Three Saudi outstanding students named as Rhodes Scholars

Rhodes House, Oxford :  This year again, three students from Saudi Arabia have been selected to join the 2022 global class of Rhodes Scholars. Mr. Ahmed Aljohani, Ms. Jood AlThukair and Mr. Mohammed Alghadeer will join a total cohort of over hundred Rhodes Scholars who will travel to Oxford in October next year.

The Rhodes Scholarships are post-graduate awards supporting outstanding students, to enable two to three years of study, depending on the academic route taken, at the University of Oxford. The Scholarship is not just a financial bursary, it is a life-changing opportunity for exceptional

young people with the potential to make a difference for good in the world. Rhodes Scholars are people who have a vision of how the world could be better and the energy to make a difference – whatever their sphere of interest.The Scholars Elect for Saudi Arabia demonstrated their energy and commitment to making a difference during a rigorous selection process, which included three rounds of reviews before the final virtual interviews of several shortlisted candidates with an international selection committee.

The first endowed Saudi Arabia Scholarship was established in 2018 and was funded by Muhammad Alagil, with a second endowed scholarship added in 2020, funded by Abdulrahman Alagil Sons. Both donors are co-founders of Jarir Bookstores. This funding was done with encouragement from the Ministry of Education, as Education is one of the core elements of Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s ambitious blueprint for the future. The Rhodes Scholarship for Saudi Arabia will enable students across the Kingdom to fully develop their skills and knowledge in the fields that will help Saudi Arabia achieve its goals under Vision 2030.

Dr Elizabeth Kiss, Warden and CEO of the Rhodes Trust, said: “Three years ago and thanks to Muhammad Alagil's generous gift, we launched the first Saudi Arabia endowed Scholarship to ensure that more of world’s diversity would be reflected at Rhodes House. It has been a pleasure to meet the exceptional young Scholars from Saudi Arabia selected in these three previous years and witness their enriching contribution to Rhodes House – cultural diversity is a core value of ours and one that we see benefit our cohort of Scholars every day, as they learn from each other in profound ways. I am looking forward to welcoming these three inspirational and energetic young leaders – Ahmed, Jood and Mohammed – to Rhodes House next year.”

The applications for the next round of admission for the Rhodes Scholarship, in partnership with Mr. Muhammad Alagil and Abdulrahman Alagil Sons, for Saudi Arabia will open in June 2022. More information will be found at: www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/apply.  

Ahmed Aljohani

Ahmed currently studies Biology at Emory University. Growing up next to the Red Sea has led him to pursue a career in biology research to explore the sea’s captivating natural beauty and its secrets. At Oxford, Ahmed hopes to pursue his passion in learning more about the Red Sea’s super corals and use them as a model to save dying coral reefs globally. At Emory, Ahmed is exploring the potential of using monarch butterflies as a model organism to study Humans’ immunity. Additionally, he interned at KAUST’s Center for Desert Agriculture to combat the parasitic Striga’s impact on crops in Africa. Outside of the lab, he is the co-president of Emory’s Muslim Students Association where he strives to create a safe environment for Muslims to thrive and feel included. He also enjoys drawing, soccer, and making short films.

Jood AlThukair

Jood graduated from King Saud University with a BA in English Language and Literature in May 2021. She is passionate about honoring Arab literature, hence her founding of Sumou—one of the leading independent publications in the region. Having already published hundreds of works, Jood aims to uplift creative voices in the region and the diaspora by giving them a platform to share their work. She is interested in researching exile and forced migration in Arab communities, the temporality of postcolonialism, the polemics and futurisms in contemporary Arab literature, and their overall sociopolitical implications on the Arab identity. At Oxford, Jood will study the intersections between politics and literature that mark the features of Arab women’s literary works, paying special attention to the aftereffects of the discovery of oil in the Gulf on their collective movements.

Mohammed Alghadeer

Mohammed studied both physics and electrical engineering at King Fahd University (KFUPM). He is currently working in collaboration with the Quantum Nanoelectronics Laboratory at University of California, Berkeley. His primarily research is in studying the presence of defects in quantum processors which result in serious loss of  information that limits us today from having efficient, fully-controllable quantum computers. His additional research work is in computational materials and machine learning. He presented his work at different levels in multiple conferences and was awarded several prizes for his research. Recently, Mohammed worked at King Abdullah University (KAUST) in developing new surface treatments to reduce coherent losses in quantum devices. As a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he plans to study condensed matter physics with research focus on quantum information technology. His favorite sports are weightlifting and soccer. His long-term goals include encouraging and inspiring young minds to learn about science and technology. 

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Further details on the Rhodes Trust, the Rhodes Scholarships, alumni and the mission of the organisation can be found at http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk 

Contact: 
Ben Russell, Director of Communications at the Rhodes Trust
ben.russell@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk 

 About The Rhodes Trust:

The Rhodes Trust, based at the University of Oxford, brings together and develops exceptional people from all over the world, and in all fields of study, who are impatient with the way things are and have the courage to act.

The Rhodes Scholarships are postgraduate awards providing transformative educational opportunities. Established in 1903, they are the oldest and perhaps the most prestigious international graduate scholarship programme in the world. Nearly 8,000 Rhodes Scholars have gone on to serve at the forefront of government, education, the arts, NGOs, commerce, research and other sectors. They are well known advocates for expanded social justice, and have advanced the frontiers of science and medicine. The Rhodes Trust provides the Rhodes Scholarships in partnership with its Second Century Founders, John McCall MacBain O.C., The Atlantic Philanthropies, and many other generous benefactors.

In recent years the Rhodes Trust has also partnered with several other remarkable organisations to create:

• The Mandela Rhodes Foundation, focused on providing postgraduate educational opportunities and building exceptional leadership capacity in Africa.
• The Atlantic Institute, acting as a knowledge sharing and supportive hub for the seven interconnected Atlantic Fellows programs, assisting this diverse community of leaders working to advance fairer, healthier, more inclusive societies.
• The Schmidt Science Fellows program, seeking to expand the horizons of the next generation of leaders and innovators in the natural sciences, engineering, mathematics, and computing.
• The Rise program, an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, which will build a network of exceptional young people who are committed to helping others throughout their lives.

© Press Release 2021