BURSARIES AVAILABLE FOR TASMANIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
The Royal Society of Tasmania offers bursaries for Tasmanian secondary and senior secondary students who have been selected through a competitive process to represent Australia at an international event. Bursaries may also be awarded for national events held interstate. The scheme was initiated by the late Dr Peter Smith about 20 years ago. The amount of each bursary may be up to $1000.
Upon recommendation from the RST Bursaries Committee Council may, if satisfied the circumstances so merit, award a bursary.
The bursaries are one way in which the Royal Society of Tasmania achieves the aim of advancing knowledge at the same time as supporting the youth of Tasmania.
Bursaries have, in the past, been offered in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering. In 2019 the bursary program was broadened to also support students selected through a competitive process for international events in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Application process
Students should send a written application including:
- Name and contact details of the applicant, the name of the school attended by the applicant and the name of the event
- A brief description of the summer school or event they have been selected to attend, including location, dates and costs
- A copy of the recommendation from the Australian selectors for the event or activity they were chosen to attend
- A concise statement (<200 words), written by the student, about their goals and aspirations and a short CV (maximum 2 pages)
- A signed statement endorsing the application by a senior staff member of their school, including their contact details (email and phone).
There is no closing date for applications, as applications are considered on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Youth ANZAAS*: Students accepted for Youth ANZAAS are eligible to apply for a bursary.
Send applications to: Dr Deborah Beswick, Chair, RST Bursaries Committee, deborahkathleen.beswick@gmail.com
Past Recipients
During the COVID-19 pandemic 2020-2021, travel restrictions meant that few events were held and even fewer involved travel to overseas or interstate locations. As a result, there were no applications to the RST Bursaries program.
2019
- Michael Duffett (Year 11, Rosny College), Will Gaffney (Grade 9, Rose Bay High School), and Thomas Norgaard (Grade 9, Rose Bay High School) participated in the Australian 2019 RoboCup International Competition in Sydney in July 2019.
- Sophie Newton (Year 11), from Elizabeth College, was granted a bursary to attend the 2020 Crimson Education STEM Accelerator Tour, in the US in April 2020. Unfortunately, this event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2018
- Rose Donnelly (Launceston College) and Fergus Ayton (The Friends School) attended the world-wide Science Summer Experience in London.
- Raiden Lemon (The Hutchins School) attended the Physics Challenge in Beijing.
- As a team, Fergus Charles, Alex Titchen, James Pash, Koh Kawaaguchi, Alex Hogan-Jones and Fabian Natoli, represented Australia at the global Science Challenge at NASA/Cape Kennedy, USA.
- Dominic Grose (St Patrick’s College, Launceston) and Max Cross (Hobart College) attended the Junior ANZAAS Science School in Melbourne.
*ANZAAS – The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science is an organisation that was founded in 1888 by Archibald Liversidge as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science.
