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- Honours and Undergraduate Student Travel Award
Honours and undergraduate student travel scholarship
The AWMS Committee decided during 2012 that the Society should facilitate tertiary (undergraduate and Honours) student involvement in the range of fields associated with the scientific management of wildlife. The Committee recognised that exposure to operational activities, policy development and research associated with wildlife management could help to attract and maintain young, enthusiastic members to the Society. The Committee recognised that undergraduate and Honours students often are ineligible for travel grants and decided to target a program to support this group of students to undertake a study program involving travel to learn about and experience one or more aspects of the profession of wildlife management.
The AWMS will offer a travel grant (study) program for undergraduate and Honours students to undertake professional training and experience in wildlife management (including pest management, biodiversity assessment, conservation planning, threatened species recovery) with people working in these areas, as well as in wildlife research.
A grant could be provided for an internship with a wildlife/conservation management organisation within Australasia or in another part of the world, a wildlife research project involving travel, or another proposal that would provide the student with professional experience and exposure to scientific wildlife management in a different geographic location from where they reside. The grant program would involve support for travel for this experience.
An award under this program would be structured to ensure that the student’s travel/work experience is shared with the broader AWMS membership. The student would be required to provide a short report to the AWMS Committee, provide an article for the AWMS newsletter and give a presentation on what they learnt during the study/work program at the AWMS annual conference immediately following their travel grant.
Award Value
Up to a maximum of $3000 consisting of:
- Student registration for AWMS annual conference,
- Up to A$2000 consisting of:
- Three years free membership of AWMS @ $50 per annum;
- Travel costs to a maximum of $1850 (this could include up to $500 for travel to the AWMS annual conference); and
- An award certificate from AWMS.
Selection Criteria
To be considered for this program, the applicant must:
- Be an undergraduate or Honours student enrolled in a course related to wildlife management at a University or other tertiary institution in the Australasian region (Australasia includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua/New Guinea and the neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean);
- Be a financial member of AWMS at the time the application for the travel grant is submitted;
- Agree to submit a 500 word summary report of their study program/work experience to the AWMS Committee within one month of the completion of their travel grant;
- Agree to report on their study program/work experience in the AWMS newsletter immediately following the completion of their travel grant; and
- Agree to give a presentation at the AWMS annual conference immediately following the completion of their travel grant.
Selection Process
Applicants must complete the application form and provide the following documentation:
- AWMS Honours and Undergraduate Travel Scholarship Declaration form (signed and dated by the student applicant and the Head of their Faculty/School);
- A one-page summary (in 12 point font) outlining the study trip/work experience proposal and its relevance to wildlife management; and
- In the case of travel for a work experience placement, a statement of approval and authorisation for the student to undertake the work experience, signed by an appropriate representative of the host organisation.
Please ensure you scan your completed declaration form along with your one-page summary, and statement of approval where required, into one document before beginning your online application.
Applicants for the study grant program will be assessed according to the quality of their applications (written communication, clear goals for the proposed study/work experience program, and provision of evidence that the study/work program is feasible), and the benefit the program will provide for their professional development in wildlife management.
Selection Committee
Will be comprised of at least 3-5 members:
- President of AWMS.
- At least one, and up to two, wildlife practitioners nominated by the President of AWMS.
- At least one, and up to two, academics nominated by the president of AWMS.
The selection committee’s decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Conditions of entry
The AWMS reserves the right not to grant this award in any year if the entries are judged not to reach a minimum standard of quality of application, and/or the research does not appear to benefit for the field of wildlife management.