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Old Elizabethan Samuel Akpan, who works for the Premier League, has received a special award at an international football conference in Italy.

Sam (OE 2011–2018) was representing the league at the Social Football Summit in Turin, where he was presented with the Leader in Social Responsibility and Impact Award.

The award recognises the success of the Premier League’s More than a Game initiative, through which it has committed £1.6 billion of investment into wider football (beyond the Premier League clubs) and into communities from 2022-2025.

It was, said Sam, “an honour and a privilege” to represent the Premier League at the summit – an international B2B (business to business) event held annually in Italy for the football industry.

Sam is a Communities Executive for the Premier League. “I am thankful for the recognition of all the work done by the team internally and through our network that goes on as part of the More than a Game campaign,” he said.

Sam joined the Premier League in September 2022 after winning an 18-month internship. On its completion, he was appointed to his current role.

After leaving QE, he read Politics and International Studies at Warwick, where he had a considerable impact. His work in social enterprise, sport and anti-racism at the university led to him being named among Future Leaders magazine’s 2021–2022 Top 150 of the most outstanding Black university students in Britain.

Sam is not the only OE at the Premier League. Piers Martin (OE 1987–1995) is Head of Leadership and Workforce Development there. Piers has enjoyed a highly successful career in sport, having previously led several sports’ organisations, including British Fencing at the time of the London 2012 Olympics.

Soon after becoming an intern, Sam spent six months working with Piers and his team.

“I knew from the start that Sam would be good because he had gone to QE,” said Piers. “He’s not afraid of speaking up and quite confident, but very softly spoken. He has a wise head on his shoulders for somebody who is early-stage career.”

• Sam is pictured, top, receiving the award. The other photo shows Sam and Piers flanking the Premier League’s Tony Scholes, Chief Football Officer; Joanna Pinney, Commercial Projects Manager; and
  Neil Saunders, Director of Football.

An Old Elizabethan who co-founded a $1bn-plus AI company urged boys to be flexible, to develop transferable skills, and to keep learning throughout their lives if they want to build successful careers.

Amar Shah (OE 1999-2006) said society is moving so fast that their career preparations are likely to be for job roles that do not yet exist.

Addressing a special QE Futures assembly, he pointed out to the Year 7 & 9 pupils that iPhones had not even been launched when he left QE – and that was only 19 years ago.

Assistant Head (Pupil Destinations) James Kane said: “Amar gave a really inspiring assembly on Dream Jobs. His message – with its focus on skills, being adaptable to emerging opportunities and lifelong learning – dovetails very well with our QE Futures strategy.

“The emphasis on transferable skills resonates deeply with our focus on the six QE Employability Skills – communication, critical thinking, digital literacy, leadership, resilience and teamwork.

“Thank you, Amar, for doing so much to get our pupils dreaming big and thinking boldly.”

The introduction came from an OE of the same generation, Asif Ahmed (OE 1997-2004), who said: “You might know that Amar is one of the co-founders of Wayve, the autonomous driving business that is widely regarded as one of the world’s (and certainly the UK’s) leading AI scale-ups.”

At the time of Wayve’s $1.05 billion Series C investment funding round last year, the then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I’m incredibly proud that the UK is the home for pioneers like Wayve who are breaking ground as they develop the next generation of AI models for self-driving cars.”

Amar has moved on to investing in and building other equally exciting businesses.

Having already worked with AI-designed medicines, he is now focusing on a project to ‘democratise’ the MRI scanner to help the developing world– making the hardware cheaper to purchase, so it is more accessible, and using AI to mitigate the loss of functionality.

QE Futures is the School’s programme of careers and universities guidance & support. Its slogan is Find Your Path.

Amar’s own path has taken him from reading Mathematics at Cambridge to positions at Goldman Sachs and NASA, and to a PhD in Machine Learning. He has successfully founded several businesses.

His key messages were:

• Don’t prepare for one particular job, since many future careers are not even in existence yet.
• Build transferable skills. Adaptability and curiosity will matter more than any single qualification.
• Never stop learning. In doing so, you can help shape the solutions the world needs.

Amar argued for breadth of education – “every subject will impact your life”. He added: “Life is long; the world is constantly changing; learning is lifelong.” And he had his own clear idea of the importance of this stage in the boys’ lives: “School is learning how to learn (forever).”

Amar concluded his presentation with these words: “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.”

Queen Elizabeth’s School commemorated Elizabethans who gave their lives in conflicts in traditional fashion, while pupils and staff deepened their knowledge of QE’s wartime history through a special Remembrance quiz.

The QE Combined Cadet Force took their places in the Remembrance Sunday parade and service in High Barnet, and then also played a leading role in the Armistice Day event at the School yesterday.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The Armistice Day ceremony here is an important opportunity for today’s young Elizabethans to honour forebears who made the ultimate sacrifice in the two world wars and other conflicts. This year’s quiz creatively reinforced that aim by teaching pupils interesting facts about what war meant, both generally and for QE Barnet in particular.

“I am, of course, very grateful to the members of our CCF who represented the School so effectively in the civic Remembrance Sunday parade.”

