The Ben Martin Professional Young Bakers Scholarship
In partnership with GAIL’s Bakery, supporting The Sourdough School’s mission to educate, nourish, and connect through bread.
About the Scholarship
The Ben Martin Scholarship covers 99.95% of the enrolment fee for The Bronze Diploma, reducing the cost from £1,998 to just £1. The £1 tutoring fee is offered to professional bakers who want to go beyond technique: to understand how baking can transform health, communities, and the way we think about food.
Six award places are available, with recipients chosen by a panel of Diploma graduates. All places are subject to the discretion of Dr Vanessa Kimbell and to The Sourdough School’s terms and conditions.
Named in honour of Ben Martin, head baker and Sourdough School Diploma Graduate. Ben was a baker whose creativity and warmth and generosity in the community embodied everything we stand for. He wanted to support his community, customers, family, friends and colleagues in baking nourishing bread. The scholarship supports bakers who are ready to explore Baking as Lifestyle Medicine. The evidence-based framework developed here at The Sourdough School that links bread, the gut microbiome, and mental health.
Who Can Apply
The scholarship offers a fully funded place for a professional bakers ONLY working in a bakery, café bakery, or community project to study at The Sourdough School. You’ll learn to bake with diversity, fibre, and fermentation at the centre. Not as trends, but as part of a new, systemic approach to wellbeing through food.
We’re seeking bakers are aged between 18 to 30 who are curious, open-minded, and ready to use their craft to make a difference. This is for professionals who believe that bread has a role to play in public health, in sustainability, and in reconnecting people with real food.
As part of the award we will pay for the accommodation for the sourdough exchange in July at the School and the Nutrigenetics core test in the 2nd year.
Ben believed in the quiet power of bread to bring people together. This scholarship carries that belief forward: into every kitchen, every community, and every baker ready to use their skills for good.
Key Details
Applications status: OPEN
We email interview invites by 1st December and scholarship results by 15th December 2025.
Interviews will be on Zoom on 9th December
*Candidates who live abroad can apply however travel must be paid for by the student. We will provide the accommodation locally.
Successful candidates will demonstrate a clear understanding of the needs of their community. We are looking for passionate advocates who are interested in systems change and a holistic approach.
We’d love to know where you bake, please share your bakery or project name and a reference if applicable in your application.
Scholarships and awards are subject to the Sourdough School Terms and Conditions of business.
