Ref. No.: 37

Every year, one student in our province is chosen as the Rhodes Scholar for Newfoundland & Labrador. Just one.

The candidate must have an outstanding academic record, and excel in an interview designed to assess their intellect, character, and ability to articulate their vision and ideas.

This month, a recent Memorial University graduate, Meret Ebsary, became that one student. As a Rhodes Scholar, she’ll now pursue fully funded graduate studies at the famed University of Oxford in the U.K.

“It didn’t feel real at first,” she said. “I’m so, so grateful. This will change the trajectory of my life.”

Ebsary recently graduated from Memorial with an honours degree in political science, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in global health, specializing in global health governance.

Inspired by the global challenges highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Ebsary says she was motivated to use her political background to explore the gaps in health-care policies.

“During the pandemic, many people, including myself, were grappling with a deep sense of loss and grief,” she said. “I felt strongly that things needed to change and that health-care systems ought to become more resilient in times of crisis.”

She also credits her professors at Memorial University for helping her discover her passions. “Political theory sheds light not just on how the world is but on how it could be,” she said. “That sense of possibility is a significant source of my inspiration — the hope of contributing to a better tomorrow.”

While at Memorial, her thesis on the women’s suffrage movement was awarded the Susan McCorquodale Memorial Scholarship.

She has also presented her work to high-level panels at the United Nations, developed tools to support One Health frameworks for non-governmental organizations and served as a protocol officer for the first Global Model World Health Organization.

In January, Ms. Ebsary will return to Memorial University to work with the Department of Gender Studies to provide research and organizational support for its upcoming Memorial centennial celebration events.

When asked about her plans once she completes her degree at Oxford, she says she envisions a future dedicated to amplifying the voices of historically marginalized groups in global political discourse.

“In all honesty," she adds, "wherever the future takes me I see myself doing something I love — whether that’s research or something more hands-on in government and politics.”

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For more information, or to arrange an interview with Meret, contact Chad Pelley, media relations manager for Memorial University, at chad.pelley@mun.ca or 709-853-4281.