Plashet RE teacher, Azaan Akbar, awarded prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to the United States
Published: Thu 2 July 2026Azaan Akbar, RE and History teacher at Plashet, City of London Academy, has been selected for a Distinguished Award in Teaching by the Fulbright Commission. In August, he will be travelling to the University of Rochester in New York state to take part in a fully funded education research programme for four months. He is one of two teachers from the United Kingdom selected, where the rest are from around the world.
Founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program is one of the most prestigious international educational and cultural exchange initiatives in the world, operating in over 160 countries. It provides fully funded grants for students, scholars, artists, and professionals to research, study, or teach abroad. Former notable Fulbrighters include microfinance pioneer Mohammed Yunus, former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, economist Milton Friedman, and author Sylvia Plath.
During the programme, Azaan will engage in research, co-teach in local middle and high schools, present his research in Washington D.C., and take part in cultural exchange events. His research will focus on the impacts of AI on critical thinking, and what teachers can do to develop these skills in a world of generative AI, social media and political polarisation.
The University of Rochester hosts the Warner School of Education, alongside the New York State Center of Excellence (CoE) in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. As a result, the university is at the forefront of research in AI in education and offers advanced certificates for teachers in this field.
The programme will allow Azaan to come back and share the knowledge and experience gained during the programme with teachers and students at Plashet, the wider CoLAT family of schools, the Newham community, and beyond. You can read more about Azaan’s grant here.