There are a range of PhD/MRes opportunities in this year’s scholarship round at the University of Southern Queensland.
Closing date: 27 September 2026
The offered PhD opportunities at the University of Southern Queensland focus on biophysical crop modelling as well as various topics in agricultural development economics:
- Current trends and future prospects for the sustainability of oil palm production systems
- Poverty reduction through education? Empirical evidence on the impact of educational expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Demand-side drivers of agricultural growth and structural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Quantifying the welfare costs of environmental stress and degradation: A spatial econometric approach
- A protocol for multi-site crop model calibrationGridded cropping systems modelling for large-scale assessments
Download this application booklet to read more about these opportunities.
Understanding pest and disease dynamics within farming systems and the ability to relate incidence and seasonal conditions to grain yield loss is a clear and present challenge for the agricultural science community. Currently, management of many pests, diseases and weeds in crops relies on an estimated economic damage threshold. The threshold is used to help identify when a pest population should be reduced to prevent yield loss.
However, this approach does not consider the environment, the timing of pest control in relation to crop development, the pest lifecycle or the economic cost to future crops. Further, in many farming systems, the decision to control a pest or disease outbreak is required before the economic threshold is reached, in which case identifying and forecasting drivers for epidemics can support and improve the outcomes of pest and disease control decisions.
In contrast to traditional reactive approaches, this project will develop a proactive forecasting approach, providing end-users with the ability to plan and holistically manage pest populations well before any economic damage thresholds are attained.
Funding
The successful applicant will be awarded with a Commonwealth RTP scholarship valued at approximately $27,500 AUD/year (tax-free) for 3.5 years.
Eligibility
- The candidate must have an Honours Class 1 or equivalent and an IELTS score of 6.5 or greater.
- The candidate will be required to relocate to Brisbane, Australia, for the duration of the PhD.
Questions may be directed to: 
Dr Matthew Harrison
Senior Scientist
Tasmanian Institute for Agriculture,
University of Tasmania
Australia
Matthew.harrison@utas.edu.au
Additional information on the project can be found here.
The late Merle White Weaver, a graduate of the University of Tasmania, gifted a portion of her estate to establish a scholarship to encourage women graduates in the South-East Asian and Pacific area to pursue postgraduate study and research.