The scholarship, which is normally held for one year, was established by the trust in memory of the late A/Prof Richard Stewart FRACS, Postgraduate Dean, Wellington School of Medicine, and is currently valued at $25,000.

Applications close 3 October 2023.

The following conditions apply:

  1. The scholarship is open to medical graduates holding a degree registrable in NZ.
  2. A candidate will be either a SET TRAINEE of the RACS, or a surgeon who is a fellow of the RACS. In the latter situation, a candidate will normally have held the FRACS diploma for not more than 5 years.
  3. The scholarship will be held in a surgical department at any campus of the Otago Medical School. The candidate will usually be in a surgical research post.
  4. A proposed budget should be included as part of the application. This must state other scholarships secured for this project, what the current funding position is, and the plan for funding.
  5. The monies may be used to purchase materials and equipment related to research. At the discretion of the Head of Department, they may also be used to supplement the candidate’s stipend, to fund travel related to the candidate’s research, or to present his/her research at an approved Meeting, or attend a Postgraduate Course.
  6. The successful Scholarship recipient will be given 80% of the Scholarship funds at the commencement of their project and the remaining 20% on receipt of an adequate research report. The Trust requires a report from the successful candidate on activities undertaken on completion of the Scholarship.

Application for this scholarship should be made directly to the Chairman of the Trust, Email bse.course@otago.ac.nz

The application should be relatively brief (not more than 2 A4 pages (excluding CV) and outline what you want to do and why you want to do it, when you are going to do it, and the cost.  It should therefore cover the following:

  1. Aims and/or objectives for use of Scholarship funds
  2. If for a research project, outline the proposal, how it will be achieved (ie methodology), provide a timeline, and a budget.  If appropriate, ethics approval must be obtained.
    This can occur following the award of the Scholarship, but funding handover for such cannot occur before approval is granted.
  3.  If the Scholarship is to be used for other purposes – eg stipend, conference travel, attendance at a Postgraduate Course, etc, then the specific purpose must be stated, and a budget provided.
  4. A CV of the applicant must be provided.

The names and email addresses of two referees should be provided.

Richard Stewart Scholarship 2023
The 2023 Scholarship was awarded to Leah Boyle to assist with the completion of a Masters of Science in Global Health Science and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford (U.K). Masters project "Inequity in Breast Cancer Surgery - Which factors contribute?"


Richard Stewart - Photo from Wellington School of Medicine Archives.

Richard Stewart’s career reminds us that in spite of all the advances in medical sciences the lives of the most dedicated doctors can still be cut short by disabling disease.

In 1974, after training in the UK, he was appointed Senior Lecturer at the Christchurch Medical School and consultant surgeon to the Hospital.

He soon acquired the FRACS and the ChM. In 1980 he moved to the Wellington School of Medicine where he became Associate Professor and had important opportunities for research. He was particularly interested in fine needle aspiration of the acute abdomen and he won the Jacksonian Prize of the College for an essay on this subject.

Tragically Richard suffered from motor neurone disease, the progress of which compelled him to give up surgery in 1989. He continued to work as Associate Postgraduate Dean and embarked on a degree course in philosophy, but he died of his disease on 1 January 1991.

The Dunedin Basic Medical Sciences Course created this Scholarship in his memory.
MB ChB (Otago) 1965, FRCS (Eng) 1970, FRACS 1974, ChM (Otago) 1978

Applications closed 1 May 2023
The scholarship was established by the trust in memory of the late Professor Sandy Smith and is valued at up to $20,000. The Scholarship will be administered by the Trust, which undertakes the selection process.

The following conditions apply:

  1. The scholarship is open to medical and science graduates holding a degree recognised in NZ.
  2. A candidate will normally not have held his/her degree for more than five years.
  3. The successful candidate will usually hold a post in one of the Schools of Medicine or Health Sciences of the University of Otago.
  4. The scholarship is to be used in a way approved by the Trust and must have application to microbiology or immunology in relation to medicine. Examples include attendance at an appropriate meeting, seeding funding for a research proposal, or to supplement the successful applicant's stipend. Other uses may apply.
  5. A proposed budget should be included as part of the application. This must state other scholarships secured for this project, what the current funding position is, and the plan for funding.
  6. Applicants are to ensure that if applying for conference/meeting travel they are available to travel during the relevant dates.
  7. The successful Scholarship recipient will be given 80% of the Scholarship funds at the commencement of their project and the remaining 20% on receipt of an adequate research report. On completion of the scholarship, the recipient must submit to the Trust, within two months, a report of activities undertaken.

Application for this scholarship should be made directly to Chairman of the Trust, Email: bse.course@otago.ac.nz

The information supplied to the Trust should include the candidate’s curriculum vitae, a brief description of the intended use of the scholarship (maximum 500 words), and the names of 2 referees.

Sandy Smith Scholarships 2022
 Heather Shearer, a grant-in-aid to complete some important experiments required for publishing findings "how the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae defends itself against oxidants produced by the immune system"

Stephanie Waller, to attend and present research at the AVS11 (Australian Virology Society) Meeting in Queensland.

Douglas Gaskarth, final year of PhD study

Sandy Smith Scholarship 2021
Arpita Roy (Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Dunedin) and Xihua Luan  (Department of Pathology, Christchurch) have both been awarded $10,000 as a grant-in-aid towards their research activities.