Recipients
Congratulations to the 2026 C-ARCH award recipients!
Master's APEx stipend
Sophie Couper, Department of Population and Family
Sophie is working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Maldives team on two key projects:
1) Sophie is helping to develop a set of practical guidelines for ensuring Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (SRH) is maintained and prioritised during emergencies, as part of the National Emergency Operation Plan. This involves learning about specific challenges and concerns in the Maldives, including climate-related challenges, with increasingly extreme weather events. I am working with local partners to support their work. We are aiming to build a more resilient plan to protect this important care which includes but is not exclusive to maternity care, sexual violence, HIV, STI transmission, and contraception access, ensuring robust EmONC/Maternal health referral pathways during climate-related emergencies.
2) She is helping a local team of gynaecologists conduct an audit of caesarean sections and to develop national, evidence-based guidelines. A request of the Ministry of Health, in response to increasingly high rates, an issue evolving around the world.
Shane Araujo, Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Shane Araujo is completing his Applied Practice Experience with Fresh Life in Nairobi, Kenya, supporting the organization's advisory team in strengthening off-grid sanitation systems across Kenya and other African contexts. His work focuses on applied research, systems analysis, and stakeholder engagement to develop scalable, data-driven sanitation solutions for government and NGO partners. Through this experience, he is contributing to climate-resilient approaches to sanitation that improve environmental health, reduce infectious disease risk, and expand equitable access to safe sanitation in underserved urban and peri-urban communities.
Doctoral travel award
1) Sabah Usmani, Department of Environmental Health Sciences
2) Yanran Li, Department of Biostatistics