PA/02/21 30 July 2021
Australian Foreign Minister awards Australian Alumni Grant Scheme 2021
Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, on Friday presided over the award of the 2021 Australian Alumni Grants Scheme, participating in a virtual interaction with the 13 successful Indian teams.
The Australian Alumni Grants Scheme offers seed funding, on a competitive basis, for initiatives created by Indians who have graduated from a recognised Australian tertiary institution. Together, the teams received 87 lakh rupees from the Australian Government.
The Minister praised the scheme, which helps to build links between Australia and India, and gives back to those who invested in a world-class Australian education.
“I congratulate all the recipients and look forward to seeing how Australian alumni continue to use the skills they gained in Australia to encourage commercial, institutional and people-to-people connections between our countries” said Minister Payne.
Successful projects in 2021 included one led by Ms Madhavi Shankar, Co-Founder and CEO of SpaceBasic. She has a Master of Engineering (2013) and MBA (2014) from the University of Technology Sydney. Her project will help students from low-income families navigate the international education experience through her SpaceBasic App.
Mr Parul Sharma, holder of a Master of Environmental Management and Development from the Australian National University (2011) will work on making Indian cities more accessible for people with disabilities.
A full list of successful grant recipients in 2021 is available on the AAGS website along with video profiles of the 2020 recipients. A call for Round 3 applications will be made in December 2021.