CFUW Fellowship

So in 500 words, I have to compellingly write:

* a description, the objectives and the projected application of my research;
* my personal motivation for embarking on such work;
* my justification of place of study
* my future plans
* my professional and personal goals on completion of this work.

500 words? Whoa. That's 100 words for each of those sections, if I plan it like that. Hmm. I have had to write lots of information in small amounts of space, but this seems particularly difficult. I know some people have it worse; my supervisor at UNICEF once had to summarize 30 years of research on AIDS orphans into 30 words. 30 words? Who decides that?

I guess it's going to have to be fairly general yet dense.

1) RESEARCH/STUDY: description: questioning the general (and more or less universal) sense of education as panacea to poverty alleviation; marginalized children and the effect of "education" differentially on different socio-economic classes; mixed methods; story-telling and priority scale; structural barriers (exam, policy, physical access); objectives: to understand different definitions of education by socio-economic category, living and working context; to compare self-percetions of the importance of education to children's lives differentially (by living, working context and socio-economically); to understand children's concern with achievement by group, and the "domain" of that achievement. Projected application: universal, equal access to education; importance of quality (not education no bar); might need more here

2) PERSONAL MOTIVATION: education the pinnacle/cornerstone of my own development - always higher achievement; travels to developing countries as a young child; understanding my privilege, recognizing what this means; contribution; children as inspiration; education's potential/power to change collective views of our purpose, needs; education as a tool for empowerment; value of family to encourage educational growth;

3) JUSTIFICATION OF PLACE OF STUDY: unparalleled resources; the chance to do interdisciplinary work, combining my background in Public Health and International Issues with Pscyhology and Education; HGSE is an institution that especially values research that incorporates children's voices, children as agents for change, children's rights; a world-reknowned institution whose name/reputation allows for work to be easily disseminated to other interested parties and stake holders, so your work can make a big impact/difference because the right people are here to push it along

4) FUTURE PLANS: academia; remain involved in grassroots efforts to promote universal education, particularly focusing on access to education for girls; apply for postdoctoral fellowships upon graduation; teaching and research

5) PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL GOALS ON COMPLETION OF THIS WORK: see above, and maybe include the fact that every year I complete one physical challenge (marathon, Kilimanjaro, etc), to continue with that, have a family, contribute to a longitudinal study maybe following these same children