The AACMA Phil Macqueen Memorial Scholarship
The AACMA Phil Macqueen Memorial Scholarship was launched in 2017 with the purpose of supporting deserving acupuncture students and first year practitioners of acupuncture who are passionate about their career and healing, but who are financially restricted from obtaining the knowledge and experience to be gained from attending the AACMA Annual Conference (AACMAC).
The scholarship is open to AACMA student members and first year practitioner members to assist with registration, travel and accommodation to attend at the AACMA Annual Conference (AACMAC).
The sponsors of the scholarship, Julie Geldard and Acupuncture DVDs, will provide up to $750 for travel and accommodation to attend AACMAC. AACMA will be providing complimentary full conference registration and a gala dinner ticket to the successful applicant.
If the successful candidate is local to where AACMAC is taking place in a particular year, accommodation may still be covered but the sponsor may add in additional DVDs in lieu of travel expenses.
The successful candidate must attend AACMAC and report back on their experience and how they benefited as a student/practitioner from the scholarship for publication in the AACMA biannual magazine, Jing-Luo. The report may also be published by the scholarship sponsors.
How to apply
Applications open on 1 October each year, and will close 15 March of the following year.
Applicants are to submit the following:
1. An expression of interest in writing by addressing (in up to 500 words) the following topics:
- The importance of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to them personally
- The benefits of attending AACMAC
- Why they joined AACMA
- Their passion for healing and their ability to take their knowledge further
2. A brief resume (maximum ½ page)
3. The names and contact details of two referees
All applications are to be emailed to aacma@acupuncture.org.au before the closing date.
Background
Phil Macqueen was a longstanding member of AACMA from June 1982, and an AACMA Fellow since May 2007, until his passing in August 2014. He was passionate about his profession and ran a busy acupuncture practice in the Redlands area of Brisbane for 35 years, with a special interest in musculoskeletal acupuncture and related bodywork. Phil was former President of both AACMA and AESO in the 1990s and played a crucial role as AESO president in ensuring the amalgamation between AACMA (then AAcA) and AESO went ahead for the benefit of the profession nationally. Phil was passionate about continuing professional education and was a regular workshop and conference presenter. He had the foresight to recognise the importance of recording acupuncture experts so that their knowledge and clinical expertise was not lost for future generations. Phil then embarked on an international quest over two decades in pursuit of this goal and established Acupuncture DVDs. As an example of his passion and creative vision, Phil and his partner Julie Geldard created ‘Acupuncture Afloat’, running Acupuncture Seminars Offshore from their Catamaran based in Phuket, Thailand.