By doing your PhD with CSIRO Plant Industry you will experience world class facilities and work alongside Australia's leading plant scientists. PhD students at CSIRO Plant Industry are co-supervised by a university, allowing students to maintain and develop their university connections while being exposed to research in a working environment.

To be eligible to undertake a PhD with CSIRO Plant Industry you must be an Australian Citizen or have permanent residency and must have First Class Honours.

There are several ways CSIRO Plant Industry can support you with your PhD project.

Full scholarship, OCE (Office of the Chief Executive) Science Team Postgraduate Scholarship Program - this provides the student with a full stipend (normally around $25,000), plus allowances for travel and thesis preparation and also covers all compulsory university fees (including HECS). These scholarships are typically supported by funding from industry bodies and, when available, advertised nationally. The stipend will be taxed unless the student can provide proof of an exemption from the Australian Tax Office. More info for staff only.

Top-up scholarship, OCE (Office of the Chief Executive) Science Team Postgraduate Scholarship Program - scholarships are available for outstanding post graduates enrolled at Australian tertiary institutions as full-time students for research leading to the award of PhD. Students must be an Australian citizen or have permanent Australian residency and an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) or equivalent university award. This partial stipend is worth $7,000 and in addition the student is offered a travel grant of $6,000. More info for staff only.

Applications for OCE Science Team Postgraduate Scholarships and their terms and conditions are generally advertised in September each year in major newspapers, job websites and CSIRO's positions vacant.

Under some conditions CSIRO Plant Industry may also consider on a case-by-case basis providing a supplementary postgraduate award. Supplementary postgraduate awards are offered for the period of the student's Commonwealth, university or other primary postgraduate award (usually 3 years). In the event of suspension of the primary award, the CSIRO Plant Industry award will also cease. If the primary award is extended beyond the period initially approved, the period of CSIRO Plant Industry's supplementary award is nnot automatically extended, but is re-examined on the merit of the case.

In addition to the financial support indicated above, CSIRO Plant Industry allocates funding for operating costs for the project and provides access to and use of CSIRO Plant Industry facilities.

CSIRO Plant Industry also accepts PhD students from overseas provided that they are enrolled in an Australian university (and their visa is organised through the university) and that they are fully funded from an overseas source for a stipend or living allowance, full tuition fees and operating costs.

See our list of topics for more information or contact our PhD Liaison Officer, Dr Mark Peoples on 02 6246 5244 or mark.peoples@csiro.au for more information.

Narrabri

CSIRO Plant Industry is also interested in your ideas about PhD topics in the plant sciences. Some research areas you may like to propose a topic in include:

1. Agronomy
2. Biotechnology
3. Genomics
4. Grain quality
5. Horticulture
6. Native plant botany and ecology
7. Pasture management
8. Plant breeding
9. Plants and climate change
10. Post harvest quality

Please contact our PhD Liaison officer, Dr Mark Peoples on 02 6246 5244 or mark.peoples@csiro.au, to discuss a potential topic in the plant sciences and any opportunities for undertaking a project with CSIRO Plant Industry.

CSIRO Plant Industry has eight sites around Australia (Cairns not shown on map). Depending on the research topic students may be located at any of these sites.

See our individual topics for more information on where current projects will be based.

To see a list of projects current PhD students are undertaking and where visit Current students and projects.

All students undertaking PhDs with CSIRO Plant Industry must also be affiliated with a university and have a university supervisor. Students with CSIRO Plant Industry remain part of their supporting university with additional benefits provided by CSIRO Plant Industry. As a student your project remains a collaboration between yourself, your supporting university and CSIRO Plant Industry.

While students are based at a CSIRO Plant Industry site they are encouraged to visit and participate in activities for students on their university campus. Students located at a regional site or a significant distance from their university will be able to take advantage of CSIRO Plant Industry's video conferencing facilities to communicate with their university, other students and to cyber-attend seminars.

If you are interested in any of the PhD projects identified on this page, simply click on that project and then email the relevant contact for more information.

If you would like to discuss alternative potential topics that interest you, please contact our PhD Liaison Officer, Dr Mark Peoples on 02 6246 5244 or mark.peoples@csiro.au.