NICTA’s (National ICT Australia) Summer Scholars Program awards undergraduate students the opportunity to spend 10 to 12 weeks, over the summer at any of the five NICTA Laboratories in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.
Established in 2004, the Summer Scholars Program aims to encourage high-calibre undergraduates to explore the potential of a career in ICT research by exposing them to the professional research resources and facilities at NICTA. The program has become nationally recognised and students from universities across Australia and around the globe have participated.
The two principal elements of the Summer Scholars Program are:
- A research project is prepared and completed by each scholar, including the submission of an individual technical report, under the supervision of a NICTA staff researcher who assumes the role of mentor for the summer. In some of NICTA's labs, scholars participate in a poster session where they share the results of their projects and ultimately compete for the Best Summer Scholar prize in each Laboratory.
- Scholars from all laboratories attend a Summer Scholars Showcase (see below)
The research period typically begins in late November or early December and concludes in February of the following year (although other dates can be negotiated). Students are awarded a tax exempt scholarship for their summer research experience (check with each Research Lab for amount payable).
All NICTA summer scholars are required to attend the Summer Scholars Showcase which is held at the beginning of the research period in early December. This is an exclusive event designed to demonstrate NICTA’s work in ICT and connect the scholars with other NICTA PhD students, researchers and ICT leaders to learn about their experiences. Opportunities for students to complete their postgraduate research training with NICTA are also explored. The Showcase gives scholars opportunities to network informally through NICTA-sponsored catering and entertainment.
The 2008 Summer Scholars Showcase will be held in Canberra on Thurday 5th and Friday 6th of December. NICTA will pay transportation and accommodation costs for students attending from the other laboratories.
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Students at the 2007 Summer Scholars Showcase, held at the University of Melbourne
The Summer Scholars Program is administered by each NICTA Laboratory in conjunction with the corresponding partner universities.
Information on NICTA Projects available within the various Summer or Vacation scholarship programs, and the relevant application procedures are available as follows.
- 2008-2009Taste of Research Summer Scholarships program at the Faculty of Engineering, University of NSW
- 2008-2009 Summer Research Scholar program at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University
- 2008-09 Vacation Scholarships program at the School of Information Technology, the University of Sydney
- 2008-2009 NICTA Queensland Summer Scholarship Program
- 2008-2009 MERIT Summer Research Experience at the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Melbourne