News and blogs

Experimental project Crossing Divides is like a heart pumping the idea of social cohesion across the BBC. I’ve spent a few weeks working on it and here is what I found out.

In my defence, I had made the bookings in a rush. I was in London, and my India SIM card wasn’t working so I couldn’t get the one-time passwords required for online bookings. It was only at the last moment that the problem was resolved, and I did all my bookings in one go, afraid […]

If you’re moving to the UK, your packing list will probably include a few key items which you will want to bring with you. Among these; your toothbrush, stuffed bear, comfortable walking shoes, all 312,441 items from your wardrobe, and one item of dry food that you know customs won’t take from you – as […]

If you’ve watched the 1979 satirical British comedy, ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’, you will no doubt remember the scene in which Brian exclaims to a large audience, ‘You are all individuals’, and to which they respond (in unison), ‘Yes, we’re all individuals’. In 1979, it was probably easier to make a statement such as […]

Almost exactly one year ago, we published a blog in October to kick start the class of 2018’s scholar blogs titled, ‘Fifteen first impressions of the UK’. A year on, with a new class of scholars, we wanted to find out again what the first impressions of the UK have been like for our new […]

Chevening Orientation 2019 marked the start of a challenging and exciting year for the 1,750-strong Chevening Scholarships class of 2019. It was an opportunity for them to meet and network with each other, prepare themselves for the year ahead, and take in the knowledge and advice of our illustrious keynote speakers. Rita French, the UK’s first ever international human rights ambassador, shared the following words of wisdom for our scholars…

As we complete the transition period between Chevening’s classes of 2018 and 2019, we wanted to share what incoming scholars are most excited about (outside of their studies) and what outgoing scholars considered their best moments of their year in the UK in this round up. 1. CHEVENING GATHERINGS Yousuf Alrawi, Iraq ‘My best Chevening […]

After completing his Chevening Scholarship at the University of Oxford, Eugen Stancu (Romania, 2005) now teaches at the University of Bucharest and edits LaPunkt.ro. He shares his experience as the academic coordinator of the Democracy and Demography Summer School at the IWM (The Institute for Human Sciences) in Vienna.

Foumbot is a small village in Cameroon’s West Region. It is currently home to hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who have been forced to leave their home due to the current socio-political crisis in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. Chevening officer Mireille Djob shares how the local alumni association ran an integrated outreach project to provide humanitarian assistance to over 850 IDPs currently based there.

A group of Sri Lankan Chevening Alumnae have formed a network to connect, empower, and develop the skills of Sri Lankan women journalists. The group shares how this came to fruition.