Kazuma Honda is a Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) student from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University Newcastle who has just been awarded the 2012 Prime Minister's Australia Asia Outgoing Endeavour Award.

The Endeavour Awards are prestigious Australian Government scholarships that provide research and professional development opportunities for the best and brightest scholars from Australia and Asia. The scholarships are designed to develop education and research links between individuals, organisations and countries and to support enduring ties between Australia and its neighbours.

Kazuma's research will take place at Yamaguchi University Hospital in Japan and aims to compare the experience of nursing students in Australia and Japan with respect to their perception of belonging within clinical placements.

Kazuma will build upon related studies with English speaking students in Australia and the UK, by extending the body of work about belongingness and nursing students to include the Asia Pacific region. Final year Japanese nursing students will be asked to complete the Belongingness Scale - Clinical Placement Experience survey and participate in interviews to explore factors that influence non-English speaking nursing students's sense of belonging in clinical placements.

Existing empirical studies on student nursing cohorts indicate that diminished belongingness may effect motivation for learning and also student retention rates. Kazuma hopes that his research will increase and encourage retention within the nursing profession.

While Kazuma had the opportunity to meet and greet with Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, the Hon Chris Evans MP, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations presented the award to Mr Honda at a ceremony held at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 7th December 2011.

Kazuma is currently working as a Registered Nurse at the Royal North Shore Hospital Intensive Therapy Unit and is aiming to fly to Japan to commence his research project in Yamaguchi early in 2012.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery congratulates Kazuma Honda on winning this prestigious international award and looks forward to hearing and learning more about his research, experience and future success.