A Dapp native has been rewarded for her commitment to legal philosophy with a $180,000 scholarship to pursue a doctorate at Oxford University in the United Kingdom this fall.
Leah Trueblood, 25, is one of 15 Canadian students who were awarded with an annual stipend of $40,000 for tuition and living expenses and an additional $20,000 for travel from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation for the next three years of her research.
“It’s a really excellent opportunity,” she said. “It’s sort of one of a kind in Canada because they don’t only support doctoral work itself for your tuition and living, they also create a network of people that are trying to solve questions of social policy.”
As a result, the former Dapp School and R.F. Staples student will be conducting research while working in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
“That’s for three years,” Trueblood said. “And for the fourth year you can reapply and get a scholarship to either finish writing your thesis, or if you’re finished you can get a grant to disseminate your thesis and keep travelling, then transition into a job. So, hopefully I’ll be done in three years.”
Previously, Trueblood completed a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at the University of Alberta and expects to receive her law degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in July. She will also attend and present information to other students about her work during at least three meetings in Canada this year.
“At Oxford, I’ll be working with lots of legal philosophers who are Canadians,” she said. “If you want to do really theoretical stuff like the stuff I want to do, that’s where a lot of the legal philosophers work. It would be great to come home, but that’s where the action in my field is.”
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is a memorial scholarship named after the former prime minister. It aims to fund individuals that want to make meaningful contributions to critical public issues in human rights, environment and citizenship. Only 15 Canadian students receive funding yearly.
“Leah is a great person and hopefully an example of what one can do with hard work and perseverance,” said Wayne Pidsadowski, former R.F. Staples social studies teacher. “While Leah was a student in my class she was a passionate learner and a conscientious and caring individual.”
Every assignment and every task was always completed to the highest standards, Pidsadowski recalled, adding it came as no surprise she has been recognized through the Trudeau Scholarship Foundation.
“Even as a high school student she was very aware of the needs of others and did her best to enrich the school community,” he said.
And her goals have only flourished since then.
“I have a degree in philosophy and now I’m doing law so I work at the intersection of legal and moral philosophy,” Trueblood said. “I’m interested in the different types of legal obligations.”
She also expressed interest in different types of law and its impact on people. The idea, she said, is to understand what the richest, most productive relationship one could have between the government and citizens.
“It’s very theoretical so I’m sorry, it’s kind of weird but that’s the gist of it,” she said with a giggle. “It’s funny how I got here. I took a philosophy course in university and it was the first course that I ever took in university, and I just loved it. I loved legal philosophy and I did my law degree and here I am.”
