Study areas and eligibility criteria for Postgraduate Research Scholarships | Natural Hazards Research Australia
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Study areas and eligibility criteria for Postgraduate Research Scholarships

Priority study areas for postgraduate scholarships

Applications for scholarships must directly align the Centre’s key research focus areas and the key capability areas, as listed in the Biennial Research Plan 2024-26:

Key focus areas:

  • Understanding and mitigating risk 
  • Land-use planning and urban design 
  • Resilient recovery 
  • Environmental solutions 
  • Next generation capacity 
  • Social equity 

Key capability areas:

  • First Nations knowledges 
  • Data management and science 
  • Future workforce 
  • Community-led  place based resilience 
  • Interoperability

Applications must also show strong potential for an outcome that will improve disaster risk reduction or disaster resilience. More detail on our research themes and associated research priorities can be found in the Biennial Research Plan 2023-25, accessible here. 

Detailed eligibility criteria

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible to apply for a Natural Hazards Postgraduate Research Scholarship:

  1. Applicants must be an Australian citizens, permanent resident of Australia or an international student (with legally certified evidence provided on request) that either:
    1. are enrolled in a research higher degree at an Australian university
    2. have been offered a research higher degree position at an Australian university, with a commencement date no later than 12 months after the date on which the application is submitted.
  2. Applicants who are international students must be enrolled in their course of study before applying for a scholarship. These applicants must also provide evidence of their ability to use their own separate funding to cover any university tuition fees, as our scholarships are not provided to cover these expenses.
  3. Applicants must have (or expect to receive) an Honours degree of at least class 2A or equivalent.
  4. Applicants must be studying full time, however where there is a compelling reason, part-time student applications will be considered on a pro-rata scholarship basis.
  5. Applicants must have developed a project proposal (no longer than two pages) that focuses on a research area aligned with the Centre’s published capability and key research focus areas, found in the Biennial Research Plan 2023-25. 
  6. Applicants are expected to undertake their research with the support of a research team and provide evidence that the proposed project is aligned with that of the supervisor and research team.
  7. All successful students will be required to have an industry sponsor, with whom they can discuss their project and how the outcomes of the research can be used. This can be arranged independently by applicants during the application process, or with the Centre if your application is successful.

The Centre particularly encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, culturally and linguistically diverse people, people with disability, LGBTIQ+ people, and people with family and caring responsibilities.