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For their work in important fields of law, two º£½ÇÉçÇø researchers received a high-profile scholarship from the Law Society of Alberta (LSA). Faculty of Law postgraduate students Rachel Weary, ‘24 LLM, and Jacob Schweda were awarded the Viscount Bennett Scholarship for the 2025/26 academic year.

The Viscount Bennett Scholarship supports postgraduate students in the field of common law, and grants successful applicants up to $20,000 to support their studies. Named for Canada’s 11th Prime Minister, Richard Bennett, the first Viscount Bennett, the scholarship is awarded to individuals with exceptional academic records, and a track record of using their legal expertise to strengthen and contribute to their communities.

Schweda — who holds a bachelor of laws and bachelor of civil law from McGill University, and a master of laws from York University — says that he is grateful and honoured to receive the scholarship. As a researcher, his work focuses on how legal systems impact workplace safety, and the legal tools that can be used to foster it. Related to this, he also studies occupational mental injuries and how they are compensated.

“This support allows me to look closely at the law's role in compensating occupational psychological injuries, an important aspect of workplace justice,” he says of receiving the Viscount Bennett Scholarship.

“Working conditions significantly impact workers' mental wellbeing, and my doctoral research will assess how the law and legal institutions respond when that wellbeing is compromised.”

Previously, Schweda received the Alberta Graduate Recruitment Scholarship, the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship and the Honourable N.D. McDermid Graduate Scholarship.

Ubaka Ogbogu, a professor in the Faculty of Law and Schweda’s supervisor, said that the postgrad student’s work “addresses an urgent and underexamined area of Canadian employment law: the legal treatment of occupational psychological injuries and their disproportionate effects on vulnerable workers.”

“He brings critical insight and deep commitment to this work, and I’m delighted to see his efforts recognized with the Viscount Bennett Scholarship,” Ogbogu adds.

Weary graduated from the Faculty of Law’s JD program in 2018 and successfully defended her LLM thesis in September, 2024. This work used doctrinal and archival methods to study the Alberta Guarantees Acknowledgement Act and its evolution.

Prior to receiving the Viscount Bennett Scholarship, Weary also received the SSHRC-funded Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Horace Harvey Medal in Law.

Weary researches relationship debt, financial abuse, debtor–creditor law and guarantees law with a focus on how debt can interact with social marginalization. Additionally, she studies the concept of “pseudolaw” (also known as “OPCA”) in commercial law.

“Her research has important policy implications for how the law can protect unsophisticated borrowers from exploitation as well as how to safeguard against coercive financial practices in the context of family relationships,” says Anna Lund, Weary’s supervisor and a professor with the Faculty of Law.

Weary adds that she owes “enormous thanks” to her supervisor, and Faculty of Law professors Roderick Wood and Jessica Eisen. “I’m honoured to receive a Viscount Bennett scholarship and very excited to continue my research into debt, feminism and pseudolaw in Canada,” she says.

“We are delighted she's decided to continue her academic journey at our Faculty,” Lund says.