Who are the judges?

Bridget Brind OBE is the first female British Ambassador to Jordan, where she heads up one of the UK’s largest Embassies in the Middle East. Last year she enjoyed celebrating 100 years of British-Jordanian friendship, including with a Royal visit to Jordan by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in November. 

Bridget has over 25 years of experience working in international relations and across government in the UK and overseas.

Tamara Abdel-Jaber is a partner at Amam Ventures, a Gender Lens investment fund that caters to businesses that are committed to equality, those that put women at the front and focus on specifically serving women in Jordan and MENA. Tamara is also the founder and the chief executive officer at Palma Consulting.  She is an expert in strategy design and execution, business and digital transformation. She currently serves as the Past Chair of the Global Institute of Certified Management Consultants (CMC-GI) as well as board member at the Int’l Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI).

Summer Xia is the British Council’s Country Director for Jordan and Cluster Lead for the Levant Region (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria, Yemen), where he overseas the UK’s cultural relations and educational exchange work. He has extensive leadership experience having worked in East Asia, Europe and the Middle East during a 17-year career with the British Council.

Prof. Thafer Assaraira, is a Professor in American Literature since 1998, Ohio University, USA. Currently he is the President of Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutions and previously was the President of Mu'tah University (2016-2020). He has more than 30 research papers and books published in the fields of English, American, and comparative literature.

Prof. Assaraira has got a profound experience in the quality and accreditation of higher education institutions as well as in regional and Arab rankings. Besides, he has contributed to the development of local and regional standards and indicators of accreditation and quality assurance.