New Zealand Geotechnical Society Research Scholarship

Next Award in 2020.  Submissions due 31 October 2020.

Download the New Zealand Geotechnical Society Scholarship application form

The NZGS Management Committee provides funding for a scholarship that would enable a member of the Society to undertake postgraduate research in New Zealand that would advance the objectives of the Society. Through this scholarship, the Society hopes to encourage members to enroll for post-graduate research (e.g., PhD, Masters by research) or undertake independent research (e.g., post-doctoral research) which would not otherwise be possible for them.

The fields of research would be in Engineering Geology and/or Geotechnical Engineering. The award of such a scholarship would include agreed milestones. Deliverables would include a publication and/or a thesis. A nominated representative from the NZGS will act as a liaison with the scholar and the supervisor (where applicable).

The NZGS Management Committee has agreed on the following Terms of Reference for the NZGS Scholarship:

  1. A scholarship termed the “New Zealand Geotechnical Society Scholarship” wholly funded by the New Zealand Geotechnical Society (NZGS) and administered by the NZGS Management Committee is available for members (defined to be either a Student Member or Normal Member) of the NZGS.
  2. The scholarship is provided to enable the member to undertake postgraduate research work in the fields of Engineering Geology and/or Geotechnical Engineering in New Zealand.
  3. This research work can lead to the award of a post-graduate degree but is not necessarily restricted to such an award. It is expected that the study or research work will be undertaken at a post-graduate level and not at an undergraduate level
  4. A publication at the end of the study or research work in the form of a report or thesis is a requirement of the award of the scholarship.
  5. The scholarship is awarded on an ad-hoc basis at the sole discretion of the NZGS Management Committee. This is dependent on proposals submitted for consideration by the Committee.
  6. Applications for consideration by the Committee should be submitted to the Management Secretary by 31st October in any award year.  Applications will usually be accepted every second year, but the decision to open applications will be dependent on available funds and will be at the discretion of the NZGS Management Committee each year.
  7. The period of research work is to be agreed with the NZGS Management Committee.
  8. The value of the scholarship is for a sum of up to NZ$20,000.

In addition to the usual Masters and PhD topics, other examples of suitable applications would be:

  1. applicant is in full time work and the research relates to a project they are currently working on. It would be funded partly by their employer and/or client and partly by NZGS;
  2. applicant is in full time work and would like to take a year or two years out to complete a full time or part-time masters.

New Zealand Geotechnical Society Scholars

  • 2019 – Doug Mason (PhD student, University of Canterbury) was awarded $10,000 for investigations of the performance of cut and fill slopes in the Kaikoura earthquake.
  • 2019 – Heba Elsaidy (PhD student, University of Auckland) was awarded $5,000 for investigation of the swelling and shrinkage assessment of Auckland residual expansive soils.
  • 2016 – Katherine Yates was awarded $15,000 for investigation of the relationship between shear strength, soil-water characteristics, and microstructure of loess in Banks Peninsula
  • 2016 – Tom Robertson was awarded $7,500 for an investigation of the effectiveness of salt treatment on halyosite rich sensitive volcanic ash soils
  • 2014 – Maxim Millen for completion of PhD studies at Canterbury University on ‘Integrated Performance-based Design of Building-Foundation Systems’.
  • 2014 – Kelly Robinson for completion of PhD studies at Canterbury University on the ‘Study of Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Ground Displacements (Lateral Spreading) in the Christchurch Area following the 2010 Darfield and 2011 Christchurch Earthquakes’
  • 2011 – Mohammad Jawad Arefi for completion of PhD studies at Canterbury University into the effects of nonlinearity and uncertainty in site response analysis.