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Conference Scholarships

The TDS Conference Scholarship is an initiative presented by the Timber Design Society (TDS) and is open to TDS members who are early/mid-career professionals. This year, successful recipient(s) will receive financial assistance to go towards attendance at either the 2025 World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) in Brisbane, or the 2025 International Conference on Timber Bridges (ICTB) in Rotorua.

 

The WCTE is the world’s premier scientific dissemination forum for presenting and discussing the latest technical and architectural developments and innovations in timber engineering and construction. WCTE 2025 is to be held in Brisbane, Australia on June 22nd – 26th 2025. More information regarding the conference can be found on the conference website www.wcte2025.org.

 

The ICTB is a triennial meeting point for engineers, architects, experts, as well as scientists and students from all over the world in the field of timber bridges, including highway, railway and pedestrian structures. ICTB 2025 is to be held in Rotorua, New Zealand on June 29th – July 2nd 2025. More information regarding the conference can be found on the conference website https://ictb-conference.org/.

 

The scholarship aims to provide an opportunity for early/mid-career professionals:

1.      To grow their skills and experience outside of business as usual.

2.      To learn from world leaders in timber engineering and use this learning to benefit the Timber Design Society and ultimately the NZ timber industry.

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Scholarship Value and Benefits

The winner of the 2025 WCTE Scholarship will receive:

  • Financial support of up to the value of $5,000 (NZD) to attend the 2025 World Conference on Timber Engineering in Brisbane, to cover travel, accommodation and registration costs.

  • The winner of the 2025 ICTB Scholarship will receive:
    Financial support of up to the value of $2,500 (NZD) to attend the International Conference on Timber Bridges in Rotorua, to cover travel, accommodation and registration costs.

 

We encourage applicants to discuss their application and the benefits to their company with employers. We encourage employers to consider further assistance to the applicant, possibly in the form of additional study leave and/or cover for any financial travel and accommodation shortfall or similar.
 

The recipients of both the WCTE and ICTB scholarships are required to submit a short article suitable for publication in the Timber Design Society journal, highlighting impressions and learning from the conference and technical tours. This publication shall be written specifically for the TDS journal and not published anywhere else. 

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Eligibility

All NZ-based TDS members who are early/mid-career professionals (up to 15 years of experience) are eligible to apply for the WCTE or ICTB Scholarship.

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Application

The following documents are required for the application:

  1. Cover page (see template below)

  2. CV: Maximum two pages

  3. Statement of purpose and motivation: In less than a page, describe why you think you would be the best candidate to receive the scholarship and the potential impact the scholarship will have on your career and our vision to foster the use of timber in design.
     

Please indicate on the cover page which conference(s) you wish to apply for. Applicants may apply for one or both conferences with a single application, though TDS will not send the same person to both conferences.

 

Applicants must send their applications via email to timber.design@engineeringnz.org. The deadline for submission is 5th March 2025. The intention is to notify the applicants about the outcome within 14 days from the deadline.

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See template for cover page here

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