Amrit Dev Kaur Khalsa, manager of LeidenGlobal 2013-2016 will be starting her own business later this year and has decided to donate all her time to the preparation of her new business. Therefore she officially left her position of Manager at LeidenGlobal.
As the first manager of LeidenGlobal, Amrit Dev started the organisation from scratch with an exciting launch of LeidenGlobal on November 27th 2013. With the task given by the partners to raise the impact of scholarship across the board, from cultural events and public debate to government policy and education, she started and executed new initiatives. Throughout the years LeidenGlobal has grown successfully. Collaborations with leading institutions in Leiden and surroundings have led to LeidenGlobal being an important link in connecting the academic, cultural and social world. Today, LeidenGlobal organises events, workshops, offers courses to PhD and (Research) master students, works together with high schools to raise awareness on globalization and sustainability and is part of several cooperations that make Leiden global.
Maghiel van Crevel, first chairman of LeidenGlobal’s General Board says this about Amrit Dev:
"Amrit Dev Kaur Khalsa combined a keen awareness of LeidenGlobal's academic, cultural, and societal motivation and perspectives with boundless energy, and little patience for the bureaucratic obstacles that will emerge when one strays from the beaten track. This helped a great deal to get things going on every level — from hifalutin intellectual brainstorming sessions to the nitty-gritty of working out the deal between the LeidenGlobal partners. She had the curiosity, the flexibility and the stamina needed for working with a wide variety of individuals and institutions. Amid the pedestrian detail of daily management madness, she managed to keep her eye on the prize, meaning the kind of collaboration we were trying to kick-start. The LeidenGlobal launch was typical in this regard. Preparing the event pushed her to the limit — and on the day, we had a ball in every sense of the word. Once the crowd had left, most of us finally dared to breathe again and were moving into after-party mode. But she kept running around and cleaning up at a pace that was close to manic, and led one to worry she might not stop at our party but clean up, or clean out, the entire Volkenkunde Museum while she was at it… It was wonderful to see from up close how Amrit Dev helped turn LeidenGlobal from an idea into a reality. She was the right person in the right place, and we were lucky to have her."
"Thank you Maghiel for this well-deserved praise, and thank you most of all Amrit Dev for your indeed great work in getting LeidenGlobal started. As Maghiel has rightly stated, we all needed someone like you – in tandem with someone like Maghiel – for a successful kick-off. We’re on our own now, with Aphroditi Zoulfoukaridis as a new manager and me as a new chair. The way the two of you took off will remain a lighting example for us.
Many thanks Amrit Dev, and all the best with your exciting new adventures!"
Gert Oostindie - Chairman of the LeidenGlobal General Board