Winners of the Westminster Alumni Awards 2022 announced

Westminster Alumni Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of graduates from the University of Westminster, as well as from its predecessors including the Polytechnic of Central London and Regent Street Polytechnic, and its partner institutions. The awards highlight the variety of ways graduates make a real impact across the globe.

In 2022, more than 300 applications and nominations were made for the Westminster Alumni Awards. Colleagues from across the University helped with shortlisting, leading to four finalists being selected in each category. Thousands of people around the world then took part in the public vote and selected the six overall winners.

Winners of the Westminster Alumni Awards 2022

The winner of the Contribution to the Creative Industries Award is Larry Achiampong who graduated from the Mixed Media Arts BA Honours course. The award recognises a graduate or group of graduates who have excelled in the realm of arts and culture. Larry is a Jarman Award-nominated artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally. His artistic practice involves the use of moving image, sculptural installation, photographic and painted collage, audio and visual archives, live performance, spoken word, recorded sound bites and composed scores. He is known for major public commissions for Somerset House and Transport for London.

Sofia Fominova, graduate of the Marketing Management MSc and Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Enterprise Development MSc courses, is the winner of the Entrepreneurial Award. Sofia is Co-Founder of Net0, a carbon management platform that helps businesses and governments transition to net zero. She has also built a platform that helps businesses increase transparency across their supply chains (Supertrace.com) and a platform that empowers businesses to find sustainable, carbon neural suppliers and vendors (GreenVendor). Sofia has received an award from the Worshipful Company of Marketors for her research, and she was recognised as one of the ’10 Most Influential Businesswomen’ by Insights Success Magazine.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Dr Shameem Fawdar, who graduated from the Biotechnology in Medicine BSc course and was also awarded a PhD. After Westminster, Shameem worked at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute. She then held several positions in Research and Development in Mauritius during which she introduced and implemented novel research platforms in public research organisations. Shameem won the Best Young Mauritian Scientist Award (Government of Mauritius) and Best Mauritian Women Scientist Award (UNESCO-MERCK) in recognition of her work and contribution to science. She is currently the Chief Scientific Officer of Axonova Pharma Ltd and the spin-off Indika Pharma Ltd.

Melanie Smith, graduate of the Biomedical Sciences MSc course, won the Outstanding Achievement Award, which recognises a graduate who has had notable personal or professional successes. Melanie is a biomedical scientist and scientific advisor in clinical and public health microbiology laboratory testing who contributed to COVID-19 testing policy, guidance, legislation and standards. She developed an in-silico assurance programme and NHS monitoring to assure performance for detection of new COVID-19 variants for in-use tests, and shared learning and outcomes internationally.

The Recent Graduate Award, which is awarded to a graduate who has achieved something extraordinary within just three years of leaving Westminster, is Ayanna Deane, graduate of the Global Public Health Nutrition MSc course. Ayanna completed her thesis in Zambia and was selected to present her research at the World Public Health Nutrition (WPHN) Congress. She then secured a role as Project Officer at a charity called School Food Matters, which exists to improve children’s access to healthy, sustainable food during their time at school. During COVID-19 she used her role to implement, coordinate and manage the day-to-day logistics of the Healthy Breakfast Boxes Project, responding to food insecurity amongst families with children. The project was recognised at the Stevie Awards and Third Sector Awards, and in September 2021 the programme received the APPG Excellence in School Food Award.

The final award is the Social Impact Award, which recognises a graduate who has made a positive contribution to the lives of others. The award was given to Jennifer Mohammadi, graduate of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience BSc course. Jennifer moved between eight different foster care placements from the ages of 14–19, and she co-founded the Strengths & Resilience group when working with the Barnet Leaving Care team. When COVID-19 hit, the group transitioned online with virtual cook-along sessions and self-care practice. She then started a group for young parents involved with social services to have a safe space to discuss their struggles. Jennifer worked as a healthcare assistant at the Children's Trust in the rehabilitation ward during lockdown and has since completed the London to Brighton Cycle Ride and the virtual London Marathon to fundraise for Live Unlimited. She is currently putting together a buddy scheme, so that care leavers can have someone to cheer them on when others are celebrated by their families at graduation.

Read more about the 2022 winners and finalists in each category.