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Applications for the UWA 2013 Convocation Postgraduate Research Travel Awards are now open.

This time next year, you could be in Sweden, like Kelsey Kennedy, who wrote from there to thank Convocation for helping her to attend a summer school.

The Awards enable postgraduate research students to gain new perspectives on their work through travel in Australia or overseas,  up to the value of $2,500.

Last year there were 12 Award winners, including PhD candidate Kelsey from the Optical + Biomedical Engineering Laboratory in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering.  Kelsey's research centres on developing an optical imaging technique that creates high-resolution images based on the mechanical properties of tissues.

Her project is on generating contrast between healthy tissue and tumour in breast tissues, with the aim of providing improved guidance of breast cancer surgery.

"This work has its foundations in the interaction of light with tissue, known as biophotonics, and its success requires a sound understanding of biophotonic principles," Kelsey said recently from the Biophotonics '13 Summer School in Sweden, the premier educational program in the world for postgraduate students and early post-doctoral fellows working in the field of biomedical optics.

"I did not have a background in optics prior to beginning my research project, and this summer school has provided the opportunity to participate in an intensive week of lectures and discussions led by leaders in the field from around the world.

"Even in these first few days, my conceptual understanding of the interaction of light with biological tissue has become much more concrete, which I expect will translate to more intelligent design of my experiments and more insightful descriptions of my work in my scientific writing.

"It is also extremely useful to place my project in context with the other optical techniques that are being used in biology and medicine; what makes my technique better or worse than others - or perhaps they are complementary?"

She said the intimate setting of the school allowed her to talk with global leaders in the field throughout the week, providing ample opportunities to solidify concepts, discuss new ideas, and take on board their suggestions.

"One of the challenges in treatment of breast cancer in particular is ensuring that all cancerous tissue is removed during surgery," Kelsey said.

"We hope to develop an imaging tool that can help to improve surgical guidance, and ultimately reduce the amount of additional surgeries that are needed, as well as reduce the incidence of local recurrence of the disease."

The Convenor of the UWA Convocation Awards Committee, Clinical Professor Lesley Cala, said she was thrilled that Kelsey and all the other recipients have been able use their Awards to progress their research.

"The Awards provide a fantastic opportunity for postgraduate students to really broaden their knowledge and expertise, resulting in world-class research which will not only be of great benefit to each recipient, but also the wider community."

The Awards were established in 1988 to mark UWA's 75th Anniversary, and have since been supported by the generous donations of graduates, with assistance from the University's Graduate Research School, the Postgraduate Students' Association and BankWest.

Applications, which are available on the Convocation of UWA Graduates website , must be submitted before 4 pm on Friday 30 August 2013.