The Australian Centre for Federalism (ACF) of the ANU School of Politics & International Relations, is pleased to announce the 2024 Ronald L. Watts – Young Scholar Award. As an eligible centre, the ACF can nominate full-time researchers, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral students, as well as former students from any school at the ANU (or Australia), who are working on a topic related to an aspect of federalism (defined quite broadly).

Borui Song, a former SPIR HDR student was the winner in 2022 working on fiscal equalisation in China.

The winner will participate in the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies (IACFS) annual conference in Antwerp, Belgium in September 2024 (return flight tickets and three days’ accommodation provided) and present their paper.

Please see below for details on the Young Scholar Award.

Eligibility

• Only young researchers endorsed and nominated by an IACFS member centre are eligible. They include full-time researchers, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral students, as well as former students.
• The age limit is 35 years old at the time of tabling the application.
• Young researchers are invited to submit a journal-length article (8,000 - 10,000 words) on a topic dealing with an aspect of federalism. The topic does not need to be linked to the theme of the IACFS annual conference.
• The paper must be an original work and written in English. It may have already been submitted for publication but not published.

Process

A young researcher submits their work to the director of an IACFS member centre and each centre may nominate up to three candidates.

If you are a young researcher at the ANU (or Australia) interested in applying for this award, please submit your paper and contact information to tracy.fenwick@anu.edu.au by April 5^th, 2024.

For further information, visit the IACFS website.