Generous support to help Sarah do a study in International Security in Glasgow

By the time you read this article, Sarah Miller will be flying off to Glasgow to do a two year Masters degree in international security intelligence and strategic security studies. Graduating from Whanganui High School, Sarah has spent the last four years at Victoria University completing an Honours degree in this field, writing a thesis on the Christchurch terrorist attack, analysing news coverage.

While at Victoria, Sarah was awarded a number of academic prizes including the European Union Prize, the Margaret Clark Prize and the Alan Robinson Memorial Prize, awarded to the best student completing an honours degree in political science or international relations.

As part of her degree at Victoria, Sarah also studied French and is able to converse in the language. She was able to use it when she participated in a six month Victoria University exchange programme in Paris.

Midway through 2019 Sarah started researching possibilities to do more research and came across the course in the University of Glasgow. She says, “It has an interesting mix of teaching and independent research and also involves time at the Dublin City University and the Charles University in Prague.”

The problem was the expense. Fortunately, the Ministry of Defence has given her a scholarship to cover 75% of the fees and have told her that, “while they would like me to return to work for the Ministry, they are open to me taking up other suitable options.” As Sarah will be doing internships during her second year at Glasgow, other opportunities might come up.

The family decided to start a Givealittle page to help raise funds to meet accommodation costs. This was picked up by a local businessman, who, together with some other business people, offered to cover these costs in year 1.” The businessman prefers to remain anonymous saying, “We are going to need specialists in all fields and what Sarah will do will be very important work.”

While waiting for her studies in Glasgow to begin, Sarah has been completing a Post Graduate Certificate in Translation theory.

Both Sarah and her mother, Neena, are very grateful not only to the business people but also to all those who contributed to the Givealittle page, which continues through to September 30. Sarah will be writing regular reports to the Ministry and the Whanganui businessman.

River City Press 17/9/20