The Board of Directors of the Zoryan Institute is pleased to announce the winner of its Ph.D. Scholarship Award for 2005. After much deliberation and debate, the Committee has awarded its first scholarship to Sévane Garibian of France. “The committee had a real challenge in choosing her application from among the impressive proposals, which were submitted by candidates from Armenia, Canada, France, Italy, and the USA,” stated Roger W. Smith, Chairman of Zoryan’s Academic Board of Directors.

Ms. Garibian‘s thesis is on the concept of crimes against humanity and the requirements of the law. As part of this study, she examines the influence of works on the Armenian Genocide on the Nuremberg laws and, more generally, on international criminal law related to crimes against humanity. Sévane Garibian received her Maîtrise en Droit (Bachelor of Law) from the University of Geneva in 1996. She received two Diplômes d’Études Approfondis from the University of Paris X, one in 1997 in Political Crime and the other in 1998 in The Theory of Law. Since 1999 she has been pursuing a double doctorate in law at the University of Paris X and at the University of Geneva.

In response to notification on the receipt of the award, Ms. Garibian stated, “It is a big honour for me to receive this scholarship from the Zoryan Institute, which is a very prestigious institute that works with many renowned scholars. For me, one of the best ways to approach genocide studies is from the legal perspective. I want to help develop our understanding that genocide is crime in international law and how that came to be. I hope this approach will help efforts to prevent genocide in the future. The assistance this scholarship provides is extremely precious to a doctoral student, particularly at the stage of thesis writing which is, in my opinion, the most exhausting and intense stage in the Ph.D. I would like to thank the Zoryan Institute and its Scholarship Committee for all their work in providing this scholarship.”

“The idea for this scholarship program originated with Mr. and Mrs. Dikran and Sonia Bal of Montreal,” explained Greg Sarkissian, President of the Zoryan Institute. “They wanted to provide encouragement to Ph.D. students preparing their theses on the Armenian Genocide and/or on comparative genocide with a focus on the Armenian Genocide. I am sure that Dikran and Sonia Bal are very pleased that their vision of helping to develop young scholars to engage in genocide studies and research through the establishment of a scholarship fund has become a reality. Judging from the number and variety of applications,” he remarked, “they are succeeding admirably.”

The Scholarship Committee chooses the successful candidates based on the following criteria:

• Academic excellence, based on a review of graduate transcripts.

• Letters of recommendation from professors.

• Description by the candidate of the thesis.

• A sample of a graduate paper.

• Language skills appropriate to the candidate’s subject.

The scholarship is open to currently enrolled Ph.D. students in good standing and who are preparing their thesis on the Armenian Genocide or a comparative study with other genocides. Candidates must be at the “All But Dissertation” stage of their studies (i.e., all requirements for the Ph.D. have been completed except for the dissertation). Applications for the 2006 awards are being accepted now, with a closing date of February 28th. For inquiries, call 416-250-9807 or write to zoryan@zoryaninstitute.org Attn: Mr. George Shirinian, Director.