PhD Scholarships in Sustainable Business

The scholarship is for an eligible student to study on campus at USQ in the areas of Business Sustainability including economics and policy, sustainable development, governance and government and education, engagement and capacity building.

The scholarship recipient will work with world leaders in this domain.

Focus                                             

The focus of the centre is hinged upon five specific and related clusters. They are:

Management of sustainability: This includes corporate governance aspects including planning, control, measurement and reporting. The relevant research domains include accounting, management sciences and technical sciences. This would include triple-bottom line accounting at both business and national levels, modeling of the business environment and governance for sustainability, at all geographic levels from international to local. It was noted that a particular sub-them could be business forensics, as this would develop as an area, both generally and within Accounting at USQ.

Economics and policy: The main areas covered under this theme include economic modeling in order to predict sustainability of organizations. The economic modeling will then be tightly woven with various policy directions.

Sustainable development: The motivation for including this theme in the proposed centre's focus is that internal and external governance are an integral part of business and organizational sustainability. The research domains would include accounting, economics and policy analysis.

Governance and government: The main objectives of this theme is to research sustainability aspects associated with government agencies, with particular attention paid to governance. The scope includes government agencies at all levels, specifically regional agencies as USQ's strength is regional engagement.

Education, engagement and capacity building: This theme includes education aspects including awareness. There appears to be a major gap in this area and USQ is well positioned to undertake research in this domain. Further, there is a pressing need to attend to capacity building aspects at regions in order to ensure their sustainability.

Scholarship Value

USQ Faculty of Business is offering one PhD Scholarships, worth $25,000 x 3 years. (These funds are for living expenses. Tuition fees for international students are not covered). In addition to the scholarship, the Faculty of Business will support the recipient with work space, computer access, limited conference travel, limited data collection expenses and other expenses incurred towards the study.

Eligibility

The Award will only be available to Australian and International students who:

• be eligible to be enrolled full-time in a Higher Degree by Research at the University of Southern Queensland
• not previously have held an Australian Government-funding postgraduate research scholarship 
• not be in receipt of similar funding from the Australian Government
• commence the degree by the date set by the University or the scholarship may be  withdrawn and reallocated to another applicant.

Conditions

• the scholarship will be paid directly to the student on a fortnightly basis
• the successful candidate is permitted up to eight (8) hours per week of paid work. Work must not interfere with the student's work program
• scholarships are not transferable to other students in any circumstances
• the scholarship will be forfeited if the recipient cancels enrolment in the program at the University of Southern Queensland
• the scholarship will be forfeited should the student transfer to another institution
• the scholarship is only valid for the research project investigating the treatment of urban stormwater for re-use
• payment of the scholarship is subject to an annual review and may be terminated if performance is unsatisfactory

Selection Criteria

• have applied for enrolment or be enrolled (for not more than 6 months) in the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program full-time on-campus at USQ
• meet the eligibility requirements
• demonstrate outstanding research potential
• scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic merit, research capacity and relevance of proposed research to the area of sustainable business
• projects involving human or animal experimentation, including social/psychological research, must conform to NHMRC guidelines and ethical clearance will be required prior to commencement of any such project.

Submitting an Application

To apply for this scholarship, applicants must provide their curriculum vitae, academic record and the names and contact details of three academic or industry referees in addtion to the university admission applications. A brief statement on the applicant's ability to meet the Selection Criteria should also be provided.   All documentation must be submitted to:

Office of Research and Higher Degrees
University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba Queensland 4350
AUSTRALIA

Electronic or faxed applications will not be accepted.

Closing Date

The closing date for the submission of applications is 30 October 2009.

Further Information

Further information about this scholarship can be obtained from the Associate Dean (Research), Assoc Professor Raj Guruajan at gururaja@usq.edu.au or Professor Peter Best at bestp@usq.edu.au