Lumen Summer 2018 - Flipbook - Page 14
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Dr Rupananda Roy,
North Terrace
campus
LEFT
Dr Rupa Roy,
her husband Ripon,
and daughter Pernita
in the Barr Smith
Library
D
R Rupananda Roy is polite,
unassuming and her eyes sparkle
when she talks about her little girl.
And as the first indigenous woman
from Bangladesh to receive a PhD, her
academic achievement has created history.
Rupa, as she prefers to be called, belongs to the
Chakma indigenous group from Chittagong
Hill Tracts (CHT) in South-Eastern
Bangladesh.
Chakma is one of 54 indigenous communities
which are marginalised, face extreme
poverty and account for less than three per cent
of Bangladesh’s population.
Women and children have also suffered greatly
as instruments of war and victims of violence in
the CHT region where Rupa grew up.
The area is politically sensitive and heavily
militarised with residents facing human rights
violations and population displacements since
the 1970s.
But thanks to receiving an Australia Awards
Scholarship to study a Bachelor of
Development Studies at the University of
Adelaide, Rupa was able to leave the troubled
region at the age of 20.
“My parents were thrilled when I received this
scholarship because they knew that in Australia,
I would have opportunities in life and would be
safe,” she said.
After completing her degree, Rupa was
awarded a scholarship to pursue an honours
degree in Development Studies and then an
Adelaide Graduate Research Scholarship to
complete her PhD on labour migration.
Currently a case manager for the Australian
Education and Migration Services’ (AEMS)
Humanitarian Settlement Program, Rupa is
passionate about migrant issues in this country.
“I coordinate the delivery of settlement services
to refugees, assess their needs and help them
accordingly; for example, with their education
and employment,” she said.
“My research during my PhD focused on
macro-level migration issues and now, with my
position in AMES, I have the opportunity to
help migrants on a case by case basis.
12 THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
“Many of our clients have spent years in
refugee camps. Yet, when they come to
Australia, they are enthusiastic about starting
their life from scratch. Their energy is
infectious.”
Rupa has mixed feelings about being the first
indigenous female in Bangladesh to receive a
PhD.
“Of course I am very proud of myself but it
frustrates me that indigenous Bangladeshi men
managed to get PhDs decades ago but it’s taken
until 2017 for a woman to do the same,” she
said.
