Northwestern Qatar student Ishmael Bonsu has been selected for the 2024 Schwarzman Scholars, one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowship programs.
Each year, Schwarzman Scholars awards fully-funded scholarships to emerging scholars and young leaders interested in studying China to complete a graduate degree in global affairs at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Selected from a competitive pool of more than 4,000 candidates, this year’s cohort, the ninth in the history of the program, includes Bonsu along with 150 global scholars from 43 countries and 114 universities from around the world.
"Ishmael's selection as a 2024 Schwarzman Scholar is a testament to his exceptional academic prowess and leadership potential, and we at Northwestern University in Qatar are immensely proud of his achievement and look forward to witnessing the positive contributions he will undoubtedly make,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “This achievement demonstrates excellence in everything we do at NU-Q—from our fabulous students to the superb faculty and staff who mentor them to reach new heights."
As a Schwarzman Scholar, Bansu and fellow scholars will attend a graduate program designed to provide Scholars with the knowledge, skills, and firsthand experience needed to understand China’s changing role in the world while completing research projects in their various fields, including business, technology, politics, healthcare, and more. Bonsu plans to study the relationship between China’s data collection system and how it has informed migration policy across in the country.
“Ishmael's selection as a 2024 Schwarzman Scholar is a testament to his exceptional academic prowess and leadership potential, and we at Northwestern University in Qatar are immensely proud of his achievement and look forward to witnessing the positive contributions he will undoubtedly make”
“Throughout the past few decades, China’s rapid economic development has also transformed its migration trends, and as the country develops into a global power, it is important to investigate how technology has been used to shape policy using migrant data patterns across the country,” said Bonsu. “As a Schwarzman Scholar, I aim to explore China's advanced data collection system and how that has been used to shape evidence-based local policies not only in local migration but also in other social and economic phenomena.”
An international student from Ghana, Bonsu became interested in migration after taking a sociology course during his first year at Northwestern Qatar. As a journalism major, he continued to develop his interest in the subject as he went on to report for the school’s newspaper, The Daily Q, before participating in various research projects on rural and transnational migration, including a funded study on the inclusion and belonging of international students in Qatar and two independent projects on media’s framing of migrant workers in Qatar and the role of brokers in migrant decision-making.
"Being from Ghana, I have always been interested in public advocacy, and when I decided to study in Qatar, I wanted to channel energy and talent into and try to make an impact by researching migration, a topic very familiar to me and people in Ghana,” said Bonsu. “Studying at Northwestern Qatar empowered me with the knowledge and skills to pursue my passion, and as a Schwarzman Scholar, I am eager to continue to make a positive impact on the world and engage thoughtfully with migration and other pressing global issues."
Bonsu is the school’s first Schwarzman Scholar and among many Northwestern Qatar undergraduate researchers and emerging scholars with distinctive scholarly accomplishments and academic achievements, including William Gitta Lugoloobi, who was selected for the 2023 Rhodes Scholarship.
