The real shame of it is that OP claims affiliation to two respectable universities (UCL and Cambridge) and one formerly credible venue (CHI)

Mock scholarship is on the rampage. I agree: this stuff does make me understand the yahoos with a defunding urge too - not something I ever expected to feel any sympathy for, but here we are.

It makes me sick to my heart to think that money is stolen from my pocket to be given to lunatics of this kind.