Description

The PhD candidate will undertake a research project as part of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space. The Centre aims to create on-demand, zero-waste, high efficiency plants and plant products to address grand challenges in food insecurity and environmental sustainability for Space and on Earth.

The PhD project itself will focus on human-plant interactions, that is interactions between humans and plants in terms of people caring for them as well as eating them, to ascertain the psychological benefits derived from these interactions. The PhD candidate will be supervised by Professor Eva Kemps and Dr Kenneth Sim, and be based in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work at Flinders University.

Benefits

The scholarship includes:

• a stipend valued at $35,000 per annum (tax free)
• the scholarship will be awarded for 3.5 years
• a Research Training Program Fee Offset Scholarship to cover tuition fees for Australian Citizens, NZ Citizens and Permanent Residents.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the award of this scholarship a student must:

• Be an Australian citizen; or New Zealand citizen; or have been granted permanent resident status; and
• meet PhD admission requirements including: have an Australian Honours degree Class 1 or 2A or equivalent qualification (at least AQF Level 8) in psychology, including a research component of at least 6 months’ full-time study achieving Distinction (75%)
• be available to commence as a full-time PhD student at Flinders University by Semester 2, 2025

Application Information

Those who apply for the scholarship opportunity that have not already applied for admission to a relevant HDR must also apply. Instructions on how to apply for admission can be found here: https://www.flinders.edu.au/study/apply/apply-research-degree/how-to-apply

By lodging this separate application, applicants acknowledge:

• The ‘Supervisor confirmation’ must refer to the application for this scholarship
• The application for PhD admission will only be assessed where the applicant is successful in being awarded the scholarship

The applications for HDR admission and the scholarship are separate processes; applications for admission to candidature are submitted electronically (link above). Applicants should confirm that they have the endorsement of the project team before applying for HDR admission.

Prior to submitting an application for the scholarship, prospective applicants are advised to contact the Project lead, Eva Kemps via email ([email protected]) to discuss your interest in, and eligibility for the opportunity. The Project lead may invite you to apply and request relevant documents such as a copy of your CV, your honours thesis (or equivalent) and a covering letter outlining your reasons for applying for the scholarship.

The project team will identify the successful candidate and release outcomes of the selection process by 16 May 2025. The successful candidate will ideally begin by June 2025, subject to negotiation (and not later than July 2025).