Syrian student given UEA scholarship

We first reported on Enana Alassaf four months ago, she was using JustGive to crowdfund her PhD. She raised around £2,500 from over 100 donations to help pursue her dream of completing her doctorate which was postponed by the Syrian Civil War.

However, Enana’s dedication to research and study has been recognised by UEA, and the uni are giving her a scholarship and bursary of £21,000. For Enana, this will mean she can fund and finish her PhD degree in the School of Pharmacy. Now that she is receiving the scholarship, she now plans to give the money donated to her through crowdfunding to three medical students still studying in Aleppo. Her crowdfunding campaign is now dedicated to helping the three other students, she hopes to raise them £5,000 each to help finish their degrees.

Enana told the EDP: “These three students were my friends when I was a volunteer at a hospital in Aleppo, but they cannot afford to graduate now. They are really brilliant, and worked at the hospital day and night while studying. I thought this would be a good opportunity to help them too.”

Having moved to the UK three years ago to study a masters in Molecular Medicine at UEA, Enana said that it was her dream to work in research and be able to use her knowledge to help people in both the UK and in Syria. The scholarship will go towards paying her tuition and lab fees for the next three years.

A UEA spokesperson said: “Enana was offered the refugee scholarship because she met all the qualifying criteria and we received such great references for her from New Routes, the charity that was working with her in Norwich to try to enable her to continue with her studies.

“In addition, she had already been a student with us and the teaching staff were very keen to enable her to carry on.”

To donate to her JustGiving page, click here.