Annual Report 2000

FELLOWSHIPS AND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2000

NH MRC/RG MENZIES FELLOWSHIP

In 1996, the Foundation made the inaugural contribution of $50,000 per annum to the National Health andMedical Research Council's (NH MRC) CJ Martin/Neil Hamilton Fairley Fellowships with one of the Fellowships to become known as the NH MRC/RG Menzies Fellowship. These Fellowships are available for postgraduate medical study at approved overseas institutions with tenure for up to four years. Two years are spent in the overseas country followed by two years back in Australia. The Foundation has also made available a supplementation of $5,000 for each of the four years of the award for activities associated with the NH MRC/RG Menzies Fellowship, e.g. conference travel.

The 2000 NH MRC/RG Menzies Fellowship was awarded to Dr John Hooper of the Centre for Biotechnology, Queensland University of Technology. He will carry out a study entitled "Investigation of new proteolytic targets for inhibition of tumour induced angiogenesis" at the Scripps Research Institute , La Jolla, California.

SIR ROBERT MENZIES MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS IN LAW

The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Trust in London, with the support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and of the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation in Australia, offers to Australians one or two post-graduate scholarships in law for tenure at universities in the United Kingdom.

There were 30 applications for the one law scholarship that was available this year. Four applications were returned because three candidates had not completed their law degree at the time of application and one applicant did not meet the Australian Citizenship requirements.

Twenty three candidates held their law degree with First Class Honours or its equivalent and references were taken up for this group. Their applications were then forwarded to a panel for ranking. The six most highly ranked candidates were invited for interview in Melbourne on 19 October, 2000. The Selection Committee was the Honourable Sir Daryl Dawson (Chairman), the Honourable Justice Susan Kenny (previous Menzies Memorial Scholar in Law), Professor Michael Bryan (University of Melbourne) and Mr Peter Innes, the British Consul-General, representing the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Scholarship in Law was awarded to Mr Patrick Flynn who holds the degrees of BSc (1994) and LLB (1997) from the University of New South Wales. Mr Flynn was placed equal first in his graduating class of 224 and was awarded the University Medal in Law.

Mr Flynn will take up his one-year scholarship at Cambridge University where he will study for a Master of Laws commencing in October 2001.

SIR ROBERT MENZIES MEMORIAL RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP IN THE ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES

This research scholarship, which is valued at $24,000 per annum for each of two years, is open to graduates in any of the health sciences who have enrolled for a PhD in an Australian University and who have completed the first stage of their doctoral program. As in previous years, the Foundation is grateful for the support of the final selection committee and the assessors who are nominated by the respective disciplines to grade the applications in terms of topic, relevance and methodology.

In 2000 the scholarship attracted a field of 41 candidates, and the disciplines included physiotherapy, speech pathology, psychology, nursing, podiatry, human movement studies and occupational therapy. In addition to the grading by the discipline assessors, the academic qualifications and publication record of each candidate as well as the scientific validity of the various projects are carefully considered.

Three candidates were invited to attend for interview in Melbourne on Tuesday, 22 August, 2000. The interview panel consisted of Professor John Coghlan (Chair), Professor Alison Perry (La Trobe University) and Dr Susan Paxton (University of Melbourne).

The Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Scholarship in the Allied Health Sciences for 2001-2002 was awarded to Ms Marie Andrew who holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Psychology with First Class Honours from Flinders University of South Australia. Ms Andrew's PhD project is entitled "Psychosocial outcome after cardiac surgery: Application of a coping model to understand predictors and the role of neuropsychological dysfunction" and is being carried out in the Department of Psychology, Flinders University of South Australia.

ROBERT GORDON MENZIES SCHOLARSHIP TO HARVARD

The Harvard Club of Australia, the Australian National University and the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation jointly sponsor the Robert Gordon Menzies Scholarship to Harvard University. The Scholarship is administered by the Australian National University. Mr Mike Codd (Deputy Chairman of the Menzies Foundation) and Ms Renée Leon (previous Menzies Memorial Scholar in Law) represented the Foundation on the Selection Committee.

The 2000/2001 RG Menzies Harvard Scholarship was awarded to Mr Quang Nguyen. Mr Nguyen is a graduate of the University of Technology Sydney (with a bachelors degree in maths and finance) and a graduate of the University of Sydney (with a Masters in Commerce). He will further advance his education at Harvard Business School.