FURTHER EDUCATION PROGRAMME
Alumni Achievement Award
In 2009, the Foundation awarded the first Saïd Foundation Alumni
Achievement Award to Dr. Wassim Maziak who was judged to have made
an outstanding contribution to his field and to development in the
Middle East.
Wassim is from Aleppo, Syria and was supported by the Foundation
in 1996 for a year of research at the National Heart and Lung Institute
in London. On completion of his research, he returned to Aleppo
and embarked upon two years of study into tobacco smoking in Syria.
He was then awarded an Alexander von Humbolt fellowship to conduct
research at the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine in
Germany.
In 2002, with funds from the US National Institute of Health, Wassim
established the Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies, which he now
directs. The Centre is a pioneering research and capacity building
institution and has become a centre of excellence in public health
in the region. Centre representatives have held discussions with
the Syrian Ministry of Health about anti-smoking campaigns in the
country.
Wassim is a rising star on the international public health scene.
He was invited to write an essay on the current status of Arab science
for the prestigious journal "Science" on its 125th anniversary;
in 2005 he received the American Cancer Society Special Award; in
2006, he won the World Health Organisation Director General Award;
in 2009 he was honoured with the Elsevier/Scopus distinguished researcher
award and the Syrian Centre for Tobacco Studies was recently awarded
the Hamdan Prize for the Best Research/Medical Facility in the Arab
World.
In previous years the Foundation awarded Student of the Year prizes
to scholars who completed their studies in the preceding calendar
year.
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First prize winner - Waseem Kotoub
Syrian, Diploma in Piano Performance, Royal Academy of
Music
Waseem is a qualified medical doctor and an accomplished
musician. According to his tutor, Diana Ketler, "Waseem
achieved in one year what many students find hard to achieve
in two". Whilst doing his postgraduate diploma in piano
performance, Waseem also studied for a Royal Academy teaching
certificate and a certificate in special needs music therapy
at the Nordoff Robins Centre. Since his return to Syria, Waseem
has been working with autistic children as a music therapist
through local NGOs; he has performed fundraising concerts
for special needs children; written articles about music therapy
for the Syrian press; performed in a production of "Carmen"
and established Syria's first music therapy centre.
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Second prize winner – Ahmad Habash
Palestinian, MA 3D Computer Animation, University of Bournemouth.
Ahmad created his first animated film in 2003 and since then
has produced a number of pieces which have been critically
acclaimed. He achieved a distinction overall for his SF-sponsored course and a mark of 90% for his final project,
a short film entitled "Red Feather". Since his return
to Palestine, Ahmed has been employed by the World Health
Organisation to direct and animate a short film about the
health system in Palestine under occupation. He has also beem
working as a creative consultant for the municipality of Ramallah
on their centennial celebrations and is teaching animation
workshops in a number of educational institutes in the West
Bank.
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Third prize winner - Nadine Haddad
Jordanian, MSc International Management, Oxford Brookes
University.
Nadine told us that she returned home a completely different
person. Whilst in Oxford, she immersed herself in British
culture and found time to organise social and cultural activities
to challenge negative stereotypes of Arabs and the Middle
East. She was elected student representative for her course
which involved acting as a conflict mediator between students
and teachers. Nadine was proud to have the opportunity to
present a positive image of Arab women to her Western peers.
She has now returned to Jordan where she is working for the
Jordan River Foundation on their "Safe Schools Programme"
a national initiative which aims to turn 500 Jordanian government
schools into safer environments.
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