The GDST Alumnae Network includes over 100,000 members across the globe, working in every professional sector. From more than 60 public nominations, we’ve selected finalists in two categories: Alumna of the Year and Trailblazer. Learn more about the nominees below and cast your vote today! Voting closes at midnight on 6th July.
Vote nowThese alumnae are achieving amazing things across different fields. Whether it’s championing charitable causes, achieving outstanding academic or professional success, driving environmental or social change or being a pioneer in a challenging field.
Abi Gilchrist
Professional singer and vocal coach
Blackheath High School
Abi Gilchrist is a professional singer, vocal coach, and the founder of UK Soul Choirs. Since its inception in 2010 with just four members in Greenwich, the choir has expanded to 16 branches across London and Kent, engaging over 650 singers weekly and raising over £50,000 for both local and national charities.
Abi’s commitment to inclusivity is evident in the choir’s open-door policy – no auditions or music-reading skills required – making it a welcoming space for individuals from all walks of life. Her leadership has fostered a supportive community where members find joy, friendship, and solace, particularly during challenging times.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Abi and her husband, Ross Power, launched ‘Home Sing,’ an online initiative that maintained the choir’s sense of community and provided emotional support to members facing isolation. This not only kept the choir connected but also raised significant funds for mental health charities, including over £11,000 for Mind.
Abi’s dedication to music and community has earned her well-deserved recognition, including winning the Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards. Her work exemplifies the transformative power of music in enhancing mental well-being and building inclusive communities. She is also regularly consulted as a singing expert for both national and local media.
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Elizabeth Howe OBE
Legal professional and global leader
Howell’s School, Llandaff
Elizabeth Howe OBE is a legal professional and a global leader in criminal and humanitarian law. Elizabeth served as Chief Crown Prosecutor for Kent, where she led complex and high-profile cases and played a key role in shaping prosecution services across England and Wales. Her distinguished work in public prosecution earned her national recognition and set the foundation for a career with international impact.
She went on to become General Counsel to the International Association of Prosecutors, where she provided expert legal guidance and supported prosecutorial standards around the world. As President of the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), Elizabeth was instrumental in strengthening justice systems in post-conflict and transitional countries, ensuring access to fair legal processes in some of the most challenging environments globally.
Elizabeth’s influence spans both domestic and international spheres. She is a respected member of The Law Society of England and Wales and the Kent Law Society, and has been honoured as an Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple – a rare distinction recognising her contributions to the legal profession.
In July 2015 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Kent and has been closely involved with the training and education of law students at the University’s Law School.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Elizabeth has given her time generously as a trustee, school governor, and Kent Ambassador, reflecting her commitment to community and education.
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Frances Stead Sellers
Associate Editor at The Washington Post
Brighton Girls
Currently serving as an Associate Editor at The Washington Post, Frances has held a series of senior editorial positions, including leading the paper’s Health and Science and Style sections. She is also a prominent host for Washington Post Live, where she regularly interviews global leaders, policymakers, and cultural figures. Her work includes launching the high-impact Explaining America shows and hosting a series on disability that won a 2022 Telly Award for its powerful exploration of inclusion and access.
As the newsroom’s senior writer, she illuminated major events – from the fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion and the COVID-19 pandemic to several prescient 2015 pieces that revealed the power of Donald Trump’s candidacy. Her work often explores themes of identity, citizenship, and language, bridging cultural divides with clarity and compassion.
Frances was a Press Fellow at the UN Foundation in 2015, Visiting Fellow at Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 2017 and last year was Journalist in Residence at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.
She is actively involved in public service, including selecting students for the trans-Atlantic Thouron Award and serving on an advisory committee at Johns Hopkins University that supports refugees and victims of disasters.
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Margery Swinton
World Masters athlete
Croydon High School
Margery Swinton is a tireless champion for youth sport, inclusion, and education, whose work has transformed opportunities for children in rural Scotland.
