John Monash Scholars

General Sir John Monash Award
Certificate of a recent John Monash Scholar
Awarded for	Graduate scholarship designed to perpetuate the values of General Sir John Monash
Date	2002 (2002)
Country	Australia
Official website	www.monashawards.org

The Monash Scholarship, named after the Australian civic and military leader General Sir John Monash, is an international postgraduate award for Australian graduates. It was established in 2002, and has become one of Australia’s elite scholarships, alongside the Rhodes, Menzies, Fulbright, and Cambridge Australia Scholarships.

Monash Scholars may study any full-time postgraduate course offered by any university outside of Australia, typically a taught Master’s programme, or a research Doctorate. The scholarship is awarded for a single postgraduate programme, and provides funding for up to three years.

Sir John Monash, who attended the University of Melbourne and became its Chancellor, believed firmly in the value of education. The scholarships were established to embody his vision "…For the higher duties of citizenship and for roles of leadership in all fields to make Australia great”.

History

The Monash Scholarships were established by the General Sir John Monash Foundation in 2002, in a private initiative supported by the Australian Government. Scholarships have been awarded to applicants annually since 2003 on the basis of academic achievement, leadership potential, and community contribution. There have been 64 Monash Scholars elected since the inception of the Foundation. 25 have completed their postgraduate courses, and 15 have returned to work in Australia.

Criteria and Process

The Monash Scholarships are open to Australian citizens who are graduates of an Australian university. There is no age limit for application.

The Foundation has established selection criteria by which applicants are to be judged:

• Academic performance (a first class honours or equivalent is expected)
• Leadership capability, demonstrated and potential
• Concern for and contribution to the community outside of the main topic of the applicant’s study or career path
• Potential for the applicant, if elected, to make a significant contribution to Australia or Australia’s standing over the course of their career

Applications are advertised each year in June on the Foundation website. Candidates are required to submit a written Application together with their academic transcript and the names of three referees to the Secretariat of the Selection Panel of the State in which they reside. Applications open by July, and close on 31 August of each year. Applications must be for a postgraduate degree commencing in the year after the Scholarship is awarded – Scholarships will not support a degree already commenced, or a degree that commences before the interviews are completed. Around 200 Applications are received each year from across Australia.

Each State Panel forms a shortlist from its Applicants, and conducts interviews in September or October. The candidates recommended by the State Panels are then brought to the National Panel Interviews, held in Melbourne in mid-November. From the final 18 interviewed by the National Panel, 8 are offered Monash Scholarships.

The successful Monash Scholars are presented with their Awards at a ceremony at Government House in Canberra in March, by the Governor-General of Australia.

The number of applicants for John Monash Scholarships grew significantly in 2010—up by 49%. This change was probably due to the increased use of web-based promotion for the Scholarships. Note that "2011" refers to applications received in 2010 for the 2011 Scholarship.

Objective of the Scholarship

The Monash Scholarships were established with a dual purpose - recognition of Sir John Monash, and encouragement for Australia’s talented graduates to obtain postgraduate qualifications to better equip them for leadership roles.

The initial impetus for the Scholarship was as a means of recognizing Sir John Monash's contribution to Australia as an engineer, soldier, and civic leader, and of introducing new generations of Australians to his accomplishments and vision. The Foundation also contributes to commemorative events held in Melbourne and Sydney each year around 7 August. In recent years, returned Monash Scholars have spoken at these events.

The founders of the Foundation and its initial sponsor, the Prime Minister's office, also saw the need for an additional elite Scholarship to support postgraduate study for Australian leaders. The rapid social and technological development of recent decades, and increased globalisation, make higher education and international networks even more useful for Australian leaders. In this context, the opportunity to have another eight Australian each year benefit from study at leading international universities becomes an important nation-building initiative.

Recipients

The scholarship recipients for 2015 are:^[1]

• Lydia Braunack-Mayer
• Victoria Cox
• Claire Daniel
• Laura Diment
• Grace Keesing
• Dylan Morris
• Jack Muir
• Brent O’Carrigan
• Hugh Passmore
• Macushla Robinson
• Alies Sluiter
• Lauren Ward
• Phoebe Williams
• Thomas Williams

Scholar Fields and Locations

John Monash Scholars work in a variety of fields. The issues prominent in current public debate in Australia—medicine and public health, engineering and sustainable environment, and human rights—are well represented. Scholars are also active in nation-building fundamentals such as science, economics, humanities, and law.

As of March 2011, 16 of the John Monash Scholars had returned to Australia; 16 are in the United Kingdom; and 19 were working or studying in North America. There are also Scholars in new Zealand, Banglasdeh, France and Germany.^[1]

Notable Recent Scholars

Already many scholars are having an impact in Australia and abroad. Particularly noteworthy recent scholars include:

• Lara Olsen (2004), Chief Executive of Coolnrg International^[2]
• Danielle Malek (2004), Legal Counsel for Egypt, Yemen, Turkey with the World Bank^[3]
• Miranda Sissons (2005), chef de cabinet for the International Centre for Transitional Justice^[4]
• Andrew Hudson (2005), New York Director, Crisis Action^[5]
• Mark Dawson (2006), Clinical Research Fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, and leading a research group to study acute myeloid leukaemia^[6]
• Hugh Evans, 2004 Young Australian of the Year and CEO of the Global Poverty Project^[7]
• Roger Noble (2008), Brigadier in the Australian Army and Director General Special Operations Capability for the Australian Department of Defence^[8]
• David Hume (2008), co-author of "People Power" ^[9]
• James Daniell (2009), author of "Damaging Earthquakes Database 2010 – The Year in Review"^[10]
• Rebecca Nelson (2009), water management scientist^[11]

The General Sir John Monash Foundation

Formed as a public company limited by guarantee in 2002, the General Sir John Monash Foundation is a charitable organisation. It has named status in Australian income tax legislation as a ‘Deductible Gift Recipient’. Its purpose is to raise funds for, and to administer, the General Sir John Monash Awards.

The Patron-in-Chief of the Foundation is Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor General of the commonwealth of Australia. The Chief Executive Officer is Dr Peter Binks, who replaced Mr Ken Crompton in 2009.^[12]

The current Board of Directors is:^[13]

• Ms Jillian Segal AM (Chairman)
• Dr Peter Binks
• Mr Steven M. Skala AO
• Mr David Clarke
• Emeritus Professor Peter Darvall AO
• Mr Stephen Gerlach AM
• Mr Leon Kempler OAM
• Mrs Jan McCahey
• Professor Alan Robson AM CitWA
• Mr Peter Shergold AC
• Professor Deane Terrell AO
• Dr Jane Wilson

References

Further reading

• Serle, Geoffrey (1982), John Monash: A Biography, Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne University Press, ISBN 0-522-85016-2 .

External links

• monashawards.org