The International Humanitarian City in Dubai (IHC) and the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) announced today the 1st laureate of the “IHC scholarship in the Master of International Relations (MIR)” UAE national Ms. Nouf Ismail.
The annual scholarship was announced earlier this year in partnership between IHC and UOWD to promote the UAE’s vision of International Humanitarian Cooperation. An evaluation process between both organisations followed to select the best application, which will receive full funding for UOWD’s Master of International Relations program.
The IHC MIR Scholarship aims to offer in-depth understanding of the relations between nations and regions across areas such as globalization, diplomacy, economics, international law, labor migration, culture, media, environment, and security within the context of the humanitarian work.
Giuseppe Saba, CEO of IHC said: “It gives me great pleasure to announce the first laureate of the IHC scholarship in Master of International Relations Ms. Nouf Ismail. We are extremely proud that the first laureate is a UAE national female student who will contribute towards further enhancing the leading role of UAE in the felid of humanitarian aid and development”. He added: “Our objective from this scholarship is to empower UAE nationals with knowledge tools and capacity building opportunities, and to deliver on this we have partnered with the University of Wollongong in Dubai”.
Professor Mohamed Salem, President, UOWD said: “Listening to, and collaborating with, different stakeholders in specialized professional sectors is the future of higher education. The partnership between IHC and UOWD is a milestone in this direction. Humanitarian aid is a complex field that requires more than knowledge and skills: it is also a mindset. The IHC-UOWD Scholarship in International Relations demonstrates the university’s commitment to community engagement, both in the UAE and globally. If we are to work towards a more sustainable world and a fairer distribution of opportunities, we will all need to speak with one voice”.
Dr. William Gueraiche, Associate Professor and Discipline Leader Master of International Relations at UOWD said: “The Master of International Relations will prepare students who are determined, if not to change the world, then at least to change their vision of the world. No other master in the region prepares its students to be immediately operative in the field of humanitarianism. This scholarship takes the collaboration between an important institutional actor in the field and a university further. And this is just the beginning”.
Nouf Ismail, IHC scholarship laureate said: “I would like to thank the UOWD and the IHC for giving me the opportunity to study humanitarian action further through the master’s in international Relations program”. She added: “This opportunity is a steppingstone, not only for me, but for the United Arab Emirates as a whole to work in the region and internationally”.
Nouf Ismail, 22 years old is an Emirati national. She is an International Relations graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the American University of Sharjah (AUS). Recently, Nouf participated in the Youth to UN program as the UAE’s youth representative to the United Nations for the year 2020.
Already in early 2020, the International Humanitarian City had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Wollongong in Dubai, allowing both entities to collaborate, drawing on academic and field perspectives to promote and mutually strengthen engagement in the field of humanitarian work, given the ever-changing needs of the sector.
The partnership between IHC and UOWD aims to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and raise awareness about critical global humanitarian issues as well as the humanitarian work of the UAE through IHC, the largest humanitarian hub in the world.