It will be the second time the grants have been offered through the fund, which is named after IEAA’s late president. The grants, which are open to Australians and those from abroad, include a professional development award of AUD$1,500 open to academic, professional and administrative staff.

It will be the second time IEAA has offered the grants under its Tony Adams fund

Up to AUD$3,000 is also available for a research project or AUD$1,500 for each year of a PhD course for up to three years.

IEAA said that selection for the grants was based not only on how the proposed activity would benefit the applicant, but also “on the long-term benefit to the broader international education community”.

One of last year’s winners, Sarah Argles from Monash University, Melbourne, used the grant to travel to the US for the Forum on Education Abroad Conference in Chicago. She also met the chairs of the Boston Area Study Abroad Association (BASAA) to learn about its support programmes for those returning from a period of study overseas.

“The Tony Adams grant allowed me to do in-depth research on returned student programming and regional student mobility groups,” Argles said. “I was able to present at my first professional conference and meet leaders in the field that develop returned student mobility groups.”

Yuan Gao used her award for a PhD course at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne, which focused on developing a user-friendly model for universities to monitor and review their internationalisation strategies.

Applications for the grants close August 11 2013. Recipients will be announced at the Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) in Canberra in October 2013.