Royal Roads grad nets scholarship

A former Royal Roads University student has been awarded a doctoral scholarship from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

Emma Swan is among 15 social science and humanities students receiving similar scholarships this year. Their work focuses on important questions within Canada and the world.

Swan completed a master of arts in human security and peacebuilding at the Colwood university. She is now studying international development and global studies at the University of Ottawa.

Her work explores the relationship between violence, the construction of male gender identities, and peacebuilding in conflict settings.

“Through firsthand narratives and the backdrop of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, Emma’s research endeavours to explore why and how certain men resist violent engagement in conflict,” the foundation says in its citation of Swan.

“A substantial but underappreciated movement of Palestinian men refuse to subscribe to an ideology that accepts violence as a means of creating a peaceful reality free from insecurity, violence and occupation.”

In 2012, Swan co-designed and helped found and raise funds for a 1,500-book library in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank.

She also partnered with UN Women, working with its South Asia office to help draft the Indian government’s national action plan to implement the UN Security Council’s resolution on women, peace and security.

Two University of Victoria students — Ryan Tonkins, who is pursuing a PhD in philosophy, and Ryan Beaton, who is pursuing a PhD in law — also received Trudeau scholarships.