It may be premature to introduce her as an internationally recognized specialist, but one Penn State graduate student believes that such an opportunity is not far off.
Securing a highly competitive overseas scholarship is a solid starting step.
Sydney Forde, a PhD student at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, recently received a scholarship from Canada’s Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to help fund her research.
The highly competitive process for receiving SSHRC funding is one of the most prestigious honors available to a graduate student in or from Canada. Forde received her bachelor’s degree from Brock University in Ontario and her master’s degree through a program run jointly by Brock University and the University of Buffalo.
Funding helps every PhD student to devote their whole attention to their studies, seek out the best research mentors in their chosen subjects, and contribute to the research community.
“It’s an exciting award, and getting support is obviously helpful,” said Forde, a fourth-year PhD candidate at Penn State who intends to stay at Bellisario College for another year to finish her dissertation. “This is an excellent opportunity to make the most of my job. Plus, with all of the experiences and chances I’ve had at Penn State, the scholarship gives me another chance to do even more.”
Forde’s dissertation will analyze the narratives and justifications of two journalism antitrust exemption acts in the United States, one from 1970 and one planned in 2021, to determine who these laws truly benefit and whether they will salvage the struggling journalism business.
Her diverse academic interests include critical policy studies, economic philosophy, and the political economy of the media sectors. Forde’s research delves at the tensions between the principles and promises that people view as vital to democracy, as well as the fact that dominant economic arrangements frequently fail to serve those objectives.
Forde has also obtained excellent teaching experience at Penn State and hopes to one day work in academia where she can combine research and teaching.
SSHRC is one of Canada’s three federal research funding bodies (along with medical and natural science agencies) that promotes and supports humanities and social science research and training. SSHRC strategically supports world-leading efforts through its research training and talent development, insight research, and research partnerships programs, as well as partnerships and collaborations.
