Spangeled emperor. Photo by Vincent C Chen, Wikimedia Commons.

PhD opportunities at the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean

Spangeled emperor. Photo by Vincent C Chen, Wikimedia Commons.</a)

Spangeled emperor. Photo by Vincent C Chen, Wikimedia Commons.

The Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean under the leadership of Professor Dirk Zeller at the University of Western Australia is looking for highly qualified Australian PhD candidates interested in conducting ‘big-data’ and meta-analysis research on fisheries and fisheries conservation issues at the ocean-basin scale. Interested? Then consider applying for a PhD Scholarship at the University of Western Australia in Perth. For details, see this link.

Applications for the domestic (Australian) Scholarship Round are open from 1 September to Thursday 31 October 2019. This round is only for domestic (Australian) graduates who can enroll in the first half of 2020.

Please only consider applying only after consultation with Prof Zeller on suitable projects.

The University of Western Australia offers scholarships to work with leading researchers to address some of the world’s growing challenges, such as that of over-exploitation of ocean resources. Candidates need to be academically outstanding students (i.e., First Class Honours or top-5% Master’s research degrees) who are eager to advance meaningful, high output research, and who have not completed or are not currently engaged in a PhD elsewhere. Clearly demonstrated, excellent written and oral communication skills are essential, and previous (co)authorship on peer-reviewed scientific papers is a great advantage. Database skills (SQL etc.) and/or programming skills (R etc.) are an advantage but not compulsory. A desire and ability to be an active member of a large international team is crucial.

Beyond being an outstanding scholarship and PhD opportunity, this is a great way to work closely with the Sea Around Us – Indian Ocean at the University of Western Australia and the global Sea Around Us network and initiative at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Professor Zeller also regularly collaborates and partners with Professor Jessica Meeuwig and the UWA Marine Futures Lab.

Emphasis is on big-data science at the whole-of-country and ocean-basin scale, and research projects focus on high written output in the scientific literature, accompanied by public and media outreach. Besides the excellent professional development and research opportunities of being part of this global network of leading researchers, you also get to live very close to great beaches in the beautiful city of Perth.

Please contact Dirk Zeller directly (dirk.zeller(at)uwa.edu.au) for potential suitability and likely projects. Eligible candidates will be encouraged to apply for scholarships after discussions and after a project has been agreed upon. Early contact is essential, well before the scholarship application deadline. Relevant background information on the purpose of and research conducted by the Sea Around Us can also be found via the material at www.seaaroundus.org, www.seaaroundus.org/articles/ and Dirk’s publications profile at http://seaaroundus-io.org/people-dirk-zeller/.

For more information, see http://www.scholarships.uwa.edu.au/futurestudents/postgrad.