PhD student Anna Kuosmanen was chosen as one of the scholars for the Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities 2015 (full list of winners can be found at http://www.google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe/winners.html). Google Scholarships are given to students who have shown strong academic background and leadership skills, and demonstrated passion for computer science.
To be eligible to apply for the Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities, the student must have a disability, mental health or long term health condition that impacts one or more major activities that may be considered a daily function. These include (but are not limited to) for example dyslexia, visual impairment, diabetes, anxiety disorders and chronic pain conditions.
Below are Anna's thoughts about the scholarship.
"I'm very excited to have gotten this scholarship! To be honest, I didn't even consider myself disabled before I read EmployAbility's (Google's partner for this scholarship) definition of disabilities. I just live with chronic pain.
But the definition made a lot of sense. If you have to put extra energy into doing any daily, major activity, that's away from your studies and/or research work. I have to admit that, despite all the support and encouragement I've been given throughout my studies by people at the department, I do get discouraged at times by how little I seem to get done compared to other students. For that too it was great to get this acknowledgement. For knowing that hey, I actually have done pretty good!
I'd also like to encourage all eligible students to apply for the Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities 2016. The call probably opens in October 2015. If you're unsure if you qualify or have any other questions, people at EmployAbility (http://www.employ-ability.org.uk) are happy to help you."