PhD Program

Industry Doctoral Program

The Solving Plastic Waste CRC (SPW CRC) offers a dynamic PhD program designed to build the research and industry leadership knowledge and skills needed to transform the Australian plastics sector.

Read to find out more about how we can help you become a sustainable plastics leader of the future, skilled and ready to help solve one of the most critical environmental challenges of our time.

Note: The SPW CRC is currently accepting only Australian citizens and permanent residents as PhD candidates.

PhD Scholarships we offer

The SPW CRC is able to offer two types of PhD scholarship to Australian domestic students:

Top-up Scholarship for Candidates with a University Scholarship

The SPW CRC offers top-up scholarships to candidates able to secure a University Scholarship. The SPW CRC Top-up Scholarships provide an additional $15,000 per year towards living costs providing an exceptional stipend of around $49,000 per year (depending on the University Scholarship value) for 3 years (with the possibility of a six-month extension).

Top-up Scholarships are designed to provide additional finance to an existing other (e.g. University granted) scholarship to better support Doctoral study. Each Top-up Scholarship provides $25,000 per year for 3 years comprised of:

$15,000 (tax free) to top-up an existing other scholarship to cover living costs, and

A further $10,000 per year paid to the enrolling university to cover project expenses / operating costs.

Full Scholarship for Candidates without a University Scholarship

Full Scholarships provide for both living costs and project expenses / operating costs. These are available to candidates who were not successful in obtaining a University Scholarship or who did not want to apply for one.

Full Scholarships are designed to provide all the finance required to support Doctoral study. Each Full Scholarship provides $48,982 per year for 3 years (with the possibility of a six-month extension), comprised of:

$38,982 (tax free) to cover living costs for 3 years, and

A further $10,000 per year paid to the enrolling university to cover a mix of project expenses / operating costs or an additional contribution to living costs (depending on project and candidate circumstances).

PhD Scholarships available

See our PhD Scholarships page for the list of PhD scholarships available. You can read the full description by downloading the PDF and contact us for more information.

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SPW CRC Doctoral Student Development Program (DSDP)

Core Skills Microcredentials:

We are focussed on developing the Solving Plastic Waste leaders of the future by offering you the opportunity to develop and practice core skills. In the first year of your PhD, you will complete four Core Skills microcredential courses online in the areas of:

Applied Research Design and Delivery.
Communication Skills.
Innovation Management.
Leadership and Influence.

You are also supported throughout the following 3 years through our mentoring program to build the skills to develop further and to network with industry partners.

In addition, the CRC will be developing a wide range of microcredentials as industry-focussed training courses which will be available to Doctoral students as well as industry professionals.

Industry Engagement and Placement:

Through the SPW CRC, your PhD will be directly related to an industry or government relevant issue or project that tackles real issues along the plastics value chain. You will benefit from direct involvement and placement with an industry stakeholder, gaining insights into organisationally and sector-specific challenges and contributing to impactful research outcomes. Our partnerships with over 25 industry and end-user organisations will ensure that your research stems from, and is directly connected to, addressing current industry needs, with the opportunity for real-world application.

Annual Industry Design Challenge:

Annual Industry Design Challenge (AIDC) is a collaborative hack-style 1-2 day solution design event that the SPW CRC will run with and for its researchers, PhD students and CRC Partners, and other industry professionals where mixed teams from these groups will be provided with a complex value chain challenge and asked to design a solution. There will be an AIDC every year using a real partner or industry-driven context and set of problems, with real data curated and provided. The AIDC will both catalyse learning in researchers and PhD students about the practicalities of industry, and in industry professionals about new research ideas and options.

Network Development

Your immediate and longer-term ability to influence change in the plastics value change will directly benefit from having a significant professional network. The CRC will help you network with other sustainable plastics and materials Doctoral students from the CRC and beyond, and with key industry and government professionals through the SPW CRC Annual Conference, academic and industry conferences and the face-to-face component of the Core Skills Program.

Interested in doing your PhD with SPW CRC?

If you have a PhD project concept that aligns with one of our four Research Program areas, please contact us by completing a PhD Expression of Interest form here.

Express your interest