Two Faculty of Environment students have received the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. The award, valued at $150,000 over three years, is given to doctoral students across Canada in the health, natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities field. Richard Adeleke and Satveer Dhillon, PhD candidates in the faculty of Environment, are using geography as a lens to examine social and health inequities at a local and global scale.
Dhillon’s doctoral research focuses on the impacts of climate change on health and wellbeing in Uganda. Climate change has severe effects on regions worldwide, particularly low and middle-income countries. In Uganda, climate change will lead to increased levels of resource scarcity, which has been shown to result in psychological distress, impacting health and wellbeing. Dhillon plans to use a mixed-methods design, including surveys, semi-structured interviews and deliberative dialogues, to engage with individuals living in the Mukono and Rukiga regions, two areas highly susceptible to resource scarcity. Dhillon is supervised by Dr. Susan Elliott, a health geographer whose research focuses on the built environment, socially constructed risks, and the physical environment's effects on health, always emphasizing the integration of science and policy.
“The findings from this research will help us better understand how people residing in lower-income, vulnerable communities are adapting to climate change,” says Dhillon. “The results can help inform what community-led interventions can be implemented to improve psychosocial health and wellbeing in Uganda and similar low-income settings facing climate change risks.”
Dhillon’s passion for improving the lives of marginalized individuals has been instilled in her since childhood. Her parents immigrated from Punjab, India and built a life in Canada with the foundational values of hard work and helping others. Dhillon was also surrounded by inspirational role models who motivated her to learn more about the world and volunteer her time locally and globally.
Adeleke and Satveer join four other Vanier award-winners at ݮƵ this academic year. Learn more about the other 2025 Vanier scholars here, and congratulations to all winners on this significant achievement