The 2022 round of the Gottstein Trust flagship grants program has opened, and applications can be made online until 3 June 2022. The grants are awarded to individuals rather than to groups and applications are open to all industry personnel and students. Source: Timberbiz
“This is a great opportunity for individuals looking to boost their career along with activities that can be funded with a capacity building grant awarded by the Trust,” said chair of trustees Suzette Weeding.
There are three types of grants. With no set pre-requisites, the Skill Development Support category is open to anyone, working at any level, who wants to build their skills.
Candidates may seek funding to pay for a skill development activity such as a hands-on or online course, attending a workshop or conference or engaging a mentor outside the business where they work.
“It is up to the individual to identity what it is they want to achieve and how,” Ms Weeding said.
The Scholarship category is for TAFE and University students who aspire to a future career in the industry. Successful candidates can use the grant funds for living expenses or general course expenses. They must be enrolled in a field of study relevant to the forest products industry.
The most prestigious award grant is a Gottstein fellowship. Applications mainly come from early to mid-career individuals who are motivated to undertake a special project of their own design, which they can demonstrate is beneficial for the forest products industry.
A fellowship project usually involves an extended period of international and/or domestic travel and dedicated project time away from their regular workplace or study.
This means that the employer or academic supervisor would need to be on board with it too. Every Gottstein fellow makes a commitment to produce a written report about their learnings and experiences from the project.
Every report is made openly available to the industry at www.gotttsteintrust.org
Ms Weeding stressed the necessity for a fellowship recipient to prioritise production of their report.
“This is the key way that the Trust makes the learnings from every fellowship openly accessible for industry,” she said.
Many prominent industry companies and peak bodies are annual donors to the Gottstein Trust Fund.
“This greatly supports the Trust to make capacity building opportunities available each year. We especially encourage donor companies to make their staff aware of these great opportunities. Every application is reviewed and considered on their merits,” said Ms Weeding.
The eligibility criteria and online application forms are available at www.gottsteintrust.org and enquiries can be directed to [email protected] or call Helen Murray 0419-991-424.
Former award recipients invariably praise the Gottstein Trust support they received with firsthand testimonials available at https://gottsteintrust.org/testimonials
“Some people found their own Gottstein experiences to be career and, indeed life, changing,” said Ms Weeding.
