Who are we?
The People Behind the Dora Love Prize

Founder & Coordinator of the Dora Love Prize

Prof (em) Rainer Schulze

Rainer is Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Essex. In 2000-2007 he was one of the project leaders involved in preparing a new permanent exhibition at the Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen and a member of their international advisory board. He has worked as a historical consultant for Holocaust/Bergen-Belsen related exhibitions and documentary films, most recently (2024) Liberation (National Geographics/Disney). From 2017 to 2019 he programmed and presented the weekly film programme Tales from the Margins with films about LGBTIQ rights and the situation of LGBTIQ people across the world, shown on Latest TV Brighton. From 2007 to 2016 he coordinated the annual Holocaust Memorial Week at the University of Essex, and in 2012 he set up the Dora Love Prize.

Patrons of the Dora Love Prize

Frank Bright (1923-2023)

Frank was born in Berlin into a Jewish family. They fled to Prague in June 1938 where the Germans caught up with them again when they invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939. His parents were killed in the Holocaust. Frank survived and moved to England in June 1946 where he had distant relatives. He worked as a civil engineer, married and had children. After his retirement, he dedicated much of his time to tracking down what happened to his Jewish classmates during the Holocaust and sharing their stories with History students of all ages. He regularly talked at schools, providing students with invaluable insight and support for their studies of the Holocaust. Frank featured in the landmark BBC documentary The Last Survivors (2019). In 2022 he received an MBE for services to Holocaust education. He was the Patron of the Dora Love Prize since its inception in 2012-13 until his death in 2023.

Watch the film on Frank Bright here.

Gulshan Kayembe

Gulshan was born in Kashmir, of Indian heritage. She has considerable experience in education and was an Ofsted lead inspector for almost 30 years. Her expertise includes curriculum, safeguarding, governance and equalities, and she has also supported education in hospital schools, mental health institutions and education for young people in prisons. She actively provides training on EDI for schools, local government, health and the voluntary sector, and was a member of the Suffolk Police Authority (1999 to 2012) which she chaired for five years; a non-executive director on her regional (Ipswich and East Suffolk) health board, and she currently chairs Ipswich Community Media. In all these roles, she actively promotes equalities and inclusion. In 2025 she was appointed Suffolk High Sheriff by HM King Charles III, the first woman of colour to hold this one-year post in Suffolk.

Janet Love

Janet, Dora Love’s daughter, is a seasoned human rights and social justice activist. She was part of the underground structures of the liberation movement in South Africa and, later, was involved in negotiating South Africa's new constitution. She served as a Member of Parliament in the first democratic Parliament during Nelson Mandela’s presidency. From 2006 to 2018, Janet was the National Director of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), during which time she also served as a part-time member of the South African Human Rights Commission (2009-2016). In 2016, Janet was appointed as an Electoral Commissioner and assumed her current full-time role as vice-chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa in 2018. Janet studied through the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of London and has post-graduate qualifications in public administration and development management.

Lesley Scott-Boutell

When she tried enlist to the Royal Navy at the age of 21, Lesley was diagnosed as having severe hearing loss as a result of multiple aggressive ear infections suffered during childhood and continuing throughout her adult life. She is now profoundly deaf in her left ear and severely deaf in her right. Lesley worked in different roles at British Gas, and in May 2002 she was elected councillor for Stanway Ward in Colchester. In 2024-25 she served as Mayor of the City of Colchester; the theme of her mayoralty was fostering tolerance and understanding, breaking down preconceptions and building a safe space for all.

Board of Trustees

Chair: Professor Rainer Schulze

Deputy Chair and Treasurer: Dale Banham

Secretary: Karen Whittingham

Trustee: Ella Hall

by Originally:Creative

Who are we? The People Behind the Dora Love Prize