By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
(May 15, 2012) SJD student and alumnus Michael Pal has received a 2012 Trudeau Foundation Scholarship, considered the most prestigious doctoral award in Canada. The scholarship, a $60,000 grant given annually for three years, recognizes and supports outstanding social sciences and humanities doctoral students “who are focused on researching and sharing innovative ideas that will help solve the issues of critical importance to Canadians.”
"I'm thrilled and honoured to be joining the Trudeau community," says Pal. "The Trudeau Foundation's focus on inter-disciplinary conversations and engaged scholarship fits with my comparative research on the law of democracy. I'm very fortunate to have been supported by the Faculty of Law over the years."
Originally from Moncton, NB, Pal is one of three University of Toronto students awarded the prize out of a total of 15 recipients. His research focuses on how election laws in Canada impact political parties and the exercise of democracy. He is a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholar and instructor in the legal research and writing program at the Faculty of Law. He is also a Fellow at the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation in the School of Public Policy and Governance. He holds degrees in political science from Queen's University (BA) and the University of Toronto (MA), and law degrees from the University of Toronto (JD) and NYU Law School (LLM in legal theory).
Foundation president P. G. Forest says: “This group of students demonstrates a remarkable engagement and an immense curiosity for the current state of the world. The Trudeau Scholarship will enable them to act upon their lively interest.”
Pal says the scholarship will allow him to conduct research on the ground in some of the countries that he's studying, such as India, "to connect with leading scholars in the field, and to learn from scholars doing related work on democracy, elections, political parties, and the right to vote in other disciplines." The Foundation also provides a mentor in a field unrelated to the scholar's work to help each recipient in his or her career.
Founded in 2003, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation’s annual scholarships support four key themes: human rights and dignity, responsible citizenship, Canada in the world, and people and their natural environment. The foundation looks for the ‘cream of the crop’ for its notable scholarships, individuals it considers “poised to become national and international figures.”
Read Michael Pal’s Q & A with the Trudeau Foundation to find out more about his research.
