Quoting from PS News Edition Number 498. Updated Tuesday 05 April 2016
PS News Features
Paul Tys says that unlike most scholarships, Churchill Fellowships require no prescribed qualifications and have a subject pool limited only by candidates’ imaginations.
A life-changing opportunity for those who want to travel the world and make a difference
By Paul Tys*
How many organisations can say they have members who are farmers, emergency service workers, artists, musicians, engineers, journalists, scientists and educators?
And how many people can say they have had the opportunity to go overseas to examine and learn about something in an area of their choosing, and bring those findings back to benefit the Australian community?
More than 4,000 Australians from across every State and Territory have had the chance to do just this in the past 50 years after being bestowed with a Churchill Fellowship through the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and applications are now open again for the next hundred or more to be awarded.
For every year over the past half-century, the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust has been offering Australian citizens the chance to travel to the far corners of the globe to seek out knowledge.
There are few opportunities in the realm of fellowships and scholarships that require no prescribed qualifications and a subject pool limited only by your imagination — and all potential candidates need to show in their application is that their project will benefit the Australian community when they return.
More than 4,000 Australians
The Fellowship remains true to the idea on which it was created: to enable ordinary people the chance to contribute to our society.
That was Sir Winston Churchill’s wish when he envisioned the Fellowships and, to this day, that is what they have delivered.
Australia is a much better place because of the contributions made by Churchill Fellows.
The Trust was established to administer funds raised through an appeal held in honour of Sir Winston Churchill.
Every imaginable area
Churchill Memorial Sunday, held on 28 February 1965, saw £2.2 million (the equivalent of A$4.4 million) raised from both a doorknock and donations made by Government, individuals and companies.
It is the greatest single-day doorknock appeal in Australian history, and it laid the foundation to offer an incredible opportunity to everyday Australians through the Churchill Fellowship Award Scheme.
Churchill Fellowships have been awarded in every imaginable area.
We have Fellows who specialise in classifying spiders and Fellows who want to establish best practice in how our emergency services undertake large animal rescues.
Fellows have travelled to South Africa to investigate ways of empowering indigenous children and to Canada to examine maternity services in remote locations.
Churchill Fellows are farmers investigating innovative supply chains for agricultural production, doctors who see hope in treatment such as medicinal cannabis, and public servants who work with juvenile offenders with learning disabilities; there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter Fellow.
Churchill Fellowships have allowed talented Australians to be out in the world seeing, doing, sharing and achieving more than they ever thought was possible and then returning with a confidence and drive to accomplish so much more.
Applications for the Churchill Fellowships don’t close until Sunday, 15 May, so there is still plenty of time to put your best idea forward and see where it takes you.
Apply now at this PS News link. https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/accounts/login/?next=/apply/
* Paul Tys is Chief Executive the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
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