University Of Essex

Daniel Libeskind had initially moved to New York on a music scholarship. However, he later deviated to architecture and also taught for a while. One of his most celebrated designs is the Jewish Museum in Berlin. He also won a contest for a proposed design for rebuilding the World Trade Center.

Nobel Prize-winning British-Cypriot economist Christopher A. Pissarides is best known for his work on the frictions in search markets. He also contributed to the development of the concept of matching functions. He penned the iconic book Equilibrium Unemployment Theory and was also knighted for his achievements.

Distinguished Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri OBE FRSL is counted among the leading African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions. His 1991 novel The Famished Road led him to become the youngest-ever winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Other notable works of Okri includes A Way of Being Free, A Time for New Dreams and Starbook.

Yanis Varoufakis is a Greek-Australian economist and politician who served as minister of finance for a few months in 2015 under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Essex. He began a career in academic economics before entering politics. Along with US Senator Bernie Sanders, he launched the Progressive International. 

Nobel Prize-winning Costa Rican politician Oscar Arias Sanchez has been the president of his country twice and is known for his effective Central American peace plan. Born into an affluent coffee-farming family, Sanchez completed his PhD from the University of Essex and has more than 50 honorary doctorates.

Ernesto Laclau was an Argentine philosopher and political theorist. He is best remembered for his collaborations with Belgian political theorist and long-term partner, Chantal Mouffe. Ernesto Laclau is also remembered for serving as a professor at the University of Essex. 

Considered oneof the top 25 most influential contemporary philosophers, Simon Critchley has a wide range of interests, which includes continental philosophy, philosophy and literature, psychoanalysis, ethics, and political theory. A prolific writer, he is also the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research and Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School.

Hoshyar Zebari is an Iraqi political leader best known for his service as the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq from September 2014 to October 2014. An important politician, Hoshyar Zebari served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2014. He then served as the Minister of Finance from 2014 to 2016.

Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury created history when she became the first woman Speaker of Jatiya Sangsad, or the Bangladesh Parliament. A qualified lawyer, she later obtained a PhD in human rights, too. The Bangladesh Awami League member has also served as an advocate of the Bangladesh Supreme Court.