Scholarship details
Study levels
Research and PhD
Student type
Future students and Current students
Citizenship
Australian or New Zealand
Application dates
- Applications close
- 2 November 2023
What you'll receive
You will receive up to $15,000 to research innovation, policies and programs that
will be relevant to achieving improved consumer outcomes in a dynamic and changing Australian energy market.
Eligibility
You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident at least 18 years of age.
You should also be able to demonstrate most of the following attributes:
- experience in evidence-based research or advocacy relating to energy consumer issues
- good knowledge of the key issues in the Australian energy market that drive energy consumer outcomes
- good networking and communication skills to meet people, including senior officials and academics in your chosen country(ies)
- good writing and presentation skills.
How to apply
Applicants should submit an application providing the information described in the Application
Guide, including the following:
- what is the problem for Australian energy consumers you want to investigate Why now?
- how will your research and international insights help address that issue?
- how will your project be influential for the long-term interests of small energy consumers? Will particular groups of consumer benefit?
- who will you engage with to develop insights and knowledge about what should be done?
- what are your skills and experience that will make your project successful?
- what is your proposed budget (including any other funding)?
To apply, visit the following link: Gill Owen Scholarship
What happens next?
The successful applicant will be announced at the Energy Consumers Australia Foresighting
Forum on 14-15 February 2024.
About the scholarship
Dr Gill Owen was an inaugural Director of the Energy Consumers Australia Board. Gill Owen was a respected policy advocate, who brought her considerable expertise and insights to energy consumer issues in both Australia and the UK.
Reflecting her international experience, Gill Owen provided a unique perspective on Australian policy and program development, supported by her enduring commitment to social justice and better consumer outcomes. Her contribution saw improvements to the Australian regulatory framework, including in the creation of the Australian Energy Regulator’s Consumer Challenge Panel. She was a guiding voice in the establishment of Energy Consumers Australia, and our early days as an organisation.
Gill Owen passed away in August 2016. To honour Gill Owen’s memory Energy Consumers Australia has created an annual scholarship in her name. The Gill Owen Scholarship supports an individual to travel internationally to research innovative ideas and initiatives that will be relevant to improving outcomes for consumers in the Australian energy market.
Energy Consumers Australia sees great potential value in continuing that exchange of ideas and
experience that Gill Owen exemplified.
Examples of such innovation internationally include:
- policy initiatives, such as the US Green Button scheme – an industry-led initiative that helps consumers access their information and provide it to others;
- alternative approaches to market regulation, such as the UK Competition and Market Authority’s work on digital comparison tools, or lessons from the UK smart meter rollout;
- how research is informing policy and regulation – for example, how relevant learnings from the European Union’s Empowering partnership on consumer behaviour and bills is helping define best practice.