Essex graduates shortlisted in prestigious UK Alumni Awards

Five alumni across India, Oman, and Saudi Arabia have been shortlisted for the British Council Study UK Alumni Awards, a prestigious celebration of alumni who studied in the UK and are making a difference to the world we live in.

Amongst those shortlisted are innovative linguists, an aviation entrepreneur, and a business leader. Finalists are due to be announced by the end of the month and we wish them all the best of luck. 

Up for the Social Action Award in Saudi Arabia, graduate Ali Al-Hoorie (MA Applied Linguistics, 2006; MA Social Science Data Analysis 2018) has excelled as an academic and scholar and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. Some of Ali’s most inspiring work was the invention of a device that uses linguistic analysis and artificial intelligence for the early detection of Alzheimer's. Read more.

MBA graduate Mandeep Sandhu (MBA, 2015) has been shortlisted for the Business and Innovation Award in India. We caught up with him to congratulate his success and hear more about his entrepreneurial journey. Read more. 

Shortlisted for the Business and Innovation Award in Oman, Qais Altoubi (MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2017) helped to establish the biggest E-learning platform in Oman and is now the Vice President for Small and Medium Enterprises Development at the Authority for SME Development. Read more.

Dr Faisal Al-Homoud (MA Applied Linguistics 2003), an Associate Professor at Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University and Majmaah University in Saudi Arabia, has been shortlisted for the Culture and Creativity Award. Dr Al-Homoud uses social media to teach students English, boasting over 300,000 followers on Instagram. He also developed an English course delivered over WhatsApp, helping more than 3,000 people learn the language during the pandemic. Read more.

Shortlisted for the Culture and Creativity Award in Saudi Arabia. Dr Muhammad Alzaidi (MA Linguistics, 2010; PhD Linguistics, 2014) is an Assistant Professor at King Saud University where he chairs the Saudi Society of Linguistics and teaches postgraduate linguistics. He runs Linguistics Café, a YouTube channel with over 1,600 followers, where he teaches people around the world for free. Read more