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Scholarship Programme News (2009-2010)

News
A message from Aziz Dhamani (ISP 06-07):
"I wish to congratulate AKF for the excellent initiative of bringing us together on Facebook.  At the same time, I would like to update you on my work.   I am still with Kirkor Architects and Planners in Toronto. I started as a Junior Designer in 2007, moved on to be an intern Architect/Urban Designer and am now Project Architect. Working with consultants at all levels of projects and with the planning and building department of the municipality, it has been a fast and diverse experience. I feel fortunate to be part of the design team at our firm, working on projects from a 37 storey high-rise residential development to master planning for a community development of 80 acres and 5 million square feet of built space and park lands. I am very enthusiastic about my work at Kirkor and about how my career is developing and am in the process of starting my architectural membership with the Ontario Architecture Association, a chapter of The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
I would also like to share with you that I have recently been recognized with the Ontario Voluntary Service Award 2009 by the Ismaili Council for Ontario for my services throughout the Golden Jubilee year in the planning and design of the darbar facility in Toronto for His Highness the Aga Khan’s visit to Canada. Working on all the planning and layout of the facility for 30 thousand people (there were close to 60 thousand people over two days attending the darbar) was a challenge and an experience I will cherish all my life."

Sarfaroz Niyozov (ISP 97-01), a PhD in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, is organizing a Round Table Discussion on Education in Central Asia at the University of Toronto on, October 8, 2009, from 2 to 5:50 PM.  The title of the conference is "Hard Talk" on State-Civil Society-INGO Relationships in Education Development in Central Asia: Challenges, Future Possibilities and Roles for Outside Actors.  The focus will be on Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The venue is the Comparative International & Development Education Centre (CIDEC), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT), 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Room 2211.  If you are interested in attending, please contact Professor Niyozov at sniyozov@oise.utonronto.ca.

The Aga Khan Foundation congratulates Karim Maredia (ISP 80-85), a Professor at the Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University, who has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ricardo Palma in Peru in May 2009.  This distinction was granted to Professor Maredia because of his invaluable and significant contribution in the field of International Agriculture.  His keynote address at the official ceremony in Lima, Peru, was on “Knowledge without Borders.”

Jameel Janjua (ISP 00-01), who was sponsored by the Aga Khan Foundation for a Master’s degree course in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was selected as one of the top 16 candidates to participate in the Canadian Space Agency’s National Astronaut Recruitment Campaign.  This group was selected from over 5,000 online and screened applicants.

Pallavi Aiyar (ISP 00-02), who has an MSc in Global Media Communications from the London School of Economics and the University of Southern California, has spent seven years in Beijing writing on Indian and Chinese relations for the Indian newspaper, The Hindu.  Many of Pallavi’s articles have been presented on this website and her book, Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China has been highlighted.  Pallavi has now moved to Brussels, Belgium, and is writing for the Indian newspaper, Business Standard.  Here is a link to one of her most recent articles in which she argues that while the Chinese are the Americans of Asia, the Indians are the Europeans.

Dissertations by ISP Graduates
Simeen Sabha (ISP 07-08), The Social Dynamics of Street Work: Can Work be a Source of Aspiration for the Street Working Children of Dhaka, Bangladesh?, MA, Social Anthropology of Development, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, September 2008. 
In her dissertation, Simeen provides an analysis of street-working children from Dhaka, exploring how work, as a form of social activity, is an inherent part of children’s upbringing.  Drawing on this analysis, the paper argues that as a natural social activity, the capacity to work makes children social actors or agents in their own right, and gives them the capability of shaping their own aspirations.  They are not vulnerable victims but able social actors who can frame a better life for themselves with the right form of support.  The foundation of the study and its analysis of the question of work amongst street children is based on Simeen’s own interaction over two years with a group of street-working children in Dhaka.

Aly Haidar (ISP 07-08), Using Factor and Cluster Analysis in Prioritizing the Interventions of the Aga Khan Foundation, Salamieh, Syria, MSc, Agricultural Economics, University of Reading, October 2008.
Aly’s paper analyses data from field surveys of the Aga Khan Foundation’s Rural Support Programme transforming the collected information into charts and tables.  This technique can be used to create clusters of targeted villages and to facilitate the prioritization of interventions according to the specific needs and problems of village groups.

New ISP Scholars in 2009-2010
The Aga Khan Foundation is pleased to announce the new recipients of its international scholarships:

Nadera Ahmadzai (Afghan), PhD, Epidemiology, McGill University

Fadi Ajjoub (Syrian), MSc, Sustainable Building, Oxford Brookes University

Moustafa Alhaj Hussein (Syrian), Master 2, Money, Finance and Governance, University of Lyon

Minhas Ali (Pakistani), MEd, Education, University of Melbourne

Elham Alizadeh (Iranian), MPA, Professional Accounting, Sydney College of Business and IT

Alisar Alkasir (Syrian), MSc, Spatial Planning, University of Dundee

Qiamuddin Amiry (Afghan), MALD, Law and Diplomacy, Fletcher School of International Affairs, Tufts University

Salman Bawa (Pakistani), MSc, Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, McMaster University

Nadeem Bulsara (Indian), MS, Bioinformatics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Fayza Bundalli (Canadian), MSW, Social Work, University of California, Berkeley

Daniel Cutherell (USA), MA, International Relations, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC

Imran Dhamani (Indian), PhD, Audiology, University of Southampton

Jaimini Gohil (Kenyan), MSc, Clinical Pharmacy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London

Marium Gul (Pakistani), SMArchS, Islamic Architecture, MIT

Sadaf Gulamali (USA), MA, International Affairs, Columbia University

Rozina Hajiani (Indian), MA, Education and International Development, Institute of Education, University of London

Hina Himani (Pakistani), MSc, Health Care Management, University of Surrey

Daulat Hirani (Pakistani), MSc, Hospital Management, University of Leeds

Leena Istanbuli (Syrian), MSc, Actuarial Science, Hariot Watt University

Aamir Khowaja (Pakistani), MSc, Computer Science, Texas A&M University

Farah Ladak (Canadian), MPH, Public Health, Brown University

Cezanne Maherali (Kenyan), MBA, INSEAD, France

Esther Majani (Tanzanian), MPH, Health Behaviour and Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Mohnura Mamadgazanova (Tajik), MBA, Small Enterprise Promotion an Training, University of Leipzig

Rizwan Maredia (Pakistani), MSc, Computer Science, McGill University

Orzu Mavlonazarov (Tajik), Candidate of Science, Geographic Information Technology, Russian State Geological University, Moscow

Shermin Moledina (Tanzanian), MA, Social Work, University of Chicago

Khursheda Muminshoeva (Tajik), Candidate of Medical Science, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sechenov Medical Academy, Moscow

Rola Mustafa (Syrian), LLM, International Commercial Law, City University London

Shahla Nikbakht (Iranian), PhD, Physics, University of Queensland, Australia

Ayub Padania (Indian), MS, Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Sandeep Poundrik (Indian), MPA-ID, Public Administration and International Development, Harvard

Suchismita Roy (Bangladeshi), PhD, Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Rubina Shehzadi (Pakistani), MA, Structural Analysis of Monuments, University of Minho, Portugal

Amreen Ukani (Indian/US resident), MFA/MA, Fiction and Book Publishing, Portland State University, Oregon

Zaman Velji (Canadian), MBA, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

Raghunandan Venkat (Indian), MPH, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University

Shirin Wadhwaniya (Indian), MPH, Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Nazira Zholdoshbekova (Kyrgyz), MA, Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment, Institute of Education, University of London