ISA Student Scholarship

It is the goal of the International Society of Audiology (ISA) to encourage participation from future student leaders in Global Audiology. Therefore, the ISA is glad to offer student scholarships to allow these student leaders to attend the World Congress of Audiology (WCA) to share their research findings, to meet and network with fellow students and senior colleagues as well as to be actively engaged in furthering research and services in audiology locally and internationally.

The scholarships, in the amount of USD $1500 are sponsored by the ISA.

The scholarship is intended to help students to cover the costs of:

• Student registration fees for the WCA (all scholars must register for the Congress.)

• Transportation/airfare to the Congress venue.

• Accommodation during the Congress.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

1. The applicant must be a full time student in an institution of higher learning taking courses in audiology and preferably working towards a degree in audiology or hearing science. Graduates who will be completing their degree in 2024 may also apply; and

2. The applicant must be a current Student Member of the ISA.

3. The applicant should have the paper accepted by the organizers of the WCA. Only one paper should be submitted for consideration.

4. The applicant will provide a brief profile (a photo, name, a brief bio about him/herself and the current research project).

5. The applicant must represent his/her own work which should not have been presented or published elsewhere.

The Application

The student must submit the following documents by the application closing date:

1. The application form duly filled.

2. A brief profile (a photo, name, a brief bio about him/herself and the current research project).

3. An abstract and a 2 to 3 page description of the research project the applicant wants to submit for inclusion in the WCA Scientific Program. (A description exceeding 3 pages will disqualify the applicant. The description should be presented in Times Roman size 12 font on an A4/letter size paper with 1- inch margins.)

The research topic may be either in the field of clinical audiology or in basic audiological science. The description should clearly outline:

a. The challenge/problem being addressed by the project;

b. The hypotheses and/or aim of the project;

c. The methodology that was employed;

d. The results that have been/will be obtained; and

e. The discussion surrounding the results

f. The conclusions drawn from the project, and its significance to audiology.

4. A letter of recommendation from the research supervisor/advisor.

5. A short (maximum 100 words) statement of why the applicant believes the scientific paper would be valuable to attend the WCA.

6. A proof that the paper has been accepted for publication by the Scientific Committee of the WCA, as soon as it becomes available.

All supplementary information (2. – 5.) should be included in one pdf-file.

Obligations and responsibilities of scholars

1. The selected scholars will sign a letter of acceptance and be abide by the conditions stated in the letter.

2. The scholars will personally present the accepted paper at the WCA

3. The scholars will only be able to receive the scholarship after presenting their papers at the Congress. The scholars will sign a receipt.

4. The scholars are expected to be actively engaged in furthering audiological research and services locally and internationally.

5. ISA scholars are expected to have provided true information and complied to human ethics requirement of their respective institution and/or country. Failure to comply to these requirements will result in the scholarship being revoked and the scholar is expected to repay ISA the full amount of the scholarship. ISA will not be liable for implications due to untruthful representation of the research.

6. The awardees should be present at the ISA General Assembly at the WCA to receive the award.

Application process

Step 1

Download the Application Form - Click on the navigation below to download the application form.

Step 2

Send the completed application form and supporting documentation before the 31st March 2024 (one pdf-file containing the information) by e-mail to gd@isa-audiology.org with a copy to sc.purdy@auckland.ac.nz

Application Form

If you are not yet a student member of the ISA - Click here to become a member. Membership is free.

Contact George Dempster the ISA Community Manager by e-mail - gd@isa-audiology.org should you require clarification or assistance.

Students applying for the WCA 2024 scholarship must read all of the eligibility and process criteria before downloading the application form. By downloading the application form you have read, understood and accepted the ISA / WCA2024 scholarship conditions.

At its biennial World Congress, the International Society of Audiology (ISA) presents the Aram Glorig award to recognize a person who has had a “distinguished career in Audiology.”

The Glorig Foundation was established at the International Congress of Audiology (ICA) in Helsinki in 1982. It was the idea of ISA’s late president Ole Bentzen (Denmark) to do something to honour Dr. Glorig’s many years of service to the ISA as one of its founders and the audiology profession.

The ISA executive committee would like to acknowledge and celebrate Professor Linda J. Hood Ph.D as the 2024 Aram Glorig awardee. Professor Hood is an exemplary audiologist and hearing scientist having made significant contributions to both basic and translational research for over 40 years. Her research in the areas of hereditary hearing loss, novel assays of afferent and efferent neural function, and the clinical diagnosis and management of auditory neuropathy/auditory synaptopathy have had a lasting and meaningful impact on the profession of audiology.

As an International Key Scientist, she has worked with numerous research centres and universities, has more than 50 peer reviewed articles, lectures globally, consults to the World Health Organization, participates in review panels, working groups and editorial boards.

Among other awards, she received the Honours of the Association from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 2018 and the Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology from the American Academy of Audiology in April 2020.

Professor Hood is a Past President of the American Academy of Audiology, the American Auditory Society, and our very own Society between the years 2014 to 2016 and a member of the executive team from 2010 to 2022.

ISA Executive

From left to right, Astrid, Ariane, Kurt, Louise, Adrian

ISA / WCA / IJA Team

From left to rightAdrian, Louise, Hung (WCA), Dewet (IJA) Ariane, Astrid

WCA 2024

Hung and Louise signing the WCA agreement.

ISA / WCA Grant / $5,000 USD

One full member of the ISA will receive $5,000 USD during May 2024.
All full members of the ISA in good standing on 30 April 2024 will be entered into the draw.
ISA members that have already registered and paid to attend the World Congress of Audiology which takes place in Paris, France during September 2024 will receive one additional entry into the draw.
Make sure you are a full ISA member in good standing.

WRA report: July 2023

ISA representative Bernadette Fulton attended the 3rd Global Rehabilitation 2030 meeting.