The CCF set off from – and returned to – 240 (Barnet) Transport Squadron RLC on St Albans Road. The service took place at St John the Baptist Church and at the Chipping Barnet war memorial outside the parish church.

The ceremony at QE took place as in previous years in the ‘Crush Hall’ in the Main Building at 11am. The poem, In Flanders Fields, was read, the Last Post played, and wreaths were laid at the School’s war memorial. A two-minute silence was observed across the School.

The Remembrance Day quiz, compiled by Enrichment tutor and Mathematics teacher Nadeem Kydd, was made available to form groups over the past few days. Many staff participated.

Form tutors were encouraged to use the 17-question, multiple-choice quiz as a springboard for discussions about the significance of the Armistice Day events and QE’s history during the world wars.

Here are some of the questions. (Answers are at the bottom).

1. During World War I, QE pupils who won prizes were given money. But what did most choose to do with their money?
2. Where were soldiers’ horses kept during World War I?
3. In 1637, plans to unite QE with which school were shelved because of increasing political uncertainty in the run-up to the English Civil War?
4. Why were loudspeakers at Founder’s Day originally installed?
5. A memorial to Commonwealth soldiers, including those from the Indian sub-continent, Africa, Nepal, and the Caribbean, can be found where in London?

Answers

1. Donate it to refugees
2. The School playground
3. Merchant Taylors’
4. To warn of bombing raids
5. Constitution Hill

Click on the thumbnails to view the images.

Old Elizabethan Dr James Johnson’s forthcoming book will complete a trilogy on AI and the future of conflict.

James (OE 1987-1994), a leading academic, regularly advises the US, UK, and EU governments on AI and nuclear policy.

Although he has risen to become Senior Lecturer and Director of Strategic Studies at the University of Aberdeen, he spent 20 years working in the financial sector before moving into academia – an experience he says shaped his understanding of global affairs and the importance of adaptability.

“If there’s one thing I’d say to current QE pupils,” he said, “it’s that careers rarely follow a straight line. Be curious, take risks, and don’t be afraid to change direction when something new captures your interest.”

James looks back fondly on his time at QE, where “a few great teachers” sparked his interest in history and world politics. “Those lessons in critical thinking and debate have stayed with me ever since.”

At Aberdeen, James leads research on the intersection of artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, and international security.

He is also the founding Director of the Strategic Studies Network (SSN), an Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester, and works with several international projects and advisory groups — including the European Research Council’s Towards a Third Nuclear Age project, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, and the Global Commission on Responsible AI in the Military Domain at the Hague.

Public sector organisations he advises include the UK Office for AI, the US Department of Defense, and NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group.

His research has appeared in leading journals and policy outlets. The three books he has written on AI and future warfare are published by Oxford University Press and Manchester University Press. The final volume in the trilogy is called Machines at the Brink, published by OUP.

• Find out more about James’s work at jamesjohnsonphd.com and his University of Aberdeen profile.

Inspirational business leader Gary Shaughnessy gave QE’s younger boys a heartfelt message born out of his own experience of dealing with adversity.

Mr Shaughnessy was an international CEO of Zurich Insurance and at the peak of his career when, in 2015, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

In a special Lower School assembly lecture, he spoke of how he overcame his initial despair and, with the help of his wife, used the news as a springboard into what became the happiest period of his life. He is now a philanthropist, an advocate for several charities and a fundraising athlete.

Thanking Mr Shaughnessy, QE Flourish coordinator Lev Crofts reflected afterwards on the talk: “He chose to accelerate his career rather than ‘stow’ it; to become involved in athletics, sports challenges and break multiple world records; and to become more involved in charity work – eventually becoming the chair of Parkinson’s UK. Ultimately, his message was about responding positively to difficulty, of seeing failure as opportunity, and to be appreciative of how much we are given by life.”

His entertaining lecture to Years 7–9 in the Shearly Hall included Mr Shaughnessy leading the boys in his regular chant of ‘Live life, love life, stop Parkinson’s’.

Mr Shaughnessy began his career in the UK financial services sector, holding key roles at the Automobile Association, the Bank of Scotland, and AXA, before joining Zurich in 2012 and rising to become its CEO for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. In that role, he managed approximately 20,000 employees across 22 countries, driving major cultural and digital transformations.

He initially kept his diagnosis private, but came to recognise that openness could be both empowering and liberating, helping to challenge stigma in the workplace. By publicly sharing his condition, he became a visible example of strength and transparency for others living with chronic illness.

His philosophy – “focus on what you can do, not what you can’t” – reflects his belief in resilience, adaptation, and positive action.

Since his diagnosis he has completed numerous endurance events, including marathons, cycling challenges, triathlons and a 30 sports in 30 days feat – all to raise funds for Parkinson’s research. He even set Guinness World Records for the longest three-legged distances covered in 12 and 24 hours.

In the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his contributions to business, his charitable leadership, and his work supporting people with Parkinson’s.

Mr Shaughnessy is Chair of the Z Zurich Foundation, which was established to help vulnerable people, and Chair of England Athletics.