APRA announces 2021 Brian Gray Scholarship recipients

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has announced the recipients of the 2021 Brian Gray Scholarship.

The Brian Gray Scholarship program was established by APRA and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in September 2002 in memory of Brian Gray, APRA's former Executive General Manager, Policy Research and Consulting, who spent more than two decades shaping regulatory policy in his roles at the RBA and APRA. 

The recipients of the 2021 scholarship are:

• Ms Audrey Soedjito – Brandeis University (USA)
   
• Mr Ching (Jeffery) Wong – Deakin University

Under the program, scholarship recipients will devote a substantial amount of time to an agreed research topic and present their findings to APRA and RBA staff upon completion of their research. Ms Soedjito will produce a paper examining the transmission of US monetary policy to bank leverage outside of the USA, while Mr Wong will research the growth and efficiency of lifecycle MySuper superannuation products.

Writing to congratulate the students, APRA Chair Wayne Byres said: “Brian was actively involved in promoting the work of graduate staff in both his role at the Reserve Bank of Australia and APRA. Hence, it is intended that this scholarship supports students who are well placed to carry Brian's good work into the future.”

The scholarship program funds up to four scholarships each year to the value of $15,000 each. The purpose of the scholarship is to support research students pursuing careers in finance, economics, actuarial science, econometrics, statistics or related disciplines. It is open to Australian and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents completing their honours year or postgraduate studies on topics of relevance to APRA and/or the RBA, broadly. Scholarship applications open early February each year.

More information on the Brian Gray Scholarship is available on the APRA website at: Brian Gray Scholarship program.