Rebecca Birks

Rebecca joined The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 2016 as Events Manager, responsible for the planning and delivery of Gold Award Presentations at Royal Palaces for more than 10,000 young people every year. As part of this she engages more than 200 celebrities, influencers and public figures each year to inspire young people receiving their Awards and support the work of the charity. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK and all events were cancelled, Rebecca not only continued to consider how best to celebrate the achievements of young people once restrictions lifted and worked to maintain relationships with our celebrity supporters, but also demonstrated her versatility and commitment to the charity by taking on work in numerous other areas. This included leading on the development of new values for the charity, internal communications at a time of huge change and uncertainty and creating materials to support the engagement of young people with the DofE. Rebecca’s impressive creativity, leadership and passion led to a promotion to Head of Events and Ambassadors at the DofE in April 2021, and she has ambitious plans for how events can support the strategic aims of the charity going forward.