Over a 37-year teaching career, including 14 years in her home village of Knockando, Margery dedicated herself to supporting children, both in the classroom and beyond. Even after retiring, she continues to work as a supply teacher and special needs educator.
Margery took up athletics at 42, becoming a registered coach and official for Scottish sport. She founded a rural athletics club to serve remote schools in the Highlands, ensuring that sport became an integral part of education in the region. Under her leadership, Knockando has become a hub for athletic excellence. She has raised over £75,000, including funding for a UKA competition standard long and triple jump facility, a 10-station fitness trail, and even a local skate park – all in an area with limited facilities and long travel distances to the nearest stadium.
As a World Masters athlete, Margery has competed internationally in the USA, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and beyond, winning medals in all three colours and always securing gold in her signature event – the hammer throw. She has held three British Masters records, several Scottish records, and continues to inspire with her achievements at age 82.
Her coaching has developed several national-level athletes. One of her protégés now trains with the Scottish National Sports Academy, ranked No. 2 in the UK for U20 long jump and hurdles, and another has been selected for Commonwealth Games training. Margery gives her time freely, obtaining athletic club cast off equipment, maintaining tracks herself, and setting up virtual training programmes to support even the most isolated pupils.
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Professor Mina Ryten
Geneticist and neuroscientist
South Hampstead High School
Professor Mina Ryten is a leading clinical geneticist and neuroscientist, currently serving as Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) at the University of Cambridge. Appointed in January 2024, she also holds the Van Geest Professorship and leads a multidisciplinary team focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms driving neurodegeneration.
Mina’s research harnesses human brain transcriptomic data to decode how genetic variation influences neurological diseases, particularly Lewy body disorders. Her work has advanced the use of single cell and long-read RNA sequencing to map disease pathways and identify potential therapeutic targets.
Before her move to Cambridge, Mina led her own research group at University College London and served as an Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Her dual expertise in clinical care and functional genomics has enabled her to bridge the gap between patient experience and scientific discovery.
As one of the few women leading a major UK research institute in neuroscience, Mina is a role model for women in STEM. Her leadership is helping to shape the future of dementia research, with the aim of delivering real-world impact for patients and families affected by neurodegenerative diseases.
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Dr Mehreen Datoo
Lecturer and doctor
Nottingham Girls’ High School
Dr Mehreen Datoo is a clinical lecturer and infectious diseases doctor at the University of Oxford, whose work is helping to transform global public health. After completing her medical degree at King’s College London and postgraduate training at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Mehreen joined Oxford in 2016, where she has since played a central role in some of the most impactful vaccine trials of our time.
A key member of the Oxford R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine team at the Jenner Institute, Mehreen contributed to the development of a vaccine that received WHO approval in 2023 and began rollout in 2024. It is now being administered to children in sub-Saharan Africa – a breakthrough in the fight against malaria. For her exceptional contributions, Mehreen was named to the prestigious TIME100 Next list in 2024.
Aside from her expertise in malaria, Mehreen has worked on Ebola vaccine trials and played a vital role as a clinical research doctor on the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine trials during the pandemic, all while continuing to practise as a medical registrar at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
Mehreen has worked across many countries in Africa, Asia and the UK – combining clinical practice with world-leading research.
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Helen Brocklebank
Chief Executive of Walpole
Birkenhead High School Academy
Helen Brocklebank is the Chief Executive of Walpole, the official sector body for UK luxury. Founded in 1992 as a not-for-profit organisation, it counts more than 250 British brands in its membership and is recognised in both Westminster and Brussels. Since her appointment in 2017, Helen has been instrumental in promoting, protecting, and developing a sector that contributes £81 billion to the UK economy, supports nearly half a million jobs nationwide and which exports nearly two thirds of its value.
Under her leadership, Walpole launched the British Luxury Sustainability Manifesto, aiming to position the UK as a global leader in sustainable luxury. She also oversees eight sector-specific Working Groups that address critical issues such as safeguarding natural resources, increasing sustainable practices, and advocating for equal and respectful working conditions. Recognising the gender imbalance at senior level in the luxury sector, she founded Women in Luxury, with the goal of gender parity in the luxury C-Suite.
