Scholarship Helps Ex-Teacher Realise Quest for Better Climate Education
Roslyn Nand’s pursuit of higher education was made easier last Thursday after she was awarded a full scholarship to pursue her Masters of Science in Climate Change at the University of the South Pacific (USP).
The former Sacred Heart College Teacher is one of five people from the South Pacific to be awarded climate change scholarships by the European Union.
The financial assistance was worth more than $600,000 and has been allocated for climate change research and studies.
The financial aid was part of a long lasting relationship between USP and the European Union (EU) in the field of climate change resilience in the Pacific.
Four students will pursue their Masters of Science in Climate Change while a candidate will pursue her PhD at the University the South Pacific.
Ms Nand said climate change was a global crisis and there was a crucial need for more people to study the issue and be able to help in combating climate change impacts in the Pacific.
“As a teacher, I felt I needed to know more in order to deliver better,” Ms Nand said.
“This would help me create a generation who would well understand the causes and effects of this issue, this would help them be responsible for their actions.”
She said her research would focus on generating gender equity in small-scale fisheries to improve food security resilience in Fiji. “Fiji being an island nation and fish being one of the major food sources, it made me focus on the fisheries sector,” she said.
“Since women are known to be the food handlers and providers, it is important that we empower them of in improving food security, especially in preventing post-harvest losses to promote resilience from the impacts of climate change in the fisheries sector.
“That is what I will place my focus on.”
She also said:
“I would like to acknowledge the EU and USP collaboration for giving me this opportunity. I would not have been able to complete my education in my area of interest if it wasn’t for this scholarship.”
European Union at the forefront of CLIMAtE CHANGE fiGHt
European Union Ambassador in the Pacific Sujiro Seam said the EU is at the forefront of the climate change fight everywhere in the world.
“We are also at the forefront of achieving an ambitious objective of carbon neutrality by 2050,” Mr Sujiro said.
“The Pacific is one of the most impacted regions in the world because of climate change and the threats to the environment.
“We recognise that we need to partner with you to provide the assistance we can.
“I am very happy to be here because we have a strong partnership between the European Union and USP on climate change and resilience.”
He said with USP, they had partnered for a long time with financial support in excess of €10 million (FJ$25 million).
under USP-EU
USP Vice-Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia said they had a long and enduring partnership and were proud to be delivering the partnership with the European Union. “There have been a total of 51 scholarship recipients under our partnership through the years, and this is a remarkable number,” Professor Ahluwalia said.
“As the premier university in the region we have a responsibility to provide expertise in the region especially in the field of climate change.”