Ashraf AboArafe
21 February 2023, CAIRO – The British Council announced the recipients of the Study UK Alumni Awards 2022-23 in Egypt at a prestigious ceremony in the British Embassy in Cairo. In total, 12 Egyptian alumni of UK universities were recognised for their outstanding achievements as business professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders, and for their contribution to strengthening ties between the UK and Egypt.
Following in-depth interviews with a judging panel, recipients were selected for the four award categories: Business and Innovation Award, Culture and Creativity Award, Science and Sustainability Award, and Social Action Award.
The international award celebrates UK higher education and the achievements of alumni of UK universities all over the world. Now in its ninth year in Egypt, the award received hundreds of applications from Egyptian alumni, representing UK higher education institutions across the UK, from which four winners were selected. These four will then be put forward for the Global Alumni Awards.
The ceremony was hosted by the British Ambassador to Egypt Gareth Bayley, and attended by the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Dr Mohamed Shaker and Director of British Council Egypt, Elizabeth White.
The Business and Innovation Award was presented to Asmaa Kamal, graduate of University of Southampton. Throughout her career, Asmaa managed several projects from inception to final reporting, with national and international organisations. An engineer by training, Asmaa holds a master’s degree in Global Enterprise and Entrepreneurship from Southampton University, with a focus on social entrepreneurship. She has capitalised on that experience by working with and evaluating the work of non-profits in Egypt that are adopting various revenue generation activities to achieve financial and operational sustainability. In addition, Asmaa delivers training and coaching on innovation and entrepreneurship to aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage startups.
The Culture and Creativity Award was presented to Dalia El Abd, graduate of University of Nottingham. In 2018 and after seventeen years in the marketing field, Dalia decided to abandon her comfort zone and go after her passion: cinema, and music to live the life she has always dreamt of, the life of a filmmaker. Dalia established her own production company and took many independent courses in cinematography, directing, and script writing. She produced and directed several TV commercials and a music video. Dalia herself composed the music for that video. Dalia’s latest work as a film director, writer, and music composer, “Spirit of Akhenaten” is a poetic documentary revealing the untold truth of the only monotheist Pharaoh and his son King Tut.
The Science and Sustainability Award was presented to Mona Allouba, graduate of Imperial College London. Dr Mona Allouba is a Post-Doctoral Researcher and Manager of the Genetics and Genomics unit at Aswan Heart Centre (AHC). She completed her PhD studies in Cardiovascular Clinical Research Medicine at Imperial College London in collaboration with AHC in 2020. Her research focuses on identifying the genetic determinants of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart disease, in the Egyptian population with the aim to improve diagnosis, disease management and potentially treatment of this life-threatening disease.
The Social Action Award was presented to Mohamed Moamen, graduate of University of Birmingham. Mohamed is a Chevening Scholar, humanitarian aid worker, educationalist, and adventurer. Mohamed holds five academic degrees in Engineering, Management, Humanitarian Assistance, and Development. He studied for his master’s degree in international development at the University of Birmingham and studied ‘Change in International Development’ at the University of Oxford. Mohamed is a backpacker, who travelled overland the whole African continent from Cairo to Cape Town. In addition, he is the founder of the Africa Hope Foundation, which focuses on improving access to basic education in different African countries.
British Ambassador to Egypt, Gareth Bayley, said: “Every year, our UK Alumni Awards honour outstanding Egyptians, all of whom have made tremendous achievements in their fields after graduating from world-class British institutions. I am incredibly proud to be celebrating their achievements along with the British Council, including some alumni who are also members of our flagship Chevening scholarship programme. One of my main goals as Ambassador is to strengthen UK-Egypt cooperation in the field of education. By doing so we bring the best of UK education to Egypt and brilliant Egyptian students to the UK, and also help pioneers in various fields achieve real change and progress in society. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees on their amazing efforts.”
Director British Council Egypt, Elizabeth White said: ‘Since time immemorial, Egypt has presented to the world experts in every sector. And through the British Council UK Alumni Awards, we are adding to this far-reaching list every year. If we are to unleash the potential of people they have to have the education, connections, opportunities and mindset necessary to do this. Today, we are celebrating Egyptian alumni from UK universities – including entrepreneurs, community leaders, businesspeople and artists, who are above all inspirational individuals. At the British Council, we strongly believe that unlocking the potential and international experiences help boosting people’s confidence and interpersonal skills, and we are committed to this journey of building the confidence, creating a network of more understanding and links between peoples, paving the way for a brighter future for all of them.
