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Holsworth – Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for helping to review the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment applications. The Holsworth Endowment provides important support to postgraduate research in Australia and couldn’t happen without the support of a team of volunteer assessors.
Below you will find a list of frequently asked questions to help you assess the applications. If you cannot find the information you seek, please contact Gail Spina () or Nigel Andrew ().
More advice on assessing Holsworth applications can be found in our video tutorials.
How many applications will I have to assess?
Assessors usually receive between 6 and 10 applications depending on how many students apply and how many assessors have volunteered for that round.
How long do I have to assess them?
We try to allow approximately 6 weeks for assessors to process the applications allocated to them but this varies from year to year. You will be notified of the due date when you receive your student applications.
What do you consider to be a conflict of interest?
We regard a conflict of interest as:
1. Being a co-supervisor of the student
2. Carrying out research with the student in the last 5 years
3. Having a close personal friendship/relationship with the student
We make every effort to ensure that assessors do not receive applications from students associated with their institution. However, if you have a conflict (or perceived conflict) of interest, please tell us ASAP, so we can re-allocate the review.
What should I do if I have a conflict of interest with one of the applications allocated to me?
During the allocation process, conflicts of interest are mainly identified through email addresses and affiliations however from time to time we may miss one. If you believe that you have a conflict (or perceived conflict) of interest with one of the applications allocated to you, please tell us ASAP, so we can re-allocate the review.
If a conflict is interest is unclear, please proceed with your assessment of the application but flag the potential conflict in the comments section on your assessor spreadsheet so that the Holsworth management committee can make a decision whether the conflict is of concern.
Can I request applications from a specific ecological discipline?
No, disciplines of assessors and students are not taken into consideration during the allocation process.
How do I mark the applications?
When you are sent your allocated student applications, you will also receive a spreadsheet containing the marking criteria and the marking sheet. Please read the Marking Criteria sheet first as it will explaiin how to fill out the Marking Sheet.
What are the marking criteria that I should refer to?
We ask you to assess each application on five separate criteria:
1) Is the application focused on one of the areas of interest highlighted for research support?
To be ranked as highly focused in this criteria, it needs to be made explicit in the application how the project aligns with at least one of the areas of interest below.
- Field work on Australian native plants and animals to gain understanding of ecological interactions, population dynamics, animal behaviour, and species distribution
- Conservation biology and biodiversity studies relating to the management of protected areas and rare or threatened species in Australia
- Wildlife management relating to sport hunting, harvesting, pest control, management of non-game animals, and effect of land management on native species.
Please rank each application between 1 (highly focused) to 5 (not focused).
2) Is the project description well developed?
Most applicants will be first year PhD students and we do not expect them to have everything fully formed at this point but they should have some idea of what they’re doing and where they’re going.
The project description should focus on the year of funding requested and explicitly address what they are expecting to do in that year. The student should give an overall idea of the PhD project but really focus in on that one part of the project that they want funded by this Holsworth grant round.
Please rank each application between 1 (highly developed) to 5 (not developed).
3) Is the budget requested appropriate for the project being proposed?
The student may be receiving funding from multiple different sources across several components of their project. Some of those components may be well funded but take into context the component they are focusing on for their Holsworth application and whether this still requires funding. If the student is well funded they need to make this clear and justify why they need funding for their specific focus related to Holsworth over and above what they already have access to.
The priority for Holsworth funding is for fieldwork and labwork/analysis directly related to fieldwork the student carried out. If the student is in their first year this would suggest that funding requests should be focused on fieldwork as the student would not yet have prior fieldwork to base labwork on. The Holsworth grant preferences students who conduct their own fieldwork rather than basing their project on someone else’s fieldwork.
Please rank each application between 1 (highly appropriate) to 5 (not appropriate).
4) Overall quality of the project.
You may assess all the projects in your allocation as ‘excellent’ but we ask that you rank them in order by differentiating which are slightly better than the others.
Please rank each application as
- 1 (excellent)
- 2 (some minor problems but worth funding)
- 3 (adequate. Project is ok but has flaws)
- 4 (poor, project has substantial flaws)
- 5 (not fundable)
5) Student competence.
Does the student have a track record that exhibits a good ability to carry out the project? This is based on the results and experience listed in their statement of academic milestones, and the accompanying narrative that the student should have written to explain how their experience will assist them in their PhD project. This narrative should not be a list of skills but instead highlight how those skills will be used to assist them in their PhD, particularly in relation to the research focused on in the Holsworth request.
Please rank each application between 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor).
