Oxford University Vice Chancellor’s Social Impact Award

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Category: News

Andrew Cunningham, a DPhil candidate in the Department of Education and St. Antony’s College, has been awarded the highly competitive Oxford University Vice Chancellor’s Social Impact Award for his continued commitment to improving the quality of education for the most marginalized children in Kenya through research, leadership, innovation and service.

On June 25th, 2014, Andrew was invited by Andrew Hamilton, the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, to attend this year’s Encaenia Ceremony in the Sheldonian Theatre, followed by an awards reception and Garden Party at the Rhodes House (photo).

The Vice Chancellor noted in his remarks: ‘Andrew’s ability to build collaborative linkages between Oxford and remote villages in Kenya has been remarkable. Through his research, Andrew has become a global leader in the development of education policy by working with UNICEF and the Kenyan Ministry of Education in translating the concept of a child-friendly school into a child-friendly education system for all’.

Andrew’s current DPhil research on the democratization of Kenya’s education quality assurance systems through mobile phone technologies, supervised by Dr. David Johnson and Dr. Ann Childs, has led a movement in Kenya to re-engineer the way educational data is collected, analyzed and disseminated through real-time, SMS-based online data management systems. As a result, his research has influenced Kenya’s national policies in educational quality assurance affecting 30,000 primary schools and more than 10 million children. Learn more here: http://unicefstories.org/tag/child-centered-design/.

Andrew is also the co-founder of the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) in Muhuru Bay, Kenya (www.wisergirls.org); an all girls’ school that that seeks to improve the educational, economic, and health outcomes for girls, particularly those orphaned by AIDS. This year marked WISER’s inaugural graduation which Andrew supported through a global fundraising effort involving many Oxford University students. Learn more here: https://vimeo.com/78404090.

Andrew has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Chinese and Comparative Area Studies from Duke University and a Masters of Science in Comparative International Education from Oxford University. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Robertson Scholarship, Truman Scholarship, Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Award, and Marshall Scholarship.