The links between climate change, community resilience, and human migration will be explored by 23 Wilfrid Laurier University students and eight University of Ghana students through an exchange partnership made possible by $300,000 in funding from the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship program.
The partnership applies a human rights lens to climate-induced migration. Laurier undergraduate students from Geography and Environmental Studies, Human Rights, and Global Studies will travel to Ghana for 60-day internships facilitated by two University of Ghana research centres: the Centre for Migration Studies and the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies. Graduate students affiliated with these centres will study at Laurier as international students for a semester, receiving faculty supervision for their research projects and enrolling in graduate courses.
"I am thrilled that Queen Elizabeth Scholarship funding will enable Laurier to continue and deepen its valuable partnership with the University of Ghana," said Kathy Hogarth, Laurier's associate vice-president: Global Strategy. "This project advances community resilience in the face of climate change, while providing exceptional international study and research opportunities for students."
Through research, internships, and volunteer engagement, students will study how individuals and communities are forced to adapt or migrate when human rights to food, water, shelter, physical and mental well-being are threatened by climate change.
"With a focus on adaptation, response, and resilience to a changing climate, this project seeks to strengthen academic exchange and provide tangible contributions to solving one of the most critical issues of our time," said Jemima Anderson, dean of International Programmes Office, University of Ghana. "This project highlights the profound impact of international collaboration in addressing critical global challenges."
This marks the third time Laurier's partnership with the University of Ghana has been awarded funding from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship, following successful projects in 2014 and 2017.
About the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship Program
The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) program aims to mobilize a community of young leaders to create lasting impacts at home and abroad. The program helps develop the next generation of innovative leaders and community builders by enabling international academic, professional and cross-cultural experiences in over 150 countries. The QES program is led by the Rideau Hall Foundation in collaboration with Universities Canada and with founding support from Community Foundations of Canada.
