Fellowships awarded at QMUL summer graduation 2017

Four people have been made fellows of Queen Mary University of London during the 2017 summer graduation. The Fellowship is normally conferred on a person or persons of distinction who has rendered significant service to QMUL or to the community, or with a demonstrable connection to or affiliation with QMUL. Kazi Ruksana Begum: is the producer of 'A Season of Bangla Drama', the largest Arts Festival celebrating the Bengali diaspora outside of West Bengal and Bangladesh. A true East Ender, she was educated locally at Mulberry School for Girls and later at Canterbury Christ Church University, before taking up a career in the arts. Under Ruksana's visionary planning, QMUL has been greatly helped in its aspiration to develop a rich and reciprocal exchange with the Bengali community, whereby researchers and policymakers, artists and students can collaborate through the exchange of best practice and forge new techniques in production, marketing, publicity and project governance alongside our Bengali and British-Bangladeshi partners. Virginia (Gini) Simpson: is an arts strategist and a creative industries and cultural sector development consultant. She currently works with In Company, an arts development organisation which 'hot houses' diverse mid-career artists, notably through 'The Sick of the Fringe' initiative.