Industry and project-specific scholarships

Federation University is pleased to partner with the Manna Institute to offer a PhD scholarship to explore the mental health needs of Regional Australians.

This three-year PhD Scholarship is identified for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidate.

The successful candidate will join the Manna Institute in engaging in research projects under the following thematic areas of importance to regional mental health.

Scholarship details

Stipend: $33,000 per annum
RTP Fee-offset Scholarship: $26,400 per annum
Funding length: 3 years (only, no extensions permitted)
Location: Mt Helen

Eligibility

Scholarship applicants must be eligible to undertake a PhD. Verify you can meet eligibility requirements outlined on the Graduate Research School website.

Applications will be accepted from Australian residents and permanent residents only. Additionally, selection will also depend on the applicant’s ability to meet the following desired criteria:

*           Enrol full-time however candidates can be on campus or remote from the campus.

*           Able and willing to work in a research team environment.

*           Integrate and contribute to the research team.

*           Work or research experience in regional, remote, and rural locations in Australia

Applicants should review the Manna Institute website before submitting an application.

Application closing date: Applications open until position filled

How to apply: Applicants must submit the Manna Institute Application form along with submitting their HDR Candidature application

Commencement date: To be confirmed once appointed

Research project outline

Project title: Regional Mental Health

Candidates must develop a project that aligns with one of four Manna Institute Research Collaboratives, described below:

Research collaborative 1 – existing and emerging mental health workforce.  Projects in this collaborative will focus on ways to support current workforce needs in regional Australia to strengthen future awareness of how to attract and retain workers. At the core of this research collaborative is inclusivity, through collaboration with both the professional and peer workforces across community health, allied health and policy and service delivery staff.

Research collaborative 2 - Individuals’ health and wellbeing. Projects in this collaborative will focus on the psycho-social-behavioural factors that impact individual health and well-being in regional and rural Australia across their lifespan.

Research collaborative 4 - The impact of changing environmental conditions on mental health. The natural world has an enormous impact on mental health and wellbeing. Opportunities to interact with nature can reduce mental illness and facilitate optimum mental wellbeing. Projects in this collaborative will focus those that consider direct and indirect impacts of the changing climate on rural, regional, and remote communities.

For further information (including supervision advice) please contact:

Associate Professor Dixie Statham - Federation University
Email: d.statham@federation.edu.au

or Professor Myfanwy Maple - Manna Institute Director
Email: mmaple2@une.edu.au

Supervisors, Associate and Co-Supervisors

Supervisors will be sourced through both Federation University and the Manna Institute. Bios of potential supervisors are listed on the Manna Institute website.

Federation University is pleased to partner with Australian Carbon Innovation (ACI), Environmental Clean Technologies (ECT) and GrapheneX to offer a Masters by Research scholarship in advanced carbon materials.

Scholarship details

Stipend: $34,000 per annum

Project support: Technical assistance and project costs included in accompanying $250,000 research project funded by Australian Carbon Innovation (ACI), Environmental Clean Technologies (ECT) and GrapheneX

RTP Fee-offset Scholarship / Tuition Fee Scholarship: $26,800 per annum

Funding length: 1.5 years (only, no extensions permitted)

Location: Gippsland campus, Northways Rd, Churchill VIC 3842, Australia.

Eligibility

Scholarship applicants must be eligible to undertake a Masters by Research and verify that they can meet the eligibility requirements outlined on the Graduate Research School website. If you are applying for ‘Honours equivalence,’ please ensure that you provide detailed information to support your case.

Applicants must be an Australian resident or permanent resident.

Additional Information

Successful applicants will be required to reside in or relocate to the Gippsland region and study on campus and on location with their industry partner for the duration of their project.

Exceptional candidates may have the opportunity to transfer to a fully-funded PhD program.

Applicants should contact Dr Surbhi Sharma, Associate Professor of Hydrogen Technologies (surbhi.sharma@federation.edu.au, +61 03 5122 6435) prior to submitting an application.

Application closing date: Applications open until position filled

How to apply: Applicants must submit the ECT-ACI scholarship application form along with their HDR Application Form

Application information is included in the links below.

Commencement date: To be confirmed once appointed

Background (broader perspective and relevance):

Federation University’s Future Regions Research Centre (FRRC) and recently established Centre for New Energy Transition Research (CfNETR) are focused on identifying opportunities to develop and lead new green energy technology, ensuring the maximum utilisation of Victorian resources and promoting circular economy in the region. This scholarship is an excellent opportunity to work as part of a research team including the Carbon Technology Research Group (CTRG) on an industry-supported project focused on transforming a char by-product in high-value activated carbons.

