Faculty of Health Sciences
Postgraduate Support Grants 2012
Guidelines
Closing date for Round 2 Applications:
5:00 pm Monday, 20 August, 2012
1. The Grant
Post-graduate support grants are provided by the Faculty Higher Degrees Committee
(Research) to support research activities of Higher Degree candidates in the Faculty of
Health Sciences. The grant is intended to supplement, not replace, support provided
through the enrolling department, school or centre.
The grant is for an amount up to $800. Applicants should note that while they can apply for
up to $800, there is no guarantee that they will receive the full amount. Applications often
exceed the total budget and the maximum amount may be reduced accordingly. In recent
years, the maximum grant awarded has been about $600.
There are two rounds of applications each year with closing dates in April and September.
Applicants cannot receive more than one Postgraduate Support Grant per year. If any funds
are awarded to a candidate in the first round (even if it is not the full amount requested)
they are ineligible for funding in the second round. Students who receive a grant in any year
cannot apply in subsequent years for retrospective funding for that year.
It should be noted that all equipment and other material goods (e.g. manuals, test kits,
consumables) purchased through grant funds remain the property of the University.
2. Secretariat
Applications and enquiries should be addressed to
Rosy Calabro
E-mail:
r.calabro@latrobe.edu.au
Phone:
(03) 9479 3571
3. Eligibility
The grant is available to any student currently enrolled in a postgraduate research degree in
the Faculty of Health Sciences.
4. Supervisor Endorsement
Your supervisor is required to sign the application, or send a confirmation email (see
submission process). Please ensure you allow sufficient time for this endorsement to be
obtained as your application may be disadvantaged if this signature is not provided.
5. Submission process
Students must submit their application electronically with a CC to their supervisor.
Applicants should ask their supervisor to send a follow-up email to the above address, in
order to endorse the application. Alternatively, the supervisor can sign the application, and
this can be scanned and submitted electronically.
a) When the application has been submitted, the student will be issued with a receipt
number (upon receipt of supervisor’s confirmation email, if required) in order to verify
that your application has been received. If you have not received a receipt within 48
hours of the application being sent, please contact the secretariat.
b) It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the applications are complete. The
Faculty Office will not contact students should information be missing from their
submission. However, students are very welcome to contact the secretariat for advice on
their applications prior to the deadline.
c) Applications must reach the Faculty Office by e-mail by the closing date indicated on this
form.
6. Budget
Applicants must ensure that an itemised budget is provided under Question 6. All budget
requests must be clearly justified on the application form under Question 7. You do not need
to provide supporting documentation for budget items with your submission. However,
documentation, such as tax invoices, will be needed when accessing your funds from your
Finance/Resource Manager. Some examples of budget justifications that have been
considered favourably by reviewers in the past are attached for your information (see
Attachment 1.)
Funds must be expended within the calendar year of the grant application. If there are
extenuating circumstances and the funds cannot be expended within the calendar year, a
written request for extension must be sent to The Chair, Faculty Higher Degrees Committee
for consideration.
7. Items that may be supported under this scheme include:
a) Presentations at conferences. Support is available to attend conferences to deliver either
poster or oral presentations related to the thesis. Applications must clearly state
whether the applicant will be presenting and provide the location and dates of the
conference, registration, travel and accommodation costs and evidence that an abstract
has been accepted for presentation. If the applicant is still awaiting acceptance of an
abstract, the timeline for acceptance of abstracts should be indicated. It is unlikely that
an application will be funded if the applicant is not presenting unless there is a strong
rationale for attendance. Such rationale should clearly link the specific aspects of the
research project with aspects of the conference. Applications to present papers
unrelated to the thesis will not be supported. Applications to refund costs of conferences
attended in previous years will not be considered.
b) Special materials required for the research project, including standardised test
instruments and associated manuals.
c) Attendance at training courses. If the training course overlaps with training that
duplicates training available at the University, a strong justification for attending offcampus training should be included in the application.
d) Field work: Funding for travel, VISA, permits, accommodation and office costs incurred,
may be provided for students to conduct interviews or visit remote centres or facilities to
collect data for their research project.
e) If funding for assistance in data collection is requested, applicants must specify whether
or not they will also be involved in the collection of data.
f)
Transcription of interviews.
g) Purchase of items of research equipment. Applicants wishing to fund the purchase of any
equipment or software should first ascertain if it is available through the Faculty
Technical Services on extension 5637.
h) Partial funding for costs of surveys. (Departments and Centres are normally expected to
cover the costs of photocopying and postage. See 8b below.)
i)
Graphic design costs associated with poster presentations and PowerPoint presentations.
j)
Costs associated with publication of papers, eg. production of coloured figures/graphs,
fees charged by journals.
k) Honorarium payments to research participants (subject to evidence being provided that
ethics approval has been obtained).
l)
Costs imposed by external authorities when seeking ethics approval.
m) Thesis editing costs. Support may be provided for editorial assistance in production of
the final draft of a thesis for ESL candidates. Support for editorial costs is only available
once during candidature.
