In April 2012, the IPA Council voted to establish a new support mechanism for student members of the IPA: the IPA Student Awards. Student members who will present their research at international conferences, symposia and workshops which are (co-)sponsored by the IPA may apply for these awards. Unemployed members, members under age 35, or members from low-income-level countries may also apply. IPA Student Awards are separate from the IPA's Gösta Bruce Scholarships, which are dedicated to supporting student travel to International Congresses of Phonetic Sciences. The number and amount of IPA Student Awards will be decided separately for each conference, and will depend on such factors as the funds available at the time, the number of students attending the conference, and the costs to students of attending. Selection of recipients will be made by the IPA Executive Council.

In May 2012, four IPA Student Awards were given to student members of the IPA to present their research at the Third International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2012) in Nanjing, China. The successful applicants were Jianjing Kuang of the University of California, Los Angeles (USA), Jeff Malins of the University of Western Ontario (Canada), Stephen Politzer-Ahles of the University of Kansas (USA), and Robert Xu of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Congratulations to the first recipients of the IPA's new awards.