We started the morning off at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) with a welcome and campus tour. I have included a couple of slides from our opening presentation because first of all, I’m 100% confident that the professional campus photographer can do a better job than my old-timey android phone, and second, I want everyone who’s reading this at home to get a sense of the general information QUB staff shared with us.

Queen’s University Belfast is a friendly, beautiful campus and certainly seems deserving of its 2026 recognition as the “University of the Year” as voted on by What Uni? Student Choice Awards.

QUB welcomes approximately 4000 international students from 90 countries each year. Housing is guaranteed for international students for their first year, provided that they apply before June 30. The campus encourages strong connections with local businesses and government offices and feels like a campus that would appeal to students both from a more rural area (they refer to themselves as “small”) and to those students from larger, more metropolitan areas, since Belfast as a city has a lot to offer. The campus seems very open to US/UK collaborations, so when I return to the States, I intend to put our study abroad folks in touch with Susan McCleary, Senior International Officer at QUB, for potential exchange programs in the future. You should think about doing the same!

Slide promoting Queen’s University Belfast Graduate School leadership, professional, and research development opportunities for postgraduate students. A central statement describes the Graduate School as an intellectual and social hub supporting postgraduate students, building community, and connecting students with mentors, leaders, and employers. Surrounding callouts highlight leadership development, entrepreneurial and innovation opportunities, postgraduate research studentships, leadership and professional skills training, career advice and networking, and research and academic skills development. Additional activities listed include cultural nights, student-led initiatives, coffee catch-ups, meditation, conferences, research culture, and peer-led sessions. Visual elements include the Queen’s University Belfast and Graduate School logos, an academic and professional skills development banner, a globe icon, a rocket icon, a Jenga-style block tower, and logos for IMPACT, Kick Start Accelerator, and CMI.

Slide from QUB presentation on The Graduate School

Scholarships at Queen's. We offer prestigious, competitive scholarships of up to 50% off tuition fees to new international students. Marshall Scholarship x1 award (Full tuition & stipent) Fulbright x2 awards - Conflict, Security & Contested pasts. Institutional wide award (both full tuition & stipend) Hillary Rodham Clinton Award 1 award - Female student from US in politics, conflict transformation or human rights. Full tuition - typically closes January. Vice Chancellor's Award (apply) x4 awards - 50% tutition fee discount North America Graduate housing award 1 year full free housing - 51 weeks (apply) Sustainability award 5,000 guaranteed funding Queen's Business School award - 8,000 - 10,000 guaranteed funding 20% Family discount - for children, grandchildren and siblings of alumni 20% loyalty scholarship - for returning postgraduate taught, exchange or summer school students 4,000-6,000 international office scholarship guaranteed funding 1,500 early confirmation award - pay early, save big

Slide from QUB on Scholarships

After a campus tour from a current student, which highlighted a variety of resources focused on academic success and building community, we heard a fascinating lecture from Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, who leads the MacroBiodiversity Lab (MBL) at Queen’s University Belfast. His lecture discussed invasive species through the lens of economic impact, disease potential, and environmental damage…which is a lot to wrap your head around.  However, Dr. Pincheira-Donoso did an excellent job opening his lecture by addressing the questions I (we?) typically ask our Fulbright applicants:

  1. Why does this matter to someone who knows nothing about your area of study?” and
  2. “What is your hook to get your audience’s attention?”

Following the lecture and a lovely lunch provided by Queen’s University Belfast, we took a bus tour of Belfast with Professor Dominic Bryan, who taught us quite a bit about the city’s complex history and efforts to rebuild. Just like the campus photographs, there are many other people who have a much greater area of expertise on this subject than me. Thankfully, Dr. Bryan suggested checking out “The Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland” by Brendan O’Leary and John McGarry to learn more. He also recommended the movie “71” to understand a little bit more about what life was like at the time.

Thanks to our gracious hosts and  terrific organizers, we had a wonderful day!

After wrapping up our day at Queen’s University Belfast, we headed to the airport, took a propeller (talk about old-timey!) plane to Edinburgh, then a coach to Glasgow, and around 10 PM we checked into our student accommodations at the University of Glasgow.

Thing are heating up (literally) in Scotland so stay tuned for the next dispatch from our travels!

April Seehafer
Director, Distinguished Scholarships Program
Washington State University