Let the winners of the Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Awards inspire you to start your social action journey
Oxford is full of people making a difference every single day. While most have not undertaken this work so that they can be commended for it, we believe that it’s wonderful to celebrate these achievements to reflect on the power and agency that we all can have.
This year, we once again partnered up with the University of Oxford to host the Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Awards. These annual Awards are presented by the Vice-Chancellor to members of the university who’ve demonstrated an exceptional impact and commitment to positive social change. Those who applied or were nominated had accomplished a range of achievements, from volunteering in the local community, raising funds for charity, campaigning, or carrying out research on social and environmental issues during their time at the university.
We are proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Awards. Well done to the winners in the Postgraduate Category, Sara Berkai, Prerna Wadikar and Carla Fuenteslopez! Congratulations too to the winners of the Undergraduate & Integrated Masters Category, Esther Yi-Hang Hung, Jacob Kelly and Harry Twohig, who show that inspirational change can be undertaken at any age or academic level.
This year has been like no other, and it is both impressive and inspiring to see that despite its challenges, so many have remained committed to social action. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of volunteering, campaigning, fundraising and research in our daily lives. It has also demonstrated that social action is essential on all levels, whether local, national or international.
Esthy, Prerna and Harry have kindly shared their experiences of making a positive impact and winning an Award. We hope this inspires us, our members and others in Oxford to follow in their footsteps and make a social impact where we can.
Esthy, who has just completed her Masters in Physics at St Catz, is a founder of the End the Eating Disorder Crisis Now campaign.
Three years ago, several doctors, nurses, peers and family weren’t sure I’d ever finish my degree as I kept being admitted to hospital for a life-threatening eating disorder. Thankfully, I proved them wrong (to everyone’s delight!). However, each distressing and traumatic hospital admission I had was following a prolonged period without appropriate medical and/or psychological input which led to a dangerous deterioration in my health — because the health services were under tremendous strain.
Now, the situation is much, much worse — eating disorders are more prevalent than they’ve ever been, affecting 16% of adults according to the 2019 UK Health Survey, massively up from 6.4% in 2007. They disproportionately affect those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Yet the healthcare available for eating disorders is increasingly sparse — in Oxfordshire, standard waiting times for treatment increased from 12 to 25 months even pre-pandemic. In this time, preventable deaths have occurred, including of individuals I’ve known. I would likely not have survived, let alone recovered myself, had this been the care I received. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness yet there is a devastating lack of healthcare available for these very serious, life-affecting psychiatric illnesses.
This is why I was led to co-found and launch End the Eating Disorder Crisis Now: A local and national campaign lobbying to end the inequality in access to healthcare for those affected by eating disorders.
Our campaign has met and/or liaised with UK politicians including government minister Nadine Dorries, Tim Farron and the government shadow cabinet. We now have a working relationship with the Department of Health and Social Care mental health policy team and we have met and worked with senior NHS professionals all over the UK, especially the Chair for Eating Disorders at the Royal College of Psychiatry. Our campaign has created a UK-wide platform of supporters and government health policy change is closer to becoming a reality.
Since first year, I’ve participated, led, then managed homeless outreach as a committee member of Just Love, a student society dedicated to pursuing social action. Through this I’ve also engaged with issues such as human trafficking, disabilities justice and the children’s social care system. All of these have taught me the importance of listening to individuals affected by these issues and doing what I can to make their voices heard, as well as working alongside professionals and organisations in order to achieve effective and high-quality social action.
Prerna, an MBA candidate, has supported Eritrean care-leavers with Asylum Welcome, set up a social enterprise that offers portable energy access to micro-entrepreneurs, and created a Conclave to inspire prospective Indian students to apply to Oxford University. She explains why social impact is important to her and her experience of the Awards.
My paternal grandmother completed her post-graduate degree after her fifth child, worked as a high school teacher, and ran a part-time free school in her home to help underprivileged children from low-income groups in the locality. This is particularly noteworthy because in her time (early 1960s), women in India barely went to school, let alone undertake postgraduate degrees and careers.
In most traditional Indian families, social impact is ingrained in our culture and our upbringing through principles such as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ which means ‘the world is one family’ and putting other people’s needs before our personal pleasures. I feel proud to uphold my values and culture. For me, social impact is not merely a profession or an academic course, it is a way of life.
All the shortlisted candidates and winners are very inspiring individuals who have done phenomenal work in their fields. It was truly humbling to receive the award for starting Jeeva Global, co-creating the Oxford India Business Conclave, volunteering to support immigrant communities in Oxfordshire and a decade long demonstration of social development through my personal and professional life.
Harry is a third year undergraduate studying History at Mansfield College, and is a fiercely proud Northerner. He is the President of Target Schools and champion for youth voices as a trustee and in Policy Steering Groups. He has some sound advice for those starting their social action journey.
All of my social action to date has centred around the broad themes of challenging inequality and addressing power imbalances, and I’ve been privileged to work with a range of inspiring people and organisations who achieve this end in various ways. The endless opportunities offered by social action to explore a new sector, meet new people or develop new skills is what I believe makes it truly unique. Whether I’m advocating for more young trustees on charity boardrooms as an Ambassador for the Young Trustees Movement, supporting Target Schools to deliver a range of programmes and projects to demystify Oxford or meeting government officials to advocate for the involvement of young people in the government policy making processes, everything I do is knitted together by my interest in how we distribute opportunity and power in a fair and equitable way.
Personally, I joined NYMAZ, a place-based music education charity, as a trustee, even though I had little idea of what trusteeship was and even less experience of the arts — my family and friends will tell you that I don’t have a musical bone in my body! What I did have was a desire to make a difference, an appreciation for the importance of the work that NYMAZ do in ensuring that young people in rural North Yorkshire can access excellent musical opportunities, and an understanding of the importance of bringing young people’s voices to the fore in civil society. Before applying for the opportunity, I spent a long time contemplating whether eighteen-year-old me, with no knowledge whatsoever of music, would be able to make a valuable contribution in this role. Imposter syndrome nearly got in the way of me embarking on this journey, but thankfully the inclusive recruitment process got me over the line — and I’m so thankful that it did.
If you’re looking to kickstart or take the next step in your social action journey, take the time to work out what broad topic it is that you have a desire to address, and then seek out organisations who address that topic in new and interesting ways. Don’t worry if it feels slightly alien to you (like the area of music did to me) — on my journey so far I’ve realised that lived experience and a desire to make a difference are just as valuable as professional or subject matter expertise.
Thank you to the winners and everyone making a change in Oxford for your commitment to making Oxford and the world a better place. If you’ve felt inspired by their stories and want to start your social action journey, why not join one of our volunteering programmes? Check them out here.
