UWI?graduate Kiron Corenlius Neale, 22, of Marabella, beat six other applicants from Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica and T&T to become only the country's tenth Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship recipient. The Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship is referred to on the Rhodes Trust Web site as the most prestigious international graduate scholarship programme in the world.
Established in 1903 under the will of Cecil Rhodes, the scholarship is awarded to 83 exceptional students each year to study at the University of Oxford in England. The Rhodes Trust, a British charity established to honour the bequest of English financier and politician Rhodes, provides full financial support for selected scholars to pursue their degree as well as a personal stipend and travel expenses at the beginning and end of their studies.
Each year, a Rhodes scholarship is awarded to a candidate from Jamaica and one to a candidate from the Commonwealth?Caribbean. The selection committee met on?November 20 at the residence of Sir Elliot Belgrave,?Governor General of Barbados and chairperson of the Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee, to conduct interviews with the seven candidates.
After all prospective scholars were interviewed, Neale said the committee deliberated for roughly 45 minutes before Belgrave made the announcement that Neale had won. Neale told the T&T Guardian he was "completely speechless" upon hearing the announcement. "I was constantly asked about my seemingly calm demeanor for such a momentous occasion," he added.
For the first time, he said, his mind had gone blank and he still struggles to grasp the gravity of the accomplishment. Neale believes his ambition for regional sustainability may have been what most impressed the committee and set him apart from the six other candidates. He said he strongly emphasised that although his research on solar energy was based in a T&T context, it was applicable to the region as a whole.
He said he discussed his ideas on energy and the environment and the need to make renewable energy a mainstream energy source in a hydrocarbon dominated economy like that of T&T. He said the members of the selection committee made comments about his creative style of language which they said was not typical of a science student. He believes this "may have very well portrayed the diverse individual that I am."
Neale, a past student of Presentation College, San Fernando, intends to pursue a master's degree in Environmental Change and Management, at Oxford's Environmental Change Institute and School of Geography and the Environment. He believes his degree should involve more intensive exploration of his previous studies while allowing him to engage in current scientific techniques within the environmental sciences.
He said his research hinged on the use of solar energy on the Government's HDC (Housing Development Corporation) homes to diversify T&T's energy economy as well as "to explore solar energy as a potential climate change mitigant." He said he assessed the potential for solar energy usage in T&T with regard to the geography, climate and solar insolation.
Neale has already applied through the Rhodes Trust to the University of Oxford and intends to take up the scholarship in October next year. "I look forward to not only embracing the academic aspects of university life but the international cultural exchange of ideas and traditions through the rich collegiate system and peer groups."
He said attending such an acclaimed university was a true blessing which few experienced. The University of Oxford in the second oldest university in the English-speaking world. Neale, who was this year's valedictorian in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at UWI St Augustine, currently works at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources as an associate professional.
He plans to become a researcher as well as a environmental change scientist. "I would really like to work within international research bodies but I have a strong inclination to return to the ministry of the environment and water resources," said Neale. President of the Oxford University Society of T&T Michael de la Bastide said he was delighted to hear that a citizen of T&T had won the Rhodes scholarship.
De La?Bastide, a former Chief Justice of T&T and first president of the Caribbean Court of Justice, who also studied at the prestigious university, described it as "an institution with a very long and rich history." Past Rhodes scholars include former Jamaican prime minister Norman Manley, the late Jamaican scholar Rex Nettleford and former United States president Bill Clinton.
