APS PhD students awarded prestigious scholarships
Four new PhD students from the Department of Asian and Policy Studies (APS) at the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) have been awarded prestigious scholarships.
Ms Burcu Mirkelam, Ms Munira Jahan, and Mr Tareq Hossain Khan have been selected as the recipients of Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, a flagship scholarship programme established by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong in 2009. The Fellowship provides an annual stipend of HK$319,200 and conference and research-related travel allowance of HK$13,300 per year. This year, EdUHK has been conferred with four fellowships, and three recipients are from the APS Department. In addition, the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government conferred the Belt and Road (B&R) Scholarship (Research Postgraduate) to Mr SAI Htong Kham, PhD student of the APS Department. The B&R Scholarship is established to attract outstanding students from countries along the Belt and Road to pursue full-time study in Hong Kong. Covering full tuition fees for 3 years, the scholarship is renewable annually subject to satisfactory academic performance. In the 2020/21 academic year, up to 25 scholarships in the entire territory are offered.
Born and Raised in Istanbul (Turkey), Ms Mirkelam graduated from Sociology and Political Science and International Relations double-major programme at Bogazici Univerisity (Turkey). During her undergraduate study, she was selected to the ERASMUS-Exchange programme in University College London (UCL) at the Department of Anthropology. As a Jean Monnet Scholarship holder, she completed MSc Political Sociology programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2016. In 2018, she graduated with a second master degree in Asian Studies at Bogazici University. Ms Mirkelam strongly believes that conducting her research in a key geographical location in East Asia, like Hong Kong, will widen her perspective.
Ms Jahan earned her Bachelor and Master degrees from the Department of Government and Politics at Jahangirnagar University (Bangladesh) and second Master degree in Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPAS) in Tokyo. She has been working as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the Jagannath University (Bangladesh) since 2014. Her research area is ‘Bangladesh Policy towards China’.
Mr Khan received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Government and Politics from the Jahangirnagar University (Bangladesh) and second Master degree in International Relations from Jacobs University and University of Bremen, Germany. Prior to his studies at EdUHK, he has been working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Jagannath University (Bangladesh).
Born and raised in Myanmar, Mr Sai obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees from the Department of Asian and Policy Studies of the Education University of Hong Kong. After graduation, he worked as a Research Assistant at the Department. He also participated in voluntary services at the Hong Kong Society Asylum-seekers and Refugees (HKSASR), founded by Assistant Professor Isabella Ng, since he was a sophomore. Mr Sai’s research interests lie in potential youth leaders’ socio-political participation, conflicts and displaced population. His doctoral research project is related to the potential youth leaders and their socio-political participation in the conflict-affected regions in Myanmar.