Financial Support & Scholarships
ACORN supports its members and perioperative nursing by offering financial support for professional development and acknowledging outstanding contributions to perioperative nursing and the perioperative profession.
- develop higher level skills related to the practice of perioperative nursing
- carry out projects that will enhance perioperative nursing competence
We are excited to announce a new collaboration to benefit our ACORN members for 2023!
ACORN and Medcast have teamed up to provide a 15% discount for ACORN members for their Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Paediatric Advanced Life Support (PLS) courses.
Email education@acorn.org.au to receive your ACORN member Medcast discount coupon code.
To find out more information about the courses and dates, click on the links below.
ACORN members can access fee waiver discounts towards post graduate qualifications (Graduate certificate level) through our partnership with the University of Tasmania. Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) are also available for H6F Graduate Diploma of Nursing (Specialisation). Apply online to commence your study.
For more information and to apply go to https://www.utas.edu.au/study/partners/health/acorn
*** H5F - Graduate Certificate in Nursing (Specialisation)
Specialisations available to ACORN members under this scholarship are:
- Perioperative Nursing
- Leadership in Practice
- Clinical Nursing and Teaching
- Anaesthetics and Recovery
*** M5S - Graduate Certificate in Leadership (Health and Human Services)
Scholarship requirements
To be eligible for a UTAS scholarship you must be a current member of ACORN. You must submit proof of membership when you apply. Please log into your ACORN account and download your ACORN membership card as proof of membership.
If you have questions about the courses available on a UTAS scholarship, your application or your study, you must contact UTAS course enquiries directly by email Health.Central@utas.edu.au, or phone 03 6226 4757.
Applications for 2023 are now open.
Semester 2 applications open soon
Semester 2 commences TBC
Types of Research grants available
- Beginning researchers (at Master [minor thesis/research] and Undergraduate Honours level) $2,500 x 2
- Higher degree research students (at doctoral level; post confirmation) $10,000 x 1
- Early career researchers (post-doctoral) $5,000 x 1
Please note:
- Student researchers must be a member of their local perioperative nursing association.
- Research teams
- the Principle Investigator must be a member their local perioperative nursing association
- at least one researcher in the team must be a beginning perioperative nurse researcher.
Applications now closed for 2023.
Education grants are awarded to further the education and continual professional development of perioperative nurses across Australia. These grants can be used towards tuition fees for post graduate studies, industry-based qualifications, or perioperative specialty area education event registration. The area of study must be directly related to the advancement of safe and high-quality perioperative nursing in Australia.
Please note: Education grants are not for financial assistance to attend the ACORN conferences. To apply for assistance to attend the ACORN conference please use the Conference attendance scholarship application form.
Read the successful 2022 Education grant recipient report
Read an example of the literature the Education grant supports
Applications for 2023 are now closed.
This scholarship is offered in collaboration with the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners. The scholarship is named in memory of Heather May Herrick who was diagnosed with four primary cancers, two of which caused significant pain.
Heather received outstanding care, including palliative care and pain management, from a Nurse Practitioner and this made a huge difference to Heather and her family. After a long battle with pain, thanks to the Nurse Practitioner, Heather's last two months of life were comfortable.
In appreciation for the unique role of the Nurse Practitioner in Australia and the outstanding work that they do, Heather’s family has funded a scholarship program aimed at supporting more Nurse Practitioners and Advanced Practice Nurses to deliver services to people like Heather.
The program will award ten $1000 scholarships to assist with registration and travel costs to attend the ACORN Conference.
Applications for 2022 are now closed.
Bravura Education is offering scholarships for ACORN members to complete a laser safety officer (LSO) training course (surgical and operating suite). In each round, one ACORN member from each state will be awarded a scholarship to do Bravura Education's LSO training.
This laser safety officer course is suitable for those who work in an operating suite or other clinical environments that uses lasers. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the operation and hazards of lasers. The course is delivered online and takes eight to ten hours to complete. You can study at your own pace, in your own time and take as long as you like to do it. Assessment is a two-hour, online, open book exam.
The course meets the requirements for eight hours of continuing professional development (CPD) when applied according to relevant AHPRA guidelines. It is accredited by both ACORN and the Australian College of Nursing.
For more information visit Bravura Education.
I would like to thank ACORN for awarding me the Bravura Laser Safety Officer education scholarship. This course was very informative, I particularly enjoyed the section on light physics and learning about how laser light is absorbed by tissue. I am fortunate enough to work at Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin Private Hospital, and the Indigenous Remote Eye Service. This Scholarship will allow me to safely work with lasers across all three of these sites within my speciality of ophthalmic surgery – Peter (2022 scholarship recipient)
Applications for 2023 are now open.
Round 1 (opens 1 March 2023 and closes 31 May 2023)
Round 2 (opens 1 September 2023 and closes 30 November 2023)
ACORN wishes to support its members and the broader perioperative community, by offering financial support for members who are intending to do voluntary work or teach perioperative nursing skills overseas. If you are an ACORN member who intends to travel overseas to do voluntary work or teach you may be eligible to apply for the ACORN International volunteer and teaching grant to assist with travel costs. Voluntary work and/or teaching must directly relate to perioperative nursing.
International work supported by ACORN
An ACORN grant helped to fund a project to develop standards of practice and matching practice audit tools tailored for use by perioperative nurses in Pacific Island Countries.
See a poster that summarises the project.
Applications for 2022 are now closed.
Phyllis Davis AM was the Director of Nursing at Al Jalila Children’s Speciality Hospital Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Phyllis is a registered nurse with postgraduate qualifications in Operating Room Nursing and a Master’s of Public Sector Management from the University of Technology Sydney.
For the last decade, Phyllis has worked with perioperative nurses in Papua New Guinea providing support and assistance to the Papua New Guinea Perioperative Nurses Society. In 2018, Phyllis received the Order of Australia in the General Division (AM) for services to nursing, nursing education, nursing leadership and nursing international relations. Phyllis is also an ACORN Fellow and was awarded the Excellence in Perioperative Nursing (Individual) Award in May 2018.
In appreciation of the significance of education, the importance of perioperative nurses' engagement with their professional associations and her role as a perioperative leader, Phyllis has funded this scholarship program.
The program aims to support members to attend the ACORN 2022 Virtual conference series and consists of two scholarships of $890 each. The first scholarship is open to members of the New South Wales Operating Theatre Association (NSW OTA); the second scholarship is open to all ACORN members.
Applications for 2022 are now closed.
