Department for Environment and Water PhD internship scholarships

The Adelaide Graduate Research School is partnering with the Department for Environment and Water to provide various research internship opportunities for our PhD students.

The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) aims to help South Australians conserve, sustain and prosper. The Department manages our national parks, botanic gardens and heritage places for their intrinsic value and for people’s benefit and enjoyment now and into the future. They are an authority on the state’s environment and natural resources, helping community, industry, and government make good long-term decisions. They also drive the sustainable development of South Australia’s natural resources and heritage, to deliver economic prosperity and a vibrant and healthy society.

DEW requires various PhD students to undertake research and development activities in the areas identified below:

• Creation and development of Shiny apps for data checking/visualisation (app development/computer science)
• Species distribution modelling (ecological models)
• Review and testing of current crop of indicators/metrics for assessing marine park performance (marine biodiversity)
• Review of marine park compliance data from a social behaviours perspective – what makes people comply (environmental/social science)
• Case study of marine species distribution under a climate warming scenario (ecological models)
• State level climate vulnerability assessment for SA Aquatic Ecosystems (climate change/water)
• Analysis of rainfall data to identify possible shift (temporal and spatial) in rainfall patterns across the MLR (climate change/water)
• Explore various River Murray hydrological, hydraulic modelling questions (River Murray/water)
• Review economic impacts to property values of State Heritage Listing (Built heritage/economic modelling)
• Review of approaches and benefits of Natural Capital approaches for biodiversity policy (Biodiversity/economics/policy)

The research and development activities are self-explanatory based on the research projects identified above. Any student willing to undertake an internship at DEW but not in the areas particularly identified above may also submit their CV and expression of interest to identify the R&D activities they wish to carry out.

Expected research outcomes for students may include:

• Impacting and reshaping future policy
• Applying research skills in industrial settings
• Developing networks in government
• Working with leading experts in the field

The selected applicant, their supervisor, and the partner organisation’s focal contact person will have the opportunity to further discuss the nature of research and development activities and internship arrangements post-selection.

Eligibility:
The PhD student must be:

• within the first 18 months of their candidature if commenced as full-time student,
• willing to undertake the internship for a minimum duration of 60 FTE business days,
• making satisfactory progress, and
• undertaking research in an area aligned with the internship

Application process:
To apply, please email the following documents to hdr_internships@adelaide.edu.au (HDR Internships Office) with the subject line – Department of Environment and Water Internship

• Resume
• Cover Letter (of not more than 2 pages) outlining your interest in the internship and describing how your background and research area align with the proposed field of internship.

Please note that applications will be considered on a rolling basis and the advertisement may be closed earlier, if a suitable applicant is shortlisted for a particular project prior to the listed closing date. Furthermore, if shortlisted, a meeting is likely to be organised between the student, their supervisor and the organisation’s focal contact person within a week of shortlisting. Students may consider discussing their internship plans with their Principal Supervisor in anticipation of that.