ASM Grants & Awards

SOMANZ ASM Awards and Travel Grants

The Society makes available a number of awards at the Annual Scientific Meeting. Applications are called for as part of the abstract submission process, and are judged at the ASM.

NOTE:  Applicants must upload a brief letter of support from their supervisor or department head when applying for the awards.  One letter can be used to support multiple award or grant.

 

2026 SOMANZ Clinical Supervisor of the Year Award

The mission statement of the Society of Obstetric Medicine of Australia and New Zealand includes to foster the highest levels of training and education in Obstetric Medicine.

SOMANZ has instigated the Clinical Supervisor award to recognise excellence in obstetric medicine supervision, clinical teaching and outstanding contributions to obstetric medicine education. Nominations for this Award must be made exclusively by a trainee.

The recipient of this Award will be a SOMANZ recognised obstetric medicine supervisor who fulfils the principal criteria which can be demonstrated by at least two additional criteria as listed below:

  • PRINCIPAL CRITERIA:
    • Makes a significant contribution to the supervision of trainees in obstetric medicine training.
  • ADDITIONAL CRITERIA:
    • Demonstrated evidence of developing and/or delivering innovative high quality programs and approaches for education in obstetric medicine;
    • o Made a significant contribution to mentoring and the provision of career advice to trainees, recognising the strengths and areas for development in individuals, and incorporating these into constructive feedback;
    • o Fosters a work environment that encourages education. o Models behaviours that encourage best practice.
    • o Advocated for obstetric medicine education and training in the workplace and beyond, which could include contributions to a Postgraduate Medical Council or any organisation involved in the education and training of Obstetric Medicine;
    • o Made a significant contribution to promoting the well-being of trainees;
    • o Demonstrated evidence of improving education and training opportunities in rural and remote locations as per Modified Monash 2-7 categories – https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/health-workforce/health-workforce-classifications/modified-monash-model.

Please click here to download the 2026 SOMANZ Clinical Supervisor nomination form.

 

SOMANZ Claire McLintock Memorial Award

The SOMANZ Claire McLintock Memorial Award will be given to the best oral clinical presentation by an early career* SOMANZ member at the Annual Scientific Meeting.  The award is for A$1000 and will be judged by an expert panel throughout the meeting and awarded on the final day. Please indicate if you wish to be considered for this Award during the abstract submission process. You must be a SOMANZ member to apply.

 

SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award

The SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award will be given to the best oral scientific presentation by an early career* SOMANZ member during the meeting.  This award is for A$1000 and will be judged by an expert panel throughout the meeting and awarded on the final day. Please indicate if you wish to be considered for this Award during the abstract submission process. You must be a SOMANZ member to apply.

 

SOMANZ Best Poster Awards

The SOMANZ Best Poster Awards will be available during the Annual Scientific Meeting. Please indicate if you wish to be considered for the Poster Awards during the abstract submission process. You must be a SOMANZ member to apply and must be standing by your poster at the time of the poster session. The SOMANZ Poster Award is to the value of A$750 and is intended for early career* members.

 

SOMANZ Travel Grants

Applications for 2026 SOMANZ Travel Grant is open.

Applications are invited from early career* SOMANZ members to apply for a Travel Grant to attend the 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting to be held in Brisbane. The travel grants will be up to the value of A$500 each. Applicants must be a financial member of SOMANZ at the time of application and be presenting at the meeting. Applications should be in the form of a brief letter from a supervisor or department head.

Applications from Rural and Remote locations will be prioritised and may attract a larger grant value.

Early Career

Early Career is defined by SOMANZ as either a trainee, or enrolled in an undergraduate or postgraduate degree (BScMed, MSc, PhD, MD), or within 5 years post completion of a higher degree (PhD, MD, FRACP, FRANZCOG) i.e. between 5 years of their PhD conferral date, excluding career disruptions.

To apply for the Grant please click the link below.

https://somanz.org/application-for-2026-somanz-travel-grant/

Applications close on Friday 12 June 2026.

 

SOMANZ International Travel Grant

Applications for 2026 International Travel Grant is now open.

The Society of Obstetric Medicine of Australia and New Zealand (SOMANZ) would like to offer educational travel grant to medical practitioners from low-middle income countries to attend their Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM). Attendance at the ASM is designed as a collaboration between Obstetricians and Physicians to foster learning and research in the areas of Obstetric Medicine.

We welcome applications for this grant of up to A$5,000 which is intended to cover airfares, accommodation and registration to our conference.

Applicants need to describe, in less than 500 words, their current area of practice and how attendance at our conference might benefit the hospital or community they work in.  The application should also provide comment on any research involvement. The successful applicant will give a 10-20 minute talk at the conference on maternal health in their country. They will also be expected to provide feedback post conference to their local colleagues as well as send a brief report on their experience at the Congress for possible publication on websites and in newsletters.

