PhD scholarships and opportunities
Remediation of Emerging Contaminants
Closing Date: 01 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
The fundamental research on advanced oxidisation, including electrochemistry and sono-chemistry towards the remediation of persistent and emerging contaminants. Under the team’s supervision and engagement, the remediation / destruction approach will be scaled-up from lab to field applications.
Improving Quality of Care and Outcomes for Patients Undergoing Surgery for Cancer
Closing Date: 04 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
We are seeking expressions of interest from highly motivated applicants who would like to pursue a PhD in behavioural science. The PhD topic would focus on innovative strategies to improve quality of care and outcomes for patients undergoing surgery for cancer.
Exploring the Potential of Secondary School-Based Programs that Address Multiple Health, Educational and Psycho-Social Outcomes
Closing Date: 16 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Hunter New England Population Health Research Group and the National Centre of Implementation Science are seeking EOIs from candidates interested in pursuing a PhD program investigating the health, educational, and psycho-social co-benefits of secondary school-based chronic disease prevention interventions and strategies to improve their implementation at scale.
Identification of Evidence-Based Practice Gaps to Determine International and National Priorities for School-Based Chronic Disease Prevention
Closing Date: 16 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
The National Centre of Implementation Science (a NHMRC funded Centre for Research Excellence) is seeking EOIs from candidates interested in pursuing a PhD program to identify international evidence-based practice gaps in school-based programs targeting nutrition, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use.
Informing Practice Through a Better Understanding of Aboriginal Hospital-treated Self-harm Within the Hunter Region
Closing Date: 19 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
This PhD will extend what is known about hospital-treated self-harm for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the Hunter region (New South Wales, Australia) and work with partners to translate findings into practice.
The Ecology of the Threatened Green and Golden Bell Frog in Created Habitat
Closing Date: 30 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Over the past ten years, the Conservation Science Research Group has worked with industry partners to successfully create a large coastal wetland ecosystem that sustains a robust population of the threatened green and golden bell frog. Success of the program and its unique features means that it has become a model system to investigate numerous ecological questions about the ecology of pond breeding frogs.
Understanding the Ecology of the Threatened Green and Golden Bell Frog in a Dynamic Coastal Landscape
Closing Date: 30 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
The Conservation Science Research Group at the University of Newcastle is a leader in applied research for the successful conservation of the threatened green and golden bell frog. Integrated land management within an adaptive management framework has shown that populations of this frog may remain viable in suburban and industrial coastal landscapes. This has become a model system to investigate numerous ecological questions about the ecology of pond breeding frogs.
Targeting Pharmaceuticals and Nanoparticle Gene-Therapy Vectors to Treat Adrenal Pathology
Closing Date: 31 October 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
The many pathologies associated with adrenal gland function together impact four million Australians annually, with treatment costing over $2 billion a year. The current treatment paradigm of systemic, lifelong suppression or replacement of adrenal function has remained largely unchanged in decades, treating symptoms, often with significant side-effects or acute crisis if not managed correctly, yet in many cases offering no possibility of a cure. The extended, and in some cases lifelong, treatment requirements suggests the considerable disease burden, and associated costs will continue to rise as our population demographic ages and chronic morbidities increase in prevalence. Consequently, there is a critical need to redress our approach to treatment of these conditions.
Outback Quit Pack - A Cancer Risk Reduction Trial for Rural, Regional, and Remote (RRR) Smokers in NSW
Closing Date: 01 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
A PhD opportunity is available to work on an exciting program of research that will examine a novel smoking cessation intervention to address high tobacco smoking rates among rural, regional, and remote Australians. This PhD will be supervised by Professor Billie Bonevski and Dr Eliza Skelton from the University of Newcastle.
Understanding and Addressing the use of Tobacco and Smoking Cessation Services by People from Multicultural Communities in NSW
Closing Date: 01 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
We are seeking expressions of interest from highly motivated candidates interested in pursuing a PhD program focussing on the use of tobacco and engagement with telephone quitline in NSW.
Singularities in Geometric Flows
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
The candidate will analyze singularity formation in geometric evolution equations through the application of (local) a priori estimates and/or the analysis of ancient solutions.
Investigating the Link Between Cerebrovascular and Brain Structural/Functional Processes Contributing to Cognitive Ability Across the Lifespan
Closing Date: 30 January 2021 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Using innovative optical imaging methodology that maps the brain’s regional arterial health, this research program aims to characterize the link between the brain’s arterial system and progressive changes in cognitive control ability and in brain structure and function in across the lifespan in healthy and clinical groups. This project is a collaboration between scientists at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who have pioneered and patented this optical method, and UON cognitive neuroscience researchers.
