Clare Burton Memorial Scholarship 2006
For the first time since their inception, the ATN has awarded two scholarships for 2006 under the Clare Burton scholarship program.
The Scholarships will provide funds to support post graduate research into gender equity.
Queensland University of Technology student and film maker, Phoebe Hart, (pictured) will use her scholarship to produce a documentary which explores the experiences of people with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). Current research indicates that almost 2 in every 200 of the population are born with this intersex condition where the reproductive organs are at variance with the genetic sex of the child. Phoebe has had a successful career in the Australian film and television industry working with the ABC and Network 10, as well as freelancing.
The other successful scholarship recipient is RMIT student Alice Stoakes, whose research will measure the impact of separation, divorce and widowhood on the labour and housing markets with a particular focus on women-headed households. Little research has been undertaken in this area of low income women-headed households. This research will analyse whether housing policy is supportive of welfare changes that mean sole parents will have to work. It will provide data that can then inform more targeted and effective policies aimed at increasing female labour and housing market participation.
These two ambitious, but very different, projects illustrate the wide range of study that gender equity encompasses. As well as the funds provided to support their research, the two scholarship recipients will also receive individual support and mentoring related to their current research and future careers from their host institution.
The Clare Burton Scholarship was established by the five ATN universities to honour and continue the work of Dr. Clare Burton, a pioneering Australian researcher, into aspects of gender equity.