Australia Awards South and West Asia

Applications are now open for the Australia Awards – South and West Asia 2020 Scholars Forum, the theme of which is ‘Climate Change and COVID-19: Resilience, Connection and Recovery’.

The Forum, to be held online on 25 and 26 November 2020, will bring together scholars from South and West Asia for a program of professional development and knowledge sharing. The Forum aims to enhance scholars’ understanding of, and commitment to, building climate resilience in South and West Asia.

The Forum theme aligns with the Partnerships for Recovery focus on the importance of building resilience to address COVID-19 challenges. It will also aim to enhance scholars’ ability to remotely engage with organisations and individuals globally and to be empowered to influence change upon returning to their home countries.

The global pandemic has highlighted the need for flexibility, responsiveness and innovation across all sectors, in addition to illustrating the importance of connectivity and the interdependence of nations. Even though we cannot meet in person, the innovative and interactive online environment of the Forum will present an opportunity for scholars to come together.

Scholars will be joined at the Forum by a range of speakers and guests. These will include representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and environmental advocacy groups, and also Australia Awards alumni.

Scholars who wish to attend the Forum must submit an application. This will be a competitive process and not all applicants will be selected to participate.

To be eligible, applicants must:

• be a current Australia Awards scholar
• be from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka
• be available to attend the event in its entirety on 25–26 November 2020 (exact timing to be confirmed).

To apply, you will need to answer the following questions:

1. How will your participation in the Scholars Forum benefit you? (200 words)

2. What do you see as the key climate change challenges affecting you or your country? (200 words)

3. When it comes to climate change, what are you most interested in learning about? (100 words)

Applicants must register, complete and submit their application online on the Australia Awards – South and West Asia events application portal. If you have registered on the application portal before, you can reset your password or register with a different email address.

On registering your details through this system, an email confirmation message will be sent to your account. This message will contain a link that will enable you to activate your account. If you have not received this email within 5-10 minutes in your inbox, please check your spam or junk email folder. If you are unable to locate the email confirmation message from Australia Awards – South and West Asia, or have any queries regarding the application portal, please send an email to support.portal@australiaawardssouthwestasia.org and ensure that you provide the email address that you used to register on the system.

Once you log in, you can apply for the Australia Awards – South and West Asia 2020 Scholars Forum. Please click the submit button at the end of the application once you complete it. You will receive an email after you have submitted your application.

Applications must be submitted online by midnight on Wednesday, 30 September 2020.