Honouring a legacy, shaping the future
Help us celebrate the remarkable 40-year legacy of Professor Joe Nellis CBE, whose passion for teaching has positively impacted countless people. The Professor Joe Nellis CBE MBA Scholarship supports the next generation of innovators, ensuring that financial barriers don’t hinder talented students.
A life-changing opportunity
Scholarships transform lives. After applying to Cranfield, one student faced the difficult decision of withdrawing due to an unexpected financial burden caused by a family member's medical emergency. However, thanks to scholarships like this one, the student was able to come to Cranfield, complete their MBA, and transform their future. This is the kind of life-changing impact your generosity can create.
Your support ensures students can seize the opportunities they've worked so hard for, even in the face of unexpected challenges. With your help, we can continue to offer life-changing scholarships for many years to come.
Your support will:
- Nurture future leaders from diverse backgrounds.
- Create a lasting impact through an endowed scholarship fund.
- Tackle inequality, empowering students for global change.
By supporting the Professor Joe Nellis CBE MBA Scholarship, you are helping talented individuals pursue their MBA at Cranfield, regardless of their financial circumstances. This is more than just a scholarship – it’s a pathway to leadership, innovation, and lasting impact.
By making a gift today your generosity will help ensure that Joe Nellis’ legacy continues for many years to come. Your gift, no matter the size, will change lives and strengthen Cranfield’s tradition of nurturing talent and leadership.
The easiest way to support the Professor Joe Nellis CBE MBA Scholarship Fund is to give a gift online. Please visit our secure online portal to make a one-off gift or to set up a regular donation.
What’s more, as Cranfield University is a registered charity, if you are a UK taxpayer we can claim Gift Aid on your donation. This means that we can reclaim 25% (based on the tax year 2022/23) from HM Revenue and Customs and make your donation go further.
Read about Professor Joe Nellis CBE
After completing a degree in economics at Ulster University in 1976, Joe served as a Voluntary Service Overseas teacher in Ghana for two years. This experience was to have a lasting and profound effect on Joe’s life. There he discovered a love for teaching which set the direction for his future career. Ever since, along with his family, he has kept personal links there, describing Ghana as his ‘second home’. Joe and his family have completed many development projects in the area, the most recent being the building of a modern school in a remote village on the banks of the Volta River.
Joe is one of the leading academics in his field. Now in his 40th year at Cranfield, he has taught students on every MBA cohort since he joined. While a member of faculty, he was awarded his PhD in 1991 and became Professor in 1993, establishing the Economics Group at the University one year later. In 2017, the Economics Group was ranked Number 1 in the world by the Financial Times for the teaching of economics on MBA programmes and was consistently in the global top 10 for over a decade. He was jointly responsible for the research and development of the UK’s leading house price measurement systems, the Halifax House Price Index, and the Nationwide House Price Index.
Joe has held many senior roles at Cranfield including Director of the Full-time MBA, Director of Graduate Programmes, Academic Dean, and Director of the School of Management. He was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University from 2005-2008.
His charity work has included fundraising for local charities, involving marathon running, cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
A note from Joe
I have been in education throughout my career, and I have seen at first-hand how it can transform lives. For the last four decades, I have enjoyed engaging with students and have kept in touch with many alumni and followed their paths beyond Cranfield. It has been so rewarding to see so many go on to achieve great things, and to have such a profound impact on the organisations they have served and their communities.
I am deeply humbled by the support that has been shown in support of this Scholarship. Most importantly, I am so pleased to be part of an initiative that will help future generations of talented and deserving students to go on to address global challenges and make a difference in the world.
