The McGill Students and Scholars at Risk Fund

The war in Ukraine is one of many ongoing humanitarian crises, each reminding us of the fragility of life as we witness lives disrupted, refugees fleeing their homes, and atrocities visited upon civilians and their communities.

Though less often in the headlines, the effects of these crises on the academic community are also profound and long-lasting: schools and universities closed, scholarly work interrupted, life-changing research unrealized.

To help lessen the impact of these devastating events, McGill University has launched The McGill Students and Scholars at Risk Fund. The fund will provide urgent financial support to international undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, scholars and researchers who have been displaced by global conflicts or humanitarian emergencies.

The University has committed $400,000 – available immediately – to help ensure students and academics displaced by humanitarian crises are able to pursue their studies, research, or academic careers at McGill, in an environment of safety and stability.

The fund will enable us to provide students with critical support during their studies, including tuition waivers, health insurance, scholarships for living expenses, housing, and language support.

In addition, we will help provide a source of funding and an academic home to scholars and researchers by arranging temporary research and teaching positions as well as stipends or fellowships for living expenses.

The McGill Students and Scholars at Risk Fund will be a permanent fund, empowering us to offer support to students and scholars as needs arise.

This fund will also allow McGill to further its existing collaborations with organizations such as Scholars at Risk, the New University in Exile Consortium, and the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund.

A gift to this important initiative sends a message of solidarity and hope to students and scholars around the world whose lives have been upended by humanitarian crises. Gifts of any amount are deeply appreciated. 

By coming together, the McGill community can help ease the burden of students and scholars in need – now and in the future. 
 

“I work in conflict zones; I work in the worst places in the world. And despite that, kids will come out of that, and they will not ask for medicine. They will not ask for food. They ask for education. And you can give that gift.”   

Dr. Joanne Liu, Professor of Clinical Medicine at McGill University and former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders