Announcing the New Shannex Graduate Scholarship in Aging and Nutrition
For Lanlan Xin, it was a graduate entrance scholarship that reignited her passion for research and led her back to school.
Lanlan was the 2024/25 recipient of the Genevieve Keefe Graduate Entrance Scholarship, a scholarship that is awarded annually to an individual perusing a Master of Family Studies and Gerontology degree, with a preference given to those focusing their research on aging. The scholarship was established by department chair and Director of the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging, Dr. Janice Keefe, in memory of her mother, “a supporter of education, a mother and grandmother, and family CEO.”
Lanlan notes, “aging is our shared reality – it is our collective future. For my thesis research, I am interested in how to improve long term care [LTC] in our Provinces. I have proposed to examine the quality of work life among staff who work in different LTC ownership models in PEI and Nova Scotia. I will use data from the ARC-LTC study (including staff from 28 facilities) to examine what factors contribute to better quality of work life.”
The Genevieve Keefe Entrance Scholarship is one of a number now offered at MSVU including the F. Marie Jones scholarship in recognition of Marie’s life-long volunteer contributions to her alma mater, her community and more recently, her determined advocacy for residents of long-term care facilities, and our new Shannex graduate scholarships.
New scholarships – Deadline approaching!
In May 2024, Shannex and MSVU announced the establishment of the Shannex Centre for Workforce Wellbeing, a partnership program that would include a new research chair, new learning opportunities for students and emerging scholars, and new research on innovative care practices and nutrition for residents.
As part of that partnership and based on a commitment to leading the way to healthier futures for aging adults, a new Shannex Graduate Scholarship in Aging and Nutrition has been created. These graduate scholarships are available to MSVU students in thesis-based graduate degree programs in Family Studies and Gerontology or Applied Human Nutrition who are focusing their research in an area related to long-term care.
Thanks to the generosity of partners at Shannex, $20,000 will be awarded annually for five years and may be split between two full-time students each year – with the first scholarships being awarded for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Graduate students (thesis based) who are accepted into either graduate programs in Family Studies and Gerontology or Applied Human Nutrition are eligible. The deadline for applications into both programs has been extended until February 28. Interested students can arrange an online or in-person meeting with our faculty, graduate coordinator or even have a personalized tour through our facilities, including the NS Centre on Aging and MSVU Appetite Lab.
For more information on the scholarship or the academic programs, contact Department Chairs Janice.keefe@msvu.ca for Family Studies and Gerontology or Bohdan.Luhovyy@msvu.ca for Applied Human Nutrition.