On Wednesday, 10 December, the ECHO Awards 2025 were presented during a festive ceremony at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. The awards recognize students with a non-Western background who, through vision, courage, and social engagement, contribute to a more inclusive society.
As public debates around diversity grow increasingly polarized, this new generation shows that things can be done differently: by starting from connection, responsibility, and the conviction that unity in diversity is a strength rather than a dividing line.
This year’s winners demonstrate how lived experience can develop into collective movement and systemic change. They show what inclusive leadership looks like in a time that calls for new narratives — stories that create space, bridge perspectives, and shape the future.
The ECHO Award is made possible by the partners of the ECHO Foundation: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Dutch Railways (NS).
🏆 WINNERS ECHO AWARD 2025
Winner ECHO Award HBO: Chinyere Aronu
(Public Administration / Governance student at The Hague University of Applied Sciences)
The jury was impressed by the sustainable impact Chinyere achieves through her foundation. She combines ambition with practical execution and works purposefully toward structural change. As someone personally affected by the childcare benefits scandal, Chinyere connects her own story with that of others, transforming complex experiences into policy recommendations and concrete solutions. She serves as a role model for students and professionals who seek to improve social systems through lived experience. Her work makes it clear that just policy begins with recognizing perspectives that too often remain unseen.
Winner ECHO Award WO: Shahir Stanakzai
(Medicine student at Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Shahir convinced the jury with his entrepreneurial mindset and innovative approach within the healthcare sector. Through his initiative, he addresses three societal challenges at once: bridging the gap between vocational and academic education, tackling staff shortages, and combating the social exclusion of young people in Rotterdam South. His approach is strategic, scalable, and future-proof. Shahir shows how collaboration between different educational levels and healthcare institutions can lead to new forms of inclusion and shared responsibility.
Winnerr ECHO Current Affairs Award: Alihan Z. Uzun
(Complex Systems Engineering & Management at TU Delft)
Alihan connects personal experiences to broader questions about citizenship, representation, and equal opportunities. His work begins with everyday challenges but develops into structural solutions that reach into policymaking and societal institutions. The jury appreciates how he approaches complex themes with accessibility, nuance, and empathy. He brings communities together rather than positioning them against one another and creates space for conversations that often get lost in societal polarization. According to the jury, Alihan demonstrates what contemporary, inclusive citizenship can look like: conscious, connecting, and attentive to the diversity of experiences within society.
Click here to download the full jury report.
Over de ECHO Award
The ECHO Award is a national prize that recognizes higher-education students for their commitment to creating an inclusive society. The award focuses on students from underrepresented groups and values leadership grounded in vision, systemic change, and the ability to inspire movement.
The ECHO Awards were presented this year in three categories:
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ECHO Award HBO
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ECHO Award WO
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ECHO Current Affairs Award
Press contact
Pravini Baboeram
ECHO, Centre for Diversity Policy
E-mail: pravini@echo-net.nl
Phone: 06-23079310
Website: www.echo-net.nl
Group picture made by: Ebru Aydin
Portrait pictures made by: Davita Tupan