USQ-CAS Postgraduate Research Scholarship

To be eligible applicants must:

• have completed a Bachelor Degree with First Class Honours, or equivalent level, or a Master’s degree with a significant research component;

• be eligible to be enrolled full-time at Springfield on-campus in the PhD program at USQ;

• must have applied for enrolment, or currently enrolled in the PhD at USQ;

• not be a sponsored student receiving similar funding from a Government, or other organisation;

• be eligible to commence the program in Semester 1, 2019.

• A deferral of the scholarship offer is not permitted. 

In addition to basic eligibility applications will be assessed on merit, with respect to the following criteria. Applicants are encouraged to address the selection criteria in their cover letter.

• Knowledge and research experience in artificial intelligence and machine learning for water resource management, data science, applied statistics, climate science, hydrology or environmental science and the ability to use innovative models and statistical methods to improve stakeholder and end-user outcomes;
• Demonstrated excellent communication skills in written (evidenced through publications) and oral English and presentation skills;
• Well-developed interpersonal skills with the ability to work collaboratively and effectively as a member of an interdisciplinary research team under supervision; 
• Demonstrated ability to efficiently organise PhD workloads, prioritise tasks, proactively engage in constructive feedback from supervisors and meet PhD completion and publication deadlines; 
• Show initiative to learn or have well developed problem-solving skills particularly in computational software (e.g. MATLAB, Python, GIS or R).
• Applicants will be assessed on academic merit, research outputs, research experience, the quality of the proposal, and alignment with the University's and CAS-USQ’s research priorities. 
• The PhD will be jointly supervised by Dr Ravinesh Deo (USQ) and Professor Feng Qi (NIEER) and involve research travel to the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources in China.

Prior to the submission applicants must contact project leader Dr Ravinesh Deo.

To apply for this scholarship forward as one PDF attachment the following documentation by email to orgsadmin@usq.edu.au.

• Domestic USQ-CAS Postgraduate Research Scholarship Application form (DOC 83KB),

or

• International USQ-CAS Postgraduate Research Scholarship Application form (DOC 84KB)

• Preliminary Research Thesis Topic Proposal. This must have the support of the project leader and will be assessed in terms of the merit along with other applicants. 
• Cover Letter outlining your reasons for applying and suitability for the scholarship. Applicants should address the selection criteria within the cover letter;
• Curriculum vitae no more than 5 (A4) pages;
• Education qualifications (testamur and academic transcripts including undergraduate and postgraduate);
• A list of research presentations and/or publications;
• Documentation confirming citizenship or permanent residence (domestic applicant).
• Evidence of English language proficiency by supplying one of the approved language tests, (IELTS or TOEFL) or evidence you have studied for a minimum of 2 years full-time equivalent, within the last five years at a recognised institution in a country on the English Speaking Country List.

Further information about this scholarship can be obtained from the Graduate Research School at grs@usq.edu.au