Expression of Interest Guidelines

Scholarships to Support Industry Engagement PhD Projects

Purpose

We are seeking expressions of interest from supervisors for industry engagement projects that can be assigned to an HDR scholarship.

Selecting industry partners

A suitable partner may be from industry, a community organisation or a government agency. The selection of an industry partner should be strategic; they should complement and build on ECU’s research strengths. As is the case for ECU’s Industry Collaboration grants, it is expected that the external partner will contribute significantly to research direction and support, including cash and in-kind support appropriate to the project.Industry partner cash contributions to the Industry Engagement Scholarship Scheme may be eligible to be included in ASPIRE.

If your project is successful, an agreement will need to be signed between ECU and the industry partner. The Graduate Research School will complete the agreement letter and liaise with your industry partner.The funding is counted as external research income, and therefore follows the same process as establishing a grant.

Process for Industry Engagement Scholarships

  1. Submitthe EOI application form to the Graduate Research School for evaluation ()
  2. Review the draft agreement developed by the Graduate Research School. This will then be sent to your industry partner.
  3. Provide information to the Research Scholarship Office (Student Services Centre) regarding the establishment of the scholarship, and advertising on the ECU webpage.
  4. If required, provide information and image to the Graduate Research School regarding the creation of a marketing flyer for promoting the scholarship within your networks.
  5. Review the eligible scholarship applicant, and nominate your preferred candidate.

Scholarship funding

The ECU scholarship stipend is valued at the ECU APA level.

Eligible Scholarship Applicants

Scholarships will be advertised on the scholarship page: and students will apply for the industry engagement scholarships as per the usual scholarship application process.Applications are assessed by Research Scholarships, and those that are deemed eligible will be forwarded to the supervisory team for selection of the preferred candidate. It is recommended that the supervisory team interviews the candidate, and selects the most suitable candidate based on:

  • research background and relevance to the proposed area of research;
  • commitment to the project;
  • ability to work with external partners, and
  • communication skills

Timeline

Call for EOIs / Signed agreement due / Scholarship open until
Round 1 / 1 September – 30 November / 31 January / 31 March
Round 2 / 1 April – 30 June / 31 July / 30 September

Unallocated scholarships from round 1 will be rolled into round 2

Unallocated scholarships from round 2 will be rolled into October merit round