International Women's Day 2026: Celebrating our alumni mentors
This year, to celebrate International Women’s Day and honour its theme, #GiveToGain, which encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration, we wanted to platform our wonderful alumni mentors who have been volunteering their invaluable time and insights with our MSc students as part of our Alumni Mentorship Programme.
Meet Zeynep and Rio
On this occasion, we caught up with one of our amazing mentor-mentee duo, Zeinep and Rio, who are both very passionate about advancing gender equality, to hear about their experience getting paired up together on the mentorship programme.
Zeynep Aydemir Koyuncu graduated in 2003 from the European Institute with our MSc EU Policy Making (now known as the MSc European and International Politics and Policy) and is currently working as a Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Manager at UNICEF. She previously also held roles at UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), UN Women, and the European Union.
Rio Fuseya is part of our current Class of 2026 cohort, pursuing an MSc International Migration and Public Policy and interested in working in international organisations after graduation.
I cannot emphasise how much I enjoy learning from and sharing this intergenerational space with my mentee. Every mentee is an inspiration for me. I had a very fulfilling academic year at LSE for my MSc degree with full scholarship, and I see the EI Alumni Mentorship programme as way of giving back - but not only that - it’s also a way to continue to be nourished and refreshed by having first-hand insights from early career folks.
Discover our full interview with Zeynep and RioHaving the opportunity to build a meaningful, long-term connection with someone who has already navigated the path you hope to pursue is powerful. Zeynep is a source of encouragement for me to keep building my passion, and she’s helped me clarify my goals and given me greater confidence as I move forward. I hope that one day I will be able to support and encourage younger students in the same way my mentor has supported me.
Celebrating our wonderful alumni mentors
We also reached out to our lovely cohort of alumni mentors to ask them how they have benefited from giving back to the department and mentoring our current generation of European Institute students.
Click the arrows below to hear from four of our incredible mentors:
- Zeynep Aydemir Koyuncu (Class of 2003, MSc EU Policy Making)
- Iuliia Drobysh (Class of 2020, MSc European and International Public Policy)
- Dr Simona Milio (Class of 2007, PhD European Political Economy Class)
- Sarah Odelé-Gruau Molero (Class of 2024, MSc Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe)
Thank you to all of our dedicated alumni mentors for sharing their wisdom with our future generation of European Institute graduates! And a special thank you to Zeynep, Iuliia, Simona, Sarah, and Rio for telling us more about their experience on our mentorship programme!
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