PhD students only have one week to enter AMP IGNITE

PhD students only have one week to enter AMP IGNITE competition and be in to win $5k

PhD students across the country with an innovative quest to change the world with their research have only one more week to get their entries into the 2015 AMP IGNITE competition, and be in with the chance to win up to $5,000 to help further their studies.

Entries to AMP IGNITE close at midnight on Friday 8 May. Finalists in the competition will have just 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) to pitch their research to a panel of judges in an entertaining performance evening on 8 June competing against their peers. Finalists receive mentoring and coaching which will help them pitch their idea through storytelling, performance art, dance, comedy, music or even magic.

Shaun Philp, General Manager Human Resources, at AMP says: “New Zealand has some remarkable PhD students across the country undertaking some very impressive research projects. There is now only a week to get their entries in and be in with their chance to win up to $5,000 to help complete their research.

“We’ve had a strong number of entries coming in, but as the saying goes: ‘you’ve got to be in it, to win it’; so no matter what your area of research, students should make sure their applications are in by midnight on 8 May,” concludes Philp.

In 2014, Auckland University student, Emily Hargrave-Thomas won the inaugural AMP IGNITE competition, winning $5,000 to help further her research project into osteoarthritis disease development so it can be detected before patients visit their doctor with joint pain. Additionally, Massey University student Kayleigh Evans, won $1,000 in the “people’s prize” chosen by the audience for her research around controlling the reproduction of cancer cells.

Mentors for 2015 include:

• Oliver Driver: As an Actor, Director and Producer Oliver’s career has seen him fronting arts programmes, facing attack by a mutant sheep, playing the villainous Mr Wilberforce in the 2009 movie remake of Under the Mountain, playing a sensitive donor (in Magik and Rose) and a rebellious Shortland Street nurse back in the early days

• Wendy Thompson: Managing Director of full service social media marketing company, Socialites. Wendy founded the very successful Socialites in 2010 and leads her growing team with two mottos "Do cool things with cool people" and "Have fun and get sh*t done".

Judges for AMP IGNITE 2015 include:

Heather McGowan: Cofounder of Confidant, a consulting firm advising higher education leadership in the United States

John Matonis: Founder and Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation and an e-Money researcher and crypto economist focused on expanding the circulation of non-political digital currencies

• Annalie Killian: Director of Innovation and Social Business at AMP Australia and the Founder and Curator of Amplify and the Bright Sparks event in Australia

• Therese Singleton: General Manager, Insurance and Investments, AMP New Zealand. Therese is responsible for the Strategic Partnership, Wealth Management, Group Wealth Protection and Individual Wealth Protection Product teams

• Shaun Philp: General Manager, Human Resources, AMP New Zealand. Shaun leads the human resources team, and his career with AMP includes three years based in our Sydney office as Head of Leadership, Learning and Development.

ENDS

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