AOC Student Grants

The Australasian Ornithological Conference (AOC) is the primary conference for BirdLife Australia and Birds New Zealand, and the largest biennial gathering of enthusiastic amateur and professional ornithologists and avian researchers from Australasia and beyond.

Birds New Zealand offers grants to assist postgraduate research students from New Zealand to present their findings at the AOC. Depending on the location of the conference, the grant may cover the cost of travel or registration fees. A grant is awarded ONCE to any one person. To be eligible, applicants must have been Birds New Zealand members for at least one year and students enrolled at a New Zealand tertiary institution at the time of submitting an application. Successful applicants are expected to write a short report on their conference experience for publication in Birds New Zealand and/or submit an article to Notornis. 

For the 2023 AOC, Birds New Zealand offered two Student Travel Grants of $700 each. Thanks to Faunatech, an additional student was supported with a return airfare to Brisbane. The three winners were: Katie Gray (return airfare), Katie Vanderstock and Kamya Patel.

In addition to these grants, Birds New Zealand also offers prizes for the best student poster and best student talk at the AOC.

Articles from previous AOCs

Articles are available via the link below.