Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Awards
Applications closed on 9 September 2024. The next application round for this award opens March 2025.
Pool of funding available: $120,000
Travel and Learning Awards are available to support individual members of the New Zealand legal community to take up opportunities to learn from others, build networks and relationships, and investigate innovative ideas.
We seek to encourage legal professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand to seek out and bring back new perspectives, relationships, and skills to foster innovation in the legal profession and to make a valuable contribution in years to come.
12 awards of up to $10,000 each will be available per year.
Eligibility
- Open to all legal professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand at all stages in their career. This includes members of the judiciary (current and retired Judges), lawyers in the private or public sector, legal academics, and postgraduate law students.
- Legal professionals who are curious and passionate and have a lifelong commitment to justice and service.
- Preference given to applicants working in under-resourced areas of law in New Zealand, or in our strategic focus areas of criminal justice and family law.
How it works
- These awards give legal professionals the opportunity to travel overseas (or within Aotearoa New Zealand) to learn from others, share their learnings, investigate topics/practices that will benefit New Zealand communities, and build relationships and networks. Given difficulties with travel due to COVID-19, funding may also be used for participation in virtual conferences and events.
- The award can be used to fund travel for 2-8 weeks to pursue a practical inquiry, to share knowledge, to build networks or to attend conferences, training or other professional learning opportunities.
- This award can also be used to fund travel for opportunities such as unpaid internships that may span several months for the benefit of the knowledge and experience applicants can acquire and bring back to New Zealand.
- Funding can be used for registration fees, and travel and accommodation costs including per diems if needed, and other travel related costs including economy class airfares.
- Prior academic achievement is not a pre-requisite.
- Holding a practising certificate is not a pre-requisite.
- Preference will be given to those who have shown a level of commitment in their area of work and have the potential to be change makers.
Exclusions
Travel and Learning Awards cannot be used:
- As an academic research grant, unless the funding would allow something to happen that the academic would not otherwise be able to pursue.
- To fund professional development that your employer should have the resources to fund itself.
- For study towards academic or professional qualifications.
Please also see our general grant exclusions.
Application dates
Applications open twice a year in March and August. The dates for the next application round are:
Applications open: March 2025
Applications close: April 2025
Decisions confirmed: July 2025
Earliest travel could occur: August 2025
How to apply
To apply you need to prepare all your paperwork first, then submit this information through our online application. The proposal template and application form will be available when we are accepting applications.
- Complete the Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Award Proposal template including your proposal and personal statement. This document should be no more than 5 pages with max 3 pages for your proposal and max 2 pages for your personal statement.
- Prepare your CV or resume (max 3 pages).
- Ask two people for permission for the Borrin Foundation to contact them directly to provide a written reference – you can use our template to request written references (The Borrin Foundation will contact referees and provide a link to an online reference form after the application deadline has closed).
- Once all your paperwork is ready, complete our online application and upload your proposal and CV as PDF files.
If you have any questions contact Oli at admin@borrinfoundation.nz.
Recipients of Travel and Learning Awards
Travel and Learning Award for Farhana Khan
Supporting Farhana Khan to travel to Italy to attend two short summer courses to learn about how international human rights obligations can be upheld while balanced with other considerations in migration policy.Farhana's plan Farhana will attend two short courses in...
Travel and Learning Award for Daniel Perkins
Supporting Daniel Perkins to travel to Canada for a three week study trip to undertake comparative research of practice and procedure for Charter of Rights and Freedoms litigation and share insights for New Zealand Declaration of Inconsistency litigation. Daniel's...
Travel and Learning Award for Marie Doole
Supporting Marie Doole to to travel domestically in New Zealand and to Australia to undertake a research study tour to support the advancement of New Zealand’s legal literature and practical guidance on the management of the risk of regulatory capture in environmental...
Travel and Learning Award for Amanda Turnbull
Supporting Amanda Turnbull to travel to Austria, Germany, and Switzerland to explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance and safeguarding a trajectory tailored for Aotearoa New Zealand’s dynamic society.Amanda's plan The backdrop for this Borrin Travel and...
