Episode Description
The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) program funds SFU undergraduates to work with established partner organizations, where they will intern to help build a sustainable world. The QES program also funds incoming scholars from different countries to grow their knowledge and aid in research located at SFU.
The guest for this podcast is Anna Appah, as she was selected for the QES program. She is an inbound graduate student from Ghana who is participating in international collaborative HIV/AIDS research here at SFU. This podcast dives into the important lessons that she has learned, the cultural (and environmental) barriers that she has faced, the successes that she has had, and more!
Timestamps and Resources
0:00 - Introductions
0:53 - How Anna chose her field of study?
2:09 - Discovering the QES Program
3:13 - Coming to Canada for the First Time
5:15 - What is her research at SFU specifically?
6:57 - The value of international collaboration
10:10 - Culture shock when coming to Vancouver
16:37 - Important lessons learned since moving to Canada
19:33 - Recent Successes
22:34 - Challenges in research and life
25:45 - Wrap up
Learn more about the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) program.
Trey is a fourth-year business student who is concentrating in finance and marketing. He works for the SFU international co-op’s office for his second co-op work term. Trey loves making connections with people, and this podcast has enabled him to do that. For this podcast, he hopes that the Queen Elizabeth Scholars program gains even more recognition so that more students are aware of the program’s fantastic opportunities.
Anna Appah is an MSc Health Science student at SFU under research mentor Zabrina Brumme. Currently, her research seeks to investigate HIV molecular epidemiology and drug resistance in Ghana. Anna aspires to be an astute scientist who influences global health policies in the near future.