A University of Northern British Columbia doctorate student has secured a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship for her research on the United Nations sustainable development goals and their relevance to communities along the Nechako Watershed and Niger Delta in Nigeria.
Christiana Onabola is receiving $50,000 a year for three years. Up to 166 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships are awarded to doctoral students across the country each year.
In 2015, world leaders at the United Nations put together a set of 17 global goals to tackle economic, social and environmental challenges that are local and global in nature.
"There are, however, concerns about how these goals interact and what happens when, for instance, a goal related to health and the environment is traded off in order to meet another tailored towards economic development," said Onabola.
She said the funding will help her take on the technological supports and resources needed to improve her productivity.
Onabola is part of the Environment, Community and Health Observatory Network at UNBC, a five-year research program focused on the influence of resource development on health and well-being of rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
So far, Onabola, whose supervisor is UNBC Health Sciences Professor, Dr. Margot Parkes, has defended her qualifying paper, put out a preliminary publication, and hopes to defend her thesis proposal this fall.
The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship is named after George S. Vanier, the first Francophone Governor General in Canada.