Activated carbons (ACs) are widely used in electrodes for energy storage (batteries, supercapacitors). Australia imports much of its activated carbon (AC) requirements (approx. 10k tons per annum). There is a significant understanding about steam activation and KOH-mediated activation of carbonaceous wastes. The project team will extend this knowledge to develop improved and tailored high-value carbons by upcycling char by-products. It presents an opportunity to prepare tailored carbons suitable for inclusion in electrode formulations. The project will also include initial studies for developing low-cost solutions for preparing other high-value carbons for the green economy.

Success of this project will enable the production of high-value carbons (graphene oxide hybrids, mesoporous carbon anode materials) tailored to environmental and energy storage applications. It will assist the transition of the Latrobe Valley’s coal-fired power generation industry to high-value manufacturing in the new energy economy. Additionally, exploratory studies on synthesising graphene oxide hybrids from lignite offer an excellent opportunity to develop cost-effective methods for producing nanostructured carbons. These materials can find multiple uses within the circular H2 economy, including H2 production, storage and energy generation via fuel cells, and other applications such as water filtration membranes, biosensors, and gas sensors.

Masters project title: Replacing petroleum based carbon black in batteries: Producing battery electrodes and other advanced nanostructured carbons from lignite chars

The Masters by Research project will focus on the lab-scale preparation and characterisation of porous, activated carbon products using the lignite chars supplied by ECT. It will investigate the development of a practicable method for recycling potassium to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the process. The project will involve extensive material characterisation studies to understand the chemical, physical electrical and electrochemical properties of the synthesised materials. Other preliminary studies could include the use of hydrothermal and/or supercritical processes for upcycling and upgrading the low-value chars into nanostructured carbon materials.

Industry Partner and Student Host: Environmental Clean Technologies (ECT) Ltd

Supervisors:

Principal Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Surbhi Sharma

Surbhi completed her PhD (University of Ulster, 2011) and has extensive experience in synthesising, characterising and utilising graphene oxide and other nanostructured carbon hybrids for various electrochemical applications. She also has extensive experience in using characterisation techniques such as XPS, XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, Raman, UV-Vis and FTIR spectroscopy techniques.

Prior to moving to Federation University Australia in 2022, she was based at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, and the School of Biosciences within the University of Birmingham, UK. Here, she delivered on a number of national and international projects (funded by EPSRC, Science without borders-Brazil, EU and DSTL-MoD, UK) in the field of low temperature hydrogen fuel cells (PEMFCs, DMFCs), developing supported electrocatalysts, proton conduction membranes, corrosion resistant coatings, and exploring the use of microbes for catalyst development.

Associate and Co-Supervisors

Dr Wei Xie (Industry Supervisor, ECT)

Wei, Research Manager at ECT, completed his PhD in 2013 from the University of Newcastle Australia. He currently works in brown coal up-gradation and Hydrogen production using Coldry technology. He has 10+ years of experience in coke making (2009-present), coal pyrolysis, gasification and combustion, low emission coal technologies, such as CO2 capture, hydrogen rich energy and high value products, mercury removal, and 5 years of experience for high temperature coal gases desulphurization (H2S) (2004-2009).

Dr Alicia Reynolds

Alicia completed her PhD in 2015 and works at the Carbon Technology Research Group (CTRG) at Federation University’s Gippsland campus. Her current research uses organic analytical chemistry to understand and troubleshoot industrial processes with a focus on responsible uses of Victorian brown coal.

Alicia's core interests include statistical methods for reducing large datasets to useful information, advanced analytical chemistry, and using research methods to solve real-world problems. Her current research includes increasing the robustness of local coal-to-other products and facilitating development of bio-refining processes in the Latrobe Valley.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8719-7357

Assoc. Prof. Vince Verheyen

Assoc. Prof. Verheyen has managed the $2.3M carbon laboratory and Carbon Technology Research Group at Federation University’s Gippsland campus since 2015. His >35 years’ experience with the characterisation and analysis of a wide range of complex organic substances using advanced analytical techniques such as GC/MS, HPLC, C13 NMR, FTIR and UV spectroscopy brings important experience to the project. He has played a significant role in the development and commercialisation of new humic and carbon products from lignite.

A/Prof Verheyen's extended research profile

Federation University is pleased to partner with Food Agility CRC and Precision Agriculture to offer a Food Agility CRC PhD scholarship in Digital Agriculture

Scholarship details

Stipend: $35,000 per annum
Top-Up: NA
Project support: $10,000
RTP Fee-offset Scholarship: $26,800 per annum 
Funding length: 3 years (only, no extensions permitted)
Location: Mt Helen, Ballarat

Eligibility

Scholarship applicants must be eligible to undertake a PhD. Verify you can meet eligibility requirements outlined on the Graduate Research School website. If you are applying for ‘Honours equivalence,’ please ensure that you provide detailed information to support your case.

Applicants must be an Australian or permanent resident

Applicants should contact Dr Birgita Hansen prior to submitting an application.

