The awards were given during a ceremony that was held at the British Embassy in Cairo.

The event was hosted by the British Ambassador to Egypt Gareth Bayley and attended by Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker and Director of British Council Egypt Elizabeth White.

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.

Hundreds of applicants from Egyptian alumni of higher education institutions across the UK competed for four top spots.

The best in UK education to Egypt

During the event, Ambassador 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."

He added: "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," Bayley concluded.

And the recipients are

The Business and Innovation Award was presented to Asmaa Kamel, graduate of University of Southampton.

Throughout her career, Kamel managed several projects from inception to final reporting, with national and international organisations.

An engineer by training, Kamel 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, Kamel delivers training and coaching on innovation and entrepreneurship to aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage startups.

The Culture and Creativity Award went to Dalia El-Abd, graduate of University of Nottingham.

In 2018, after 17 years in the marketing field, El-Abd abandoned her comfort zone to pursue her passion in fimmaking.

El-Abd 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. She herself composed the music for that video.

Her latest work as a film director, writer, and music composer, “Spirit of Akhenaton,” is a poetic documentary revealing the untold truth of the only monotheist Pharaoh and his son King Tut.

The Science and Sustainability Award was given to Mona Allouba, graduate of Imperial College London.

Dr. 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.

Mohamed Moamen, graduate of University of Birmingham, received the Social Action Award. Moamen is a Chevening Scholar, humanitarian aid worker, educationalist, and adventurer.

Moamen 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.

Moamen 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.

The four recipients of the UK Alumni Award will be put forward for the Global Alumni Awards.

Egypt: Experts to the world

At the ceremony, Director of 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, business people and artists, who are above all inspirational individuals," White added.

"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,” she concluded.