Undergrad
Research on a Global Problem: Children and War “If you are interested in research there are definitely opportunities available at the University of Alberta.” As a well-rounded student, Saarah Shivji explored science, business, and history before finding her current home in the Political Science department. Saarah got involved in research after hearing about the Undergraduate Student Researcher Award. She was put into contact with Dr. W. Andrew Knight who subsequently offered to supervise her participation in the second phase of his three-phase project on children and war. |
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| The Children and War Project is a three-year research project being undertaken by Dr. Knight and is funded by the United Nations University, Tokyo, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project examines the impact of war on children, assesses their need for protection, and finally seeks to develop more effective strategies to rehabilitate children who have been affected by war. The first phase of the project includes a conference at the University of Alberta and has attracted both Lloyd Axworthy, and United Nations' Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Dr. Olara Otunnu, along with Miss World Canada Nazanin Afshin-Jam. “The hope is that these influential people will become engaged in the debate, see the new ideas that academics are coming up with, and hopefully that we will help improve the |
lives of children if we can evolve the laws with the times.” Saarah says “The purpose of having a conference instead of just a paper is to spread the message and have an open dialogue, hopefully changing things.” Saarah will be working on compiling the current laws that exist to protect children globally, nationally, and regionally. She will be analyzing the methodology behind the laws, doing the groundwork for Dr. Knight’s future research in the second phase of the project. “As a political science student this type of research is really exciting, and I am really happy to even have the chance to look at this type of cutting edge research that Dr. Knight is doing. Even if I didn’t get the grant, the opportunity to work so closely with a professor, especially someone like Dr. Knight, would be an amazing and valuable experience for me, something that I could take with me into a masters program.” In the future Saarah hopes to go on to her Masters and eventually a Ph.D. in Political Science and sees this research as playing an important role in her future academic career. “This could end up shaping what I do for the rest of my studies because it is such a fascinating and relatively unexplored subject. Working four months on this will give me a deep knowledge of child protection laws; it could end up changing my life.” Saarah is very grateful for the opportunities that she has been given and hopes that both the University and government continue to offer them in the future: “There are a lot of skilled students out there who are forced to do mentally un-stimulating work during the summer that does not take advantage of all these students have to offer, and if you want to develop human capital, you have to give students these chances to show what they can do!”
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