Travel and Learning Award for Susan Lamb
Supporting Susan Lamb to travel to Hamburg, Germany to participate in deliberations and drafting of a new International Anti-Corruption Convention (IACC) and to keep New Zealand institutions, experts, and the wider legal profession abreast of progress. Susan's plan...
Travel and Learning Award for Allan Beever
Supporting Allan Beever to travel to present the findings of his forthcoming book, and to receive feedback on this work, at three events in the UK, including a one-day conference on his work at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Allan's plan “It is vital that...
Travel and Learning Award for Mele Tupou-Vaitohi
Supporting Mele Tupou-Vaitohi to travel to Penn State Dickinson Law to learn it’s whole-of-organisation approaches, including the critical race theory and the system design approach, that it uses to disrupt the systemic racial and intersectional inequities. Mele's...
Travel and Learning Award for Durgeshree Raman
Supporting Dr Durgeshree Raman to attend International Conferences in India and Canada to present her research, network with experts and expand her understanding of indigenous practices. Durgeshree's plan Having completed her doctoral studies titled “Transboundary...
Travel and Learning Award for Erica Burke
Supporting Erica Burke to travel to Australia, Scotland, Norway and California to visit, learn from and establish relationships with selected organisations, specifically women’s legal clinics that provide targeted legal support and advocacy for women with a particular...
Travel and Learning Award for Helen Mackay
Supporting Helen Mackay to conduct a study tour of Australia and the UK, to explore leading practice NewLaw developments and to bring these insights back to New Zealand to share them widely with other legal services providers, academia and the wider legal...
Travel and Learning Award for Anna Marie Brennan
Supporting Anna Marie Brennan to travel to Holland to spend six weeks’ conducting research at the TMC Asser Institute for International Law and The Peace Palace Library.Anna Marie's plan Anna Marie will use the Borrin Travel and Learning Award to conduct substantial...
Travel and Learning Award for Natasha Lewis
Supporting Natasha Lewis to attend two international conferences on ageing and meet policymakers and researchers on ageing policy in the UK and Italy. Natasha's plan Natasha will attend the Global Ageing Conference 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland, on 7-8 September,...
Travel and Learning Award for Mihiata Pirini
Supporting Mihiata Pirini to learn about indigenous law research, method, and practice in Canada and share her learnings with Māori law academics across Aotearoa through online and in-person wānanga and kōrero.Mihiata's plan Mihiata intends to conduct research for a...
Travel and Learning Award for Hon Justice Matthew Palmer
Supporting Justice Matthew Palmer to Travel to Oxford and Paris to research and write an article about the reasonable use of unreasonableness at Magdalen College and the Bonavero Human Rights institute at Oxford University.Justice Palmer's plan The Hon Justice Matthew...
Travel and Learning Award for Vinod Bal
Supporting Vinod Bal to travel overseas to explore strategic and public interest litigation in pursuance of LGBT+ rights realisation. Vinod's plan Vinod’s Travel and Learning Award will be used to deepen his understanding of an area of immense passion to him, LGBT+...
Travel and Learning Award for Olivia Klinkum
Supporting Olivia Klinkum to complete the remainder of her year-long position as a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court. Olivia's plan Olivia has been awarded a Travel and Learning Award to support an internship at the International Criminal Court...
Travel and Learning Award for Sam Campbell
Supporting Sam Campbell to Travel to Paris and Stockholm to establish networks and build connections in academia, UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, and industry. Sam's plan Sam will use the Borrin Foundation Travel and Learning Award to travel to Stockholm...
Travel and Learning Award for Selina Trigg
Supporting Selina Trigg to travel to Copenhagen in June 2023 to attend the International Surrogacy Forum and meet with other surrogacy professionals who are also trained in Collaborative Law. Selina's plan Selina plans to use the Travel & Learning award to travel...
Travel and Learning Award for Oliver Skinner
Supporting Oliver Skinner to travel to Toronto, Canada to attend the North American Indigenous Studies Association conference to make connections and present on legislation affecting Māori and the environment. Oliver's plan Oliver will use the travel and research...
Travel and Learning Award for Nicola Taylor
Supporting Professor Nicola Taylor to present a paper at the International Society of Family Law Conference in Antwerp, to spend time working with Professor Marilyn Freeman (University of Westminster, London) and to present a one-day symposium at the Pacifica Congress...
