Breakfast with Rotary scholar speakers

For this academic year, the Rotary Foundation has awarded 23 scholarships for graduate students studying in the Thames Valley.

On Wednesday 6th February 2019 Reading Matins had the pleasure of hosting Rotary Scholars Samuel Rob from the USA and Georgia Richards from Australia. Both are studying at the University of Oxford - Kellogg College and gave excellent presentations to club members. 

Sam said that he greatly enjoyed his visit to Reading Matins club and he presented a bit about himself to the club, telling his story of how an “Army Brat” fell in love with fly fishing in his hometown of Boiling Springs and then made it through Princeton and now at Oxford studying Water Science, Policy and Management. Sam talked about his dissertation looking at the role for international law in the equitable sharing of the water-stressed Tigris and Euphrates River Basin. He also discussed his long term plans on how to continue with what he has learned at Oxford after his military service commitment.

Georgia advised us that she is studying for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD or DPhil) having completed a BSc (Biomedical Science) with First Class Honours in Pharmacology from the University of Queensland, Australia. During her studies, Georgia spend time working as a Pharmacy Assistant, went abroad on a 6-month exchange at the University of Florida in the United States (US) and spent some time volunteering in Nakornping Hospital, Chiang Mai Thailand. These three experiences developed Georgia’s interest in how we treat and manage pain in different countries, contexts and healthcare systems. Her research in Oxford focuses on the prescribing of strong pain medicines called opioids. Georgia is challenging whether the prescribing of opioids is evidence based and highlighted the issue around overuse in high-income countries with underuse of opioids in middle- and low-income countries. Georgia mentioned that although there are huge public health problems around the use of opioids in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, it is very difficult to obtain opioids for the majority (83%) of people in the world who would benefit the most from opioids.”  

President Greg Wilkinson thanked Sam and Georgia for their excellent and informative presentations about themselves, their family, and studies at Oxford University.

Greg presented Sam and Georgia with a memento of their visit… a Reading Matins pen!