Wildlife Bush Relief Scholarship

Background to the Scholarship

The Wildlife Bushfire Relief Scholarship is offered by the Unusual Pet and Avian Veterinarians (UPAV) Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Australian Veterinary Association, and funded by the generous donations of international colleagues. After seeing the effects of the horrific bushfires of 2019/2020, Dr Todd Driggers (US) spearheaded fundraising to provide assistance to Australian veterinarians on the frontline of dealing with burnt and injured wildlife. The amount donated will cover years of wildlife scholarships, as well as workshops.

The Wildlife Bushfire Relief Scholarship aims to encourage veterinarians to share their experience and clinical skills, gained throughout the bushfires of the 2018/2019 summer season, with the UPAV community via their annual conference. The hope is that this will store and archive the lessons learned, leaving the information available for those dealing with subsequent bushfires.

To be considered for this scholarship, applicants are asked to submit a conference manuscript on a wildlife topic relating to bushfire or injury. If successful, the applicant will be asked to present this paper at the next available UPAV Annual Conference. This year the UPAV group will be combining with ASAV (Small Animals), AVDS (Dental) and AVCB (Conservation Biology) special interest groups for a special conference in Cairns, QLD.

The successful applicant will gain experience in conference presentation skills and professional development, while adding to their professional and social network. This is particularly useful for more rural colleagues.

Scholarship inclusions

The Wildlife Bushfire Relief Scholarship provides:

One x complimentary 2-Day UPAV Stream registration plus a ticket to the UPAV Dinner at the ASAV Annual Conference.
$1,000 stipend for contribution to travel and accommodation expenses to attend the UPAV Stream at the ASAV Annual Conference.
Conference paper presentation opportunity.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants for the Wildlife Bushfire Relief Scholarship must:

Be a currently registered Australian Veterinarian at the time of application.
If successful, agree to present the submitted conference paper at the UPAV Stream of the ASAV Annual Conference.
If successful, agree to include the conference paper in the conference proceedings.

Application details

Applications close on Friday 4 July 2025, 12:00am AEST.
Conference manuscript criteria:
- Presentation papers that address a wildlife topic, relating to bushfire or injury will be given preferential consideration. Papers discussing the mental health impacts of the situation will also be highly regarded.
- Provide your manuscript with the following requirements:
  - in Microsoft Word format (.docx)
  - manuscript does not exceed 2,000 word limit
  - presentation format to be approximately 15 minutes in duration