LONDON: Award-winning Sudanese-British broadcaster and journalist Zeinab Badawi has been appointed as the new president of SOAS, University of London on Tuesday.
Born in Sudan but raised in London, Badawi comes from a family of dedicated newscasters, with her father Mohammed-Khair El-Badawi having worked for the BBC’s Arabic Service.
Badawi, a SOAS alumni herself, had become a mainstay on screens across the UK and the world for her interviews with some of the world’s most influential and powerful personalities on BBC Hardtalk.
Apart from Hardtalk, Badawi hosted Global Questions on BBC World TV and the BBC News Channel where she took questions from the audience and posed them directly to world leaders.
“This is a really significant time to be starting this journey as the new president of SOAS. It comes at a time when SOAS is increasingly asserting itself with great confidence on the UK and global stage. I look forward tremendously to working with the academic community, staff, the student body, alumni, the supporters, partners and friends of SOAS,” Badawi said.
Before receiving her master’s degree in Middle East history and anthropology at SOAS, Badawi studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University. Later on, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by SOAS.
