk, and u.suthersanen@qmul.ac.uk 

Download application form: Application Form BLACA [DOC 157KB]

Interview

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview in September 2025.

Interviews may be conducted remotely or in person in London. The interview panel will include representatives of the Stationers’ Company, BLACA’s Executive Committee and the Schools of Law of QMUL, KCL, and UCL.

Offer and acceptance

There is no obligation on BLACA and The Stationers’ Company to make any award in the absence of a suitable candidate. Offers will be made within 14 days of interview and will be deemed to have been refused if not accepted within a further 14 days.

Mentor

The bursary holder will be part of the mentor scheme whereby we endeavour to identify a senior member of the legal profession or copyright industry, who will be available for discussions and advice on current issues in copyright law.

Expectations from the Award holder

Stationer’s Company

Bursary holders will be invited to relevant events during their postgraduate year. On successful completion of their programme, Bursary Recipients will be offered the Freedom of the Stationers’ Company and will be expected to participate in the life of the Company. Payment of the annual membership fee will be waived for the first three years.

BLACA

As a Bursary award holder, the student will be an automatic member of BLACA’s student mailing list  for the year of their studies. The Award recipient will be announced over BLACA’s social media. We hope that students will also take part in a post-award interview to be made available for future applicants.

See interviews with the past holders of the award.

Schedule A: Choice of subjects

Queen Mary University of London

Students must take a minimum of 60 credits in the copyright-related modules listed below if taking the Intellectual Property Law LLM:

LLM Taught Modules

• International and Comparative Copyright Law (30 credits)
• Music Industry Contracts (15 credits)
• Intellectual Property and the Creative Industries (30 credits)
• Global Intellectual Property Law (30 credits)
• IP protection in the Software Sector (30 credits)
• EU Digital Copyright Law (15 credits)
• IP Law in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (15 credits)
• Dissertation (on an agreed copyright topic with Professor Suthersanen) (30 credits)

King’s College London

Students enrolled on the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property and Information Law will need to take a minimum of 60 credits in copyright related modules as stated below:

• International and Comparative Copyright Law (30 credits)
• Copyright and the Music Industry in the Digital Era (15 credits)
• Commercialisation of IP (15 credits)
• A 10,000 word dissertation (on a copyright law focussed topic) (45 credits)
• A 15,000 word dissertation (on a copyright law focussed topic) (60 credits)

Students enrolled on the Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in UK, EU and US Copyright Law or Master of Arts (MA) in UK, EU and US Copyright Law will satisfy the minimum number of credits required.