PhD Opportunities
Flinders University
Understanding chill and mitigation of insufficient chill accumulation in pistachio trees
This project will enhance the sustainability and economic growth of the Australian pistachio industry, and has the potential to contribute to improved chill management across other nut crops, temperate deciduous fruits, and forest trees.
Charles Sturt University
Determining varietal water and nutrient requirements in almond trees in the Murray-Darling Basin to optimise plant functioning and subsequently mitigate stress responses such as leafing failure.
The project will work with growers to establish best management practices in the management of individual almond varieties, which in turn will encourage sustainable farming systems and contribute to a healthy, resilient and sustainable river system and communities.
One Basin CRC
PhD general expression of interest
Submit a general expression of interest to undertake a PhD through the One Basin CRC by sending your CV and cover letter.
University of Adelaide
Opportunities and challenges for using brackish groundwater to increase agricultural productivity and resilience in the Murray-Darling Basin
This project will develop novel, decision-centric approaches to support end users with the identification of opportunities in the Murray-Darling Basin with the highest potential for utilising brackish groundwater, as well as any associated challenges.
Australian National University
Understanding the potential for achieving multiple benefits through water system operations
This project will develop case studies to explore how multiple benefits can be identified, valued and achieved through rethinking the outcomes of water management and its processes, considering aspects of space, time and delivery to diverse values.
Australian National University
How can water assessment tools be inclusive of First Nations’ values and knowledge?
This research will explore ways that water assessment tools can be more inclusive of First Nations’ values and knowledge. This will involve an examination of how water-related problems are framed differently by the different cultures, and how water assessment tools can be transformed to capture different ways of seeing and knowing.
The University of Adelaide
Harvest foresighting: Unifying on- and off-farm insights to improve harvest decisions under a changing climate
This project will apply innovative numerical techniques (e.g. robust optimisation, bottom-
up stress-testing) to support harvest planning and scheduling decisions, considering the interaction between on- and off-farm factors and how these interactions might change into the future.
Charles Sturt University
Indigenous data sovereignty, Indigenous rights, and Indigenous governance in Murray-Darling Basin water management
This PhD project will evaluate existing protocols and practices of Indigenous data sovereignty and Indigenous governance in relation to First Nation knowledges involving water management practices.
The University of Sydney
Multilevel network approaches to incentivise sustainable adaptation in the Murray-Darling Basin
The aim of the PhD project is the explore ways to leverage landholder and institutional networks to better target intervention programs and policies towards farmers’ adaptation to future in the Basin with less water.
Australian National University
Optimal cross-scale irrigation operation in the era of sensor networks, data science, and automation (scholarship awarded)
This project aims to forge an advanced framework uniting data science, machine learning, simulation, multi-objective optimization, and uncertainty-based decision making.
Australian National University
Economic analysis of water banking and managed aquifer recharge as innovations for enhancing and regulating water supply (scholarship awarded)
This PhD project would deve lop methodology and compile data for assessing the economic benefits and costs of water banking and MAR and alternative sources of water, taking account of the distribution of benefits and costs, and risks and uncertainty.
Flinders University
Characterisation of the inorganic and microbial water quality envelope for successful water banking in the Murray-Darling Basin for agriculture, town water supply and environmental benefit (scholarship awarded)
After more than a decade since the end of the millennium drought, within the MDB water security remains an unresolved challenge for rural communities, irrigators, and the sustainability of water-sensitive ecosystems. One option to enhance water supply security is through water banking, where basin aquifers are recharged during periods of surface water surplus for later use via managed aquifer recharge (MAR).