King's College London

Download the book of prize wininng essays

The Brenda Trenowden Feminist Analysis Essay Prize, organised by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, in collaboration with the Gender Studies Network and Feminist Perspectives, encourages students at King’s College London to explore and apply feminist perspectives within their academic work. This prize celebrates students, from any degree programme, who demonstrate how feminist analysis can deepen understanding across their field/s of study.

This initiative aims not only to promote academic excellence but also foster a community dedicated to advancing gender equality and social justice through innovative research.

This year, we are proud to celebrate winners Ruth Otim, Lisa Lefebvre-Risso and Qianqian Li.

You can watch the full award ceremony below, as part of our event on Women's economic contributions to growth (from 56:33).

About Brenda Trenowden:

Brenda Trenowden was an exemplar of inclusive leadership. She used her intellect, kindness, passion and energy to bring people together to help make the world a better place. She had a stellar career that was driven by purpose. Brenda was a tireless advocate for gender equality. In tandem with a successful career in financial services in Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Bangladesh and the UK, she spearheaded efforts to improve diversity and advance feminism not just in business and sport, but across the range of charities and interests in which she was involved.

As Chair, first of the City Women’s Network and then of the 30% Club, she oversaw the achievement of the goal of 30 per cent female representation on FTSE 100 corporate boards. She established a new goal of 30 per cent representation of women on FTSE 350 boards as well as an increased focus on broader diversity goals, such as LGBT inclusion, and the launch of 30% Club sister organisations in countries including the US, Australia and in southern Africa.

Her support for diversity initiatives went well beyond the world of UK plc. Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, she was the first generation of her family to go to university, and she campaigned throughout her career for greater access to opportunity for the less privileged. She was a trustee of the EY Foundation, helping young people into employment, the senior independent director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, improving access to the game and advancing all its work, and a trustee at the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Her interests ranged more broadly, from literature, to art, to politics and music. She maintained strong links to her homeland, and was awarded an honorary degree by her alma mater, Queen’s University Canada, as well as a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2018, for services to the financial sector and gender equality.

About the organisers:

The King's Global Institute for Women’s Leadership is chaired by Julia Gillard, the only woman to have served as Prime Minister of Australia, the institute brings together rigorous research, practice and advocacy to break down the barriers to women becoming leaders, while challenging ideas of what leadership looks like.

Gender Studies at King’s is a network that brings together scholars and students across King's – whose research and teaching examines the influence of gender relations. The network hosts a mailing list which publicises relevant events and provides a platform for discussion about gender in research and teaching.

Feminist Perspectives is a blog created to publish research-based work – like academic research and think pieces – and art-based projects that use gender as a category of analysis or explore it as part of a creative process. It aims to bring together students, scholars, artists and activists and to create an outlet to discuss gender from a multidisciplinary and intersectional perspective.