Exploring Multifaceted Clustering of Complex Electricity Time-Series Data to Support Data-Driven Decision-Making in the Energy Sector
Closing Date: 31 January 2021 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
The primary goal of this project is to explore methodologies and processes available for clustering complex, long, low frequency time series with spatial, temporal, or categorical factors associated with them – such as those found in the energy sector. The focus will be on mapping out which tools are most appropriate for use, the various considerations that should be made when using those tools, the metrics that should be used in validating their success and, when applicable, possible amendments/adjustments and improvements that may be required depending on the application scenario in hand. Though the focus need not be strictly limited to energy related time-series only, this project will receive support from CSIRO researchers in the energy domain.
Laser Carrying Spider Robots (Robo-Laser) for Remediation of Marine Corrosion within Navy Ships and Submarines
Closing Date: 31 January 2021 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Corrosion damage to naval platforms is a leading cost driver to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and its allied forces such as the US Navy (USN). Corrosion damage increases maintenance requirements and creates difficulty for naval assets to achieve their expected service life. The cost of corrosion damage has increased dramatically over the last decade and is currently about $5 billion per annum for the USN alone. While a range of new corrosion prevention methods are available for corrosion control, the options are far more limited as far as the remediation of damaged naval assets is concerned. There is a clear technology gap in this space and as recognised by the NSW Defence Innovation Network (DIN) stakeholders, there is a need for a laser-based approach to corrosion management.
Microbial Genomics for Assessing the Health of Water Resources
Closing Date: 01 February 2021 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
Disruption of the chemical and physical balance of aquatic microbial communities can result in the proliferation of harmful organisms, including toxic cyanobacteria (“blue-green algae”) and opportunistic pathogens. In all ecosystems, from the human gut to rivers, these tiny organisms are the "first responders" to environmental health and disease. Characterisation of the microbial and biochemical basis for water quality in resilient and impacted ecosystems will be invaluable for establishing future guidelines for water quality and safety. The innovative approach, predictive nature and translational capacity of this research project will enable water quality managers to develop contingency plans to reduce threats to freshwater supplies.
Exploring Cyanobacterial Specialised Metabolism Using Heterologous Expression
Closing Date: 02 February 2021 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
Microbial natural products have served as a major inspiration for the development of novel pharmaceuticals. Cyanobacteria are a largely untapped phylum that produces a multitude of natural products, including toxins, anaesthetics, antibiotics and sunscreens. A limitation for the exploitation of these molecules is the lack of accessibility in the natural host due to slow growth rates, relatively low production levels, and limited resources to genetically manipulate the cyanobacteria. This project will involve the isolation of cyanobacterial natural product biosynthesis genes, engineering them for heterologous expression in Escherichia coli, and gene knockouts to characterise the enzymology of biosynthesis.
Ramifications of Climate Change on Microbial Ecology in the Pacific Ocean
Closing Date: 02 February 2021 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
Microbial biodiversity in the tidal zone is responsible for important biological processes such as geochemical cycling and carbon sequestration. Climate change in the Pacific Islands has resulted in the restructuring of these zones affecting local marine ecology.
P14 – Application of Inclined Channels in Enhancing Early Gangue Rejection through Gravity and Flotation Separation
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project will investigate new ways to remove coarse particle gangue from grinding circuits to reduce energy and water consumption.
P15 – Influence of Turbulence on Coarse Particle Detachment from Air Bubbles
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Associate Professor Elham Doroodchi - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This study uses new hydrodynamic techniques to quantify bubble-particle interaction in a turbulent environment, with the aim of determining how and why coarse particle detachment from bubble-multiparticle aggregates may occur in a flotation process.
P17 – Computer Modelling Investigation of a Novel Granular Separation Mechanism
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Dr Roberto Moreno-Atanasio and Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project will develop a computer model to describe a novel method for dry separation of minerals.
P18 – Water-efficient Electrostatic Beneficiation
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Dr Peter Ireland - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project will explore novel electrostatic mineral processing methods using little or no water, in low gravity. Dry processing is critical to the prospective utilisation of resources on the Moon, Asteroids, and other extraterrestrial environments, as well as arid parts of Earth.
P20 – Flotation Kinetics of Ultrafine Mineral Particles using a Sparger in a Downcomer
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project investigates the enhanced bubble-particle collision kinetics of ultrafine particles in a novel downcomer.
P22 – Counter Current Washing in Flotation of Minerals to Establish the Limits of Cleaning
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project will investigate the benefits of counter current washing of flotation product using the Reflux Flotation Cell.
