Global Scholarship Funding

Global Grant Scholarship
(for study starting in Rotary Year 2020-21)

Global Grant Scholarships (value: US$30,000) support graduate study in one of Rotary’s six areas of focus, by students from District 5360 at universities outside of Canada. Preference is given to students starting new programs of study, normally at the master’s level. Rotary’s six areas of focus are peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, and economic and community development. Scholarships are available for 2020-21 and study must start after July 1, 2020. Rotarians, descendants of Rotarians, or ancestors of Rotarians are not eligible for this scholarship.

District Application Deadline: January 20, 2020

Application Link: Submit an application form, copies of university transcripts, your CV and two confidential letters of reference that speak to your involvement in one or more of Rotary's six areas of focus to Hendrik Kraay, Rotary District 5360 Scholarship Team Lead.
 
For More Information, see please view the GGS Flyer or contact Hendrik Kraay, District 5360 Scholarship Team Lead, 403-852-9531.
 
 
 
Meet our Scholars
Ahmed Ali

Ahmed Ali, Masters in Business Administration in International Business with a concentration in Emerging Markets
MIB Trieste School of Management
(Rotary Club of Calgary Heritage Park, District 5360, and Rotary Club of Trieste, Italy), 2019-20

 
Ahmed Ali was born in Somalia and came to Canada in 1991, where he migrated between Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Calgary. He completed an Honours Degree in Sociology from the University of Ottawa and a Masters Degree in Social Work, with a concentration in Community, Planning, Policy and Organization, at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University. During his academic years, he participated in supporting forced migrants in Uganda and worked alongside survivors of the conflict in the town of Gulu. He worked with internally displaced persons on programing that pertained to mental health, psychosocial wellbeing and access to justice services. In his research, he recognized the impact of microfinance and how it can help empower a community impacted by the trauma of conflict. His research showed the benefits of collective saving and microfinance systems, which in turn helped community members provide education funding for their children, opportunity to grow additional crops to sell in the market and a means to come together to build capacity and awareness of their own mental health.
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Mairead Whelan

Mairéad Whelan
MSc in Water Science, Policy, and Management,
University of Oxford (District 5360 and Rotary Club of Faringdon and District, England), 2019-20

Mairead Whelan is pursuing her MPhil in Water Science, Policy, and Management at the University of Oxford. Her academic interests lie in the intersection between water, the environment, and population health. She is especially interested in global health, and how clean water, water scarcity, and climate change-induced weather patterns influence the spread of water-related illness.

Mairead received her Bachelor of Health Sciences degree from the University of Calgary, majoring in Health and Society with a concentration in Political Science (Honours, First Class). Her interests in water and health began when she was selected to attend the Cumming School of Medicine Tanzania Field School, where she worked on several projects regarding environmental and animal health, sanitation, and diagnosing diarrheal disease. Mainly, she helped introduce BioSand Filters, a low-cost low-tech water treatment device, into remote Maasai homes bringing clean water to more than 100 families. Since being inspired by this experience, Mairead also was a lead student on several environmental health research projects, including a novel initiative from the Alberta Children’s Hospital evaluating injury risk in urban neighbourhoods for kids at play, and a thesis project on how we can use water management to prevent an outbreak of pandemic avian influenza (H5N1) in Vietnam.

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Brandon McNally

Brandon McNally, MA in International Relations, Leiden University, The Netherlands
(Rotary Club of Lethbridge East and Rotary Club of The Hague International),
Global Grant Scholar, 2018-2020

 
Brandon McNally is an MSc student at Leiden University in The Netherlands where he studies International Relations and Diplomacy. The program trains students in the areas of mediation and negotiation while providing an in-depth study of the areas which affect the international realm (such as law and the economy). Brandon’s specific interests lay in evaluating the connection between the environment and conflict.
 
Brandon obtained a BA in Political Science with a minor in Religious Studies from The University Lethbridge. During his time at the University of Lethbridge, Brandon was an active participant in student government, a board member of the Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group (LPIRG), and member of several campus clubs/organizations. He was the recipient of The University of Lethbridge President’s Grant for International Community Engagement, with which he went to Nepal to intern at ECCA, an environmental NGO. He also gained extensive research experience by independently completing field research on the Navadurga, a tantric Hindu tradition, and through his role as a research assistant for Dr. Rodrigues in the final year of his BA.
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Aneel Brar

Aneel Brar, PhD in Medical Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK
(Rotary Club of Red Deer East and Rotary Club of Faringdon & District)
Global Grant Scholar, 2018-2019

 
Aneel Brar received a Global Grant Scholarship to fund the second year of his PhD studies in medical anthropology at the University of Oxford. His work focuses on disempowered women in rural Rajasthan, India—specifically on how social forces become embodied as illness among pregnant women and young mothers. Aneel’s objective as a medical anthropologist is to translate lessons from research into policies and programs that reduce structural violence and advance health equity.
 