Applications should be in the form of a brief letter (no more than 2 pages/less than 500 words) and should include the current area of practice and how attendance at our conference might benefit the applicants’ hospital or community they work in. The application should also provide comment on any research involvement. A budget MUST be included with the application quoting anticipated costs associated with their attendance at the meeting. Please note that funds will not be provided in advance.

Applications for the 2026 International Travel Grant has closed.

 

The SOMANZ Council reserve the right not to offer a Grant or Award if a suitable application is not received.

 

2025 SOMANZ ASM Grant and Award Recipients

  • SOMANZ Claire McLintock Memorial Award – Su Jen Chua
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award (Oral presentation) – Harsha Suresh
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Dyone Bettega (Clinical)
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Bianca Fato (Scientific)
  • SOMANZ Educational Travel Awards – Laura Gerhardy, Madeleine Cosgrave, Nadia Birch, Sasirekha Rengaraj
  • SOMANZ Priscilla Kincaid-Smith Memorial Lecture – Katie Groom

 

2024 SOMANZ ASM Grant and Award Recipients

  • SOMANZ Claire McLintock Memorial Award – Claire Shi
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award (Posters) – Natasha de Alwis and Claire Richards
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Awards – Jill Parkes-Smith (Clinical)
  • SOMANZ Educational Travel Awards – Arunima Jain, Jennifer Green, Maleeka Ladhani, Jessica Burk
  • SOMANZ International Travel Grant – Dr Marilyn Morris, Papua New Guinea

2023 SOMANZ ASM Grant and Award Recipients

  • SOMANZ Claire McLintock Memorial Award – Arunima Jain
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Natasha de Alwis
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Awards – Piyumi Abeyawardana (Clinical), Sarah Noonan (Scientific)
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Emily Stevenson, Liesel Woon, Vanessa Heron, Jessica Han, Stevie Young
  • SOMANZ International Travel Grant – Dr Paula Zzferio, Papua New Guinea

2022 SOMANZ ASM Grant and Award Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Jessica Deitch
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Bianca Fato 
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Awards – Jessica Phillips (Clinical), Hannah Christie (Scientific)
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Emily Fergusson, Zohara Mendis, Jessica Han, Zaynab El-Hamawi, Jie Shang, Wai Kit Lee, Tessa Weir, Dimity Archer, Dhnanjay Soundappan, Katherine Wyld, Dianna Luong, Maryon Jones, Nishanta Tangirala, Juliana Yang, Lisa McTavish
  • SOMANZ International Travel Grant – Dr Thushara Matthias, Sri Lanka

2021 SOMANZ-ADIPS Joint Virtual ASM

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Belinda Stallard
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Monica Zen
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Awards – Jessica Phillips (Clinical), Akhil Gupta (Scientific)

2020 SOMANZ-ADIPS ASM was cancelled

 

2019 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Catherine Brumby
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award –Renuka Shanmugalingam
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Awards – Helen Robinson (Scientific), David O’Keefe (Clinical)
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Natalie Cromer, Akhil Gupta
  • SOMANZ International Travel Grants – Delly Babona, Geita Morea

 

2018 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Catherine Brumby
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award –Renuka Shanmugalingam
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award (Scientific) – Madeline Duke (Spooner), Katherine Poulsen
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Emily Aldridge, Jarrad Hopkins, Stella Ho, Natalie Cromer, Jessica Gehlert, Angela Teh, Charissa Joy

 

2017 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Renee Eslick
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Katrina Chau
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Amanda Beech
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Annie Cox, Monica Zen, Katie Powell, Megan Jensen, Melinda Lam, Kewei Zhang, Catherine Brumby.

 

2016 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Julie Chemmanam
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Marloes Dekker Nitert
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Chih-Ching Hu
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Madeline Spooner, Jade Ecles-SMith, Annie Lu, Jessica Gehlert, Emily Hartman, Amanda Yao, Lucy McBride.

 

2015 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Ben Stephens
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – May Ching Soh
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Marloes Dekker, Shilpa Jesudason
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Krupali Bulsari, May Ching Soh, Ben Stephens, Sigrid Theordore

 

2014 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Ruth Hughes
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Luke Grzeskowiak
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Narelle Kennedy
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Selina Boughton, Luke Grzeskowiak, Kristine Matusiak

 

2013 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Franziska Pettit
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Lauren De Luca
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Jessica Phillips-Yelland
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Fiona Britten, Flavian Grace Joseph, Heather McKay, Harish Venugopal

 

2012 SOMANZ ASM Grants and Awards Recipients

  • SOMANZ President’s Award – Ruth Hughes
  • SOMANZ Andrew Phippard Memorial Award – Natalie Davidson
  • SOMANZ Best Poster Award – Rahmah Saaid
  • SOMANZ Travel Grants – Natalie Davidson, Madeline Denham, Claire Parker, Tristan Hardy, Ruth Hughes