UQ alumni Mr Richard Howes and Mr Matthew McLennan
UQ alumni Mr Richard Howes and Mr Matthew McLennan
18 September 2014

University of Queensland students Christopher Heard and Wayne Chan have won the newly established Matthew McLennan and Richard Howes Outstanding Honours Collaboration Scholarship.

Mr Heard and Mr Chan each receive $5,625 toward a research project in business and economics, and will have the chance to work with researchers from UQ’s Australian Institute for Business and Economics (AIBE).

Director of Advancement at the UQ’s Faculty of Business, Economics and Law Dr Jason Ketter said the scholarship was created by UQ commerce graduates Matthew McLennan (1991) and Richard Howes (1992) to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between honours students from the business and economics schools.

Mr McLennan said one of the most important investments anyone could make was to provide opportunity for the next generation to learn and succeed.

“We have made this gift in the hope that it will inspire others to give,” he said.

“We all have a duty to take institutions that have shaped us to an even higher capability for tomorrow’s reality.”

Mr Howes said the collaboration with faculty and colleagues during his honours program helped him nurture a passion for intellectual inquiry.

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to invest in future generations attending the schools within the Business, Economics and Law Faculty in the hope that they will get as much out of the honours program as I did,” he said.

Mr McLennan is the Head of Global Value for First Eagle Investment Management in New York, and is considered one of the most influential Australian investor’s in the world.

His philanthropic support of the University also includes a $1 million donation towards the AIBE.

Mr McLennan was a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award winner in 2014.

Mr Howes is Chief Executive of Challenger Life. He joined Challenger in June 2003 from Zurich Capital Markets where he provided risk management solutions to major companies and institutions globally. Prior to that, he worked with the financial markets divisions of Bankers Trust and Macquarie Bank.

Mr Howes started his career in the strategy department of Queensland Investment Corporation after graduating from UQ.

To find out more about the scholarship please visit the UQ Business School website.

Media: Amanda McHardy, (07) 3346 0632 or a.mchardy@uq.edu.au