Fresh from commentating on the Euros with ITV in Germany, former Chelsea and England footballer and sports lawyer, Eniola Aluko, is thrilled to launch the first Hyphen Scholarship which she’s created to support the next generation of sports stars and law students at Brunel University London starting in September 2024.
The £60,000 funding across two years will contribute towards the tuition fees, travel expenses and competitions for six law students and 10 sport scholars, who will also receive sponsored kit from Adidas UK which has partnered with Eniola as an Adidas ambassador.
Having graduated from Brunel in 2008, with a first-class honours degree in law, the London university has had a remarkable impact on Eniola’s education and sporting career. Alongside her studies, much of Eniola’s university days were spent in Brunel’s Sports Centre, and the Hyphen Scholarship is a true reflection of her multi-dimensional nature.
All students applying for Brunel’s International Human Rights Law LLM programme are eligible to apply for the Hyphen Scholarship – Law, and students on Brunel’s Sports Scholarship programme will be invited to apply for the Hyphen Scholarship – Sport.
“Brunel had such an important and lasting impact on my legal education and the start of my professional football career, and this scholarship is my way of creating impact and support for Brunel students in sport and law,” said Eniola. “Coming back to Brunel to support other young people who want to succeed in sport and in their legal studies means a great deal to me.”
Eniola has always wanted to do something impactful in the education space, and she is delighted to partner with Brunel and Adidas to make this scholarship a reality.
Eniola explained the inspiration behind the scholarship’s name, which came from a chapter in her 2019 book They Don’t Teach This.
“‘Embrace the hyphen’ is a chapter in my book all about my identity and ‘hyphenated’ background as a British-Nigerian woman, and the times when I really embraced and celebrated my Nigerian heritage as a law student and aspiring athlete at Brunel,” she said.
“Until I got to Brunel, I often felt stuck between two cultures like a hyphen exists between words, and so embracing the hyphen became a symbolic representation of embracing all the multi-dimensional sides of who we are.”
Hyphen is the name of Eniola’s lifestyle and travel brand, with which she's building a global community for other hyphenated people to celebrate their diverse backgrounds and multi-dimensional selves.
“I’ve had a hyphenated career as a lawyer-footballer-executive, and Hyphen is about embracing all of the skills and layers within us to be our full, successful and authentic selves,” said Eniola.
For Eniola, the scholarship fully embodies Hyphen. It isn’t focused on one subject, and it means one thing to a law student and another thing to a sport scholar, while offering multiple benefits to a diverse range of home and international students.
Last week, Eniola returned to Brunel to officially sign the Hyphen Scholarship contract with the university’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Prof Andrew Jones, and was also awarded an honorary fellowship in recognition of her distinguished contribution to football, and her outstanding contribution to both Brunel and the national community.
Eniola receiveing her honorary award at Brunel
Prof Jones highlighted Brunel’s deep gratitude for Eniola’s generous pledge. “This scholarship will open doors for our law students and sport scholars, providing them with opportunities to achieve their full potential and make significant contributions to society,” he said.
"This extraordinary commitment from Eni demonstrates the power of our alumni community to inspire the next generation, helping to drive our social mission. We are extremely proud of our connection to Eniola and look forward to collaborating with her further through this new scholarship.”
After receiving her honorary award, Eniola said: “I am delighted to have received this honorary recognition from Brunel University London.
"Education and learning at Brunel had a fundamentally positive impact on the next stages of my life, and I hope the same for all graduating Brunel students, who will take all that they’ve experienced and learned and apply all of it positively to their lives and careers”
Click here for further information on the Hyphen Scholarship – Law.
Click here for further information on the Hyphen Scholarship – Sport.
Reported by:
Nadine Palmer,
Media Relations
+44 (0)1895 267090
nadine.palmer@brunel.ac.uk