Keep moving forward

I’m proud of our team here at the Winston Churchill Trust. The constantly evolving pandemic is certainly keeping us focused, but we are determined to keep moving forward with positivity (and I hope you are, too).

Last year was the first time since we were established in 1965 that we did not hold a Churchill Fellowship selection round. That hasn’t held us back and we have responded to the pandemic disruption with many firsts, including our first ever Churchill Fellowships undertaken using virtual communication and a new Policy Impact Program. We will also be launching a new funding program for Churchill Fellows to implement their findings and recommendations as a way of further helping to generate impact.

We’ve started this year with a strong sense of purpose, optimism and a sense of excitement as we race towards a new Churchill Fellowship selection round. International travel is starting to slowly open up and successful applicants will be able to travel on their Churchill Fellowship from January 2023.

As part of our strategic approach to ensuring the Winston Churchill Trust is responsive in a fast-changing world we recently made some changes to our Constitution designed to broaden the Churchill Fellowship opportunity even further, including:

• expanding eligibility to include permanent residents of Australia, in addition to citizens
• ?the option for domestic travel for people living in remote parts of Australia
• ?enabling virtual research as an option for people unable to travel overseas due to disability, caring responsibilities, or other compelling reasons
• ?growing the type of support that we can provide Churchill Fellows following completion of their travel, including additional financial support to implement their recommendations.

Churchill Fellowship applications open on 1 February, and I encourage you to share the news across your networks. Our information sessions are all online this year, featuring Churchill Fellows by topic/field (and we already have over 1,000 registrations!).

Please feel free to share our fun,?new?explainer video?on social media or email. The concept of this video is to demystify the process of applying for a Churchill Fellowship and emphasise the diverse nature of people and projects we support.

We are looking for a diverse range of applicants from all walks of life and I hope you can think of someone who you think would make a great Churchill Fellow and tap them on the shoulder to apply this year. Applications close 28 April.

www.churchillfellowships.com.au