Bernadette, Kurt Stephan (ISA exco member) and Kathy Pichora-Fuller attended the World Rehabilitation Alliance members meeting.

EFAS Grants

Congratulations to Silvia Dibonaventura from London and Vasco de Olivier from Portugal for being the first respondents to our grant offer. We look forward to seeing you at the Congress.

Congratulations

To the ISA's Secretary General Professor George A. TAVARTKILADZE, MD, Ph.D. awarded a Gold Medal from IFOS during the ENT World Congress in Dubai on 17 January 2023 in recognition for development of Oto- rhino- laryngology in the world.

ISA in support of World Hearing Day 2023

Thais C. Morata, Ariane Laplante-Lévesque, Kurt Stephan, George Tavartkiladze, Dalia Tsimpida

Since 2015 the World Health Organization (WHO) organizes World Hearing Day on 3 March “to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.” The International Society of Audiology (ISA) has contributed in various ways over the years. On November 16–17, several of us, ISA Executive Council members and committee volunteers participated of the in-person Core Committee meeting of the World Hearing Forum (https://www.who.int/activities/promoting-world-hearing-forum), at the World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters in Geneva, to review progress and coordinate joint outreach activities for hearing care and hearing loss prevention.

When raising awareness of health issues, Wikimedia platforms come to mind as a valuable source of dissemination of information, since health-related articles on Wikipedia are read more than 150 million times per month (Heilman et al., 2011). Health information in Wikipedia can be a significant and trusted resource particularly in countries where access to care is scarce (Shafee et al., 2017; NYT, 2014). A recent example is a project led by Dr. Lilian Jacob and funded by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) in 2022, where five Brazilian universities as well as international agencies incorporated Wikipedia assignments focused on the promotion of hearing health.

For World Hearing Day 2019, the ISA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health took the lead in designing the online event Wiki4WorldHearingDay2019, to improve Wikipedia content related to hearing, hearing health services, hearing testing, and preventive and treatment interventions. Several institutions joined in the event by either promoting it or contributing content to Wikipedia articles in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. The Wikimedia outreach dashboard allows anyone to monitor contributions and reach, with a great level of detail and accuracy. Tracking took place between January 21, 2019 and March 31, 2019 and showed that 74,000 words were contributed to 90 existing and 7 new Wikipedia articles, and 21 images were donated to the open access repository WikiCommons. The articles received more than 2.8 million views during the 2- month period of the tracking (Morata and Chadha, 2019).

Given the success of Wiki4WorldHearingDay2019, two other campaigns followed: Wiki4YearOfSound2020 and now Wiki4WorldHearingDay2023. In these platforms, one may find guidance and suggestions for different levels of involvement in the campaigns. The launch of the 2023 World Hearing Day campaign took place at the office of the World Health Organization in Geneva on November 18, with presentations from Thais Morata (User:Tmorata) and Daniel Mietchen (User:Daniel Mietchen). Several ISA members expressed interest in participating. Others who were also interested in expanding content into Wikipedia were from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Chile, England, Georgia, Greece, India, Italy, Uganda, Russia, and Zambia. Tracking of the contributions has started and will continue till the end of March 2023 at https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/World_Health_Organization/Outreach_Wikipedia_Edit-a-thon_4_World_Hearing_Day_2023. Thais Morata and Shelly Chadha (Lead Officer, WHO Program for Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Loss) will officially close the Wikipedia online in March 2023 at the Encontro Internacional de Audiologia, which will take place in Florianopolis, Brazil.

The theme of World Hearing Day 2023 is Ear and hearing care for all! Let’s make it a reality and participants are invited to contribute content not only specific to hearing health but also to topics of universality and equity in health care. We invite the ISA community to join in the campaign! Small contributions count! Many other ways to participate also exist. Activities are then described in the annual report of World Hearing Day activities.

The breadth and accuracy of Wikipedia coverage in medical science varies widely. We see campaigns like this as unique opportunities to make hearing content one of the better-developed areas within Wikipedia while providing quality information to everyone in the world- where they are actually looking for it.

If you have any questions please contact Thais Morata, PhD, at tmorata@cdc.gov.

References

Heilman JM, Kemmann E, Bonert M, et al. Wikipedia: a key tool for global public health promotion. J Med Internet Res. 2011;13(1):e14. Published 2011 Jan 31. doi:10.2196/jmir.1589

New York Times, 2014. Wikipedia is emerging as trusted internet source for information on Ebola. October 26, 2014. Accessed April 4, 2019.

Morata, TC., Chadha, S. Make Quality Hearing Health Information Available to All. The Hearing Journal: May 2019 - Volume 72 - Issue 5 -p 6. doi: https://10.1097/01.HJ.0000559493.29061.35

Shafee T, Masukume G, Kipersztok L, et al. Evolution of Wikipedia’s medical content: past, present and future. J Epidemiol Community Health 2017;71:1122–1129.

Member of the Order of Australia

Professor Louise Hickson, who is recognised internationally as a leader in audiology, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to tertiary education and audiology associations.

Professor Hickson is Associate Dean (External Engagement) for the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, and has completed ground-breaking work on the effects of hearing impairment on people’s everyday lives, and strategies and interventions to help improve the uptake of hearing rehabilitation.

“I feel incredibly honoured to receive this award,” Professor Hickson said.

“Hearing loss affects one in six people and the consequences of untreated hearing loss are severe, affecting people’s ability to communicate and connect with those around them.

“My work with so many audiology associations has been about advocating for the needs of people with hearing loss and working with them to alleviate the impacts of the condition.”

Professor Hickson was also recently appointed as the new President of the International Society of Audiology.

Contact Us

Mr George Dempster

+27 83 284-4957
gd@e2.co.za