School of Economics

Honours Research Fund scheme

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Preamble

In response to demand from honours students and supervisors, the School has established an Honours Research Fund to provide financial support to honours students for specified research activities that are relevant to the preparation of the honours thesis. The School recognises that certain honours projects may involve activities and /or resources which are costly and cannot be funded through existing University schemes. The Honours Research Fund Scheme seeks to ensure that students have access to the resources necessary to successfully complete their thesis.

Scheme overview

The total amount of funding available for distribution under this scheme is at the discretion of the Head of School and will be reviewed annually having regard to the resource and operational constraints. Grants of up to $2,500 per student are available to support selected research activities that are directly related to the preparation of the honours thesis.

Rules

  • This scheme is open to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics (Honours) programs.
  • Eligible activities for funding under this scheme include: running experiments in the experimental economics laboratory; fieldwork expenses; and the purchase of data that is not available online.
  • The following activities/items are not eligible for funding under this scheme:
    • Conference travel (funding can be sought through the UQ Employability Grant)
    • Software licences (students normally have access to all software programs in use)
    • Editorial services
    • Hiring of research assistants
  • The maximum amount of funding that can be awarded to any one student is $2,500.
  • If the demand for funding of eligible activities exceeds the pool of funds available in any one year, funding will be awarded on a pro-rata basis to successful applicants.
  • Items that are purchased under this scheme remain the property of the school and may be used by any staff member in the school after the thesis has been submitted.

Process

Prior to the commencement of the academic year, the school honours coordinator informs all honours students about this scheme and the rules that govern its use. Students seeking research support funds should apply directly to the honours coordinator by 11:59pm on the Saturday at the end of teaching week four in semester one. Applications made after this date will also be considered but may be constrained by the amount of funds remaining. The application must include:

  • A cover letter, addressed to the Honours Coordinator, in which the student makes a case for being allocated a specified amount of funding not to exceed $2,500.
  • A letter, or an email message, from the student’s advisor(s) endorsing the funding request being made by the student.
  • A simple budget indicating how the funds will be spent and, if the total expenditure of the project is expected to exceed $2,500 or ends up exceeding $2,500, how the funding gap will be met.

The Honours Coordinator evaluates the applications and makes a recommendation to the Head of School.  Applications can be rejected if the case for funding is not sufficiently strong and/or the justification of the budget is not clear in explaining how the resources will be spent.  

The outcome of all applications will be advised to students by the end of Week 5 of Semester 1.  Successful applicants will receive a Letter of Award and Acceptance Form for the agreed Student Support Funding amount.  The Acceptance Form should be returned to the administrator responsible for the honours program by the end of Week 6 of Semester 1,.

Payment

If the award funding is for,

  • Paying participants/laboratory experiments funds will be paid directly into the successful applicant’s bank account by the end of week 10 of semester 1- applicants will receive further advice on how to acquit their funds, and must ensure that funds are acquitted within 14 days of spending or within 14 days from the activity end date.
  • Fieldwork expenses; and the purchase of data that is not available online the Finance Officer will raise a purchase orders or payment via the school purchasing card or will process reimbursement claims as appropriate

Before the final submission of the thesis, successful applicants are required to send a brief report to the Honours Coordinator explaining how the funds contributed to the preparation of the thesis.  Successful applicants should also acknowledge the funding received from the school in their thesis.

The allocation of funding and awards are subject to the discretion of the Head of School.

Administrative arrangements

The administrative officer responsible for the honours program will draft the official Letters of Award (Student Funding Support) which should be signed by the School Manager, and will notify all applicants of the outcome of their application by the end of Week 5 of Semester 1.

The administrative officer should send the following documents to UQ Finance - BEL Finance Team by the end of Week 7 Semester 1:

  • Recommendation from the Honours Coordinator
  • Endorsement from the Head of School

Plus the following documents for each successful applicant:

  • Letter of Award – Student Support Funding
  • Signed Acceptance Form
  • Simple budget provided at time of application

The fund will be administered under the school student support operational unit