A Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) graduate and public policy researcher won the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the most prestigious scholarships in the world, Rhodes announced Nov. 15. 

Fatima Yunusa (SFS-Q ’24), who majored in culture and politics at GU-Q, was one of 135 scholars to win Rhodes, joining over 30 previous Georgetown students and graduates who have won the award since its 1902 inception. The scholarship awards two years’ funding for graduate study tuition, fees and living expenses at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Yunusa, who was GU-Q’s valedictorian, said she sees Rhodes as the culmination of her efforts to study public policy as a source of social good. 

“Everything is coming together,” Yunusa told The Hoya. “My journey of trying to find out the best way to create this change in a way that was measurable, in a way that was timely, in a way that was tangible, led me to policy as a tool for creating change at scale.”

Yunusa grew up in Nigeria, where she founded a high school program to teach young girls business and leadership skills. At GU-Q, she studied education policy, socioeconomic development and global women’s issues while interning for various nongovernmental organizations that support economic empowerment initiatives and refugees.

Yunusa said she aims to uplift people across Nigeria and worldwide through public policy.

“I grew up very familiar with poverty, even though I cannot describe myself specifically as poor,” Yunusa said. “A lot of the people who I loved and cared about, I watched them work my entire life, from one job to the other, from one business to the other, without ever really finding something that, one, did justice to the intelligence and abilities that I know them to have, and, two, that gave them really a viable means of lifting themselves out of poverty.”

“I’d always ask myself, ‘What can I do in my own capacity to empower members of my community, to be able to improve their life outcomes sustainably?’” Yunusa added.

Interim University President Robert M. Groves said Yunusa embodies Georgetown’s spirit and mission through her emphasis on helping others through public policy.

“I’d like to extend my congratulations to Fatima on her extraordinary accomplishment of becoming a Rhodes Scholar,” Groves said in a university press release. “Fatima’s commitment to uplifting others combined with her focus on public policy and public service exemplifies Georgetown’s highest ideals, and we look forward to seeing what she will accomplish.”

Yunusa said she hopes to draw on the network of resources at Oxford to learn how best to help her home country.

“A lot of very accomplished public service practitioners are going to be in the classes,” Yunusa said. “The case studies and approaches that it uses are grounded in international realities, best practices. And I look forward to learning from this international pool of resources that it has, what the global best practices are, and gaining the skills needed to then localize these and apply this and deploy this in the unique Nigerian context.”

At GU-Q, Yunusa served as a writing tutor and a community development advisor, mentoring high school students from underserved communities in Africa. She has also helped Palestinian refugees learn English as they evacuate Gaza and worked with the international philanthropy group Libra Philanthropies, which provides grants for social impact initiatives worldwide.

Damien Tissot, a professor who taught Yunusa in both advanced French and feminist literature, said Yunusa incorporated her life experiences into her studies and was a classroom leader, citing her passion for feminism.

“She’s very well aware of what’s happening in the region where she was raised,” Tissot told The Hoya. “She brought this amazing insight into all of the classrooms. I have a specific memory of her when she was in ‘Introduction to Feminist Philosophy,’ where at some point, we were discussing a text and she stepped back and she started talking to the other students and trying to raise awareness about specific issues.”

“For her, feminist issues were something that really resonated with her,” Tissot added.

Yunusa said she plans to study how issues intersect in her path to public policy.

“Everything is wrapped together, and was pointing in the direction of studying public policy, because my understanding of what public policy is is being able to map a problem at all the intersections that is existing, mapping out the entire ecosystem, and being able to take an evidence-based approach to solving the foundational issues that caused the problem and contextualize that solution to a unique landscape,” Yunusa said.

Christine Schiwietz, a GU-Q advisor to the dean for civic engagement who recommended Yunusa for Rhodes, said she represents the best of Georgetown’s community.

“She leads with integrity and conviction and brings a deeply grounded commitment to civic engagement and inclusion,” Schiwietz wrote to The Hoya. “Her work supporting women students and displaced youth illustrates her unwavering purpose and dedication to meaningful change. She truly embodies the Rhodes ethos of excellence in service to others. I could not be more proud of her, and I know she will continue to lead with impact at Oxford and globally.”

Yunusa said she is passionate about public policy because it has the capacity to bring about real change.

“If you could use effective, evidence-proven policies, you could actually improve people’s lives,” Yunusa said. “You could actually lead them out of poverty. That was when I really said, ‘Okay, I think this is giving direction to how specifically I would like to catalyze this change.’”

Lynda Iroulo, a GU-Q international relations professor who taught and worked with Yunusa, said she was not surprised that Yunusa won the award, given her consistent dedication to public service and research.

“Her thought-provoking questions demonstrated a remarkable ability to critically engage with readings beyond academia, reflecting on how they illuminate realities and policies with particular emphasis on Africa,” Iroulo wrote to The Hoya. “She is unapologetically herself — proudly Nigerian and African — and I loved how she would arrive in vibrant Nigerian attire. Yet she remained deeply inclusive, caring genuinely about her peers’ welfare and advocating for their voices to be heard.”

“Knowing her, as a high academic achiever and endearing personality, someone who genuinely cares about her peers and community, I knew that she would receive it,” Iroulo added.

Yunusa said studying at Oxford will help her understand how to unite policy areas to build solutions to local issues.

“An effective policy solution for talent development and poverty eradication right in Nigeria will not be the same as what it will look like in Qatar, will not be the same as what we look like in the U.S., because we have different prevailing socioeconomic condition, political conditions,” Yunusa said. “So being able to look at the world and problem-solve with such thoroughness, I think that’s the lens that public policy gives you. And where better to study that than at Oxford University?”