The Research Communication and Equity Fellowship showcase at the UW Libraries’ Research Commons celebrates the academic and creative work of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) graduate students.
The UW Libraries Research Commons is a space for interdisciplinary, innovative and collaborative student work. In its second year, the
Research Communication and Equity Fellowship seeks to create a more equitable research environment by dedicating public space to highlight the research of BIPOC graduate students. The fellowship emphasizes graduate students engaged in interdisciplinary work, open access projects and digital scholarship methodologies. Each Fellow creates a physical artifact that visually communicates their research which can take many forms– posters, artwork, visualizations, etc., and those artifacts are displayed in the
Research Commons.
“We’re excited to be able to celebrate the work of BIPOC graduate students at the UW and are grateful for their energy and time in contributing to research for the public good,” says Negeen Aghassibake, program co-lead and UW Libraries Data Visualization Librarian.
Fellows come from across the UW Seattle campus representing a wide range of studies. The five fellowships awarded in 2024 include students from Public Health, Information Science, Education, Environmental Affairs and Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies.
2024 Student Fellow Perspectives
Marielle Marcaida, a PhD candidate in Feminist Studies:
An image from
Marielle’s virtual booklet that popularizes and visualizes her research on the grassroots activism of mothers of drug war victims in the Philippines.
“When I received news that I got accepted to the library fellowship, I was so happy that I would be able to continue working on my booklet, further refining and expanding it with the help of our amazing librarians, namely
Negeen,
Madeline, and
Cass. To see what once was a final requirement in a course two years ago turn into a library artifact displayed in the Allen Library has been fulfilling; to share the story of the mothers on another platform and with more people has been even more heartening!
I started working on my artifact as a final course requirement last Autumn 2022 in my Abolition Geographies class under Megan Ybarra where I first learned and read about abolitionist scholarship. In that class, I attempted to translate my past and ongoing research into something that is more digestible and visual, and also to decenter the Western scholarship on abolitionism with experiences from the Global South by narrating the story of the Ronda ng Kababaihan (Patrol of Women) mothers’ grassroots initiative under the Philippine drug war.”
Farrah Hasan, a Master’s student in the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs:
Farrah’s poster, “
Salt Country, Water Scarcity,” is based on her Master’s thesis, “Resilient Destination Cities: Migrant Resettlement in Mongla, Bangladesh.”
“My research centers migrant experiences in the port city of Mongla, Bangladesh. There are so many themes that came out during analysis of my interviews, but a particularly resonating issue was water scarcity. An important finding was that even though water was a dominating response to the question, “What are you struggling from?” However, it was labor availability that dominated responses to the question “What interventions could improve your quality of life?” It was evident that though water was a livability challenge in the city, migrants were not as open advocating for reform. To amplify their underlying concerns, I decided that water would have to be the center of my artifact.
It was an honor to be amongst such interesting research and seeing what other students produced…I would definitely encourage continuing this format, as I enjoyed working on this autonomously and having you as a support system along the way.”
Learn more about all the 2024 Fellows and their work:
- Angela Chen, School of Public Health, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, PhD in Health Services
- Amelia Dogan, Information School, PhD
- Farrah Hasan, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, Master’s program
- Marielle Marcaida, Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies, PhD in Feminist Studies
- Chenae White, School of Education, PhD in Special Education
The application date for 2024/2025
Research Communication and Equity Fellowship fellowship are TBD. Follow us on social media and sign-up for Libraries’ monthly updates for the latest news.
