Stephanie Ortynsky (left) and Tasha Spillett are in doctoral programs in the School of Public Health and College of Education, respectively.
Each $20,000 scholarship is awarded annually on the basis of academic excellence to students who are pursuing graduate or post-graduate studies at any accredited university in Saskatchewan.
Ortynsky received the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship, awarded to a graduate and post-graduate student studying Saskatchewan politics and government at a Saskatchewan university. Her research focuses on global immunization policies in four different countries, including Canada, and looking into how decisions are made when implementing them. She is also researching vaccine hesitancy and why people refuse to get vaccinated when the option is available.
Spillet received the Queen Elizabeth II Centennial Aboriginal Scholarship, awarded to a First Nations or Métis student pursuing graduate and post-graduate studies in any field at a university in Saskatchewan. Her research, grounded in Indigenous feminist theory and methodologies, seeks to identify best practices in connecting Indigenous girls with land-based knowledge, particularly in urban settings.