Applying for a Postgraduate Research Scholarship

Postgraduate Research Scholarships are available for full-time research at postgraduate level for study at one of Monash University's Australian campuses. Over 300 living allowance or stipend scholarships are offered at the main central selection round, which closes on 31 October each year. Approximately 70 international scholarship awardees are also offered scholarships to meet their tuition costs. In addition most faculties offer scholarships to a number of applicants who miss out on a central scholarship offer. A small mid-year scholarship round is held each year.

The Scholarship Application Process:

Step 1 - Check eligibility
Step 2 - Select a topic/research area (for new HDR applicants)
Step 3 - Contact faculty and/or academic unit
Step 4 - Complete on-line scholarship application form

Step 1 - Check eligibility

The eligibility criteria listed below apply to the following scholarships:

Australian Postgraduate Award (APA)
Monash Graduate Scholarship (MGS)
Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS)
Monash International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (MIPRS)
Vera Moore International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (VMIPRS)
Monash Silver Jubilee Postgraduate Research Scholarship (MSJS)
James McNeill Foundation Postgraduate Research Scholarship
Monash Indigenous Research Award (MIRA)
Monash University Equity Scholarships (MES)

Eligibility - general
Applicants intending to undertake or who are currently enrolled for a research masters degree, PhD or research professional doctorate are eligible to apply.

Applicants must hold an Australian or New Zealand bachelors degree with first class honours or qualifications and/or research experience deemed equivalent by the university.

Special eligibility requirements apply for MIRA & MES, please refer to the detailed eligibility requirements.

Applicants currently completing an honours degree must have their results available by Monday 7 December 2009 to be eligible.

Applicant who do not hold an Australian or New Zealand bachelors degree with first class honours should refer to the H1 Equivalence assessment procedures.

H1 Equivalence assessment procedures

Additional eligibility criteria for scholarships
Each scholarship has additional eligibility requirements for applicants who have for example already completed a research program or previously held a postgraduate award.

Detailed eligibility requirements

English language proficiency requirements
All applicants must meet the minimum English language proficiency requirements set by Monash University. The university reserves the right to seek additional proof of English proficiency where required.

English proficiency standards must be met and results (if applicable) contained with the scholarship application preferably by the closing date of 31 October 2009. Applicants with pending TOEFL or IELTS test scores must have the results available by Monday 7 December 2009 to be eligible.

English language proficiency requirements

Residency/studies by external mode
Awardees are required to reside within daily commuting distance to a Victorian campus to allow frequent and systematic use of university facilities, including use of physical resources, formal research training and daily face-to-face contact with supervisors if required.

Generally scholarships are not available for study under Monash's external mode regulations. An APA may be awarded to an applicant proposing to undertake studies as an external student, however the support of the relevant academic unit and faculty will be required. If successful, the awardee must reside in Australia in order to receive the award.

Part-time scholarship
A part-time scholarship may be awarded to an applicant with a medical condition precluding full-time study (supported by medical certification) or to an applicant who is able to demonstrate significant caring commitments, including:

caring responsibilities for a pre-school child
caring responsibilities for school-aged children as a sole parent with limited access to outside support
caring responsibilities for an invalid or disabled spouse, child or parent.

Part-time awards are not available to international applicants or to applicants seeking to undertake paid employment on a full-time or a substantial part-time basis. The same employment conditions that apply to full-time awardees apply to part-time awardees.

Prior enrolment/candidature
The duration of the award will be reduced if an applicant is part way through the degree for which the scholarship is offered. This includes prior enrolment in a masters degree where an awardee has upgraded to a doctoral degree and for awardees transferring their research program to Monash.

Awards will not be available to applicants who, as a result of prior candidature and/or prior scholarship, would be entitled to a maximum duration of less than 12 months.

Step 2 - Select a topic/research area (for new HDR applicants)

Monash University and its faculties are involved in innovative research across a wide range of disciplines. In addition to the research expertise available in departments and schools there are many discipline-specific research centres located within the University's 10 faculties.

Applicants should consider potential areas of research that interest them and align with their qualifications and experience. Reviewing faculty websites will help applicants determine which faculty and academic unit would be most appropriate for their proposed research.

Faculty and research centre websites

Step 3 - Contact faculty and/or academic unit

If you are not already enrolled in the degree for which you seek scholarship support, you are strongly encouraged to contact the academic unit you propose to undertake your research in to ensure that the appropriate supervision and resources are available for your proposed research. Applicants may only apply to one academic unit. Applicants who are considering more than one academic unit are advised to discuss their options with the relevant academic units.

Applicants are required to refer to the relevant faculty website below for additional faculty-specific requirements and contacts in the various academic units:

Applicants are required to indicate the names of academic unit staff they have consulted about their application and the name of supervisor/proposed supervisor.

Step 4 - Complete on-line scholarship application form

Applications for 2010 scholarships close on 31 October 2009. Late applications cannot be accepted. An application fee is not charged for scholarship applications.

Applicants are required to register in order to access the On-line Scholarship Application System. Applicants need to register with an email address which is valid until the end of March 2010. All correspondence regarding your application will be made via this email address. Note: Date of birth must be entered in the following format DD-MON-YYYY (eg: 13-DEC-1982). Alternatively use the provided drop-down calendar to enter your date of birth.

Applicants who have previously registered to use the Online Scholarship Application System are not required to re-register. Log into the scholarship system using your scholarship application username and password. Use the Forgot Password link to have a new password emailed to you, if required.

Current Monash students are encouraged to register with their Monash student authcate username and password. Information such as personal details and studies undertaken at Monash will be pre-populated in the application. You will be sent an email containing your username and password once you have successfully registered. To login to the system you will need to enter the username and password that has been emailed to you. Tip: copy and paste your username and password from the email, as the password is case-sensitive. Please note that you will not be able to register using your staff authcate username and password.

Please email hdrschol@adm.monash.edu.au if you are experiencing problems accessing the system. Please ensure you send details of the nature of the problem, details of any error messages and preferably a screen dump of the error message page.

Applicants are advised to refer to the step-by-step guide to completing the application form and the relevant faculty website listed above for faculty-specific information before completing the application.

On-line Scholarship Application Form
Step-by-step guide to completing the application form