P24 - Hydrodynamics of Flow Regime Transition in a Reflux Flotation Cell
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Dr Subhasish Mitra and Professor Geoffrey Evans - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This Project aims to examine the flow regime transition in the downcomer region of the reflux flotation cell at a fixed gas flux when the gas bubbles are released as froth from the overflow at different liquid underflow fluxes.
P26 – Ultrafine Recovery of Precious Metals using Nano-scale Permeable Films of Oil
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project will investigate a novel agglomeration technology to transform the recovery of precious minerals.
P29 - Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic Modelling of Moisture Migration under Oscillatory Type Motions
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Associate Professor Kenneth Williams - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project investigates the fundamental mechanisms of moisture liberation and subsequent motion through particulate ensembles. This will provide advanced knowledge to drive innovative dewatering technology design.
P37 – Ultrafine Particle Deposition and Adhesion with Permeable Hydrophobic Surfaces
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Dr Roberto Moreno-Atanasio - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project will aim to demonstrate the benefits of using natural fibres to stabilise oil emulsions by allowing fluid to be exchanged across droplets surfaces.
P42 – Guiding RAFT Polymerisation with Molecular Simulations to Control Hydrophobic Mineral Surfaces
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor Associate Professor Alister Page & Laurate Professor Kevin Galvin - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. This project aims to enhance mineral separation by controlling the hydrophobicity of mineral surfaces withnew RAFT polymers.
P46 – The Adsorption of RAFT Polymer Collectors for Selective Flotation of Specific Minerals
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Professor Erica Wanless - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. In this project the adsorption of novel surface active polymers at aqueous-mineral interfaces will be assessed for their prospects as selective collectors (low molecular weight) or flocculants (high molecular weight). This will enhance value mineral flotation.
P47 – Development of Bio-inspired Polymers for Sustainable Mineral Beneficiation
Closing Date: 31 December 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Supervisor: Associate Professor Grant Webber - The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is seeking creative and innovative PhD applicants to join our national collaborative Centre, to develop transformational technologies to reduce energy and water consumption and increase metals recovery. In collaboration with researchers at the Universities of Queensland and Melbourne this project will design, synthesise and deploy novel bio-inspired polymers for processing clay-based suspensions to reduce water usage in mineral beneficiation.
Progressive Voices/Movements in Islamic Theology in the (Post-)Secular Society of 21st Century
Closing Date: 31 December 2025 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
PhD research on “Progressive Voices/Movements in Islamic Theology in the (Post-)Secular Society of 21st Century”
Recently expired PhD Scholarships
Understanding the Human-Invasive Species Relationships for Climate Resilient Communities
Closing Date: 23 August 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Understanding the relationship between people and their environment is crucial in determining how resilient ecosystems assist communities to adapt to climate change. Invasive species are arguably the largest driver of biodiversity loss in the Pacific, impacting on the critical ecosystem services that support local communities, yet very little is understood about the human-invasive relationship; about Pacific communities’ perceptions of both the invasive species and of invasive species management activities
Conservation ecology of threatened wallabies
Closing Date: 01 September 2020 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
Two PhD projects are available within the Conservation Science Research Group of the University of Newcastle’s School of Environmental and Life Sciences to study the conservation ecology of threatened wallabies under the supervision of Associate Professors Matt Hayward, John Clulow and Andrea Griffin, in association with staff from DPIE, DPI and UNE. One student will work on parma wallabies Macropus parma and the other on red-legged pademelons Thylogale stygmatica.
Movement Ecology of Migratory Shorebirds Within Port Stephens and Hunter Estuaries
Closing Date: 01 September 2020 Apply Now
PhD Opportunity
One PhD project is available within the Conservation Science Research Group at the University of Newcastle to study the movement ecology of migratory shorebirds under the supervision of Dr Andrea Griffin and Associate Professor Matt Hayward, in association with staff from Hunter Local Land Services, Hunter Bird Observers Club, National Parks and Wildlife, and Birdlife Australia.
Immunopathogenesis of Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease
Closing Date: 18 September 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) affects in 20% of the population with disease phenotype varying from non-erosive reflux disease to ulceration to a columnar lined (Barrett’s) oesophagus. While pathophysiological abnormalities have been identified including increased transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations, the underlying aetiology of GERD remains obscure.
Understanding and Addressing Recruitment Challenges in NSW-Based Cannabis Medicines Trials
Closing Date: 18 September 2020 Apply Now
PhD Scholarship
We are seeking expressions of interest (EOI) from highly motivated candidates interested in pursuing a PhD program looking at understanding and addressing recruitment challenges in NSW-based cannabis medicines trials. This is a qualitative research project to be undertaken with the Australian Centre for Cannabinoid Clinical and Research Excellence (ACRE) through the University of Newcastle.