Postgraduate Student Travel Award

The RACI introduced the Postgraduate Student Travel Award to assist Postgraduate Student Members of the Institute to travel professionally from their home institution.

About this award

The RACI introduced the Postgraduate Student Travel Award to assist Postgraduate Student Members of the Institute to travel professionally from their home institution to either present at a conference or carry out research work in a remote location.
 
The award consists of a certificate and an amount of $2,000 to assist the student to collaborate with a research group at another Australian university or to deliver a paper at a conference/meeting overseas. Proof of attendance at the conference or research facility must be provided on return. On completion of the event, the RACI would like successful applicants to produce a short article for the RACI website and to make themselves available to speak about their experience to science/chemistry students at a RACI Affiliate Member school in their state.
 
Candidates may apply or be nominated and are required to be Post Graduate Student members of the RACI for a minimum of 12 months and enrolled at an Australian University in a Chemistry-related degree.
 
Please provide in PDF format:
  • A CV highlighting degrees, awards, any relevant- publications and include a short description of the expected outcome from attending.
  • Any other activities or special circumstances or contributions to the RACI.
  • Name, email and telephone contact information of academic advisor and a second referee. 

After the closing date, no further nominations for the award shall be accepted.

If in the opinion of the Board there is no candidate who has sufficient merit, the Board may refrain from making an award. The decision of the Board is final and no discussions or correspondence will be entered into.

The RACI National Awards are open from 1 April to 30 June.
During this time, you are invited to submit applications below.

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Diana Zhang

Zoe Gardner

2024 Postgraduate Student Travel Award Recipient

 My path to chemistry wasn't straight. After exploring visual arts and volunteering with environmental groups, I realised my passion lay in protecting our planet and environmental stewardship. Switching to a clean technology degree felt like the perfect way to contribute to tackling climate change. In my second year of undergraduate studies, I attended a lecture on Green Chemistry by Professor Colin Raston who inspired me that chemistry could be an avenue for positive change. This led me into a Summer Scholarship with him, which blossomed into an honour’s degree and now a PhD. My undergraduate research exchange to China on the New Columbo Plan Scholarship was also influential in sparking my love for research.. 

Diana Zhang

Alaa Bazeed

2024 Postgraduate Student Travel Award Recipient

 Both my undergraduate and master’s studies primarily focused on pharmaceutical formulations, providing me with a foundation in designing and optimizing drug delivery systems. However, as I transitioned into my PhD, I realized the need to broaden my knowledge, particularly in chemistry and, more specifically, polymer chemistry, as it is a key driver of innovation in the pharmaceutical field. This realization led me to join the Applied Chemistry and Translational Biomaterials group at UniSA, where I am working on developing polymeric-based injectables for the sustained delivery of therapeutics. This work integrates my background in pharmaceutics with advanced polymer chemistry.. 

Diana Zhang

Peter Hall

2024 Postgraduate Student Travel Award Recipient

 My interest in electrochemistry was initially sparked by a high school experiment which I think involved plating copper onto a metallic electrode. I remember starting to go 'off-script' after my group had finished taking the measurements that had been asked of us and seeing how the reaction was affected by increasing current... which of course led to rapid growth of copper on the cathode, in a much less controlled manner. Before this experiment I had never considered how electricity could be used to directly control chemical reactions..