Nine international graduates announced as finalists in British Council’s Study UK Alumni Awards

Dr Abdullah Alarifi Alkaldi (PhD Applied Linguistics, 2010) is a finalist in the Social Action category in his home nation of Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah applied the knowledge gained from his language degrees at Manchester and Newcastle Universities to upskill his colleagues when he returned to Saudi Arabia, using the modern communicative approach rather than the traditional grammar translation approach.

When Abdullah joined the Ministry of Education, he uncovered a shortfall in Saudi Arabian students applying to UK universities and zero PhD candidates from his home nation applying to UK institutions. Following his own positive experience in the UK, Abdullah campaigned with the Saudi Minister and the Riyadh British Council Director to establish a scholarship programme to make it easier for students from his home country to benefit from a UK education. Thanks to his efforts, the number of Saudi students in the UK increased from 3,000 in 2002 to 28,000 just a decade later!

Aigul Nurkeyeva (MA Media and Journalism, 2017) is shortlisted in the Culture and Creativity category in the Kazakhstan awards.

Aigul began her journalism career in 1998, and quickly rose in the ranks to become editor-in-chief of the regional socio-political newspaper Aktubinskyi Vestnik at the age of 26.

To support her in this leadership role, Aigul embarked on a postgraduate degree at Newcastle University. Her experience here developed skills in multimedia and citizen journalism, skills Aigul shared with her workforce on returning to Kazakhstan. For example, Aigul trained colleagues on the use of Adobe InDesign and grew the social media presence of the newspaper to increase its readership.

In December 2022, Aigul was appointed Deputy Director of Aktobe Media and is now in charge of two newspapers – one in Russian and the other in Kazakh. She has also recently been elected a deputy of the regional maslikhat – or local parliament – where she applies the critical thinking and analytical skills gained in the UK to solve problems in her region.

Gulnara Zholzhanova (MA Media and Journalism, 2017) joins fellow Newcastle alumna Aigul in the national Kazakhstan awards, where she is also a finalist in the Culture and Creativity category.

To find solutions to the crisis traditional print media was facing in Kazakhstan at the time, Gulnara embarked on a Master’s programme at Newcastle University, researching how other countries were adapting to remain relevant and applying this to her knowledge of the media sphere in her home country.

Once back in Kazakhstan, Gulnara shared the knowledge gained in the UK with specialists working on the development of traditional media, including the Minister of Information and Social Development at the time, Dharkhan Kydyrali. Working with other scientific journalists like her, Gulnara participated in conferences and roundtables dedicated to print, television and radio, and published articles in the Republican newspaper Eqemen Qazaqstan.

The importance of traditional media outlets was further exemplified for Gulnara during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the population relied on information from these outlets to stay informed, especially those living in remote villages. In 2023, Gulnara returned to the UK to continue her research.

Dr Jinwei Zhang (PhD Biotechnology, 2011) was shortlisted in the Science and Sustainability category in the national China Study UK Awards, which took place on 9 December 2023.

Having completed his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in his home country of China, Jinwei arrived in the UK in 2008 to embark on his PhD journey at Newcastle University, supported by the prestigious Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award. 

Jinwei’s PhD was in the field of biotechnology, and during his time at Newcastle, he studied natural bioactive compounds and their applications in human health. This research laid the foundation for his later discovery of potent kinase inhibitors, a monumental step in combatting Parkinson’s disease, and a discovery which gained Jinwei international recognition.  

Souhail Aboulfadile, a Moroccan national who came to Newcastle University’s School of Engineering as an Erasmus student in 2022, has been shortlisted for the Science and Sustainability award in France.

Souhail was awarded a two-year Erasmus Mundus scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in hydro-informatics and water management. His second semester was spent at Newcastle University and was a “turning point” in his studies, bridging the gap between science and real-world issues and enriching his critical thinking skills.

Following his time at Newcastle, Souhail secured a highly competitive internship at prestigious insurance company AXA in Paris, during which he led a project modelling the flood risk for the entire city of Paris. Souhail’s work answered questions about the vulnerability of homes and the magnitude of potential hazards due to fluvial, pluvial, and climate change scenarios. Later, as an employee, Souhail worked on a project relating to water level drops for a hydroelectric dam in the United States which powers approximately 1.3 million homes.