A School of SSESW startup company, founded in The Graduate School at Queen’s University Belfast, was announced as the regional winner in the Global StartUp of the Year Awards at the Northern Ireland StartUp Awards ceremony on 9 June in Belfast.

School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work (SSESW) academic Dr Joe Allen (centre) received the award on behalf of Astral Education Ltd from Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, creator of the UK StartUp Awards, and TV personality Calvin Eden.

Astral Education Ltd is built on a foundation of innovation and personalized learning experiences, delivering courses and educational consultancy services to universities and colleges in a range of subject areas, e.g. Project Management, Entrepreneurship, and Teacher Education, primarily drawing on the expertise of the company directors.

While many education providers focus on traditional methods and a one-size-fits-all approach to learning, Astral Education takes a more tailored and holistic view of education, ensuring that every learner’s needs are met by applying state of the art learning opportunities, technologies and materials.

As a regional winner in their category of Global StartUp of the Year, Astral Education Ltd will now progress to the UK StartUp Awards final, taking place at Ideas Fest in September in Tring, Hertfordshire, dubbed the ‘Glastonbury for Entrepreneurs’. They will be joined by the finalists from nine other nations and regions.

Astral Education Ltd comprises SSESW academic Dr Joe Allen (Education specialist and Chief Executive Officer of the company) and Directors Dr Aishwarya Patil, Dr Ayman Alzahrani, Dr⁠ Mehmet Filiz and Dr Ewan McRay (all recent doctoral graduates from SSESW at Queen’s University), with medical doctor Dr Prasad Muglikar from Pune, India.