Vacation Study Program

The ACT Vacation Study Program (VSP) offers health researchers a chance to lead projects and supervise students. This enhances patient outcomes and researcher skills.

The program also aims to get second, third, and fourth-year university students excited about research, even if they're not currently enrolled in a research degree.

Students will develop the basic skills they need to include research in their future careers.

The program involves a 6-week student placement at Canberra Health Services or Health and Community Services Directorate.

Benefits for students

• Build research capability.
• Ignite a passion for research, for those currently not enrolled in a research degree.
• Equip students with the skills they need to embed research into their future career.
• At the successful completion of the program, students will be eligible to receive a $3,000 stipend.

Benefits for supervisors

The program builds research capacity for supervisors, through:

• workshops that build supervision skills
• the opportunity to lead research projects
• project management and supervisory experience.

Vacation Study Program 2026-2027

Project submissions are now open for potential supervisors. To submit a project for consideration, complete the online form.

Submissions close 5pm, Monday 6 July 2026.

Late submissions will not be accepted.

The PRIMARY supervisor MUST be from Health and Community Services Directorate or Canberra Health Services. You’re encouraged to collaborate and co-supervise projects with colleagues from affiliated academic institutions.

We are calling for project proposals for disciplines across the health system.

This includes:

• medicine
• medical science
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services
• nursing and midwifery
• allied health
• health economics
• epidemiology
• biostatistics
• population health
• public health
• preclinical research
• environmental health
• health policy
• biology
• medical education
• value-based healthcare

Key dates

• Project submissions from potential supervisors open 9 am, Monday 18 May 2026
• Project submissions from potential supervisors close 5 pm, Monday 6 July 2026
• Student applications open 9 am, Monday 10 August 2026
• Student applications close 5 pm, Friday 4 September 2026
• Pre-placement workshop, Friday 30 October 2026
• Placements are any six-week period between November 2026 and February 2027
• Final student presentation Friday 5 February 2027
• Final reports due 5 pm, Friday 27 February 2027

Workshop dates

• Supervisor workshop 1: From Idea to Application: Designing a Strong VSP Project, Thursday, 4 June 2026
• Supervisor workshop 2: Research supervision 101, TBC
• Student workshop 1: Introduction to data analytics, TBC
• Student workshop 2: Science communication, TBC
• Student workshop 3: Presentation skills, TBC

Contact us