Navida Bachan, a graduate student at UWI, has been awarded a prestigious Routledge/Round Table Commonwealth Studentship award for the academic year 2020-21. Only two such awards are made annually; Navida has won the award open to any PhD student registered at a member university of the ACU outside the UK.
Navida is studying for a PhD in Governance at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. She holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Development Statistics with a specialization in Social and Demographic Statistics, both from UWI. In 2017 she was the recipient of the Jack Harewood award for most outstanding student on the MSc in Development Statistics programme. She spent a semester at the University of Alberta as a visiting graduate student, expanding her knowledge of mixed-methods research for her PhD whilst enhancing her skills through International House's Global Leadership Development programme.
Navida's PhD research investigates health system governance and its impact on the performance of health systems within the context of Trinidad and Tobago, and in relation to the United Kingdom. Navida has a special interest in the tenets of participatory governance in the health sector, and how it has been applied in Commonwealth contexts that have facilitated improved health outcomes for populations. Her professional work as a researcher in the Trinidad and Tobago health sector, both at the national and sub-national levels, has contributed significantly to her insights about health system governance and its link to health system performance, and subsequently healthcare delivery.
Navida will be using the Routledge/Round Table Commonwealth Studentship award towards understanding key governance components within the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. Specifically, her study of the NHS will begin with a review of key legislation, and culminate in interviews with health officials. She envisions her findings being translated into policy measures that contribute towards the overall strengthening of the Trinidad and Tobago health system as well as those of developing countries more generally.
Founded in 1910, The Round Table is the oldest English-language international affairs journal, and provides analysis and commentary on all aspects of international affairs. The journal is the major source for coverage of the policy issues concerning the contemporary Commonwealth and its role in international affairs, with occasional articles on themes of historical interest.
For more information, see https://www.commonwealthroundtable.co.uk/organisation/studentship-award/.