Overall ranking –
This is a ranking of the applicant relative to the ones you have already read, differentiating each time as to which are slightly better than the others. If two or three projects are assessed to be of similar standing, they still need to be given a unique ranking.
How many applications will I have to assess?
Assessors usually receive between 6 and 10 applications depending on how many students apply and how many assessors have volunteered for that round.
How long do I have to assess them?
We try to allow approximately 6 weeks for assessors to process the applications allocated to them but this varies from year to year. You will be notified of the due date when you receive your student applications.
What do you consider to be a conflict of interest?
We regard a conflict of interest as:
1. Being a co-supervisor of the student
2. Carrying out research with the student in the last 5 years
3. Having a close personal friendship/relationship with the student
We make every effort to ensure that assessors do not receive applications from students associated with their institution. However, if you have a conflict (or perceived conflict) of interest, please tell us ASAP, so we can re-allocate the review.
What should I do if I have a conflict of interest with one of the applications allocated to me?
During the allocation process, conflicts of interest are mainly identified through email addresses and affiliations however from time to time we may miss one. If you believe that you have a conflict (or perceived conflict) of interest with one of the applications allocated to you, please tell us ASAP, so we can re-allocate the review.
If a conflict is interest is unclear, please proceed with your assessment of the application but flag the potential conflict in the comments section on your assessor spreadsheet so that the Holsworth management committee can make a decision whether the conflict is of concern.
Can I request applications from a specific ecological discipline?
No, disciplines of assessors and students are not taken into consideration during the allocation process.
How do I mark the applications?
When you are sent your allocated student applications, you will also receive a spreadsheet containing the marking criteria and the marking sheet. Please read the Marking Criteria sheet first as it will explaiin how to fill out the Marking Sheet.
What are the marking criteria that I should refer to?
We ask you to assess each application on five separate criteria:
1) Is the application focused on one of the areas of interest highlighted for research support?
To be ranked as highly focused in this criteria, it needs to be made explicit in the application how the project aligns with at least one of the areas of interest below.
- Field work on Australian native plants and animals to gain understanding of ecological interactions, population dynamics, animal behaviour, and species distribution
- Conservation biology and biodiversity studies relating to the management of protected areas and rare or threatened species in Australia
- Wildlife management relating to sport hunting, harvesting, pest control, management of non-game animals, and effect of land management on native species.
Please rank each application between 1 (highly focused) to 5 (not focused).
2) Is the project description well developed?
Most applicants will be first year PhD students and we do not expect them to have everything fully formed at this point but they should have some idea of what they’re doing and where they’re going.
The project description should focus on the year of funding requested and explicitly address what they are expecting to do in that year. The student should give an overall idea of the PhD project but really focus in on that one part of the project that they want funded by this Holsworth grant round.
Please rank each application between 1 (highly developed) to 5 (not developed).
3) Is the budget requested appropriate for the project being proposed?
The student may be receiving funding from multiple different sources across several components of their project. Some of those components may be well funded but take into context the component they are focusing on for their Holsworth application and whether this still requires funding. If the student is well funded they need to make this clear and justify why they need funding for their specific focus related to Holsworth over and above what they already have access to.
The priority for Holsworth funding is for fieldwork and labwork/analysis directly related to fieldwork the student carried out. If the student is in their first year this would suggest that funding requests should be focused on fieldwork as the student would not yet have prior fieldwork to base labwork on. The Holsworth grant preferences students who conduct their own fieldwork rather than basing their project on someone else’s fieldwork.
Please rank each application between 1 (highly appropriate) to 5 (not appropriate).
4) Overall quality of the project.
You may assess all the projects in your allocation as ‘excellent’ but we ask that you rank them in order by differentiating which are slightly better than the others.
Please rank each application as
- 1 (excellent)
- 2 (some minor problems but worth funding)
- 3 (adequate. Project is ok but has flaws)
- 4 (poor, project has substantial flaws)
- 5 (not fundable)
5) Student competence.
Does the student have a track record that exhibits a good ability to carry out the project? This is based on the results and experience listed in their statement of academic milestones, and the accompanying narrative that the student should have written to explain how their experience will assist them in their PhD project. This narrative should not be a list of skills but instead highlight how those skills will be used to assist them in their PhD, particularly in relation to the research focused on in the Holsworth request.
Please rank each application between 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor).
Overall ranking –
This is a ranking of the applicant relative to the ones you have already read, differentiating each time as to which are slightly better than the others. If two or three projects are assessed to be of similar standing, they still need to be given a unique ranking.
Further Assistance
If you cannot resolve your query by reference to these FAQs or our website, please email us at