Claude Mccarthy Fellowships 2009 Announced

Claude Mccarthy Fellowships 2009 Announced

- Record 25 Winners, $169,200 Funding

A record number of winners of the 2009 Claude McCarthy Fellowship were announced this week by Public Trust and the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (NZVCC). This year Fellowship funding totals more than $169,200 for 25 projects. This year’s funding has increased from $76,400 for last year’s 17 Fellowship winners.

Funded from the income from a bequest by the late Claude McCarthy, the Fellowship enables New Zealand graduates to undertake “original work or research in literature, science or medicine”.

This year’s winners are 22 doctoral students undertaking a wide variety of research projects including:

• New Zealand architects abroad in the 1950s

• The role of vocalisation in Westland petrels sociality

• Addressing cultural barriers to promote healthy eating in the Samoan community, and

• Dissecting the long term memory immune response against tuberculosis

Also awarded this year are three fellowships for graduates or university staff members to undertake special research projects. These projects are:

• Completion of a biography of former NZSO violinist Clare Galambos-Winter, a Holocaust survivor

• Pastoralism and landscape change in the South Island 1941-1912

• Developing a framework for the teaching of science communication programmes

Most winners are using their funding to travel overseas to present work at a conference or to undertake a short period of research.

Public Trust’s National Manager Specialist & Charitable Services Lindsay Pope says, “This year’s winners are exceptional New Zealand scholars. Their research, helped in part by the generosity of Mr McCarthy, will add to our understanding of the world in which we live. Both Public Trust and the NZVCC wish the Fellowship recipients well in their chosen areas of research. We look forward to following their progress.”

Claude McCarthy was born in Hororata (near Christchurch) in 1888. He attended Christchurch Boys’ High School and graduated with a BA from Canterbury College in 1913. He started a teaching career, but this was interrupted by his WW1 service. On returning from war action, he graduated MA in 1919 and travelled to the USA where he lived for 25 years. He retired to Jersey in the Channel Islands and died in 1978 in Spain. Mr McCarthy established a Fellowship fund which is managed by Public Trust, and the Fellowship selection is carried out by NZVCC.

The Claude McCarthy Fellowship is one of over 400 charitable trusts managed by Public Trust These trusts and scholarships include interests as diverse as science, medicine, disability and agriculture. Collectively, the trusts provide the means for many people to live better lives, enhance their skills or enjoy better community facilities.

The Claude McCarthy Fellowship is one of more than 40 scholarships awarded annually by the NZVCC. These include graduate awards such as the William Georgetti Scholarship, Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Prince of Wales Scholarship, Fish & Game New Zealand Research Scholarships and the Rhodes Scholarships. Undergraduate scholarships managed by the NZVCC include the Douglas Myers Scholarship and the KiwiRail and ONTRACK Undergraduate Scholarships.

Applications for the Claude McCarthy Fellowship 2010 should be lodged with the New Zealand Vice-Chancellor’s Committee by 1 August 2009. For more information please www.nzvcc.ac.nz

ENDS

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