Application closing date: Applications open until position filled

How to apply: Complete the HDR Candidature application and provide a 300 word statement that describes, in your own words, the area of the proposed research and include your interpretation of the problem, proposed solution, and potential impact. Please note, a separate research proposal (as outlined on the application form) is not required.

Commencement date: To be confirmed once appointed

Research project outline

Project title: Investigation into soil and carbon management levers for farming systems optimisation 

The agricultural sector is trying to balance increasing production with addressing soil health, soil carbon sequestration and farm sustainability via changes in soil amendments and management practices. Actions focused on carbon sequestration and emissions reduction will be increasingly more important over time as global markets demand carbon neutral products and evidence of carbon neutrality claims. Actions focusing on soil health amelioration techniques and improvement need to factor in productivity while also meeting market expectations around sustainability. A wide range of potentially interacting factors will influence soil health, profitability and other on-farms outcomes. Therefore, farmers will require better information for supporting decision-making on soil amendments to improve soil health and soil carbon, and the linkages between these actions to help prioritisation of farm management and respond to shifting markets.

Other related elements: 

• Soil health reporting and soil properties that are key indicators  
• Soil carbon gap mapping (on-farm and regional) and relationships with on-farm management. Building the on-farm evidence to support carbon neutral claims 
• Where are the greatest sources of variability in soil properties and soil carbon at the farm scale, and how do these vary with climate, landscape and management practices? 

Research questions

What is driving variation in soil properties and constraints, and how does this relate to soil carbon and soil health management actions at multiple scales? 

What (if any) are the management levers for optimising soil amendments for multiple outcomes (soil carbon, soil health, productivity)?  

Proposed structure of research

1. Desktop based assessments (mapping and analyses) using existing PA data and other sources of information 
2. Field-based assessment to target key knowledge gaps identified in step 1, particularly in relation to (a) carbon gap mapping and (b) variability and benchmarking. 

Industry Partner and Student Host: Precision Agriculture; Food Agility CRC

Supervisors

Principal Supervisor: Dr Birgita Hansen

Associate and Co-Supervisors:

Dr Nathan Robinson,

Dr Ben Fest,

Dr Kirsten Barlow (Precision Ag)

Federation University is pleased to partner with Department of Environment, Environment and Climate Action and RMIT to offer a MSc scholarship in Environmental Management and Monitoring.

Scholarship details

Stipend: $33,000 per annum
Top-Up: $10,000 per annum
Project support: $5000
RTP Fee-offset Scholarship / Tuition Fee Scholarship: $26,800 per annum 
Funding length: 1.5 years (only, no extensions permitted)
Location: Mt Helen, Ballarat

Eligibility

Scholarship applicants must be eligible to undertake a MSc. Verify you can meet eligibility requirements outlined on the Graduate Research School website. If you are applying for ‘Honours equivalence,’ please ensure that you provide detailed information to support your case.

Applicants must be an Australian resident or permanent resident.

Applicants should contact Birgita Hansen b.hansen@federation.edu.au prior to submitting an application.

Application closing date: open until position filled

How to apply: Complete the HDR Candidature application and provide a 300 word statement that describes, in your own words, the area of the proposed research and include your interpretation of the problem, proposed solution, and potential impact. Please note, a separate research proposal (as outlined on the application form) is not required.

Commencement date: Semester 2, 2023

Research project outline

Project title: An investigation into the risk of macro litter on birdlife in the Greater Melbourne and Port Phillip region

Litter pollution is a matter of international, national and local concern, and links to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Litter pollution in the Port Phillip and Greater Melbourne region is a focal point for policy and management by the Victorian Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and by Melbourne Water (Greater Melbourne’s water authority). Reducing litter loads to Port Phillip Bay is a key strategy of DELWP’s Environmental Management Plan 2017-2027. Marine debris (including plastic pollution) is listed as a key threatening process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The impact of macro litter (>5mm) on wildlife has been identified as a threat with insufficient data to assess impacts. The Melbourne Water Healthy Waterway Strategy (HWS) 2018 identifies litter as a key threat affecting water quality, impacting aquatic and marine life, and reducing amenity. The HWS also identified nine key values of which one is birdlife. Research by RMIT indicates that that there may be linkages between macro litter pollution and birdlife health, and habitat and food resources, which requires further investigation. Overall, there is a lack of information and data to undertake any risk assessment of these impacts, and a lack of knowledge about the magnitude and nature of the litter-birdlife problem.

This Masters project will investigate the influence of litter on birdlife in the Greater Melbourne / Port Phillip region. It will be conducted in a staged manner using both desktop and field-based research.

A desktop-based literature and data review will identify the types of impacts of macro litter on birdlife (e.g. ingestion, entanglement, loss of nesting or roosting areas). This will be complemented with observational / survey-based field research to determine if there are relationships between birdlife and certain litter types and densities at key urban wetland and riverine sites. A risk assessment will be undertaken based on the findings from these surveys and evidence of litter types that appear to pose greater risks than others to birdlife. Finally, the investigation will test if high risk litter types are associated with certain land uses, and what monitoring and management interventions might be most appropriate to understand and reduce the risk of macro litter on birds.