Helen is a vocal advocate for the protection of intellectual property rights, especially in the context of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. In March 2025, she made front-page news in The Times by raising concerns over proposed changes to UK copyright law that could undermine the creative integrity of luxury brands.
A board member of the European Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance, she also serves on the Department for Business and Trade’s advisory group for manufactured and consumer goods, the advisory council of the LPO and the Duchess of Edinburgh’s DofE Awards Women in Business committee.
Before joining Walpole, Helen built a successful career in publishing, working with iconic media brands such as Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, and ELLE. She also founded a content agency for luxury brands and created ‘The Books That Built Me,’ a literary salon and podcast series where authors discuss the books that have inspired their writing.
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Professor Samaya Nissanke
Astrophysicist
Oxford High School
Professor Samaya Nissanke is a pioneering astrophysicist whose work has transformed our understanding of the universe. As Professor at the University of Potsdam and University of Amsterdam and a leading scientist at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and the new German Centre for Astrophysics (DZA), she is at the forefront of gravitational wave and multi-messenger astrophysics. Her research focuses on detecting and interpreting signals from cosmic events like black hole and neutron star mergers, bridging gravitational waves with electromagnetic observations.
Samaya played a leading role in the groundbreaking discovery of GW170817 – the first observed merger of two neutron stars detected through both gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation – marking a new era in astronomy.
Her exceptional contributions have been recognised with prestigious awards, including the 2020 New Horizons in Physics Prize (the Breakthrough Prize Foundation) for developing innovative techniques to extract fundamental physics from astronomical data, the 2021 Suffrage Science Award for her outstanding science communication and support for women in STEM, and the American Astronomical Society HEAD 2024 mid-career prize.
Beyond her research, Samaya is a passionate science communicator, engaging global audiences through media appearances and public lectures. As one of the few women leading in her field, she serves as an inspiring role model, advocating for equity, diversity and inclusion in science. She was the founder and chair of the Netherlands Astronomy Equity and Inclusion Committee (2019-2025) and the spokesperson of GRAPPA, the centre of excellence in Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics, at the University of Amsterdam (2019-2025). Samaya is also the mother of two very energetic children, aged 9 and 2 years old.
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We also celebrate our alumnae who are achieving outstanding early acclaim in their careers with the GDST Trailblazer Award.
Dr Jennifer Townsend
Obstetrics & Gynaecology trainee
Bromley High School
Jennifer Townsend is an Obstetrics & Gynaecology trainee at Watford General Hospital. She graduated from the University of Leeds with a MBChB and BSc in International Health in 2019. Jennifer has always had a keen interest in disparities in healthcare access around the world. Her research has taken her to Uganda, Colombia, and Haiti, where she has explored critical issues in women’s health and access to care.
As President of the National Surgical Teaching Society, Jennifer is committed to widening access to surgical education and training opportunities for medical students and resident doctors across the UK. Her leadership in this national role reflects her passion for equity in medical education and her drive to support the next generation of healthcare professionals.
Jennifer’s dedication to women’s health has been a lifelong passion. This commitment has recently seen her return to Bromley High School as an alumna, where she is now actively involved the new Women’s Health Initiative. This pioneering project tackles gaps in education and awareness around women’s health – issues still prominently highlighted in recent reports by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Jennifer continues to champion these vital efforts, working to ensure that young women are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to understand their health and advocate for themselves.
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Juhie Radia
UK Representative at the G7 Youth Summit
Northwood College for Girls
Juhie Radia is a climate advocate, youth leader, and data analyst whose work bridges sustainability, policy, and social impact. In 2024, she represented the UK at the G7 Youth Summit (Y7), delivering youth-led climate proposals to global leaders and later sharing her work at 10 Downing Street. Currently, she is collaborating with the Deputy Mayor of London to launch a city-wide Climate Week, aiming to galvanise young people into climate action.
