Samantha Oi Lin Kelly did her BA in Religion and Theology from September 2004 - July 2007. After graduating she went into brand marketing. She lived most of her life in Hong Kong. Samantha sadly passed away on 10 July 2012.

The Kelly family has generously added a new Samantha Kelly memorial prize to the three existing ones awarded by the department. 

The Samantha Kelly Memorial Prize for Postgraduate Students.  The Samantha Kelly Memorial Award of £500 is a prize awarded to a PG student of any year in the Department of Religion and Theology at the University of Bristol, for ‘Best Performance’. This will encompass academic achievement and overall contribution to the course. We are grateful to Mr Kelly and family for their generosity in making these prizes possible. 

It was with pleasure that we awarded the first Samantha Kelly Memorial Prize for Study Abroad Students in 2023-24 to Charlie Clark, who has written the following message in response:

My experience within the Department of Religion and Theology continues to be positive. In only two months, I will have finished my MPhil - time does fly when you’re having fun! -  which has been an enormously enriching experience, greatly developing my perseverance, resilience, and passion for the subject. Throughout this year, I have also undertaken as many opportunities as possible, including publishing my first paper in the BILT journal, presenting my research at two conferences, and taking a semi-intensive course in Phoenician. I will also be flying to Hamburg in two weeks to undertake a Hebrew Codicology course at the university - an opportunity only made possible by the money provided by the Samantha Kelly Final-Year Memorial Prize, which I have used to pay for my flights. I thank you hugely for the experience! I am deeply humbled and grateful to be the recipient of this prize, which will continue to support my journey through academia. I’m sure your daughter would be thrilled to know how much joy this award will have brought each recipient.