Celebrating our inspirational Women of the Future scholars

Thirty inspirational women who have been awarded a Masters scholarship at Essex thanks to our Women of the Future Appeal were celebrated at a special reception.

Held at our Silberrad Student Centre, the event was a great opportunity for donors and friends of the University to meet the Masters scholars funded from the £605,000 raised by the Appeal. The Appeal made the dreams of 30 young women from around the world come true, and they were pleased to have the opportunity to thank donors personally.

The highlight of the event was a touching speech from one of the scholars, Elnara Khailova, from Azerbaijan, who said: “Receiving my scholarship was the happiest day of life and I will never forget this.”

During the reception, guests were invited to leave inspirational messages on the Essex Philanthropy story board. Comments included:

• “You really made my dream come true - to move here and study at this amazing university. Thank you!” - Anna Livia

• “Go ahead and make the world more equal place for women” - Alexandra Green

The reception was hosted by our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anthony Forster, who expressed thanks to all the generous supporters who made the Appeal so successful. 

The Women of the Future Appeal was the first Chancellor's Appeal in Essex's history, led by former Chancellor Shami Chakrabarti, who sent a thank you video which was played on the night, highlighting the strong statement on gender injustice that Essex has made with the appeal.

The event was also to formally close the highly-successful Women of the Future Appeal.

• See photos from the event on our Flickr album.