Conference Awards and Scholarships

We’re delighted to announce that oral presentations from eligible presenters will be considered for our two
prestige awards, the Trans‐Tasman Bursary and the Keith Williamson Medal. 

Trans‐Tasman Bursary

The Trans‐Tasman Bursary is sponsored by ProSciTech Pty Ltd, who supply light and electron microscopy, histology, and vacuum technology products in Australia and New Zealand. The bursary enables a New Zealand based microscopist from this conference to attend the next Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society conference. The Trans‐Tasman Bursary recipient is selected by MNZ and provides return economy air travel, conference registration fees and a $AU500 subsistence allowance. To be eligible for this award the following criteria must be met:

  1. The person must be under the age of 30 years old and attending the microscopy conference in their country of residence. 
  2. Their presentation must be from significant research using microscopy and/or electron beam microanalysis, or advancing microscopy and/or electron beam microanalysis techniques. 
  3. The work must be presented by the applicant at their Society's biennial Microscopy Conference as an oral presentation.
  4. Candidates must cite in brief the significance of their work and provide the contact information of a professional referee or include a supporting statement of supervisor or senior investigator.

This information should be sent by 1 September 2019 to microscopy2019@waikato.ac.nz 

The winner of the bursary will be announced at the conference dinner. The name of the runner‐up will be
held in confidence and that person will take the award if the winner is unable to claim the prize.

Keith Williamson Medal

The Keith Williamson Memorial Medal for excellence in microscopy research is sponsored by Thomson Scientific, who supply a wide range of scientific instrumentation and currently represent innovative manufacturers such as Gatan Inc. and Bruker MicroCT.

The award is in memory of Keith Williamson, the 'Father of Electron Microscopy' in New Zealand and is in the form of a medal and a $NZ500 cash prize. Mr. Tony Thomson, the founder of Thomson Scientific Instruments, had a close working and personal relationship with Keith during the early days of Electron Microscopy in the 1960s.

The award will be made to the microscopist judged to have presented the most innovative technique or inventive use of instrumentation or most original interpretation of results. All forms of microscopy are eligible. This award will be presented at the Conference Dinner. The judging panel will consist of the guest speakers and the President of Microscopy New Zealand Inc.

To be eligible for this award the following criteria must be met:

  1. A letter of recommendation from a referee, your supervisor or manager should be sent before 30 September 2019 to microscopy2019@waikato.ac.nz
  2. The candidates must present their work at the conference as an oral paper. 
  3. The candidates may be interviewed by the panel about their work.
  4. The candidates must have performed the microscopy themselves.

The winner of the bursary will be announced at the conference dinner. 

Early Career Microscopist Scholarship

Microscopy New Zealand would like to invite students and early career researchers to apply for a "Early
Career Microscopist" award. This award is offered by Microscopy New Zealand, Inc. with the aim to
encourage participation from “junior” technicians and students who may otherwise have difficulty attending
the 2019 Microscopy New Zealand conference. Each grant‐in‐aid is for $700* towards the cost of attending the conference plus a waived conference registration (optional workshops not included). This provides a unique opportunity to interact with experts in many forms of microscopy and to present your research.

* Successful applicants from Waikato/BOP will only receive a waived conference registration.

Criteria for award:

  1. Applicants are either a postgraduate student enrolled at a New Zealand University, or an early career researcher or technician working in New Zealand, whose work contains a significant component of microscopy.
  2. Applicants must be planning to present either a poster or paper presentation at the conference.
  3. Applicants must apply in writing by 6 September 2019 and will be notified prior to the close of early registration deadline of 27 September 2019.


Applications should include a letter detailing the applicant's research topic and provide reasons why they
think they would benefit from attending the conference. Applicants must also provide a letter of support
from their supervisor or team leader.

Completed applications should be sent by email to MNZ Secretary Allan Mitchell at allan.mitchell@otago.ac.nz

The selection panel will consist of the society executive. Payment will be made at the conference upon arrival of the successful applicant(s).

Give us "Your Best Shot"

A light hearted look at your ‘pretty’, ‘amazing’, ‘fun’, ‘amusing’ images!

Bring your image as a print (no larger than A3 size), ensure you add the subject matter, magnification and your name on the back of the print. We will display them on our "Best Shot" board for all to enjoy. There will be a 'peoples choice' winner and small prize for the one that gets the most votes.