As Vice Chair of Kew Gardens’ Youth Council, Juhie ensures that young voices are integrated into environmental decision-making. She has mentored over 500 young people, delivering workshops that bridge the gap between education and green careers. Her leadership roles include being the youngest King’s Ambassador for the Engineering Development Trust (EDT) and an Emerging Leader at Anthropy, where she contributes to shaping national conversations on sustainability and youth engagement.
Professionally, Juhie serves as a Senior Global Customer Analyst at Ralph Lauren, balancing her corporate role with her advocacy work. Her contributions have been recognised with several accolades, including the Industrial Cadets Platinum Leader Award and the Community Spirit Award (16–35 category) at the 2025 IIW She Inspires Awards. She has also recently been recognised as one of the top 20 women in data and tech and one to watch by Women in Data.
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Kasia Hughes
Tailor
Putney High School
Kasia Hughes is an emerging talent in British fashion, already making her mark on the tailoring world just two years after graduating from the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. With a specialism in Fashion Pattern Cutting, she has worked with an impressive roster of designers and brands including Paul Costelloe, Deborah Milner, COS, AllSaints and SRVC Studio, contributing her skills to London Fashion Week collections and freelance pattern cutting roles.
Now undertaking a coatmaking apprenticeship at Connock & Lockie on the renowned Lamb’s Conduit Street, Kasia has just been named the Rising Star at the 2025 Golden Shears Awards – known as the “Oscars of the Tailoring World.” The competition, held biennially, celebrates the UK’s most skilled apprentice tailors and fashion students, with entries judged by leading industry figures on both technical craftsmanship and aesthetic innovation.
Kasia’s work is defined by its precision, quality and three-dimensional design-led process, resulting in garments with sculptural silhouettes as well as softer, draped forms. She utilises bespoke and couture techniques and pairs this with experimental construction methods, all rooted in a deep respect for traditional craftsmanship. Her ethos is centred around a sustainable approach, which reflects her commitment to environmentally responsible fashion, ultimately merging timeless elegance with a modern conscience.
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Lilah Fear
Professional ice dancer
South Hampstead High School
Lilah Fear is a British-Canadian ice dancer whose performances have redefined British figure skating on the world stage. Partnered with Lewis Gibson since 2016, Lilah embodies creativity, resilience, and excellence in sport.
In 2025, Lilah and Lewis made history by winning bronze at the World Figure Skating Championships – the first world medal for a British ice dance team since the iconic Torvill and Dean in 1984. Their dynamic routines, including a Beyoncé medley, have captivated audiences and judges alike, earning them multiple European medals and a Grand Prix Final bronze, another British first.
Lilah began skating at age five and now trains in Montreal. Alongside her athletic career, she is a psychology and communications student at McGill University and hosts The Lilah Jo Show podcast, where she explores performance and mindset with fellow athletes.
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Rebecca Clarke BEM
Biomedical Engineering student
Wimbledon High School
Rebecca Clarke, currently a second-year BEng Biomedical Engineering student at King’s College London, is an outstanding young leader and disability rights advocate. In recognition of her exceptional work, Rebecca was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2025 King’s New Year Honours list.
Passionate about equity and accessibility, Rebecca is Vice-Chair of the Whizz-Kidz Youth Board, where she has championed initiatives such as campaigning for 24/7 disabled bus passes and improving supermarket accessibility. She co-designed the impactful ‘Autistic and OK’ programme with Ambitious About Autism, fostering acceptance and empowerment for autistic students in schools across the UK.
Rebecca also plays a key role at the National Citizen Service (NCS), embedding youth and disabled voices within the organisation’s structure to ensure inclusivity in programme design. She contributes to the Disabled Children’s Partnership, helping shape influential research and reports that inform health, education, and social care policy at the national level.
At Wimbledon High, Rebecca worked with the school’s Neurodiversity Team to lead ‘Project Flip,’ a school-wide campaign to promote awareness and action around neurodiversity and inclusive education.
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