The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica. Friday, October 02, 2020—Navida Bachan, a graduate student at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), has been awarded the prestigious Routledge/Round Table Commonwealth Studentship Award for the 2020-2021 academic year. Only two studentships are available each year; one designated for a UK-registered student and the other for one student from other Commonwealth countries, which was awarded to Navida.

Founded in 1910, the Round Table is the oldest English-language international affairs journal and provides analysis and commentary from research 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. Navida, who is studying for a PhD in Governance at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at The UWI St. Augustine Campus, has focused her research on investigating health system governance and its impact on the performance of health systems in Trinidad and Tobago and the UK. She has a special interest in the tenets of participatory governance in the health sector and how they have been applied in Commonwealth contexts that have facilitated improved health outcomes for populations.

Navida’s 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. She intends to use the Routledge/Round Table Commonwealth Studentship towards understanding key governance components within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). 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 in general.

She holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Development Statistics with a specialisation in Social and Demographic Statistics, both from The UWI. In 2017 she was also the recipient of the Jack Harewood Award for ‘Most Outstanding Student’ in her MSc in Development Statistics programme at SALISES, St. Augustine and spent a semester at the University of Alberta as a visiting graduate student; there, she expanded her knowledge of mixed-methods research for her PhD while enhancing her skills through International House’s Global Leadership Development programme.