Earlier this year, we awarded a scholarship to Waanyi man, Otis Carmichael. The CodeBots scholarship, worth $5,000 - was created as a way to invest in the education of future generations and assist Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students to undertake studies in computer science, information technology and software engineering at The University of Queensland.

It was an honour to present the CodeBots Scholarship to Otis. His enthusiasm towards embracing technology and opening this opportunity up to indigenous communities was inspiring. Otis recently spoke on how scholarships empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at UQ.

{% include youtubePlayer.html id="iM3D6hEPplk" %}

"As a new student, it's really important to feel supported...because this a really different space to what many people are used to. They (students) often come here, and might be separated from friends and family. So it is really important to have that support, right from the start." - Otis Carmichael

"Students face all sorts of expenses whilst they are studying—from having to feed themselves every day to also having to pay for their rent while living away from home. If they are having to work whilst studying, this is just an additional stress on top of their studies." - Otis Carmichael

This is why we created the CodeBots Scholarship to assist in any way we can whilst empowering students to undertake studies within the area of technology. We hope that this scholarship will continue to address the issue of financial inequity as a barrier to education and empower Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students to achieve their goals.