Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand

RASNZ SWAPA 2024

The Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ) offers 10 top secondary students who are NZ citizens or permanent residents and at secondary school anywhere in New Zealand Scholarships to enable them to attend the RASNZ annual astronomy conference. This scholarship is known as Students With a Passion for Astronomy (SWAPA). Students in years 13, 12 or 11 may apply.

The Conference will take place this year in Nelson Friday May 24th (afternoon) to Sunday 26 May 2024 (about 4 pm). https://www.rasnzconference.org.nz/

The Scholarships comprise free registration for the conference (value $200), free travel from their home to Nelson*, free backpacker type accommodation in Nelson for 24th and 25th May*, and a free ticket for the conference dinner on Saturday 25th May (value $75).

Successful students will be chaperoned by police vetted adults. If from out of Nelson they will be met at their transport terminal and taken to their accommodation and return at the end of the conference.

*Accommodation and travel only if required for non-Nelson residents.

To be considered,

Information for this year's scholarship and how to apply have been sent to all secondary schools in New Zealand. Please ask your Principal or Head of Science for a copy of this information or email: swapa@rasnz.org.nz for the forms.

Students must register their interest on a form sent to your school or from RASNZ, including their name, gender, age, school, year of study at school in 2024, city, email address, telephone contact and science teacher’s name, phone and email.

Students should also include a short statement of no more than 300 words explaining why they would like to attend the conference and why they are interested in astronomy. Registrations should be submitted by Monday 8th April 2024, 5 pm.

Successful applicants will be selected from these statements by a panel of RASNZ members. The winners will be selected for a clear enthusiasm for astronomy, their seniority, grammar, spelling and clarity of their submitted statement.

For more detail see the RASNZ webpage –
https://www.rasnz.org.nz/rasnz-info/students-with-a-passion-for-astronomy/students-with-a-passion-for-astronomy