8. Items that are NOT normally supported under this scheme include:
a) Travel to meet with supervisors.
b) General office costs (telephones, facsimiles, unspecified photocopying).
c) Software packages (e.g. MS Office, EndNote, SPSS, NVIVO) which should reasonably be
provided through the computing resources of the school or department.*
The University has site licenses for staff for software. Some of these licenses also cover
students. If a Faculty owned computer being used by students then these computers
can have MS Office SPSS NVIVO and Endnote installed on them for student use.
However, if the student requires the software for their own personal computers (home
desktop or laptop) then the following applies:
MS Office, Endnote and SPSS: Students can obtain a software license from Information
and Communications Technology (ICT). A student ID card is required. Please call ICT on
9479 1500 to confirm eligibility.
NVIVO: If students wish to have NVIVO installed on their own personal computer, they
will need to make their own arrangements.
d) Equipment items of a general nature that should reasonably be provided through the
equipment resources of the school Technical Services (e.g. computers, tape recorders,
transcription equipment, general laboratory equipment, etc.)*
e) Graphic design and editorial costs associated with the production of thesis. Note under
item 7m that editorial assistance may be considered for ESL students.
f)
Thesis binding costs.
g) Repairs to existing equipment.
*The Committee may consider requests for equipment/software packages where the
student is located a considerable distance from the campus or the applicant can
demonstrate significant disadvantage and it is not feasible to borrow the equipment or
to use existing computing facilities from the School/ Centre/ Faculty to undertake the
necessary study.
ATTACHMENT 1
Note: Please remove these pages and the Guidelines before submitting your application.
Budget justification – Example 1
Training
Attendance at a training course for computer assisted qualitative data analysis via Steps (La Trobe
University). The volume of data to be analysed will be large (potentially >100 participants) and
complex (unstructured interviews and discussion within focus groups), necessitating the use of a
software package for the purpose of coding, manipulation, and retrieval of textual data.
Quote: (Steps/ La Trobe University) $250.00 one day workshop; $100/hr individual database
setup.
Conference attendance: presentation of a paper or poster
Presentation of a paper or poster or oral presentation at the ‘x’ conference in ‘x’ city, ‘x’ country,
dates.
The link between this conference and the research project is (justification to be provided). Evidence
of abstract acceptance and costs involved are attached to this application.
Student registration is $250.00, travel @$200.00, accommodation @$300, other costs $200.00.
Attendance at a conference and not presenting: The rationale for attendance clearly links the
specific aspects of the research project with aspects of the conference by (justification to be
provided). Evidence of costs involved is attached to this application.
Student registration is $250.00, travel @$200.00, accommodation @$300, other costs $200.00.
Budget justification – Example 2
Transcription expenses
Each research participant currently yields approximately between 5.5 and 7.5 hours of recorded
interviews and field notes. I have found the care giver interviews particularly time consuming to
transcribe.
I would therefore like assistance in transcribing this large volume of data. I do not believe this
would compromise my immersion in the data as I would still be required to transcribe the major
portion of the work and have transcribed approximately half the data from my first two
participants. I anticipate collecting data from several more participants this year.
My budget is based upon a verbal quotation (18/4/2006) from ‘Transcripts Plus’, Surrey Hills.
They currently charge $35/hour for transcription. Based on a clearly audible tape this equates to
approximately $140 per hour of recorded data.
Budget justification – Example 3
Video production
A video is considered the most appropriate method for observing patient performance in this study
for two reasons. Firstly, a video allows several clinicians to observe the patient at one time without
overwhelming the patient during the assessment. Secondly, a video of the patient assessment
controls for variability in patient performance across the two viewing sessions. Repeated live
performances may not be identical, thus confounding any differences between the two methods of
assessment.
Transport for patients participating in the study
Stroke patients have not yet been recruited for participation in this research however, it is likely
that the patients may still be receiving inpatient rehabilitation or be living in special
accommodation houses. Furthermore, the stroke patients invited to participate will be unable to
drive a car and in the event that a family member is unwilling or unable to provide transport taxi
vouchers will be offered.
Budget justification – Example 4
Poster production
A poster presentation is an enduring, visible and accessible format for presenting research work.
The finished product will be able to be displayed at different locations following the presentation at
the conference.
This particular poster has had the added advantage of being developed
collaboratively. It was considered that x would be able to design and deliver the professional result
required for an international conference of the calibre of the 18th World Conference on xx.
Therefore the budget for the poster was divided into two separate requirements of design and
supply with the supply including full lamination for durability.