Established in 1948, the Occupational Therapy School of Victoria was the second school in Australia.

The school was dissolved in 1974 after the Victorian State Government established the Victorian Institute of Colleges, who were given the responsibility of training health practitioners including occupational therapists.

The board members of the school then set up the Occupational Therapy Trust Fund to promote research and clinical development in occupational therapy in Victoria.

In 2019 the trustees of the OT Trust Fund donated the funds to OTA, who in turn, established the Occupational Therapy School of Victoria Clinical Award.

The award aims to promote advancement in clinical practice by supporting members of OTA to engage in clinical based projects or studies.

Projects may include but are not limited to:

• Quality Improvement projects which have organisational ethics approval
• Paid time release to finalise an article for journal publication
• Developing other forms of documenting improvements in clinical practice
• Evaluating current clinical practice to ensure it is evidence based
• Clinical research that is focused on the development of new clinical approaches

A key aspect of the award is that outcomes of the projects are documented and shared broadly (for instance via national or state conference or publication in professional journals).

This award is open to all OTA members regardless of the state in which you reside and is awarded annually.

In 2026, there is up to $13,000 available for distribution. Multiple applicants may be chosen for receipt of this award.

For more information, download the guidelines below, or contact awards@otaus.com.au.

Selection Criteria

Applicants must:

• be a member of OTA for at least three consecutive years and hold current membership,
• have at least four years of continuous clinical experience,
• be currently registered with Ahpra, and
• be citizens of Australia or have permanent residency status.

Applications for this award are now open and close at 5:00pm (AEDT) on Friday, 13 February 2026. Application forms with additional documents as listed in the Guidelines are to be submitted to awards@otaus.com.au.

Previous Recipients:

2025
Zoe Delios & Susan Winnall
A Systematic Review: Visual Perceptual Assessments for Stroke – Are They Comprehensive?

2024
Abby Hutchison
Barriers and facilitators to work participation for adults following traumatic amputation: an exploratory qualitative study.

2023
Dr Tamara Tse
Measuring occupational therapy practice in acute and sub-acute inpatient healthcare settings

2022
Dr Laura Jolliffe
Equitable education: educational videos for therapists to support skilled-delivery of complex upper limb interventions

2021
Lisa Knightbridge
Healthy ageing through increased community participation: developing an assessment and theoretical framework to guide occupational therapy practice

Rebecca Smith
Exploring cultural safety of The Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform (PRPP) Assessment when used to assess cognitive function of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Dr Danielle Hitch
Establishing the Doing, Being, Becoming and Belonging (DB3) scale as a valid and reliable Occupational Therapy outcome measure

More information can be found in the guidelines below.