Trudeau Foundation Awards $2.7 Million in Scholarships to 15 Doctoral
Students

Scholars Receive $180,000 Each to Tackle Today's Critical Social Issues

MONTRÉAL, May 13 /CNW/ - The careers of 15 PhD students have been jumpstarted thanks to prestigious doctoral scholarships from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. Each has been offered up to $180,000 to advance their research into critical issues such as labour, mental health, conflict resolution and the environment. The scholarships subsidize tuition fees and living expenses and allow the Trudeau Scholars to travel for research and scholarly networking and knowledge dissemination. The Trudeau Scholarships are among the most coveted awards of their kind in Canada.

    
    The 2010 Trudeau Scholars are:

    -   Adolfo Agundez Rodriguez (Education, Université de Sherbrooke) is
        developing tools to introduce children to the ethics of responsible
        consumption.
    -   Karina Bennessaiah (Geography, Arizona State University) is studying
        how people living in the coastal communities of Central America adapt
        to environmental and climate change.
    -   Nathan Bennett (Geography, University of Victoria) is asking whether
        protecting the marine areas of Thailand can make a positive effect on
        the employment and livelihood of local communities.
    -   François Bourque (Epidemiology, King's College London) is exploring
        social determinants of mental health in migrant and ethnic minority
        groups.
    -   Amanda Clarke (Information, Communication and Social Science,
        University of Oxford) is looking at online citizen political
        engagement and particularly at how policy decisions in Canada are
        shaped by the input from e-consultations.
    -   Libe Garcia Zarranz (English and Film studies, University of Alberta)
        is interested in how women writers advance our understanding of
        individuals and groups living at the margins of Canadian society.
    -   Lisa Kelly (Law, Harvard University) aims to ensure that Canadian law
        includes children's and adolescents' rights and interests.
    -   Michelle Lawrence (Criminology, Simon Fraser University) is
        questioning the judicial treatment of individuals who commit crimes
        under the influence of mental disorders and substance use.
    -   Scott Naysmith (Social Policy, London School of Economics and
        Political Science) is examining how poultry farmers in Indonesia are
        coping with government interventions to contain avian influenza.
    -   Leila Qashu (Ethnomusicology, Memorial University of Newfoundland) is
        studying how Ethiopian women, while devoid of political power,
        successfully use musical rituals for conflict resolution.
    -   Rosalind Raddatz (Political Science, University of Ottawa) is
        questioning the social, political and economic viability of the
        recent peace process in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
    -   Émilie Raymond (Social Work, McGill University) is seeking to
        facilitate the empowerment and participation of seniors in public
        debates and policies.
    -   Simon Thibault (Communication, Université Laval) is reviewing
        international investments in media reform in the war-ridden societies
        of Kosovo and Afghanistan.
    -   Joël Thibert (Public Policy, Princeton University) is asking how we
        could support the efforts of cities to develop sound environmental
        policy.
    -   Erin Tolley (Political Science, Queen's University) is studying
        voters and media attitude toward politicians coming from visible
        minorities.
    

"Trudeau Scholarships not only accelerate the careers of those who receive them, but also enable recipients to make a significant contribution to Canada and to Canadians. We reward excellence and provide doctorate students with the best conditions to ground their work in the real world," said Foundation President P.G. Forest.

In addition to receiving financial support, Trudeau Scholars benefit from the expertise and knowledge of Trudeau Fellows and Mentors, highly accomplished individuals in the Trudeau Foundation community who are leaders in both academic and non-academic settings. Interaction with non-academic milieus, including public policy networks and the public at large, is a key component of the Trudeau Scholarship program.

The Foundation's Summer Institute, held May 17-21 this year in Saskatoon, will be the new Scholars' first introduction to the Trudeau Community.

About the Foundation

An independent and non-partisan Canadian charity, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation was established in 2001 as a living memorial to the former Prime Minister by his family, friends, and colleagues. In 2002, the Government of Canada endowed the Foundation with a donation of $125 million following a unanimous vote of the House of Commons. In addition, the Foundation benefits from private sector donations in support of specific initiatives.

Note to editors: Biographical information and photographs available upon request.

WWW.TRUDEAUFOUNDATION.CA

For further information: Source: Élise Comtois, Trudeau Foundation, [phone] ext. 224; Media Contact (English): Sheryl So, Environics Communications, [phone]; Media Contact (French): Miriam Lauzon, Capital-Image, [phone] ext. 235