Update: IDRC Internships

IDRC Alumni Logo

In 2007, the Alumni Association began to donate a modest annual amount of funding to the IDRC regional office honoured at the annual Alumni Association reception. These funds enabled said office to support a young researcher in its region. By 2010, when IDRC adopted its new strategic plan, the management of regional flex funds changed, and a regional internship was built into the corporate internship program — the Alumni funding was directed in support of that internship. IDRC provided at least 75% of the funding required.

A major individual donor supporting the Association’s effort to provide funding for regional office interns was alumnus Rachel DesRosiers. Sadly, in 2015, Rachel passed away. The Alumni Association then suggested to IDRC to designate the regional office internship in her honour, and IDRC graciously accepted to do so. The Association then continued to muster individual member donations (with the major one being paid directly to IDRC so the donors could receive a charitable tax receipt).

In February 2017, IDRC received a significant gift from Ramesh and Pilar Bhatia. It was then agreed that the Alumni Association, would every year “give appropriate visibility to its members about the funding available” from this generous gift. As part of this agreement, IDRC annually gives $250 to the Alumni Association, which we gratefully acknowledge.

IDRC’s 10-year strategic plan, effective 1 April 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic have induced significant changes into IDRC’s bursary modalities:

    • The IDRC Doctoral fellowships are now administered by University Canada (rather than internally).
    • All bursaries were merged under a single project with unified criteria and administration, knows as the IDRC Research Awards:
      • No donation received covers more than a small fraction of any given bursary.
      • The recipient who has a topic falling within the scope of the Climate-Resistant Food System program is designated as the Bentley research fellow.
      • The recipient who has a research topic close to the interests expressed by the Bhatia family is designated as the David and Ruth Hopper & Ramesh and Pilar Bhatia Canada awardee. This recipient is based either in Ottawa or in a regional office, in rotation. The continuity of other awards identified in 2017 under the David and Ruth Hopper & Ramesh and Pilar Bhatia Canada fund is under review.
    • The designation of a regional office internship as the Rachel DesRosiers Internship was discontinued.
    • The John G. Bene scholarships were left as is because of the large endowment that assures its full funding in perpetuity.

During IDRC’s 2023-2024 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2024, Peris Kung’U, a Ghanaian MSc student at the University of London (UK), was identified as the recipient of the David and Ruth Hopper & Ramesh and Pilar Bhatia Canada scholarship. She will carry out field work on vaccine hesitancy among the pastoral communities of Kenya. Her award is valued at $9748.

The current Alumni Association Executive does not wish to engage in fundraising to support IDRC programming. However, as IDRC is a registered charity, Alumni are free to donate any amount they wish directly to IDRC, in exchange for a charitable tax receipt. Specific program endowments that could support IDRC’s programming (always under its strategic plan) for several years, or in perpetuity, are always possible through donations or legacy gifts.

For more information:
The David and Ruth Hopper and Ramesh and Pilar Bhatia Canada Fund
2023 Bentley and Hopper-Bhatia research award recipients announced

Bulletin 74
October 2024