The first St Edmund’s Scholarship for British Muslim community leaders has been awarded.

St Edmund’s is delighted to welcome the first AGM Randeree Scholar, Mr Easa Saad, to the College to study for an MPhil in Development Studies. The College is very grateful to the generosity of the Randeree family and the DCD Family Trust in supporting this important new scholarship, which aims to develop British Muslim community leaders and public intellectuals who are able to represent their communities in wider society, to create mutual understanding and contribute towards the creation of a cohesive society.

Upon being awarded the AGM Randeree scholarship, Easa wrote, “I am delighted and grateful to have been given this scholarship, which I see as an incredible opportunity for my intellectual and personal development. For me this journey started in 2008, when I first moved to the UK from Pakistan and began grappling with questions about identity and my place as a Muslim living in the west. This process of self-discovery ignited a spirituality and commitment to my faith, which led to me slowly finding my place in the diverse and vibrant British Muslim community, and a deep desire to contribute positively to British society at large. The community work I have undertaken over the last few years has given me so much and I hope that the scholarship will allow me to continue to contribute in even more meaningful ways in the future.

I have chosen Development Studies because I believe that in order to understand the British Muslim communities better, it is important to understand the societies which have provided the vast majority of their population, which are mostly the “developing countries”. This would be the focus of my study on that particular programme. Hopefully this will help me in my future bridge-building work”

Before coming to St Edmund’s, Easa was working as a Cloud Technical Specialist at Atos, having previously gained a First Class Honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Loughborough University.