As a literature and social sciences student at Mexico’s Universidad de Guadalajara, Nydia Pando assumed her chances of getting a Mitacs Globalink Research Internship (GRI) were slim. The available internships in her discipline didn’t quite align with her experience and areas of interest. “I interviewed with a professor, but we both understood I wasn’t the right person for the project.”
Despite this hurdle, Nydia’s credentials stood out for two Université de Québec en Outaouais (UQO) professors, who were working on a project about literature and slam poetry. A match was made, and Nydia arrived in Gatineau in summer 2014 to start her life-changing project, which explored literacy skills as a factor in social, economic, and cultural development:
“My experience was extraordinaire: the project was trilingual (French, Spanish, and English) and tried to understand the phenomena of performance and its transposition to schools, but this description doesn’t give it the justice it deserves. I couldn’t believe I had the chance to work on something that I loved so much. After my experience, I kept in touch with my professors: they were such an inspiration to me, I couldn’t let go this professional relationship go away.”
Nydia was true to her word and returned to UQO in January 2015 for a one-month research project with one of her former GRI supervisors. They expect to present their research at a conference in Ottawa and Nydia expects to return to Canada for a third time in the near future.
“My professor and I keep working and we expect me to come back for my master’s. I cannot explain the joy I feel being part of this: all the people I’ve met and that I have known, all GRI students I could meet thanks to Mitacs, are a big reason why I’m here.”
As she finishes her undergrad and prepares for grad school, Nydia remains an eager and appreciative ambassador for Mitacs Globalink:
“I speak of my research project to all my friends and all the people I know. I am very proud to have been part of this experience and to say that the experience continues. I thank Lizanne Lafontaine, Judith Emery-Bruneau, and the Mitacs Globalink team for what you’ve done: it’s not only given me the opportunity to do research; it’s given me the chance to seek hope for a better world.”
Mitacs thanks the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec for their support of the Globalink Research Internship program in this story. Across Canada, the Globalink program also receives support from Alberta Innovates, the Government of British Columbia, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Prince Edward Island, the Government of Saskatchewan, and Research Manitoba.
In addition, Mitacs is pleased to work with international partners to support Globalink, including Universities Australia, the China Scholarship Council, Campus France, India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development, Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education, Monterrey Institute of Technology, and the Higher Education and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Tunisia’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Mission Universitaire de Tunisie en Amerique du Nord.
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