The awards, presented by the British Council, celebrate the outstanding achievements of UK alumni who have made significant contributions in their fields whilst strengthening the vital bridge between the UK and China.
Our graduates
Ge Yu – ‘Culture, Creativity and Sports’ category
As founder of sustainable fashion brand ANNDERSTAND and partner at an ESG consultancy, Ge Yu works with Fortune 500 companies on carbon reduction and sustainable design solutions whilst building a fashion brand grounded in environmental responsibility.
“The Cambridge MBA equipped me with the strategic mindset and cross-sector leadership skills to navigate these diverse fields and instilled in me a lasting commitment to driving positive impact through both business and creative avenues,” she explains.
Beyond commercial ventures, she serves as co-leader of the Cambridge Judge Shenzhen Alumni Group and voluntary mentor for the Cambridge China Business Forum, which she founded during her time at Cambridge Judge. “These experiences have shown me how culture and business can together build bridges and create lasting value.”
Winning the award represents both validation and motivation: “It affirms the importance of working across cultural, creative, and commercial domains. I am particularly proud to support Sino-British exchange not only through cultural initiatives but also via business and alumni engagement.”
Her advice to aspiring MBA students:
Stay open to interdisciplinary paths and don't limit yourself. Real impact often comes from combining passion with collaboration and a long-term view of value creation.
Vivian Li – ‘Business and Innovation’ category
When Vivian Li’s Cambridge matriculation photo went viral on Xiaohongshu (Rednote), it revealed the immense power of digital influence in China. What she did next set her apart.
Since graduating in 2018, Vivian has pursued a dual-track career, rising to a management role at VIP.com, one of China’s leading e-commerce platforms, whilst scaling her personal brand, vivian_evans, to over one million followers. This success became the foundation for EvansChat, now a top-tier Xiaohongshu consultancy in China’s Greater Bay Area.
Recognised as a top 3 finalist in the Business and Innovation category, Vivian credits the Cambridge MBA as the pivotal catalyst for this trajectory. “Its fierce commitment to applied innovation shifted my mindset from pure content creation to strategic value creation. The programme’s intense one-year structure instilled the operational urgency needed to manage this dual career, while the diverse alumni network directly converted into global partnerships.”
What drives her is bridging a market gap: “I am driven to bridge the gap between creative storytelling and tangible economic growth, especially in the Chinese social-commerce market, using innovation to empower over 300 brands, entrepreneurs and individuals to monetise their unique voices.”
The award is “a profound validation of my unconventional path from a tech executive to a female founder in the digital creator economy,” she says, seeing it as “the fruition of a seed or Yuan Qi’’ planted years ago.
Her advice to future MBAs:
Approach the MBA as a high-intensity, low-risk business incubator where you actively test your ideas and treat every classmate as a potential future business partner. The true value lies in converting the high-trust network you build into immediate commercial capital. Step out of the classroom, collaborate across borders, and use this unique year to validate your ability to make a tangible impact before you even graduate.
Jingjing Liu – ‘Science and Sustainability’ category
Professor Jingjing Liu’s achievements since graduating in 2015 are extraordinary. Now a Professor at the Institute for AI Industry Research at Tsinghua University, she has published over 120 scientific papers, including in Nature, with more than 20,000 citations. As a world-renowned expert in Multimodal Artificial Intelligence, Professor Liu previously led a pioneering research team at Microsoft in the United States, developing the earliest Multimodal Foundation Models that revolutionised the field. Her work has garnered attention from The New York Times and Forbes.
At Tsinghua, Professor Liu leads a research group focused on cutting-edge AI technologies such as Multimodal LLM and Embodied AI to empower sustainable industry sectors including healthcare, robotics and autonomous driving. She has delivered the keynote speech at the Global Young Leaders Dialogue forum and hosted high-level diplomatic exchanges with UK Minister for Science, Lord Patrick Vallance, and British Ambassador to China, Peter Wilson, for discussions on applying AI technologies to global net zero and healthcare challenges.
She was also invited by former British Ambassador to China, Dame Caroline Wilson, to the British Ambassador’s Residence in Beijing for discussions on effective cooperation in AI Safety Policy and Governance.
“The emphasis on ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles at Cambridge Judge Business School inspired me to explore challenges in real-world societal issues, from environment to energy, from education to healthcare,” she explains. This inspiration guided her towards deploying advanced AI technology to practical industrial scenarios such as AI for healthcare and green transportation.
Professor Liu hopes that her journey will inspire more young people to pursue study in the UK, to persevere in frontier scientific disciplines and together to foster a safe, green and sustainable future.
Her advice reflects the interdisciplinary spirit that has defined her career:
Don't stay in your lane, keep an open mind and absorb as much interdisciplinary knowledge as possible, which can bring unexpected inspirations and opportunities. Welcome and infuse diverse perspectives from classmates, travel broadly to meet different peoples, customs and cultures, which can sharpen your perspicacity with embracing compassion.
The recognition of these three Cambridge MBA graduates at the Study UK Alumni Awards demonstrates the diverse paths to impact the programme enables, from sustainable fashion and digital innovation to AI research that addresses global challenges.
MBA careers
Cambridge Judge Business School Careers will work with you from before you even start your MBA, from initial self-reflection and planning to negotiating that first exciting offer and beyond. Your Cambridge MBA will open career opportunities for you – we’re here to help you navigate and optimise them.
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