2019 Winner of the Capstone Editing Laptop Grant for Postgraduate Coursework Students
We are pleased to announce the winner of The Capstone Editing Laptop Grant for Postgraduate Coursework Students, Arjun Bhogal! Arjun’s hard work, dedication and outstanding achievements are what led us to select him as the winner of this grant.
Arjun is a British adventurer, facilitator and public speaker who is currently studying his Master’s of International Journalism at the University of Melbourne. In 2012, Arjun left the United Kingdom and journeyed over 25,000 kilometres to Australia on foot to raise funds and awareness for clean water access and the charity, WaterAid. The expedition, titled Borderwalk, was a five-year journey across 20 countries—through jungles, deserts, mountains and some of the most dangerous places in the world. By the end of his journey, Arjun raised enough funds for WaterAid to supply public water access points and to support 400 families.
Since completing Borderwalk, Arjun has joined the preventative mental health organisation, The Man Cave, as a facilitator, working with boys and young men in schools throughout Australia. He frequents various educational institutions, such as Melbourne Grammar School, University of Oxford, La Trobe University, National University of Singapore, and conferences, such as Cultivator Inc. and Hero Round Table, where he discusses his five-year journey and the importance of clean water access.
In studying international journalism at Melbourne University, Arjun is looking to take his experience to the field. He wants to use it to tell the stories of the people he’s met along the way—as well as tell other interesting and compelling stories from around the world—in areas such as adventure, mental health and the environment.
The Capstone Editing Laptop Grant for Postgraduate Coursework Students will assist Arjun to acquire a suitable laptop for writing and researching pieces, as well as for editing high-resolution video footage and photographs for his journalism degree. He will also be able to complete his master’s studies outside traditional working hours.
Arjun is currently planning for Walking the Yarra, a smaller 242-kilometre walk of the Yarra River from source to sea, where he will explore the river’s history and document pollution and industrialisation issues. He will use his new laptop to write and tell stories and edit footage from this expedition while he is on the road, which will engage his audience. Arjun’s new laptop will also help him refine his skills as he delves deeper into the eclectic subjects that he finds fascinating at university: environmental policy, global crisis reporting and violence, trauma and reconciliation.
After receiving the Harvey Norman voucher for his new laptop, Arjun plans to create a new blog in which he will document human-interest stories that he has already acquired, as well as those that he will experience in the future. He plans to develop a workshop for schools and universities across Australia, in which he will use his Borderwalk story to focus on clean water access and to engage young people. This workshop will be integrated with his regular public speaking, in which he will teach Australian students about clean water access and the importance of seeking an adventure, no matter the size.
If you’d like to see more of Arjun’s story, you can read about his adventures and expeditions on his personal website here: www.ArjunBhogal.co.uk.