International Alumni
Charles Sturt University Distinguished Alumnus of the Year – International Alumni
This award recognises international leaders in their industry, profession or field of research who have made or are making a significant difference in both local and/or wider communities.
Winner
Name: Mr/ H.E. Boros Samheng
Career: Secretary of State: Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth
Studies: 2018, Masters Degree in Business Management
Boros Samheng currently holds the position of Secretary of State within the Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs. He is also Vice Chairman of The Executive Committee of Social Protection Council and Chairman of Social Assistance National Sub-Committee, reflecting his unwavering commitment to ensuring Cambodia's national evolution towards a fair and equitable society. This commitment has also led to establishment of beneficial bl-lateral relationships with International bodies such as the UN and UNICEF as well as donor countries like Germany, Japan and Australia.
Highly Commended
Name: Dr. Umair Rabbani
Career: Project Manager in own co-founded company
Studies: 2008, M. Phil, 2015, PhD
During the last year of my PhD I joined the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) i.e. the national space agency of Pakistan. I worked in SUPARCO for three years and was awarded annual performance awards for 2 years in a row for supporting national and provincial governments in flood disaster management through the use of satellite based mapping and hydrological model based predictions that helped decision makers in disaster relief and response.
In 2016, I joined UNESCO Office in Pakistan as National Project Officer for "Strengthening Early Warning and Flood Management Capacity in Pakistan" funded by Govt. of Japan. During this time, I worked with project partner organizations i.e. Japanese Space Agency to enhance flood management capacity of Pakistan Meteorological Department and supporting higher learning in the field by academia linkages with University of Science and Technology-Islamabad-Pakistan and University of Engineering and Technology-Lahore-Pakistan.
After successful completion of UNESCO project in 2019, I joined O.M. Offshore Monitoring, Ltd. Cyprus and Project Development Lead. In this role, I lead project development activity for a consortium of technology driven Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) specialising in technical & financial management and coordination of R&D projects in Earth Observation application for international maritime sector and shipping industry. Mainly aiming for funding sources in EU including European Space Agency, UK Space Agency, European Commission.
In 2020, after providing services to Asian Development Bank-Pakistan as Senior GIS and Water Resources Specialist for 3 months, I started working on my own co-founded consultancy company and won a WorldBank funded project to study “River Morphology, Flood Hazard Mapping and Establishment of Decision-Support System” for Sindh Province-Pakistan, in partnership with Asian Institute of Technology-Thailand. As of now, I am working as Founding Partner and Project Manager in my company successfully completing all technical and project management aspects with the help of small but excellent team and hope that I am able to grow my team soon and win more projects.