Higher Degree Research Students
Who can be a Life Course Centre higher degree by research student?
The Life Course Centre has a mandate to attract, train and retain the next generation of life course academic and industry researchers for Australia. We do this by delivering professional training, mentoring and development opportunities that bring researchers together across disciplines, universities, government and non-government organisations.
Students are invited to be part of the Life Course Centre if:
- They are enrolled at one of the four university nodes of the Life Course Centre: The University of Queensland, the University of Western Australia, the University of Melbourne or the University of Sydney.
- They have an Advisor who is a Life Course Centre researcher.
- The topic of their research is aligned with the Life Course Centre’s research program.
Contact Us
To study with one of our researchers, contact them directly through the Our people pages. Alternatively, you may prefer to liaise with one of our nodes using the contacts listed below.
- The University of Queensland – Dr Lisa Pope
- The University of Western Australia – Ms Narelle Mullan
- The University of Melbourne – Ms Kate Gilkison
- The University of Sydney – Dr Rebecca Gelding
Current Opportunities
PhD scholarships
How Schools Support the Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Children and Adolescents
The University of Western Australia
The Development and Education Program at Telethon Kids Institute, led by Professor Donna Cross, is examining how schools may better support the social and emotional development of children and adolescents facing deep disadvantage. The successful candidate will work with Professor Cross and Dr Kevin Runions to contribute substantially to our work exploring what school processes are most relevant to disadvantaged student wellbeing, how schools can deflect students from developmental trajectories of disadvantage, and how schools can most effectively intervene to improve the experiences of children and adolescents facing disadvantage and reduce inequities in social and emotional wellbeing.
Link: Search : Scholarships : The University of Western Australia (uwa.edu.au)
The University of Queensland
Dr Renee Zahnow (r.zahnow@uq.edu.au) is currently advertising for a PhD position associated with her DECRA project: Understanding public spaces from young people’s perspective: Identity, territoriality and guardianship.
Young people frequent public spaces during the course of their everyday lives and may experience public spaces differently than other users. We have a limited understanding of the extent to which young people develop familiarity with public spaces they regularly visit and how this may influence their actions, perceptions and potential guardianship in public spaces. The aim of this PhD would be to address this research gap.
The successful HDR candidate will also be a student member of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, which qualifies them to apply for travel grants and attend professional development courses. Find out more here
The successful candidate must commence by Research Quarter 4, 2021. You should apply at least 3 months prior to the research quarter commencement date. International applicants may need to apply much earlier for visa reasons.
More information and how to apply see https://graduate-school.uq.edu.au/phd-scholarships-humanities
Life events and trajectories of later-life loneliness
The University of Queensland
This PhD would be part of an ARC DECRA, which examines loneliness from a longitudinal and life course perspective. The DECRA project will investigate whether the experiences of different life events may render older Australians more susceptible to a sustained path to increased loneliness and isolation. It will also will innovate by moving the analysis beyond the individual level, incorporating characteristics across households and neighbourhoods. The student will work closely with the advisory team to discuss the details of the PhD project, which will sit within the scope of the DECRA.
An additional top-up scholarship of $5,000 is available to the successful applicant. The successful HDR candidate will also be a student member of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, which qualifies them to apply for travel grants and attend professional development courses. Find out more here
The successful candidate must commence by Research Quarter 3, 2022. You should apply at least 3 months prior to the research quarter commencement date. International applicants may need to apply much earlier for visa reasons.
The University of Queensland
This PhD would be part of a larger ARC Linkage project and would require you to apply for a UQ scholarship. If you are interested in this project and want more information, please contact j.povey@uq.edu.au. Please download the project outline here.
Honours scholarships
Life Course Centre Pathways Scholarship – The University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne offers the Life Course Centre Pathways Scholarship to enrolled students pursuing research relevant to the aims of the Centre.
To be eligible for this scholarship, students must:
- be enrolled in an honours thesis or minor thesis (up to 10,000 words) in any faculty at the University of Melbourne;
- be pursuing research relevant to the aims of the Life Course Centre, investigating the critical factors underlying disadvantage (https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/);
- write their thesis (co-)advised by a University of Melbourne Life Course Centre Chief Investigator, Associate Investigator, or Research Fellow (https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/people/).
Applications open in March 2022. For more information, visit the University of Melbourne Scholarships page.
Current student research experience
Summer and Winter Scholars – The University of Queensland
The UQ Summer and Winter Research Program provides UQ students with an opportunity to gain research experience working alongside some of the university’s leading academics and researchers.
Participation is open to undergraduate (including honours) and masters by coursework students who are currently enrolled at UQ.
Life Course Centre Researches take students across several schools and institutes at UQ: ISSR, Social Science, Psychology