About the program

Established to create opportunities for innovation and improvement in patient care and launched in May 2003, the Victorian Travelling Fellowship Program (VTFP) is a joint initiative of the Victorian Quality Council (VQC) and the Department of Health (the department).

The VTFP provides emerging leaders within the Victorian public health care system with the opportunity to conduct international investigations into innovative responses to priority areas in health care quality and safety. The fellowship experience is of value both professionally and personally, and provides unique opportunities for learning and the transfer of information for possible local implementation. Fellowships offer an important avenue for international contact that many public sector health professionals and managers may otherwise find difficult to access.

The purpose of the fellowship is to increase innovation in health care quality and safety, and to improve patient care by encouraging international learning and information sharing that focuses on enhancing health care in Victoria so that it meets and exceeds community expectations. Further to this, the VTFP aims to support the development of emerging leaders in health care quality and safety.

Fellows have the opportunity to study innovative international health systems and best-practice and to exchange interventions, methodologies and experiences with overseas colleagues. Upon return to Victoria, the fellow will report on their learnings to the VQC and their employer health service, and others as appropriate, and develop a proposal for possible local implementation of new solutions to an identified quality and safety issue.

The 2011–12 funding round

The 2011–12 funding round provides six fellowships (to a maximum of $20,000 each) on specified quality and safety issues. Fellows will undertake up to 12 weeks travel within the specified one-year period (1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012). 

Applications for the 2011-2012 funding round closed on 28 March 2011.