Stephanie Spicer, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar 

Stephanie is one of 16 Ambassadorial Scholars in our district (District 1090) this year. She is from Auckland and is sponsored by the North Harbour Club in District 9910, also a young club, in New Zealand. She is in Oxford studying in the Environmental Change Institute at the University.  

The Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship Scheme was founded in 1947 and is one of the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship programmes having supported over 40,000 men and women studying abroad.  

Stephanie studied Geography and Law at the University of Auckland and then worked as a solicitor in a commercial law firm in New Zealand. Her interest in environmental issues grew when she worked on a boat crossing the Atlantic. She explained that the one year MSc in Environmental Change and Management at Oxford University is an interdisciplinary taught course including economics, science, law and policy and is a great opportunity to meet people from different fields and sectors. She was part of a group from the MSc course that went to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December and she is interested in the international negotiation processes. 

Stephanie is hoping to work in the UK after completing her MSc. She told the meeting that companies in the UK are further ahead than those in New Zealand in terms of sustainability and so it would be a great opportunity to work here before returning to New Zealand. An interesting discussion followed on the different approaches to recycling and sustainability in the UK and New Zealand.