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Jay Wang

Jay (Yuan) Wang, MSc in Molecular Biosciences in Neuroscience, Interdisziplinären Zentrums für Neurowissenschaften (IZN), Universität Heidelberg, Germany (Rotary Club of Calgary Olympic and Rotary Club of Heidelberg-Schlöss), Global Grant Scholar, 2017-19

 
 
Jay Wang was born in China and grew up in Calgary. He received his Bachelor of Health Sciences, majoring in Biomedical Sciences, from the University of Calgary in 2014 with First Class Honours. A recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Student Leadership, the RBC Students Leading Change Scholarship, and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada Scholarship, Jay has a passion for science, learning, volunteerism, community services and global development. From collecting minerals and fossils to astrophotography, there are not many scientific fields that he is not interested in. Starting research in high school, he has experience in both medical and astrophysics research. Nothing fascinates him more however than the brain! Jay held a Global Grant Scholarship from District 5360 to study Master of Neuroscience at Heidelberg University, Germany; the Rotary Club of Heidelberg-Schloss was his host club.
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Leah Schmidt

Leah Schmidt, MPhil in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies, University of Cambridge, UK (Rotary Club of Calgary and Rotary Club of Cambridge South), Global Grant Scholar, 2017-2018

Leah is an MPhil student in Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge (Queen’s College), where she studies feminist approaches to international relations and security studies, with a focus on theorizing embodied subjects under violence. Leah has worked with Amnesty International, Global Affairs Canada, and the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations (NYC) and is a passionate advocate for politicalized marginal identities.
 
In her previous professional experience, she has supported research on the national American Women’s Rights policy blueprint for the 2017 Federal Presidential Administration under the National Organization for Women; spent three years leading queer advocacy and safe space creation as Coordinator of the University of Calgary Student’s Union Q Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity; was selected as the Girls and Young Women’s Advisory Council Representative under Status of Women Canada; and served as a post-secondary representative for the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women and the Disabled Woman’s Network of Canada. She has also served in various conference leadership positions for the National Collegiate Conference Association (National Model UN), University of Calgary High School Model UN, the national Political Science Students’ Association, World Health Organization Simulation, and has led the University of Calgary Model United Nations Team to rank in the Top 50 North American Teams, among involvement with numerous other student clubs and organizations.
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Sarah Pousette

Sarah Pousette, MA in International Economics with a concentration in Development Economics, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland (Rotary Club or Calgary-Heritage Park and Genève-Internationale), Global Grant Scholar, 2016-2018.

 
Sarah initially moved to Calgary from Prince George, British Columbia, to train for Long Track Speed Skating at the National Training Centre located at the Olympic Oval. After several years of skating and school, Sarah decided to trade her Olympic ambitions for a new dream of working in the field of International Development.
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Jiliane Golczyk

Jiliane Golczyk, MA in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), France (Rotary Club of Red Deer and Rotary Club of Paris-Alliance), Global Grant Scholar, 2016-17

 
Prior to beginning her Master's program, Jiliane has worked as a Page in the House of Commons, as a Parliamentary Tour Guide, and as an English Teacher in Istanbul. While completing her Master's degree, Jiliane worked as an analyst for Noria Research and volunteered extensively with migrants and refugees in the Paris region as a member of Sciences Po Refugee Help.
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Mark Brown

Mark Brown, MBA in Social Enterprise, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Great Britain (Rotary Club of Calgary and Rotary Club of Faringdon & District), Global Grant Scholarship, 2015-16

 
Mark Brown graduated from Western Canada High School in Calgary and received his BSc from the University of Victoria in 2010. After working with Engineers without Borders, he founded an agricultural investment fund in Ghana to assist small farmers in developing their businesses. Too large to benefit from microcredit financing and too small to access conventional bank loans, these small farmers are unable to develop the full potential of their businesses. In 2015-16, Mr. Brown held a Global Grant Scholarship from District 5360 to study social entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
 
In February 2016, Mark wrote about his experience at Oxford:
 
I have decided to design my career to work on the world’s most important problems. The first chapter drew me to economic development in Ghana through agriculture. After consulting with Engineers Without Borders for a few years, I started...
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Reema Souraya

Reema (Romá) Souraya, MA in International Education Policy, Harvard University, United States (Rotary Club of Calgary-Heritage Park and Rotary Club of Malden), Global Grant Scholarship, 2015-16

 
Romá Souraya received her BA in international relations from the University of Calgary in 2015 and received a Global Grant Scholarship to study international education policy at Harvard University. A native of Calgary, she lived in Lebanon and Brazil. She was the first person in her family to earn a university degree. As a student in Calgary, she volunteered with the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth, where she worked to help immigrant youth who were having difficulties in school.
 
Upon completion of her studies, Ms. Souraya took an internship with Girl Rising in New York, an NGO that promotes education for girls.
 
See where Romá Souraya’s career has taken her since her Global Grant Scholarship by visiting her Linkedin page.
Danielle Trudeau

Danielle (Danny) Trudeau, MA in Disaster Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (Rotary Club of Calgary-Crowchild Urban Spirits and Rotary Club of Copenhagen International), Global Grant Scholarship, 2013-14

Ms. Danielle (Danny) Trudeau, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Calgary-Crowchild Urban Spirits, completed her MA in Disaster Management at the University of Copenhagen in 2014. Having worked in disaster relief for the Red Cross, this program was a natural progression for Ms. Trudeau’s career and opened numerous doors for her. “Thanks to the support of Rotary,” writes Ms. Trudeau, “completing the Master of Disaster Management has opened up more opportunities than what I could have ever imagined. I am so thankful for all the opportunities I have had to date and looking forward to seeing what’s next around every corner.”
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