CFA congratulates Fiona Guthrie, Executive Director of Financial Counselling Australia and a member of the Queensland Consumers Association, who has been awarded a 2014 Winston Churchill Fellowship.
The Fellowship will allow Fiona to visit the USA and the UK investigate the regulation, funding and operation of profit and not for profit services designed to assist consumers in financial difficulty.
Competition for fellowships is intense and Fiona’s was one of only 16 awarded to Queenslanders this year. Nationally, 106 fellowships were awarded.
A Fellowship is worth about $22,000 and covers the cost of travel and accommodation in overseas locations for a number of weeks to undertake research for the betterment of Australia.
CFA hope that Fiona’s success will encourage more consumer advocates to consider applying for a highly regarded Churchill Fellowship to undertake research on a topic important to Australian consumers.
Applications for 2015 Fellowships open on 1 November 2014.
CFA Executive member Ian Jarratt won a Churchill Fellowship in 2006 to study grocery unit pricing in the USA and Europe. This greatly assisted the national campaign in 2009 that resulted in the mandatory adoption of unit pricing for large supermarkets and online sellers to help shoppers easily compare grocery values and prices.
The full list of the 2014 Churchill Fellowships is here
http://www.churchilltrust.com.au/news/churchill-fellowships-announced-2014/