Ph.D Scholarship

Melbourne Business School

Melbourne Business School is offering a new PhD Scholarship established this year by alumnus Ian Kirk (MBA 1998). The fund is granted in conjunction with a PhD scholarship, providing the candidate with a 3 year tax free living allowance of $34,000 p.a. (plus tuition fees for an International student). We are looking for a high-calibre candidate with an overall H1 (80-100%) grade in a relevant honours or masters by research degree to start in 2008.

MBS have supervisors with expertise in computationally intense exact statistical inference, environmental statistics, Bayesian smoothing, econometrics, market engineering and data mining.

Please find attached details of the Award and application process. It would be appreciated if you could forward the brochure to your colleagues at other institutions and to any potential candidates.

The deadline for applications is Friday 28th September, 2007. Further details are below. For further information please contact me at c.lloyd@mbs.edu.

The Ian Kirk Award

The total value of the Award is $45,000 and will be given in conjunction with a PdD scholarship. The Award is open to both Australian citizens/permanent residents and international students commencing a PhD at Melbourne Business School in 2008. Preference will be given to students who hold an APA.

The ideal recipient

The Award will be open to a PhD candidate from anywhere in the world who is able to make an outstanding contribution to human knowledge and society through their research. They will also bring qualities of leadership to the School and a high order ability to articulate the important ideas in their area of interest to a wide range of audiences. The candidate must also meet the following standards:

Criteria

1. Minimum qualifications
The candidate will have completed at least a four-year honours degree from an Australian university, or a qualification or combination of qualifications considered by the Research and Higher Degree Committee to be equivalent.

2. Minimum level of academic achievement
The candidate must have achieved an overall H1 (80-100%) grade in the relevant honours or masters degree.

3. Relevance of the degree
The completed degree must be in an area that is relevant to the intended PhD. It must include sufficient specialisation, so that the candidate has already developed an understanding and appreciation of a body of knowledge relevant to the intended PhD.

4. Evidence of research ability
The candidate must have completed a research project/dissertation that accounts for at least 25% of their year's work at 4th year or at Masters level.

5. Currency of applicant's knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate current knowledge of the discipline they plan to research, either through their degree/s and/or professional experience.

6. Assessment of level of commitment
Based on interview or other communication, an assessment should be made of the level of understanding, motivation and time commitment of the candidate for the proposed program of study. For example, a full-time candidate is expected to devote at least 40 hours a week to their PhD.

Application process

1. Applicants should ensure that they meet the PhD admission requirements, both academic and English language.
2. As the PhD is administered by The University of Melbourne and is undertaken through a School or Department of the University, all applicants should read carefully the information from the School of Graduate Studies (http://www.gradstudies.unimelb.edu.au/) for University requirements as well as application forms and links to scholarship information.
3. All international applicants should also refer to the International Centre of the University for further information relating to fees, language requirement, entry, visas etc.
(http://www.unimelb.edu.au/international)
4. Applicants should email a covering letter, CV, academic transcripts and brief research proposal (limit 1000 words) to Dr Jody Evans (j.evans@mbs.edu)
5. Applicants should also attach a separate document containing the following:
a. Career plans and aspirations - Describe your career plans following the PhD and explain how the scholarship will help you realize these plans (limit 300 words).
b. Statement of purpose - Describe the importance of your proposed study to both the academic field and, more broadly, Australia. Explain why MBS is important for this study (limit 500 words).

Deadline: Friday 28th September, 2007

Further information
Please refer to the Melbourne Business School website (www.mbs.edu) for further information on Faculty, research areas and details of the PhD program, or contact Chris Lloyd (c.lloyd@mbs.edu)