Graduate & Postgraduate Scholarships & Fellowships
Philosophy of the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses
The Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses is dedicated to preserving and maintaining a living Memorial Scholarship in honour and remembrance of nurses who served in the Australian Defence Forces at home and abroad. The Scholarship is dedicated to the promotion and continuing development of knowledge and scholarship in the nursing and midwifery professions.
THE CENTAUR SCHOLARSHIP
The Centaur Higher Degree Research Scholarship of a maximum of $10,000 is awarded annually to a Queensland nurse or midwife who is undertaking a Professional Doctorate or a Doctor of Philosophy in nursing or midwifery or a related discipline.
Download a Centaur Scholarship application form.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for the Centaur Scholarship the applicant must at the time of the application:
- be a resident in Queensland;
- hold an unconditional licence to practice as a nurse or midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Board, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA);
- have successfully achieved their Confirmation of Candidature;
- have successfully achieved Human Research Ethics Committee approval from an Australian university;
- at March 1st next year, have a minimum of 12 months full time equivalent [i.e. 24 months if part-time] remaining in their candidature.
- be a member of the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses (see Membership application form for details.
Applications open last week of August and close first business day of October each year.
FELLOWSHIP
On successful completion of the postgraduate studies Centaur scholarship recipients are entitled to use the post nominal: Centaur Fellow.
DR JUDITH DEAN
Congratulations to Dr Judith Dean our Vice President on the Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses Committee and ‘Fellow’.
Dr Judith Dean
Dr Dean’s PhD is titled: ‘Sexual health knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of Queensland Sudanese communities.’
Winners for 2024 – 2014
Winner for 2024
Nick Nijkamp: Evaluation of the Transition to Practice Programs (TPP) for New Graduate and Novice Perioperative Nurses.
Winner for 2023
Tricia Kleidon: Techniques and Technologies to improve peripheral intravenous catheter insertion and outcomes in paediatrics.
Winner for 2022
Shannon Sheehan – Profiling the Deterioration Risk Factors of Patients Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus on a Diabetes Specialist Outpatient Waiting List.
Winner for 2021
Mrs Hui (Grace) Xu – uSing Meditation App to Reduce emergency department occupational sTress (SMART trial).
Winner for 2020
Mrs Suzanne Williams – A collaborative implementation of acute paediatric pain management in the emergency department.
Winner for 2019
Mrs Amanda Corley – The use of a securement bundle to prevent peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) failure .
Winner for 2018
Ms Jessica Schults – Optimising endotracheal suction practices in the paediatric intensive care unit.
Winner for 2017
Ms Elise Button – Identifying risk of deteriorating and dying in people with a haematological malignancy.
Winner for 2016
Ms Amanda Ullman RN MAppSci PhD Candidate Griffith University – Improving practices for central venous access devices (CVAD) in acute care paediatrics.
Winner for 2015
Mrs Jill Campbell – IntACT Study: Incontinence Associated Dermatitis and Candida detection. A pilot prospective observational study in the acute care setting.
Winner for 2014
Ms Gillian Lewis – The influence of emotional intelligence on nursing students’ management of affective events.
Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing.
In October 2015, Elizabeth Beattie and Linda Shields, the first and second Centaur Fellows respectively, both flew to Washington, USA, where they were inducted as Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. This is an honour given to few outside the USA. Elizabeth was honoured for her contribution to aged care and psychogeriatrics and Linda because of her contribution to the care of children in hospital and nursing history. Linda spoke for both herself and Elizabeth when she said “winning The Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses PhD Scholarship, and becoming a Centaur Fellow, was a real turning point in my career. It meant not only that my research was well supported, it also gave me the confidence to carry on and know that I could achieve at the highest level”.
Linda Shields MD (Research), PhD, FACN, FAAN, Centaur Fellow, MAICD
Professor of Nursing, Charles Sturt University.
Elizabeth Beattie, PhD, Centaur Fellow, is Director of the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre: Carers and Consumers, Director of the Queensland Dementia Training Study Centre, and Professor of Aged Care and Dementia, School of Nursing, QUT.
The Joy Croker Centaur Silver Medal
We are proud to honour our commitment to the memory of the nurses who died with the sinking of AHS Centaur in 1943 by supporting development of the nursing profession by acknowledging academic achievements of new graduates. We award an annual silver medal for nurses undertaking undergraduate degrees.
UNDERGRADUATE PRIZE
Criteria for awarding the Centaur Joy Croker silver medal:
- The prize is awarded for the highest grade point average (GPA) in the undergraduate nursing degree.
- It remains the responsibility of the university to choose the recipient of the award if there is more than one student with the same GPA.
- Only one Centaur undergraduate prize will be offered to each university conducting an undergraduate nursing degree course, regardless of the number of campus attributed to that university.
- The Centaur undergraduate prize will comprise, a Joy Crocker Silver Medal (approx value $400) engraved with the student’s name, and a book on the history of the AHS Centaur.
- The awardees are advised that their name and photo may appear on our website, unless otherwise requested.
The prize is available to all Queensland Universities providing undergraduate nursing degrees.
Universities should submit the names of students eligible for the Joy Croker Silver Medal to the Secretary, Centaur Memorial Fund for Nurses.
THE JOY CROKER SILVER MEDAL
The medal is awarded to outstanding graduate nurses.
The Joy Croker Silver Medal