​When she was awarded the prestigious PhD Global Minds Scholarship through Leuven University, Lynn Hendricks had not prepared herself for temperatures of minus-six degrees and for the lonely, overwhelmed feeling of being in a new country. 

But, said Hendricks, a research psychologist and recent graduate of the MSc Clinical Epidemiology programme at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, it has all been worth it. “In these four short weeks I have already learnt more about arts-based research than I ever did reading books and papers over the past few years," she said. 

Hendricks, who is currently employed at the Centre for Evidence Based Health Care (CEBHC), as a teaching facilitator, was over the moon when she heard recently that she had been awarded the fully-funded four-year scholarship through Leuven which is situated just outside Brussels in Belgium.

She will spend between four and five months at Leuven University every year and will be at the CEBHC the rest of the time. 

Her award – valued at about R2 million over four years – was an outstanding achievement because competition for the grant is stiff with only one person per country region being selected each year. 

As a contribution to development, Leuven, Belgium's largest university, selects exceptional students from developing countries as scholarship candidates to obtain their PhD there, with a view to the PhD holders using the expertise gained when they are home. The scholarships are offered to excellent proposals that deal with a development-relevant research topic, preferably linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Hendricks' work as a teaching facilitator involves developing new research methods modules and working on research projects. Her scholarship work involves a transdisciplinary joint PhD between Leuven and Stellenbosch universities. “I am exploring, through participatory research, the experiences of perinatally infected HIV positive South African youth and what they perceive as an enabling environment for adherence and their ability to thrive. Additionally, I'm interrogating the use of arts-based research as a methodology and research-film as a dissemination outcome throughout my project." 

Hendricks said she feels “really blessed" to be a recipient of the scholarship. “When I heard I'd got it, I was ecstatic! I get to spend every working moment on research I'm passionate about, with people I look up to and in a subject area I love." 

Highlights of the experience so far include her “great" PhD supervision team (Prof K. Hannes-Leuven; Prof T Young-Stellenbosch and Prof C. Mathei-Leuven) between the two universities and attending the 3rd European Congress of Qualitative Enquiry in Scotland. “I made connections with other researchers in Belgium, Australia and the United Kingdom. I even got an invitation to present on qualitative systematic reviews in Poland in April this year." 

Even though it's been an adjustment, Hendricks is adapting fast: “I've met great people, my research group has been supportive and my family is a video call away. 

“I'll return to Stellenbosch University a new person, revived, recharged and ready to teach! It's awesome being a Global Minds Scholar!"