25th Anniversary of Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund

UNSW Australia celebrated 25 years of the establishment of the Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff) this week. The Business School is one of just 69 establishments around the world and the only Australian institution to benefit from the Sylff endowment, which aims to nurture leaders who are eager to tackle global and local issues for the betterment of society.

The Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund began with a 1 million US dollar endowment in 1991, from the then Sasakawa Foundation; 25 years later it has helped many UNSW Business School PhD students with its generous scholarship assistance.

Nikolay Gudkov, PhD in Risk & Actuarial Studies and a 2015 Sylff Fellow said, “Sylff fellowship enriches my research studies with additional financial allowance and will enable me to visit an overseas laboratory. I am very pleased to be a part of the Sylff global community of future leaders and I hope for long-term cooperation with it.”

There are currently over 15,000 Sylff fellows in 44 countries around the world. Professor Elizabeth Carson, Associate Dean of Research at UNSW Australia Business School explained, “The Sylff program has enabled us to attract the very best research students who upon completion of their doctorate go on to influential positions in universities, government bodies, not-for-profit organisations and businesses in Australia and internationally.”

With distinguished guests, Yoko Kaburagi and Aya Oyamada from the Tokyo Foundation present; the anniversary was marked by recent alumni and school ambassador, Owen Walsh. Walsh, who has Indigenous heritage and a descendant of the Wiradjuri clan, which has cultural links back to the Wagga Wagga and Gundagai areas of country New South Wales acknowledged country using the traditional practices of first nations people.

Media contact: Ibrar Khan: 02 9385 9887 | ibrar.khan@unsw.edu.au