We wish to congratulate Christiana Onabola, a graduate of the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) program, for receiving a 2020 Vanier Canada Doctoral Scholarship. Christiana is currently a PhD student in Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia.
We spoke with Christiana to learn more about this scholarship means to her and how her time in the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs program played a role in her success.
What does this scholarship mean to you?
The scholarship alludes to how fortunate I am to have got off to a great start in my PhD program, the foundation of which was notably laid during the MPPGA program.
I am excited that aside easing off financial worries as I continue in my doctoral research, the scholarship is a milestone that braces me up to explore broader career possibilities that will complement my PhD experience. For my proposed two-country research project, which aims to develop a localizing data framework to engage with specific SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) stakeholders across scales, the award sort of buoys up my confidence in the direction I am taking for the research and in my abilities. It registers to me that I am doing a kind of work that is considered needed and timely, and can benefit from the visibility and connections that this funding delivers.
The scholarship further implies that I will be able to take on necessary technological supports and needed resources for my research, participate in conferences and, ultimately, contribute to developing potential granular data tools that can localize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This will help bring their metrics closer to reflecting social, environmental and health inequities in remote communities that often go un-reflected, unreported and unmonitored.
What role did the MPPGA program play in what you’ve been able to achieve today?
I was an international student during the program and now as an MPPGA alumna, winning the prestigious Vanier scholarship reflects impressively on the invaluable learning outcomes gleaned during my MPPGA training. It is worth mentioning that the classes I took in ‘Resource Governance, Environment and Human Security,’ ‘Policy Responses to Global Climate Change’, ‘Food Security’ among others, were a great eye-opener for me in recognizing some of the intricate linkages between the mainstays of sustainable development and the determinants of human and environmental health. These have informed the direction for my current PhD research.
The Global Policy Project with the City of Vancouver, my participation in the NASPAA-Batten Simulation competition, as well as internship experiences under the UBC Sustainability Scholars’ program, with Fraser Health and BC Hydro respectively, were all instrumental in building my capacity to navigate systems complexities, inter-relationships, and interactions in my current research.
In my research, I am exploring broad social and ecosystems dynamics of the determinants of health and well-being, and how they intersect with other socio-ecological issues grounded in policies that plague human communities across scales. Specifically, these further set the stage for my thematic interests in the dynamics of trade-off interactions among SDGs and implications for environmental health inequities that often go unreported and un-monitored at granular scales of human and biodiversity populations.
It is worthy of note that the MPPGA program also challenged me to hone my writing and communications skills. I wish to acknowledge Professors David Boyd and Philippe LeBillon who provided me with references for my PhD application.
