ACU Industry PhD Scholarships

PhD candidates are supported with a funding package for up to 3.5 years that includes:

• $33,511 p.a. stipend scholarship to support living expenses.
• $30,000 p.a. tuition fee scholarship to cover course costs.
• At least 60 full-time equivalent days of engagement with the industry partner.
• $2,000 relocation allowance to contribute to the costs of relocation to Australia (international candidates).
• A single Overseas Student Health Care Policy (international candidates).

2025 rates, indexed annually.

The scholarship conditions align with the ACU Research Training Program Scholarship Policy.

The stipend rate set by the university aligns with the Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship base rate.

The stipend value set by ACU aligns with the Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship base rate and is indexed annually. Industry partner contributions are reviewed annually in line with this figure.

All amounts are in Australian dollars and are paid to ACU PhD candidates in Australian dollars.

The scholarship conditions align with the ACU Research Training Program Scholarship Policy.

Industry contributions cover the cost of the stipend for the lifetime of the scholarship and include a contingent for project costs.

Stipend values are indexed annually. Industry contributions are fixed for the life of the scholarship.

If your contribution exceeds the cost of the stipend over the duration of the scholarship, the surplus funds are used to offset project costs.

If your contribution does not meet the cost of the stipend over the duration of the scholarship, ACU will cover the difference.

Industry PhD scholarships provide a stipend scholarship to support the living costs of the PhD candidate for the duration of their PhD program at ACU.

This funding covers a stipend scholarship, including annual indexation and other allowances, and benefits as outlined in the ACU Research Training Program Scholarship Policy.

Surplus funds are used to offset project costs. Examples include, materials or equipment costs, conference or research data collection travel, or publication costs.

If your agreed contribution does not meet the cost of the stipend over the duration of the scholarship, ACU will cover the difference.

Industry partners can be involved in the PhD project in various ways, for example:

• as a member of the selection panel for the PhD scholarship
• as an Associate Supervisor (End-user) on the PhD candidate’s supervisory panel
• as a host and mentor for project activities, and/or a research internship, for example, project design, data collection, data analysis, knowledge transfer and commercialisation.

Subject to meeting ACU admission and scholarship entry requirements, scholarships can be awarded to domestic or international candidates, studying either full-time or part-time. International candidates can usually only be enrolled full-time for visa purposes.

PhD candidates are recruited via a competitive process. All graduate research scholarships are advertised on the ACU graduate research scholarships webpage.

We recommend allowing at least three months to recruit and select a domestic candidate and up to six months to recruit an international candidate for commencement.

The recruitment process will include:

• advertisement (2–4 weeks)
• application collation, assessment, and offer (8–10 weeks)
• visa processing and travel to Australia to commence studies (for international candidates).

While ACU reserves the final decision on candidate admission and scholarship awarding, when sponsoring an ACU Industry PhD Scholarship, the industry partner may nominate a representative to participate in the assessment process.

Not-for-profit organisations are welcome to engage with ACU via our Stakeholder Engaged Scholarship Unit (SESU). The SESU provides scholarly expertise and research assistance to organisations working in areas that are central to ACU’s mission and ethos as a Catholic university. Through the facilitation of partner-initiated research projects, SESU can help inform, shape, evaluate and develop your programs and services.

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