Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarship
High costs and vast distances make it difficult to fill student placements in remote Australian communities despite opportunity to make a big difference to their higher prevalence of ear disease.
Audiology Australia’s prestigious Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarships helps remove barriers to these opportunities by supporting Audiology Australia student members to undertake rural and remote professional audiology placements.
Eligibility
To qualify for a Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarship students must be studying an audiology postgraduate program at one of Audiology Australia’s seven accredited partner universities, and be a student member of Audiology Australia.
Value
Under the scholarship, Audiology Australia provides $2,000 per year to each of the seven accredited partner universities to coordinate the placement opportunity with a professional audiology or healthcare practice in a rural or remote location.
The placement provides students with early insights into their future career, the chance to put their learning into practice, list valuable work experience on their CV and see how audiologists can make a difference to the hearing health of rural and remote communities.
Thinking of Applying?
The Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarship is awarded annually to audiology students across Australia.
If you think you are eligible, we recommend contacting your audiology university course coordinators for information about how to apply. You can find contact information and links here.
Looking for more information? Check out our FAQs below.
Hear from some of our past recipients
“It was my first time living away from home. I was overwhelmed with nerves, but excited too! My friendly clients and my supportive clinical educator and mentors made my time in Morwell a delightful learning experience. The clients also appreciated that I had come to their hometown to learn and help look after them, and residing in the area allowed me to be immersed in their community so I could have a glimpse of their way of life.”
“My supervisor had been incredibly supportive throughout my placement. On my first day, I primarily observed my supervisor’s activities, gaining insight into how hearing tests are conducted, feedback is provided, hearing aids are sold, and reports are written. Starting from the second day, I began participating in more hands-on tasks, such as conducting hearing aid tests, writing reports, and engaging with customers. These few weeks have been a highly fulfilling experience for me.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed my placement! On the first day, we drove an hour east to a visiting site in Robinvale. I enjoyed the drive as I got to see an emu cross the road and bushlands with red soil, which is what I had always pictured the Australian Outback to look like. Clients came in for hearing aid troubleshooting, hearing checks and I even got to observe a micro suction wax removal procedure for the first time.”
“I was just a first-year student when I was placed in Toowoomba. I had several chances to experience case history taking, AC and BC testing, speech testing, hearing aids fitting, REM conducting and trouble shooting. These direct, hands-on opportunities made all the hearing aids theories in my lecture practical, which helped me a lot in my second-year study as well.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Sean Fitzpatrick?
Sean Fitzpatrick was an audiologist well-known for his considerable outreach work in the rural and remote Western Australia communities of Marble Bar, Nullagine, Warralong, Tom Price and Paraburdoo.
Always resourceful and possessing a strong sense of humour, nothing fazed Sean as he battled intense heat, rough living conditions, flat tyres and even plagues of frogs and geckos to tend to communities in need.
A Master of Clinical Audiology graduate from Macquarie University, Sean began his career with Australian Hearing (now Hearing Australia) in Parramatta, NSW in 2003, before moving to Perth, WA in 2005. While he quickly climbed the ranks to a clinical leadership position, Sean would later give up his position to return to his passion of paediatric clinical work and outreach audiology.
Sean passed away after a battle with cancer in February 2014.
Audiology Australia is pleased to offer the Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarship so that audiology students can experience outreach activities and help communities in need in Sean’s name.
When and How Do I Apply?
All students are encouraged to contact their university audiology course coordinators for details on how to apply for a Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarship. Please contact your local university by following the links here.
Scholarships become available at the discretion of the local course coordinators. All universities are provided with the $2,000 sum at the start of the new financial year to coordinate as they see fit.
Where Could I Travel?
All opportunities are organised at the discretion of our partner universities and participating regional and remote audiology clinics. Please check back on this webpage as we update testimonials for examples on which towns you could visit.
Where can I read more about this experience?
Please read our 2024 article on how the Sean Fitzpatrick Rural and Remote Scholarship is connecting audiology students with communities in need across Australia.
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View our other Scholarships and Awards
Audiology Australia recognises and celebrates the exceptional work of our members at every stage of their career from student and early career practitioners to experienced audiologists.