Three graduates of The University of Western Australia - one with an interest in the law of the sea, another with a passion for the not-for-profit sector and a third who wants to implement the global use of sustainable energy - have won prestigious Cambridge Australia Scholarships to undertake studies at the University of Cambridge in England.

The Scholarships are awarded to outstanding Australian graduates to undertake Masters and PhD studies at the University of Cambridge, England. In collaboration with The Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust, Cambridge Australia Scholarships awards up to ten PhD scholarships and a number of Masters degree half-scholarships each year.

The UWA graduates have just arrived at Cambridge and will be there for a year (Masters) and three years (PhD). They are:

Simon Allison, LLB (Hons) 2013

Cambridge Australia Poynton Scholarship

Subject: PhD in Law

Simon's proposed PhD research title is "The Use of Force by Non-State Actors on the High Seas: Public and Private Responses".  He proposes to investigate various events of piracy and the circumstances in which the use of force by private security contractors is, or might be, legally justified to safeguard the transit of vessels. That will lead him to an investigation of what jurisprudential theories and positive laws ought to be developed and applied in this international context. His goal is to teach international law, especially focusing on the law of the sea.

 Ryan Batchelor, BA(Hons) 2005 

Award: Cambridge Australia Allen Scholarship

Subject: MPhil in Public Policy

Having worked at the highest levels of the Australian Government - as the Prime Minister's Director of Policy and as Chief of Staff to the Minister for Families - Ryan is ready for some further, rigorous, academic underpinning at Cambridge. He is particularly interested in economic theory, research methods and understanding science and technological innovation and limitation and also wants to learn methods to test evaluate and review policy to see whether ideas, when implemented, translate into results. His passion has always been in social policy and Australia's not-for-profit sector.

Jacob Brown, BEng 2013

Award: Cambridge Australia Poynton Scholarship

Subject: PhD in Chemical Engineering

Within the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Jacob specifically aims to investigate multiphase behaviour in porous reaction media (such as catalysts) and hopefully will be able to gain some significant insight into how fluids operate in these catalyst beds. In future years, he would like to be involved in the implementation of sustainable energies throughout the world.

Media references

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