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AustMS WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards

 

AnnePenfoldStreet-framed.JPG A potential major obstacle for academics when travelling for conferences or research visits is to ensure that their family responsibilities are taken care of while they are away. The AustMS WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards provide additional financial support to Australian mathematicians for their caring responsibilities, while they travel for conferences or research visits to collaborators, with approximately four Awards awarded annually. The potential uses of these Awards include, but are not limited to, short-term childcare or professional carers for elderly relatives. These Awards are open to:

  • individuals studying/working/living in Australia, regardless of gender, or
  • members of organising committees for mathematics/statistics conferences to be held in Australia.

The Awards are funded by the Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) and are an initiative of the AustMS Women in Mathematics Special Interest Group (WIMSIG), which administers them. Awards are determined on a competitive basis by a selection committee of distinguished mathematicians, appointed by the Executive Committee of WIMSIG.

There are two rounds of the Street Awards per year, with closing dates on April 1 and on October 1 each year. Applications, using the application form and accompanied by a CV and other supporting documentation as detailed in the rules below, should be sent to the Selection Committee via the email address streetawards@austms.org.au.

The Awards are named after Professor Anne Penfold Street AM, in recognition of her contributions to the advancement of knowledge across the broader mathematical community where she promoted the intellectual development of secondary and tertiary students, and actively supported the advancement of her peers. She was appointed Professor of Mathematics at The University of Queensland in 1985. She was the third woman appointed to a mathematics professorship in Australia, after Hanna Neumann, ANU 1964, and Cheryl Praeger, UWA 1983.

Professor Street's significant service to science education in the field of mathematics was recognised through her appointment as a member of the Order of Australia in 2014. Her contribution to tertiary education has gone well beyond that of a university faculty member. For many years she was an active member of the Australian Mathematics Trust, providing leadership on enrichment programs for secondary students such as the Mathematical Olympiad. The importance of Professor Street's contributions was acknowledged by the award of the 1994 Bernhard H. Neumann Award for excellence in mathematics enrichment. Her contributions have also been recognised through the award of the Inaugural Medal for Outstanding Service, Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia, 1999, an ARC Australian Senior Research Award, 1991, and a D.Math. (honoris causa) from the University of Waterloo, 1996.

At an early stage, the revolutionary changes afforded by computer technologies were apparent to Professor Street and she was instrumental in developing courses and writing textbooks in these areas. Professor Street has published over 100 journal articles and six research monographs and texts, mainly in discrete mathematics and combinatorics. Several of these have become standard texts used at many universities around the world. Professor Street has supervised 11 PhD and Research MSc students, including four women. Professor Street married Professor Norman Street and together they provided a strong family environment for their two children, Professor Deborah Street and Professor Anthony Street. In the latter years of her life, Anne took great pleasure in the role of “Grandmother”.


Selection Committee

The current members of the Selection Committee for the Awards are:

For queries about the Awards or the application process, please contact Valentina Wheeler (vwheeler@uow.edu.au).


Application Documents


Rules of the WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards

  1. The WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards scheme provides full or partial financial support for care providers and/or facilities to:
    • (i) individuals while they travel for conferences or research visits     to collaborate,
    • (ii) organising committees of conferences to be held in Australia.
  2. Eligibility: Applicants must either (a) hold a PhD (or equivalent) in the mathematical sciences and have a work address (or home address in the case of an applicant who is not currently employed) in Australia, or (b) be studying in a PhD program in the mathematical sciences at an Australian university. They must also have been members of the Australian Mathematical Society for at least twelve months at the time of application. (Backdating of membership to the previous year is not sufficient.) Excepting for conference organisers, an applicant can receive at most one WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Award in any two-year period. Travel funding from other sources does not make an applicant ineligible.
  3. Awards will be based on the benefit of the proposed travel to the applicant’s research program, on whether the applicant will give a talk, and in the case of conference travel, also on the level of visibility of women at the conference. The Selection Committee reserves the right to consult with appropriate assessors.
  4. Each year there will be two rounds of the selection process, with closing dates on April 1 and on October 1. Applications should be sent via email to streetawards@austms.org.au. Applications must be submitted for either of the two rounds prior to the planned travel/conference or that immediately following the travel/conference. No application will be assessed outside of a funding round. Normally applicants will receive notification of the outcome within 45 days of the close of the round.
  5. Applications should consist of: (a) a current CV (at most three pages); and (b) the completed application form, including an explanation (one to two paragraphs is enough) of the purpose of the proposed trip, how it will advance the research of the applicant or of those attending the conference (as appropriate), the nature of the care that is required, and a budget stating the cost of this care (which may exceed the total amount that can be granted).
  6. For applications involving a conference, whether by individuals or conference organisers, the applicant should provide supporting documentation including where possible the URL of the conference website, evidence of conference registration(s), and evidence on the participation of women. Individual applicants should also provide a letter of invitation (email is sufficient), and confirmation of submission of an abstract.
  7. In the case of a research visit, the applicant should arrange for a letter of support from the person they will visit, and a CV for that person, to be sent directly to the Selection Committee, care of streetawards@austms.org.au, by April 1 or October 1. The letter should confirm that the writer agrees to the applicant’s visit, at the proposed travel time.
  8. In applying for a WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Award, applicants agree that their names can be published on the website and in the journals of the Society. Award recipients agree to submit a brief report to the Society within one month of completion of the travel, and that this report may be published in whole or in part in the Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society and on the website and in other journals of the Society.
  9. The Selection Committee of the AustMS Women in Mathematics Special Interest Group will make recommendations to the Chair of the WIMSIG Executive Committee on the award of the WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards. The Selection Committee will recommend the amount to be granted, up to a maximum of $750, to each successful applicant, taking account of the benefit of the proposed travel to the applicant’s research program.
  10. The Society expects to award annually four or more WIMSIG Anne Penfold Street Awards. From time to time, the Society may change the maximum amount of each award and the available funding for the scheme.


Past Selection Committee Members

  • Rounds 10-11 (2019): Natalie Thamwattana — The University of Newcastle
  • Round 9 (2018): Jennifer Flegg — The University of Melbourne
  • Rounds 8-9 (2018): Valentina Wheeler — University of Wollongong
  • Round 7 (2017) and Rounds 8-9 (2018): Cecilia Gonzalez Tokman — The University of Queensland
  • Rounds 6-7 (2017) and Round 8 (2018): Jessica Kasza — Monash University
  • Round 5 (2016) and Rounds 6-7 (2017): Jessica Purcell — Monash University
  • Round 6 (2017): Amie Albrecht — University of South Australia
  • Round 5 (2016) and Round 6 (2017): Joanna Wang — University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)
  • Rounds 4-5 (2016): Yvonne Stokes — The University of Adelaide
  • Round 3 (2015) and Rounds 4-5 (2016): Barbara Maenhaut - The University of Queensland
  • Rounds 2-3 (2015) and Round 4 (2016): Deborah Street — University of Technology, Sydney
  • Round 1 (2014) and Rounds 2-3 (2015): Amie Albrecht — University of South Australia
  • Round 1 (2014), Round 2 (2015), and Round 10 (2019): Julie Clutterbuck — Monash University
  • Chair of Round 1 (2014): Cheryl E. Praeger — The University of Western Australia



Photo of Anne is courtesy of Deborah Street.


Updated: 17 Apr 2020
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