9 Dec 2025
Nadia Wali and Essie McLeod, who were each awarded the Vets Now Ethnic Diversity Scholarship, talk about their experience and the help its given them and others in the profession
Vet Times
Job Title
Nadia Wali, who, with Essie McLeod, was awarded the Vets Now Ethnic Scholarship. Image: Vets Now
Making it in the veterinary world requires focus, drive and determination.
Making it in that world when it seems like you may not belong requires all that and more.
As vet nurse Essie McLeod, an English-born Muslim, settles into her new career after her recent graduation, she can reflect on the achievement of doing so while coming from a significantly under-represented background.
Essie was aided throughout her studies by Vets Now’s Ethnic Diversity Scholarship programme, which provided invaluable mentoring, networking and financial support.
But she knows she is taking her first steps in a world still facing major challenges with ethnic diversity. Figures show that the professions remain overwhelmingly white, with levels touching 96 per cent in a 2024 survey1. This lack of representation not only limits opportunities for aspiring professionals from diverse backgrounds, but also risks being out of touch with the communities they serve.
Essie moved to Qatar with her mum, who is English, and Jamaican-born dad when she was three, returning to the UK aged 10 in 2013.
Although Essie had always loved animals, a school trip to a farm, and then a placement at a local practice when she was 15, sealed her desire to become a vet nurse.
She said: “It was a busy referral practice, and I got quite a lot of hands-on experience. I’d been thinking of a vet nurse career anyway, but that clinched it.”
Essie went to Nottingham Trent University, graduating earlier this year with a foundation degree in veterinary nursing science.
While she made friends along the way, Essie was more than conscious of not seeing anyone who looked like her on the course or when doing placements.
She said: “I’d have people say they’d never come across anyone like me, and even that it was a bit of a weird career choice for someone from my community.”
What eased things for her, both financially and academically, was the support given by the Ethnic Diversity Scholarship programme.
Essie said: “Because I didn’t know of anyone from a diverse background in veterinary, I was quite shocked that there was a scholarship.
“But being of mixed race and a Muslim, I was delighted when I was accepted and felt I had a chance to meet other people like me.”
IVC Evidensia and Vets Now launched the programme in 2021, wanting to address the lack of ethnic diversity within the professions, but remaining conscious it would only be a part of what needed to be a much wider approach.
IVC Evidensia met its commitment of supporting 50 vet scholarships with the awarding of a final 10 this year. Vets Now has also now reached its commitment of 15 vet nursing scholarships.
Vet scholars were supported with £5,000 per year, and those studying nursing were awarded £2,500 each year, with applications weighted by financial need to help reduce barriers for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Essie said: “It took off a lot of the financial pressure, as I’d have needed at least a part-time job.
“I was commuting, so I was able to pay for train tickets every day, as well as get general uni supplies.
“You’ve got enough on your plate as a vet nursing student without stacking shelves somewhere and thinking you really should be studying.”
But there was more than just money as part of the support given by Vets Now: mentoring, placement offers, online meetings and ethnic diversity networking events in Birmingham alongside fellow nursing students from Vets Now and vet students from IVC Evidensia.
Essie added: “It was so helpful to meet other people, exchange numbers and stay in touch through group chats.
“It was interesting to find we’d had the same kind of experiences.
“In terms of public perception, from my perspective I’d mostly found people to be quite supportive, although I had a few negative comments. I think they tended to come from a place of ignorance, though, rather than malice.”
Nadia Wali is another of those who have benefited from Vets Now’s Ethnic Diversity Scholarship. Nadia’s mum, who is Pakistani, and her Indian dad both have chronic illnesses, and with money focused on their care, university finances were tight.
Nadia said: “I was looking for anything that could help me get to the RVC when I was lucky enough to be awarded the scholarship.
“I’d been considering loans or finding other ways of paying rent and living costs.
“If I didn’t have the scholarship, I don’t think I’d have made it through. It helped so much and just put my mind at rest.”
Having achieved the scholarship commitments, IVC Evidensia and Vets Now are deciding where to take the Ethnic Diversity Scholarship programme for its next phase, so it can have an even greater impact on the professions.
Sarah Heath, group sustainability director at IVC Evidensia, said: “We’re incredibly proud of all the students we’ve been able to support and to see some graduating and starting their veterinary careers.
“While what we are doing is only a small part of what needs to happen in the professions, the impact of the programme on the students we’ve supported has made us more committed than ever to continue promoting greater ethnic diversity.”
Racheal Marshall, head of nursing standards at Vets Now, and chairperson of the Vets Now Ethnic Diversity Scholarship, added: “We’re proud of the impact the Vets Now Ethnic Diversity Scholarship has had, but there’s still much work to do to improve representation in our professions.
“The figures haven’t changed significantly since 2019, which is why programmes like ours remain so important.”
Essie, who graduated this year, is working in Leicester-based IVC Evidensia practice Bell, Brown and Bentley Vets. But she is already looking to a future in emergency and critical care (ECC) with Vets Now after the bachelor of science degree she started at Nottingham Trent in September.
What drove Essie on, regardless of clearly being very much in a tiny minority, was her desire to become a vet nurse. But she hopes that, now she has graduated and working in practice, she may become a very visible symbol to others of what can be achieved.
Essie said: “My ambition overrode the fact that I didn’t see anyone like me.
“But we definitely have to see better representation. I’ve already had a few younger people from ethnically diverse communities come and ask me about the possibilities in vet nursing.
“It’s really nice when teenagers can see someone like them in the veterinary community and I’d love to think some might just think that if I can do it, then so can they.
“I’m so grateful to the Ethnic Diversity Scholarship for helping me get to where I am.”
Nadia graduated in the summer of 2024 and went on to complete a bachelor of science degree with honours in July 2025.
She developed a passion for emergency medicine and, having moved from London for caring responsibilities, is hoping to work at the Vets Now Hospital in Manchester and complete an ECC certificate.
Nadia added: “When I did my placements, I was very aware of no one else there looking like me.
“Veterinary is such a wonderful profession, but we need more diversity, and I’d like to be an inspiration for other ethnically diverse people to apply to join.”