Industry Partner and Student Host:

Department of Environment, Environment and Climate Action, Kimberley Macdonald

Supervisors:

Principal Supervisor: Dr Birgita Hansen

Associate and Co-Supervisors

Dr Nick Schultz

Dr Jackie Myers (RMIT)

Federation University is pleased to partner with Agriculture Victoria Research to offer a PhD scholarship in Information Technology in Horticulture Production Sciences.

Scholarship details

Stipend: $33,000 per annum
Top-Up: $3,000 per month during 3-month internship
Project support: $6,000 over 3.5 years
RTP Fee-offset Scholarship / Tuition Fee Scholarship: $23,600 per annum
Funding length: 3 years + 1 x 6 month extension
Location: Agriculture Victoria Research, Tatura SmartFarm, 255 Ferguson Rd, Tatura 3616 VIC

Eligibility

Scholarship applicants must be eligible to undertake a PhD. Verify you can meet eligibility requirements outlined on the Graduate Research School website. If you are applying for ‘honours equivalence,’ please ensure that you provide detailed information to support your case.

Applications will be accepted from Australian residents, permanent residents, and international applicants.

Applicants should contact the principal supervisor prior to submitting an application.

Application closing date: 30 June 2023

How to apply: Applicants must submit their application with all necessary documents by completing the HDR Candidature application

Commencement date: August 2023

Research project outline

Project title:  Image Sensing and Analytics

Project outline: The project will involve field testing the accuracy of sensors (e.g., fluorescence spectrometer) on a harvesting platform to measure fruit quality (sweetness, maturity, firmness, skin colour, blemish, sunburn, shape, internal disorders, and size) and potentially grade and pack fruit in the orchard. It will also develop and evaluate automated bin tracking systems on a platform harvester and associated downstream data capture.

The candidate should hold a research degree (Honours or Masters) from an accredited university in computer science or equivalent field, with strong foundation in data analytics and visualization. A demonstrated skill in computer programming and excellent written and oral communication skills are required. Some experience of publishing in peer-reviewed articles and working with agriculture electronics will be viewed favourably.

Industry Partner and Student Host: Agriculture Victoria Research – Tatura SmartFarm

Principal Supervisor: Prof Shyh Wei Teng

Associate and Co-Supervisors

Associate Supervisor: Dr Linh Nguyen

Agriculture Victoria Supervisor: Dr Mark O'Connell

Federation University is pleased to partner with Agriculture Victoria Research to offer a PhD scholarship in Information Technology in Horticulture Production Sciences.

Scholarship details

Stipend: $33,000 annum 
Top-Up: $3,000 per month during 3-month internship
Project support: $6,000 over 3.5 years
RTP Fee-offset Scholarship / Tuition Fee Scholarship: $23,600 per annum
Funding length: 3 years + 1 x 6 month extension
Location: Agriculture Victoria Research, Tatura SmartFarm, 255 Ferguson Rd, Tatura 3616 VIC

Eligibility

Scholarship applicants must be eligible to undertake a PhD. Verify you can meet eligibility requirements outlined on the Graduate Research School website. If you are applying for ‘honours equivalence,’ please ensure that you provide detailed information to support your case.

Applications will be accepted from Australian residents, permanent residents, and international applicants.

Applicants should contact the principal supervisor prior to submitting an application.

Application closing date: 30 June 2023

How to apply: Applicants must submit their application with all necessary documents by completing the HDR Candidature application

Commencement date: August 2023

Research project details

Title: Digital Traceability – Data-driven life cycle classification in fruit trees and orchards

Project Outline: The project will define the lifecycle of tree fruit yield in stages by summarizing literature knowledge & practical experience, and standardize the fruit production digital sensing practices, to the criterion of maximum explainable harvest productivity (both quantity and quality). It will also explore data integration that captures fixed and mobile orchard sensing data to the lifecycle of tree fruit yield, and test standards by predicting harvest productivity (fruit yield) from pre-harvest sensing of tree stress and the orchard environment.

The candidate should hold a research degree (Honours or Masters) from an accredited university in computer science or equivalent field, with strong foundation in data analytics and visualization. A demonstrated skill in computer programming and excellent written and oral communication skills are required. Some experience of publishing in peer-reviewed articles and working with agriculture electronics and IoT will be viewed favourably.

Industry Partner and Student Host: Agriculture Victoria Research – Tatura SmartFarm

Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Paul Pang

Associate and Co-Supervisors:

Associate Supervisor: Professor Joarder Kamruzzaman

Agriculture Victoria Supervisor: Dr Alessio Scalisi