Awarded annually, the Claes Isacson Scholarship aims to help young students finance an education at university level and to start a career within shipping or marine insurance. Every year Gard sees a high standard of applications, and this year was no different: the jury received 80 applications from around the world.
Strong talents
The two winners are both accomplished students with a wide-ranging and impressive track-record:
Natalia Calderon has a degree in marine oceanography and a background from the Naval Academy and the Colombian Navy, where she was the captain of one of the coastguard vessels, leading operations in relation to surveillance, pollution, and drug trafficking. She has worked in the private sector for Trafigura and is now concentrating on her Ph.D., with a focus on improving the sustainability of inland waterways transportation in Colombia, from a social, economic and environmental point of view.
Elizabeth Joseph joined Shell and moved to the UK after completing a joint degree in environmental engineering and Italian. She has had a number of roles at Shell, from supporting Shell’s maritime fleet, a marine terminal and two offshore platforms in risk management and environment. As part of her role she has analysed injury data to pioneer safety schemes such as having seafarers themselves making videos with their own safety tips. She was also involved in offshore risk management and, more recently, the decarbonisation strategy and digitalisation of energy and environment data for Shell’s maritime fleet.
Worthy winners
Gard CEO Rolf Thore Roppestad highlighted that supporting education and knowledge-sharing are core pillars for the Gard group and that it is particularly encouraging to see two female students win the Claes Isacson scholarship this year.
“We know the maritime industry is still very male-dominated, but that is gradually starting to change. Natalia and Elizabeth are both living examples of that, and we are proud to be able to support their journey,” said Roppestad.
For more information, visit our Claes Isacson scholarship web page.
