Student Travel Grants
Grants, Bursaries & Prizes
The MSA shall annually allocate a pool of funding to help fund expenses of student members who present papers at National Conferences.
Beginning in 2011 the MSA undertook to offer travel funding to New Zealand, as well as Australian students.
Student Travel Grants are available to candidates enrolled in a program of supervised research at a recognised Australian or New Zealand institution of higher education, as well as Australian or New Zealand citizens studying overseas in other than Australian or New Zealand institutions of higher education. In accordance with conference guidelines, Australian student paper presenters, and hence travel grant recipients, are required to be members of the MSA at the time of presenting their papers. New Zealand students presenting at MSA conferences will be required to be members of the New Zealand Musicological Society.
Well in advance of each National Conference, the National Executive will determine an amount to be allocated (from National funds) for student travel scholarships. The availability of these funds, and invitation for students to apply for them, should be communicated widely to the MSA and NZMS membership generally along with the Call for Papers and followed up with a reminder to all prospective delegates as soon as the Conference Committee has approved their paper proposals. The Awards Chair will undertake this task via the E-News Bulletin.
The announcement should request notification of all application requirements (1. name, 2. email contact, 3, postal address (for posting cheques), 4. paper title, 5. institution, 6. course, 7. supervisor, 8. departure address, 9. estimated travel costs, 10. institutional support) be sent to the Awards Chair and state the deadline for the funding application.
Current practice is for the Awards Chair in cooperation with the National Executive to both determine the basis upon which to allocate travel funds (currently a simple division of the total pool of funds by the number of qualifying student papers, with amounts adjusted according to departure address, costs of flights and whether or not additional institutional funding has been offered).
If there is more than one presenter, only one travel grant may be awarded for each student paper accepted. If sufficient funds are available, a contribution to accommodation costs may be offered in addition to travel expenses.
The Awards Chair is to administer the process of receiving applications and communicating with applicants. Every effort should be made to assist as large a number of students as possible to attend; only in the event of insufficient funds should consideration be given to the applicant’s seniority.
Applicants should be notified of the outcome within two weeks of their application deadline and urged to book their flights promptly. Grants will be paid out by postal cheque or e-transfer on receipt of confirmation of flight bookings by successful applicants.
