A feather in Chan’s cap

What an honour: Chan receiving her Khazanah-Wolfson Press Fellowship award letter from Amirul Feisal. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: A journalist from The Star has been awarded a place in the prestigious Khazanah-Wolfson Press Fellowship at Cambridge University, United Kingdom.

Jade Chan, who has been working with the company since 2006, was selected for this year’s fellowship programme after meticulous screening by Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the Wolfson College of Cambridge.

Chan is the fifth journalist from The Star to have been chosen for the fully sponsored 10-week programme, which is renowned as one of the most prestigious fellowship courses in journalism.

While in Cambridge, she will be conducting research in an area that relates to her field of work.

Chan, who is with the Metro section of The Star, was all smiles after receiving her award letter from Khazanah managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir during a buka puasa event in KL Sentral yesterday.

“I am honoured to have been chosen and grateful for the opportunity offered by Khazanah through this Press Fellowship Award. I hope to be able to meet what is required of the programme and make the most out of my time in the UK.

“My research topic is on placemaking – which involves the planning, design, management and programming of shared-use spaces, through community-based participation,” said Chan, who has a degree in media innovation from Multimedia University in Cyberjaya.

To date, Khazanah has sponsored 14 Malaysian journalists with the objective of supporting and developing the media industry as well as six communication practitioners from Khazanah and Khazanah-linked companies for the fellowship since 2013.

Joining Chan this year is Bernama assistant editor Nur Ashikin Abdul Aziz as well as Khazanah’s corporate communications vice-president Shameera Abdullah and Malaysia Airlines communications head Khairunnisak Dzun Nurin.

During the ceremony, Amirul Feisal congratulated the recipients and urged them to make the most of the opportunity.

He explained the reason for Khazanah’s involvement with the programme, saying that it was “to make sure we have top minds to be competitive globally”.

Together, the four recipients will join other press fellows from around the world from April 16 to June 26 for the annual fellowship, which has had over 300 press fellows from 50 countries since its inception in 1982.