About the Awards
Who do these awards assist?
These awards are designed to provide full or partial support for women, trans and gender diverse mathematicians based in Australia to attend conferences or to visit collaborators, with approximately eight domestic Travel Awards and four international Travel Awards awarded annually.
Information
The Awards are funded by the Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) and are an initiative of the AustMS Women in Mathematics Special Interest Group (WIMSIG), which administers them. Awards are determined on a competitive basis by a selection committee of distinguished mathematicians, appointed by the Executive Committee of WIMSIG.
The Awards are named after Professor Cheryl E. Praeger AM FAA, in recognition of her contributions to supporting and encouraging women in mathematics. Cheryl E. Praeger was appointed as Professor of Mathematics at The University of Western Australia in 1983. She was the second woman appointed to a mathematics professorship in Australia, after Hanna Neumann at ANU in 1964.
There are two rounds of the Travel Awards per year, with closing dates on April 1 and on October 1 each year.
The Selection Committee of the AustMS WIMSIG will make recommendations to the Chair of the WIMSIG Executive Committee on the award. The Selection Committee will recommend the amount to be granted, up to a maximum of $1000 for a domestic trip and $3000 for an international trip, to each successful applicant, taking account of the benefit of the proposed travel to the applicant’s research program.
Eligibility criteria
These awards provide funding for full or partial travel expenses for conference travel or research visits for women, trans and gender diverse people working or studying in the mathematical sciences in Australia.
Applicants must be women, trans or gender-diverse people who either:
- hold a PhD (or equivalent) in the mathematical sciences and have a work address (or home address in the case of an applicant who is not currently employed) in Australia, or
- are studying in a PhD program in the mathematical sciences at an Australian university. They must also have been members of the Australian Mathematical Society for at least twelve months at the time of application. (Backdating of membership to the previous year is not sufficient.)
Each applicant can receive at most one WIMSIG Cheryl E. Praeger Travel Award in any two-year period. Applicants receiving more than $2000 annually in external funding for travel, at the time the application is made, are ineligible. (Here “external” means “from sources outside the applicant’s home institution”.) However partial travel funding from other sources does not make a candidate ineligible.
How to apply
Application Documents
Applications should be sent via email to office@austms.org.au.
Applications should consist of:
(a) a current CV (at most three pages); and
(b) the completed application form (above), including an explanation (at most one page) of the purpose of the proposed trip and how it will advance the candidate’s research, and a budget listing actual expected expenses (which may exceed the total amount that can be granted).
In the case of conference travel, the applicant should provide supporting documentation including where possible the URL of the conference website, a letter of invitation (email is sufficient), evidence of conference registration, and confirmation of submission of an abstract.
In the case of a research visit, the applicant should arrange for a letter of support from the person they will visit, and a CV for that person, to be sent directly to the Selection Committee, care of office@austms.org.au, by April 1 or October 1. The letter should confirm that the writer agrees to the applicant’s visit, at the proposed travel time.
Applicants who have caring responsibilities for others may also apply for the WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards, to help cover the costs of these responsibilities incurred in relation to the same travel as in the application for the Praeger Award.
For queries about the Awards or the application process, please contact the WIMSIG Treasurer WIMSIG-treasurer@austms.org.au.