From: Sudan
Graduated: 2003
University: SOAS
Course: MSc Development Studies
Sophie graduated from SOAS in 2003 with an MA in Development Studies. She believes that she and her fellow MBI Al Jaber Foundation Alumni were selected as ambassadors for their countries. After working for some time in higher education in Saudi Arabia, Sophie joined the British Council in Dubai and from 2007 - 2008 worked as a Project Manager for Schools and Social Partnerships.
Sophie’s remit stretched across all of the UAE and she was involved in many Educational projects including: linking schools in the Gulf and the UK through the Connecting Classrooms Project; planning and sponsoring a seminar with an Arts charity named ‘START’, for children; planning the Springboard project, which targets women’s personal and professional self-development, and managing the UAE sections of the student art expedition ‘Offscreen’.
She also assisted in the ministerial visit to the Moving Young Minds Seminar and later organised a competition to select UAE delegates for "Learning from the Future" held in Dubai April 2008.
In September 2008, Sophie moved to Al Ain to work as Head of Operations with a British Organisation, SSAT (Specialist Schools and Academies Trust).