Whether it is perusing previously top secret documents about John F Kennedy in Boston or using state-of-the-art isotope analysis equipment in China, the world is a postgraduate's oyster thanks to new University of Queensland travel awards.
Forty University postgraduates recently visited libraries and laboratories in countries as far-flung as the United States, China and the United Kingdom after being awarded Graduate School Research Travel Awards (GSRTA).
Awardees used the funds to access resources overseas in the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts (New York), Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris), Harvard Medical School (Boston), Ford Research Laboratories (Michigan), and Los Alamos National Laboratory (New Mexico). The awards also funded domestic travel to the Mitchell Library (Sydney), Bradman Museum (Bowral), Grain Quality Research Laboratory (Sydney), and the Parliamentary Library (Canberra).
The awards provide $5000 for students wishing to complete short to medium-term research trips overseas, $3000 for Indonesian, Papua New Guinean or Pacific island trips and $2000 for trips within Australia or to New Zealand.
The closing date for the next round of travel awards is April 16, 1999, and application forms are available form the Office of Research and Postgraduate Studies in the Cumbrae-Stewart Building or by telephoning the Scholarships Office on 07 3365 1974 or 07 3365 4838.
Application forms can also be downloaded from the web site: http://www.uq.edu.au/research/grad-school/scholarships/99-application-forms.html
David Coleman, a History Department PhD student, said his travel award had allowed him to peruse newly declassified documents about the Berlin and Cuban crises of 1961-62 held at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston and the National Archives II at College Park.
He said without the travel award, he would have had to have ordered photocopies of documents from overseas libraries - a time-consuming and expensive process - in order to research his thesis topic Berlin and American Foreign Policy 1945-1990.
"The documents proved to be even richer than I had anticipated. The material has not been published in any form, either conventional or electronic, and was therefore not accessible without actually reading the originals," he said.
Mr Coleman said material inspected included not only documents emanating from the late American President himself, but also from his national security staff, government departments and agencies, and other advisors.
"It also included many hours of ?the Kennedy tapes' which were finally and surprisingly declassified only a week before my visit. These tapes, secretly done by the President himself, include the highest-level discussions and meetings conducted in the White House," he said.
"Access to all this material has ensured that my dissertation is at the cutting-edge of historical research. I have prepared two articles for publication on the basis of this material. I also had the opportunity to discuss my dissertation in detail with leading historians at Harvard University, George Washington University and Princeton University.
"This has considerably accelerated the revision process and resulted in a much stronger dissertation."
Earth Sciences Department postgraduate Qikai Xia worked in Xi'an Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology in China between August and October last year thanks to a travel award.
He said the award had allowed him to finish analysing around 200 stable carbon and oxygen isotope samples drilled from three North Queensland and Tasmanian stalagmites. These isotopes in growth layers of well-dated stalagmites provided valuable information on ancient temperature, rainfall and vegetation, he said.
"Using the mass spectrometer in the Chinese laboratory enabled me to analyse in just two months what would have taken years in Australia. I can now begin my thesis writing - the travel award has shortened my PhD by an estimated six months," he said.
Similarly, Botany Department postgraduate student Xinhua He said in just 15 days at the Waikato Stable Isotope Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, he completed the carbon content analysis of 338 samples - a task which would have taken up to a year in Australia.
English Department PhD student Susan Luckman said her travel award had enabled her to visit the Institute for Popular Cultural Studies at the Manchester Metropolitan University.
"The Institute - as both institution per se and as a focal point for research being undertaken by English-speaking scholars in the area of contemporary youth practices - is a focal concern of my thesis," she said.
"During my time at the Institute, I was welcomed into the community of scholars there and invited to participate in research activities including speaking as part of its seminar series.
"The travel award enabled me to establish both professional and personal relationships with colleagues at the cutting edge of work in my field."
Biochemistry Department postgraduate David Pennisi said the travel awards had made it possible for him to visit the laboratory of Dr Andras Nagy - a world leader in genetic manipulation - at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, for his genetic research into a gene known as Sox18.
The gene is important in creating the vascular system during embryo development.
Mr Pennisi said the laboratory's new-generation equipment and techniques had produced some surprising results giving him a headstart in the next stage of his thesis preparation.
Deputy Director of the University's Graduate School and Dean of Postgraduate Students Associate Professor Alan Lawson said the scholarships answered a great need among postgraduate students to travel to resources, equipment and archives in other parts of Australia or elsewhere in the world in order to do their research more effectively.
"This scheme builds appropriately on the Institution's University of the Year accolade from the Good Universities Guides which was based on the criterion of outstanding outcomes for graduates," Dr Lawson said.
"The University of Queensland has been nationally recognised as the University with the best track record in the proportion of graduates who seek and find full-time work or go on to further study.
"The travel scheme is a fitting way to mark the award by making a tangible difference in the quality of academic life of postgraduate students."
For more information, contact Dr Lawson (telephone 07 3365 3477) or Tseen Khoo (telephone 07 3365 8846).
