Roth-Thomson Awards to Sowa and Wang

Fulbright-Tampere University Graduate Awardee Timothy Sowa and Fulbright U.S. Student Program Awardee Irina Wang received the 2022 Roth-Thomson Awards.

The Roth-Thomson Award supports Timothy’s project on Sustainable Digital Education and helps him to reach schools beyond his host city region, important for his Fulbright project. “Receiving the Roth-Thomsom Award has allowed me to expand and deepen my engagement with technologists, educators, and organizational leaders concerned with addressing sustainable development. I am grateful not only for the additional opportunities this has afforded me at present, but also for the Foundation’s recognition of the importance of this work today and in the future. Strengthening the relationship between social science and tech development is a necessity for delivering truly innovative and equitable solutions, and meaningful collaboration will remain essential for generations to come,” Timothy says.

Timothy is a current Social Science master’s student in the Sustainable Digital Life program at Tampere University. In the future, he is looking to work as an education technology consultant, helping schools build and use digital platforms with an ethical and sustainable perspective.

Irina Wang uses her Roth-Thomson Award to design and produce materials that facilitate important conversations with and among herders about the reindeer husbandry operational environment. “I’m incredibly grateful that this award has helped advance the Arctic research of my CHARTER project collaborators. Most recently, we’ve prototyped a deck of cards used to facilitate workshops with herders and youth. Each design iteration helps gather insight about the state of reindeer husbandry, including herders’ hopes for the future of that system,” Irina says.

Irina Wang is a visiting research student at Aalto University and Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland where she works on her project to co-create design objects or “speculative artefacts” in close collaboration with Sámi reindeer herders about their perspectives on climate change and Arctic governance. Irina’s future plans include using her design skills in the conception and implementation of climate policy—especially with regards to power disparities between federal/state authorities and the indigenous populations across the U.S.

The annual Roth-Thomson Award provides U.S. Fulbrighters in Finland the opportunity to enhance or expand their original Fulbright project. The Fulbright Finland Foundation has worked with the Lois Roth Foundation since 1991.