Canberra human rights advocate Sarah Dobbie wins prestigious Rhodes Scholarship

She was half as old when she dressed as a lawyer for her school's "when I grow up" day, and at 24 has been awarded one of the oldest and best known post-graduate scholarships.

The Canberra-based international affairs and human rights advocate was working as a refugee status determination legal advisor in Cairo when she received the life-changing news her name would be added to the list of Rhodes scholars.

She had been preparing for an emotional interview with a nine-year-old boy whose village was attacked and family killed by the Janjaweed government when she had to cut her trip five months short and fly home for a very different interview.

"That one [boy's story] really rocked me and still does," Ms Dobbie said.

"Leaving the individual people is awful, some of whom said I was the only person who had ever asked about their story."

But she knew it would benefit them and many more if she could use the scholarship to change the way forced migration is managed systematically.

The Rhodes' rigorous selection process is designed to find high academic achievers and leaders aiming to "fight the world's fight," serve the public and encourage international understanding and peace.

Hundreds of applicants are narrowed down to one scholar from each Australian state and three more at a national level, who join 72 others from around the world in receiving the honour.

Previous winners include Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Justices Hayne and Heydon of the High Court of Australia and former governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen.

Ms Dobbie had planned to start work with Allens law firm in Sydney after Cairo, having graduated with first class honours in international law and previously a double bachelor degree of law and arts at the ANU.

The former Canberra Girls Grammar student is the school's fourth Rhodes Scholar.

Her family and lecturers pushed her to apply for the scholarship, although she never expected to come close to winning.

But on learning she made the interview process she found herself on the next flight home from Egypt frantically preparing answers.

Three days later she sat in front of who she said were some of the world's most intelligent people, facing the biggest academic challenge of her life.

"I think it worked out well in a way because they could tell that I was so fresh from the emotion of Cairo and that the passion was there," she said.

"Those months away were extremely uncomfortable and horrifying and yet I felt so content because I knew it is what I was meant to do and I think they saw that."

If several interviews with high-profile selection panels weren't intimidating enough, she was then sent to dinner at Government House with Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove before receiving the good news she had made it.

Her new plan is to work at Allens for six months and then move to England to study an honours in civil law focusing on human rights law, with the scholarship covering the costs of flights, tuition fees and campus expenses.

Compounding Ms Dobbie's excitement is that she can joke with her fellow Harry Potter-loving friends "Dobbie is going to Hogwarts" - and on a serious note, that so many of her idols in her field teach at the university.

"The solutions to forced migration are so hard and so complex so I want to travel to Oxford to work out what the problems are, because right now treating people as the problem is the problem."

"Having access to this brain trust and this platform to hopefully make a difference will be incredible."