Honouring exceptional Canadian PhD students - CCSF reception at LSE
Being in a room with the brilliance and energy of young Canadian PhD candidates is a guaranteed spirit lifter....and a recent reception of CCSF scholars at the LSE was no exception. The room was positively charged with the nervous energy of young Canadians about to speak about their PhD research in the presence of His Excellency, the Honourable Ralph Goodale High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom. CCSF Chair Robin Mansell introduced the speakers to an audience of friends, trustees, and supporters of the scholarship, who had joined together to celebrate the scholars’ achievements. It was fascinating, impossible to pick a favoured topic!
Tomas Borsa, 2022-23 CCSF Scholar at Oxford University is looking at the impact of bringing internet service to the remote communities of Haida Gwaii and the rural and indigenous people living there. Or, more formally expressed by his Oxford profile, Tomas “investigates the social histories and future imaginaries of the Internet on Haida Gwaii, with a view to better understanding how the coming age of ubiquitous high-speed connectivity may impact upon the social ecologies of rural, remote, and Indigenous communities worldwide.” He is also a consultant to the Council of Haida Nation.
Faith Decontee is a First Nations, Algonquin and Nakoda-Sioux PhD Social Anthropology student from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg studying at Aberdeen University, looking at how policy making can be indigenized. She and her companion for the evening, her sister, wore beautiful ribbon skirts. I understand ribbon skirts as a traditional Indigenous form of dress, which may honour various and specific tribes or issues. (For deeper background, there’s a good CBC podcast, Indigenous fashion: The politics of ribbon skirts, runways and resilience here. Worth a listen.) Faith also mentioned that she is organising an Indigenous Conference at Aberdeen in February, and hopefully we can bring you more on this if it is available for the public.
We heard from Danielle Perro, who used her Oxford PhD time to conduct research into Endometriosis and women’s physical and mental health. Danielle aims to use her talents as a science communicator to bring new understanding to the issue. Her latest blog, available in The Conversation, addresses the severe gynaecology backlogs occurring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the detrimental impact this will continue to have on women with endometriosis.
We also heard from Vesna Curlic, 2022-23 scholar from whom I hope to hear more. She is at the University of Edinburgh where she looks at the intersection, or interactions between, medicine and global migration to Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Lastly, we heard from David Zucchi, 2021—22 and 2022-23 scholar, studying at Huddersfield University’s Centre for Research in New Music. (And actually, to be completely fair this may be the order in which I remember them, not the order in which they spoke!) David has done solo performances at Wigmore Hall, amongst many European locations, and has played for the CCSF – most recently, if I am not mistaken, he played at the Maple Leaf Ball.
Over their more than 50-year history, the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund has supported the PhD education of some five hundred Canadian scholars. The CCSF says, “Recipients are chosen on the basis of academic or artistic excellence and their ability to represent Canada in the UK. Awards are granted to scholars from a wide range of disciplines including science, engineering, social science and humanities as well as music, creative arts and design.”
The applications for 23/24 scholarships will open right after Christmas, and we urge you to share news of the opportunity. Of note, applicants must already be in the UK, in their studies. To find out more about eligibility requirements, the application process and required documents, please see the CCSF information for students page.