Student Opportunities

Research & Fellowships (Education & Training)

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Project title:

• To Be Born Upon a Pandanus Mat Yothuw gayatha dhäwal’ guyaŋa’ nharaw

 

Duration:

• Full-time

 

Scholarship:

• $40,000 a year, for three years ($120,000). See the eligibility criteria and how to apply.

• Generous relocation allowances (flights, temporary accommodation on arrival)

 

Location:

• Multiple locations including Darwin/Brisbane/Alice Springs/Sydney

 

Start time:

• Between January 5 and March 31 in 2024

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Involved:

• Develop expertise in decolonising, quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies and approaches for investigating and evaluating First Nations reproductive health.

• Gain firsthand experience working in genuine relationship with a First Nations community and alongside experienced Yolŋu researchers

• Contribute to ensuring reproductive health justice and making a more equitable World

 

About the Opportunity

Our project is setting up and studying Australia’s first ‘Birthing on Country’ very remote, demonstration site in Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. We are working with the Yolŋu community and health service providers, to redesign maternity health services to better meet the needs of Yolŋu women and families. Service redesign will focus on improving midwifery care and making it easier for services to connect and work well together. It includes Yolŋu djäkamirr (Indigenous doula) to support women during pregnancy, childbirth and until the baby turns 2 years old. We are increasing Yolŋu engagement, governance, and control, and developing community reproductive health reports to strengthen awareness of reproductive health. We will evaluate the redesign process, clinical outcomes, woman and family experiences, cost effectiveness, and cost-benefit of the very remote ‘Birthing on Country’ service.

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We are currently offering a generous PhD scholarship to a passionate student who is willing to undertake intellectual adventures and work on complex intercultural reproductive health topics.

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Our students become skilled in using decolonising, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and gain firsthand experience working in genuine relationship with the community. We offer students a super supportive learning environment with expert Yolŋu mentorship and the chance to contribute towards making a more equitable World!

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How to Apply

​To submit an expression of interest, please send the following to Dr Sarah Ireland at sarah.ireland@cdu.edu.au

 

A cover letter that includes a brief statement of the applicant’s suitability (max two pages)

A curriculum vitae, including a list of any peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and relevant work and/or research experience

A brief statement not exceeding 500-words in length that explains why you are interested in this research project/area

How to assess your suitability:

​Essential criteria

• Australian Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident; or a New Zealand Citizen

• First-Class Honours, Masters by Research, or equivalent from a university, or a discipline (“subject”), ranked in the top 500 globally

• In the university/discipline (“subject”) ranked in the top 500, the applicant: received a high distinction on an undergraduate honours/postgraduate research project, or graduated in the top 5-10% of their class (or achieved a GPA of more than 85%)

 

Desirable criteria

• At least one publication equivalent to the top 25% in the field

 

IMPORTANT

The supervisor will invite applicants who pass the expression of interest stage to submit scholarship applications. Please do not submit any applications unless you are invited by the supervisor.

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For more information

Enquiries:

For further enquiries, please contact Dr Sarah Ireland on mobile 0477 786 243 or email sarah.ireland@cdu.edu.au

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