New scholarship scheme accelerates UC students into PhDs

By India Education Diary Bureau Admin On Dec 4, 2020

The goal of the Aho Hīnātore | Accelerator Scholarship is to help transition high achieving UC Honours and Masters students into doctoral studies. Originally offering 30 scholarships, this has been increased to 46 scholarships due to the high calibre of more than 80 applications. Five Māori students are among the 46 scholars in this inaugural cohort.

“This new initiative arose in response to Covid-19, and the response from students and staff has been overwhelmingly positive,” UC Dean of Postgraduate Research Professor Megan McAuliffe says.

“The Aho Hīnātore | Accelerator scholarship enables UC students to push the boundaries of knowledge in their chosen field, supervised by world-leading experts here at UC.”

Each scholarship consists of a $6,000 grant towards a small 12-week project. If this project is successfully completed, students are guaranteed a full UC Aho Hīnātore | Accelerator PhD Scholarship valued at $28,000 per year, plus tuition fees for 360 points of PhD studies.

The 46 funded scholarships were chosen based on the quality of the student, the supervisory team, and the alignment of their research to UC’s Institutional and Research Strategy.

Scholarships were awarded across all five colleges at UC, in recognition of the diverse range of research topics being carried out.

Associate Dean of Postgraduate Research Professor Ekant Veer says the scholarships recognise the hard work and dedication these students, from across the university, have for advancing knowledge.

“We are very proud of all their achievements so far, and look forward to seeing them flourish even more in the future.”

The Aho Hīnātore | Accelerator scholarship programme was made possible through increased investment by UC and the generous support of the Tait Foundation, UC Foundation and UC Trusts Funds.

Congratulations to the inaugural Aho Hīnātore | Accelerator scholars:

Arts

BLAND, Lauren
BRETT, Samuel
MOORE, Danielle
NIHONIHO, Antony
OGDEN-TRAVIS, Brittany
PICKERING-GIBBS, Eleni
RIMBOVSKA, Bojana
SOLOMON, Darren
VERHEUL-CANE, Hannah

Business and Law

DUNCAN, Shnece
McKEGG, Tessa
SMITH, Johnpaul
WOOD, Kimberley

Education, Health and Human Development

BONE, Reisha
DENG, Bingyu
DEWAR, Hamish
EGGLETON, Phoebe
LAWSON, Violet
PEARCE, Jeanne

Engineering

ADAMS, Ryan
CAMERON, Chris
COX, Adam
DE SCHOT, Luke
DELA CRUZ, Zoren
DONG, Siqi (Claire)
EDENS, Samuel
EMANUEL, Rebecca
HAYASHI, Seigan
INWOOD, Amy
NGUYEN, Lisa
POOKE, Francis
ROYAL, Narottam
STEYN, Nicholas

Science

AVES, Alexandra
CHIVERS, Elizabeth
EADES, Caelyn
GNESKO, Laura
GOLDSMITH, Dylan
GOOCH, Eloise
HARRIS, Holly
HOWELL, Lucy
NEWTON-VESTY, Michael
STEEL, Emma
STEEL, Jamie
STREVENS, Laura
WILLIAMS, Michael