Travel and Learning Award for Drew Buckley
Supporting Drew Buckley to attend the Innocence Network Conference and visit the California Innocence Project and engage with other organisations. Drew's plan Miscarriage of justice law in Aotearoa is still in its infancy and Drew’s Travel and Learning Award will be...
Travel and Learning Award for Lida Ayoubi
Supporting Lida Ayoubi to attend the 2023 International Disability Law Summer School, organised by the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway Centre for Disability Law and Policy, and to visit the Irish Centre for Human Rights.Lida's plan Lida will use the Travel...
Travel and Learning Award for Aaron Te Koha
Supporting Aaron Te Koha to travel to the Hague and bring back lessons about the function, mechanisms, laws, and the trial process within international criminal law to Aotearoa.Aaron's plan Aaron’s interest for international criminal law emerged during his honours...
Travel and Learning Award for Nerida Kennedy
Supporting Nerida Kennedy to attend the international LGBTQ Leaders Conference in Washington DC 2022 and take learnings from the wide range of nations represented and bring them back to Aotearoa. Nerida's plan Nerida’s travel and research award will be used to deepen...
Travel and Learning Award for David Jefferson
Supporting David Jefferson to travel to Australia for a period of four weeks in 2023 to network with colleagues whose research focusses on the regulation of biodiscovery and the protection and promotion of Indigenous knowledge. David's plan David will use this Borrin...
Travel and Learning Award for Trevor Daya-Winterbottom
Supporting Trevor Daya-Winterbottom to travel to Europe (England, Finland, Spain, and Wales) to build networks for academic research and present papers on what modern ecologically focused environmental law should look like and how it should work in practice. Trevor's...
Travel and Learning Award for Bianka Atlas
Supporting Bianka Atlas to travel to Portland, Oregon in November 2022 to attend the 30th annual Animal Law Conference (ALC) and to re-connect with the animal law faculty at Lewis & Clark Law School’s Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS). Bianka's plan Bianka will...
Travel and Learning Award for Jamie-Lee Tuuta
Supporting Jamie-Lee Tuuta to travel to Orlando, Florida to attend the 23rd Annual IACP Forum to further her learning and understanding of collaborative practice with a particular focus on family law. Jamie-Lee's plan Jamie-Lee has been awarded Travel and Learning...
Travel and Learning Award for Luke Fitzmaurice
Supporting Luke Fitzmaurice to travel to his tūrangawaewae in the far north to learn more about his own whakapapa and about the tikanga of Te Hiku, and to travel to Canada to learn more about indigenous legal education.Luke's plan Luke’s travel and research award will...
Travel and Learning Award for Metiria Stanton Turei
Supporting Metiria Stanton Turei to explore how legal information is represented in visual images, and to share the findings at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference. Metiria's plan Visual jurisprudence, an innovation in legal theory, considers how visual legal...
Travel and Learning Award for Ronji Tanielu
Supporting Ronji Tanielu to explore innovative and effective models, programmes and organisations working to improve access to justice and legal supports in different parts of the world.Ronji's plan "The Travel and Learning Award is a MASSIVE blessing for my aiga....
Travel and Learning Award for Myra Williamson
Supporting Myra to participate in online professional development courses through the Advance HE Senior Fellowship programme and the Harvard University Women in Education Leadership programme.Myra's plan The award is supporting Myra to achieve two goals. First, Myra...
Travel and Learning Award for Anna High
Supporting Anna to attend an online professional development course on mindfulness awareness from UCLA to further explore the use of mindfulness in the legal profession.Anna's plan Anna has a longstanding interest in the “mindfulness in law” movement. The Travel &...
Travel and Learning Award for Marozane Spamers
Supporting Marozane to attend the International Academy of Law and Mental Health Conference in 2022 in Lyon, France.Marozane's plan Marozane will use the Travel and Learning Award to attend the International Academy of Law and Mental Health Conference from 3-8 July...
Travel and Learning Award for Julia Whaipooti
Supporting a talented Māori criminal justice reform leader to attend an Oxford conference.About the project Julia Whaipooti is a talented and emerging young Māori leader in criminal justice reform. She was invited to the University of Oxford December 2018 conference...