Program Partners
The Meridian Scholars Program is built on powerful partnerships with organisations committed to addressing global inequality and empowering youth leadership across five countries.
Oxford Diplomatic Society
The Oxford Diplomatic Society (ODS) is one of the premier student societies at the University of Oxford. Founded in 2020, the organisation has grown rapidly to over 2,500 members representing more than 100 countries and 80 academic disciplines. All members are full-time scholars at Oxford, bringing together a shared interest in diplomacy with world-leading academic expertise.
Founded on the principles of cross-border collaboration, inclusivity, and dialogue, the Society actively fosters international partnerships across over 20 countries, creating platforms for meaningful global exchange. ODS hosts regular high-profile speaker events featuring leaders from diplomacy, government, and business. Notable speakers have included Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Lord William Hague, former UK Foreign Secretary. Beyond speaker events, ODS integrates theory with practice through initiatives such as the Oxford Diplomatic Academy and Diplomatic Excursions to countries including China, Nepal, and Oman, providing members with first-hand exposure to international diplomacy and development contexts.
ODS is proud to partner with Meridian Scholars to adapt university-level diplomatic thinking into accessible mentorship, and looks forward to a meaningful and enduring collaboration that empowers the next generation of global leaders.
Institute for Rural Development
(IRD) is a Nepal-based policy and action-oriented think tank working at the intersection of education reform, youth leadership, diplomacy, and community development. IRD advances locally grounded and globally informed approaches to nation-building by connecting research, leadership, and implementation across borders.
IRD has cultivated a growing global network of students, scholars, and practitioners affiliated with leading institutions including Oxford, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, and Tsinghua University, spanning disciplines from science and law to public policy, education, climate research, entrepreneurship, and the arts. This network reflects IRD’s core belief that global learning gains value when it is meaningfully connected back to local realities.
A central pillar of IRD’s work is talent-to-impact pathways. Through research collaborations, leadership convenings, and summer internship programmes for undergraduate students, IRD enables emerging leaders to engage directly with real development challenges, combining academic rigor with field-based experience. These initiatives are designed to foster long-term civic commitment, ethical engagement, and practical problem-solving.
Peak Potential
Peak Potential is a youth-led social impact initiative founded in 2024 by high school students from Chinese International School, rising from the UNITAR Youth Ambassadors Asia Pacific 2024 cohort. Born from first-hand inspiration of a Nepal trekking trip, Peak Potential was established to demonstrate how young people can translate empathy into scalable action through cross-border collaboration.
Since its founding, Peak Potential has continued to operate as an independent, student-led organisation. In close partnership with the IRD, Peak Potential successfully raised funds, cooperated with international stakeholders, and led the construction of a multi-sport court in Simara, Nepal, now serving over 200 local youth on a daily basis as a hub for youth empowerment and community engagement. The project’s impact and youth-led model have been recognised by international media outlets, including the South China Morning Post and The Diplomat.
By working closely with IRD’s on-the-ground expertise, Peak Potential bridges global learning with local implementation, with a goal to inspire ambitions from young students that result in tangible, sustainable outcomes.