The University Of Western Australia's 13 Students Selected As New Combo Plan Scholars

Study in Australia: These 13 students are among the 219 students from 33 Australian universities who will go to the Indo-Pacific locations to study and do internships.

The University of Western Australia's 13 undergraduate students have been named as 2025 New Colombo Plan Scholars. As part of this award, they will travel to Indo-Pacific locations in the new year 2025 to undertake language training, study and internships.

The Australian Government has granted this scholarship to support the undergraduates of Australia to engage in the Indo-Pacific region and increase their knowledge of the region.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Amit Chakma said, "The scholarships represent an extraordinary opportunity for our students to develop critical international skills and build deep, meaningful connections across the Indo-Pacific. By supporting our students to study, train and engage in this dynamic region, we’re not just investing in individual educational experiences, but in Australia's future global understanding and relationships.”

The University Of Western Australia's New Combo Plan Scholars

The winners include - Jillo Karanja, Bachelor of Commerce, Ashutosh Alung, Bachelor of Engineering, Asher Israel, Bachelor of Philosophy, Madelaine Baker, Bachelor of Science, Tyler Connelly, Bachelor of Philosophy, Casper (Ed) Stoddart, Bachelor of Philosophy, Tin (Justin) Truong, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Modern Languages student, Anh (Annabel) Nguyen, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Modern Languages student, Mei Qi (Kimberley) Tay, Bachelor of Philosophy student, Finn Lip, Bachelor of Philosophy student, Jacinta Letizia, Bachelor of Commerce, Tallulah Davison, Bachelor of Philosophy, and Natarsha Smith, Bachelor of Biomedicine student.

“I’m ecstatic about this opportunity to spend a year in the trilingual and biliterate city, honing my Chinese language skills and diving into my interests in multilingualism and Asian varieties of English,” Nguyen said.

“I'm really excited to learn from and contribute to the transition to AI-powered healthcare from two Indo-Pacific countries that are spearheading its real-world implementation,” Lip said.

A Medical Student Continued Tradition Of Three Generation By Receiving Degree

Henry Pemberton, 24, is the third generation of the family who received a medical degree from this university. The tradition was started by his grandfather Professor Colin Binns.

“I look back with great fondness of my days at UWA. It was a small class and the newly appointed staff came from all over the world and brought a wealth of knowledge and medical experience with them which was inspiring. In my fifth year I was lucky enough to spend three months working in Papua New Guinea which – in among experiences like an emergency landing on a sandbank on a crocodile infested river – set the direction for the rest of my life. I saw some amazing surgery and later returned to work in the country for eight years. I had realised that when my own kids got sick, they got better, but when the Guinean kids got sick, they so often didn’t – a lot of which came down to the difference in their nutritional status," recalls Colin, a John Curtin Emeritus Professor at Curtin University.

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