Applications open for national aviation safety improvement scholarship
30 Sep 2016
Airways New Zealand and Christchurch Airport are offering a $5,000 scholarship to a person or project helping to create greater aviation safety in New Zealand.
Applications for the Jilly Murphy Memorial Scholarship for Aviation Safety open today. Anyone who can demonstrate a tangible contribution to improving aviation safety in New Zealand is eligible to apply, Airways CEO Ed Sims says.
“Every day thousands of Kiwis play a role in making our aviation industry one of safest and most well regarded in the world. This scholarship could be used to fund any one of a wide range of projects or endeavours.”
The scholarship fund may be used for learning, resources, or equipment for a person focussed on aviation safety. A project could be research, or development of a process or a product.
Past winners include Dunedin Air Traffic Controller (ATC) Hadley Cave who created an electronic tool to reduce the workload on controllers during busy times. Airways Safety Advisor and Investigator Kate Cook, last year’s winner, is using the scholarship to pay for study on the role of human factors in safety.
The scholarship was created in 2013 in honour of Christchurch Airport based air traffic controller Jilly Murphy, who died in the Christchurch earthquake on February 22, 2011. Jilly worked for Airways for 20 years and was passionate about aviation safety.
Applications close on December 22. Finalists will be announced in January and will be interviewed by representatives from Airways, Christchurch Airport and members of Jilly Murphy’s family.
The winner will be announced on February 22, 2017.
Please visit www.airways.co.nz/supporting-our-community for more information and to download an application form. Email communications@airways.co.nz for more information.
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Image: A lateral separation tablet app that was developed by Dunedin Chief Controller Hadley Cave and Software Engineer Derek Stephenson with funding from the 2015 Jilly Murphy Memorial Scholarship for Aviation Safety. The tablet reduces workload on controllers during busy times by giving them a quick way to determine separation procedures.
For more information:
Emily Davies
Head of Public Affairs Airways New Zealand
Email: communications@airways.co.nz
Mobile: +64 21 815 149
About Airways New Zealand
Airways is a world-leading commercial Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), and operates in New Zealand as a State-Owned Enterprise (SOE).
We look after key aviation infrastructure around New Zealand and manage the more than 1 million traffic movements per year into and around New Zealand’s 30 million square kilometres of airspace.
Airways provides air traffic control and engineering training, and has delivered air traffic management, Flight yield revenue management solutions, navigation services and consultancy in more than 65 countries.
For more information about Airways please visit www.airways.co.nz
About Christchurch Airport
Christchurch Airport is the country’s second largest airport and the international Gateway to the South Island. It is the busiest and most strategic southern air connection to the world's trade and tourism markets, having welcomed more than six million passengers in the past year.
The airport is a major driver of the South Island regional economy, with some 6000 personnel working on the airport campus making it the largest site of employment in the South Island. It is one of the partners in the “South” initiative, which sees all 13 regional tourism organisations working collegially to promote the South Island.
For the past three years, an independent international quarterly travellers’ survey has consistently rated Christchurch Airport the best airport in Australia and New Zealand.