Robyn Sneath: 2013 Trudeau Scholar!
Robyn Sneath, doctoral student with the Department of Education has been awarded a Trudeau Scholarship, the most prestigious doctoral award in Canada.
Robyn arrived back from the Trudeau Institute last Saturday ‘exhausted and inspired’. She says “On a practical level, winning the Trudeau Scholarship will improve the quality of my scholarship by enabling me to spend more time in the field (for me this will be southern Manitoba and northern Mexico), and more time participating in conferences. In addition to the generous financial support, becoming a Trudeau Scholar has connected me to a community of passionate, engaged academics and policy-makers who are committed to the values espoused by Pierre Elliott Trudeau–particularly those promoting citizenship and human rights. The scholarship is valued at $60,000 CDN per year (roughly 40,000 BPS) for three to four years, with $20,000 per year devoted exclusively to travel. It is considered the most prestigious of its kind in Canada and is open to doctoral students in the social sciences and humanities; the goal is to mentor individuals ‘with a passion for public engagement and who are likely to become leading national and international figures’.
Robyn summarises the purposes of the award from the Trudeau Foundation website:
WE VALUE PEOPLE
Each year, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation rewards outstanding doctoral candidates who are enrolled or about to be enrolled in a social sciences and humanities program and who are doing research in areas related to our four themes. This award, the most prestigious of its type in Canada, has continuously attracted the very best scholars in the social sciences and humanities, individuals with a passion for public engagement and who are likely to become leading national and international figures.
WE BUILD CONNECTIONS
The award supports interdisciplinary research and original fieldwork by providing a substantial yearly allowance for research and travel, enabling the Scholars to gain first-hand contact with the diverse communities that can enrich their studies. Moreover, each Scholar is paired with a distinguished Trudeau Mentor selected by the Foundation among the most eminent Canadian practitioners in all sectors of public life. The Scholarship also offers the opportunity to interact with an exceptional community of leaders and committed individuals in every field of the social sciences and humanities, to participate in events organized by the Foundation and to hold their own workshops, through available financial support.
WE ENCOURAGE AUDACITY
Candidates are evaluated based on their academic achievement, which must be on par with the highest standards of the world’s most prestigious doctoral scholarship programs. Future scholars must also demonstrate an ability to engage in lively exchange with other researchers and scholars, and have an expressed desire to contribute to public dialogue.
Robyn is one of two Oxford doctoral students who are recipients of the award in 2013. The other is Leah Trueblood in the Department of Law.
13 Oxford students have previously received the award since its inception in 2003. They are:
- Maria Banda (2008, International Relations)
- Jonas-Sébastien Beaudry (2009, Law)
- Kathryn Chan (2009, Law)
- Astrid Christoffersen-Deb (2005, Anthropology)
- Amanda Clarke (2010, Information, Communications, and Social Sciences)
- James Milner (2003, Development Studies)
- Taylor Owen (2006, Geography)
- Emily Paddon (2007, International Relations)
- Graham Reynolds (2011, Law)
- Lindsey Richardson (2009, Sociology)
- Marina Sharpe (2011, Law)
- Kerrie Thornhill (2012, Geography and the Environment)
- Gregoire Webber (2004, Law)
