Eligibility for Travel Bursaries

HCSNet makes available a limited number of travel bursaries for Australian-based SummerFest attendees who are travelling from outside the Sydney area.

To be eligible to apply for a travel bursary, you must either:

• be an undergraduate student who has pre-registered for SummerFest before the full registration process opens in mid September; or
• be the presenter of an accepted speed paper or workshop paper presentation.

Further details are provided below.

Undergraduate Students

You should indicate that you want to apply for a travel bursary when you complete the pre-registration form. Decisions on the awarding of travel bursaries will be made by Friday 19th September, and successful applicants will receive a letter indicating that they have been awarded a travel bursary; you may be able to use this letter as a means of leveraging additional funds — talk to your Head of Department or your Research Office for advice. For the purposes of these awards, students studying for postgraduate diplomas are eligible to apply provided their course of study is equivalent to a fourth year undergraduate program. If you are an undergraduate student studying in New Zealand, please email Mel Gallagher directly to enquire about your eligibility for a travel bursary.

Speed Paper and Workshop Presenters

When you submit your speed paper or workshop paper abstract, you should indicate whether you would like to be considered for a travel bursary. Decisions on the awarding of travel bursaries fot presenters will be made by Monday 29th September, and successful applicants will receive a letter indicating that they have been awarded a travel bursary.

Conditions of Award

We are only able to offer a limited number of $300 travel bursaries ($350 if you are coming from Tasmania or Western Australia), so the awards are competitive. For undergraduate students, awards will be based on their reasons for wanting to attend SummerFest, and other related information that they provide during the pre-registration process. For those presenting at workshops and the speed papers session, awards will be made based on availability and balance of technical coverage in the program.

Notification of awards will be made early enough to allow recipients to make travel arrangements, but the travel bursaries will be paid after SummerFest is over on the basis of receipts you provide to us. Only receipted items will be refunded, up to the value of the awarded travel bursary. Allowable items are airfares, accommodation costs, airport transfers and meals; you are free to determine which items you claim from HCSNet. All travel bookings and accommodation are your responsibility. There is no separate accommodation support or subsidy. During the SummerFest registration process you will be able to indicate that you would like to book accommodation in college; we will facilitate this process but you are responsible for payment.