UBC Journalism student Jamuna Galay-Tamang will spend the 2019-20 school year at Yale University in Connecticut, having been accepted to the Fox International Fellowship Program.
Photo by Jonathan Ventura
The fellowship seeks out young leaders who are harnessing scholarly research to tackle pressing challenges in fields including international relations, law, environmental policy, public health, business and finance.
At the end of the program, fellows present a policy brief that translates their research into an accessible resource for relevant stakeholders, including government and non-governmental organizations.
“The aim is to change policy,” said Galay-Tamang. While at Yale, she will continue research she started in September 2018 as a member of the National Student Investigative Reporting Network.
A project of the Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia University, the network connects journalism students with major media outlets across Canada to undertake significant investigative journalism projects.
UBC students have participated in the last two investigations, including the award-winning series, The Price of Oil.
Focus on public health policy
Galay-Tamang will apply the research and reporting methodology she developed over the course of her last year at UBC Journalism to examine how government water regulations affect Native American communities and health in Connecticut. She will compare her findings with the results of an investigation into water quality in First Nations in B.C. and Canada.
“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to get a sense of what the relationship is like between Native Americans and the rest of the American population [and] see if it’s comparable to Canada,” said Galay-Tamang, who worked as a registered nurse prior to coming to UBC. She is also an alumna of UBC’s Reporting in Indigenous Communities course.
Galay-Tamang thanked the people who supported her application to the Fox fellowship — the co-supervisors of her final research project at UBC Journalism, Dr. Mary Lynn young and Dr. Minelle Mahtani, as well as Patti Sonntag, the director of the Institute for Investigative Journalism.
“They are all incredibly strong women who have carved out a path in the industry by challenging norms,” said Galay-Tamang, who noted they have also demonstrated “different ways to approach research through a decolonizing lens.”
Established in 1988, the Fox fellowship is designed to promote interdisciplinary exchanges and collaborations between students at Yale and international students from 20 world-renowned universities. UBC is the only Canadian school in the current group.
Applicants are assessed based on their capacity for leadership and civic engagement as well as their demonstrated commitment to serious research in social sciences or humanities. Preference is given to research that aims to enhance peace and prosperity around the world.
