Remote Surveillance Trailer in Aberdeen, WA

07 July 2025

A passion for politics will take Lily Macdonald from Aberdeen to Washington DC later this summer where the opportunity of a lifetime awaits.

Leaving with a first class MA (Hons) in Politics and International Relations to her name, graduation is just the start of the adventure for the 21-year-old who has secured a coveted Fulbright-American University Scholarship.

The only UK student offered a place at American University this year under the Fulbright award, Lily will be jetting off to the US capital in August to study at America University’s School of Public Affairs where she will learn from some of the best in the business, including a former speech writer for President Obama and a former Senate Chief of Staff.

“I still can’t really believe it. I’ve been interested in American politics for a long time so this is like a dream come true,” she said. “I think I was in shock for about two days after finding out because it didn’t feel real and then all of a sudden I thought, ‘oh wow, this is actually happening’ and just started crying.”

With a background in community development and volunteering, the scholarship blends Lily’s extracurricular activities with her academic interests. She has been actively involved in community integration projects for the past seven years, focusing on topics including intergenerational work with ACE Voices, youth empowerment as part of Aberdeen Youth Movement and inclusive networking for neurodiverse individuals and their families.

“My research proposal is about exploring the pipeline between American political infrastructure and community grassroots conflict. How disengagement and polarisation manifest into violence at a local level, what that conflict looks like, and what we can do to heal it.

“I feel quite passionately about it because I think political polarisation is almost exclusively explored at a national or international level, but actually if you can work to heal communities at a local level that's when real change can be made.”

Not only is Lily leaving with a first, Lily is also the proud recipient of the 2025 Grant Jordan prize for the Best Politics Dissertation.

“Winning the prize is the icing on the cake,” she said. “It’s especially meaningful because two years ago I never would have thought any of this would be possible.”

After feeling she’d had to work extra hard to maintain good grades at secondary school, Lily was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia in her second year at university.

“I’d always put in the effort and was a straight A student but, after getting my diagnosis, a lot of things I’d found really difficult over the years suddenly made sense,” she said.

“The support the University gave me was fantastic. My lecturer, Dr Malcolm Harvey, in particular was brilliant, he really changed my life. Along with the Student Support team he helped me find alternative ways to absorb the information I needed, like sourcing audio versions of data science visuals which I find a challenge.

“Taking that pressure off gave me the space to be able to spend more time putting my thoughts to paper like everyone else, rather than working hard just trying to keep up.”

Dr Harvey was also instrumental in encouraging Lily to apply for the Fulbright award.

“Throughout my degree I've specialised in American domestic politics and foreign policy. I spoke to him about doing a Masters and he said, ‘go to America’. It never crossed my mind that would be possible but he told me about Fulbright and while it was an extremely tough process, he encouraged me and made me believe it could happen.

“I was over the moon the day I found out I’d got it. I’m very excited about what comes next but I’ve loved being at the University of Aberdeen so I’m also sad to leave.

“The idea of community is in my DNA. I’ve felt part of a community at the University and in a research capacity I want to see what community healing looks like in America and take that back to the projects that I'm already involved with here.

“I can see myself going into some sort of advisory role further down the line. It's not an easy path, but neither was Fulbright so I’m optimistic about the future.”

Until then Lily, a keen musician, is looking forward to her two years in DC which will include exploring the local music scene.