Fully funded PhD Dairy research fellowships in Victoria, Australia

The successful candidates will receive:

• A $33,000 AUD p.a (tax-free) scholarship for up to three and a half years
• Professional development programs
• International travel opportunities
• Industry exposure
• Access to state-of-the-art technologies

Through our partnering Universities;

• La Trobe University
• The University of Melbourne

the PhD research fellowships will be based at the following locations:

• Ellinbank Research Centre and SmartFarm, Ellinbank, Victoria
• Hamilton Research Centre and SmartFarm Hamilton, Victoria
• AgriBio, the Centre for AgriBioscience Melbourne, Victoria

Successful applicants must meet Australian university entry requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

For enquiries and to apply, please forward a covering letter, your curriculum vitae (please include evidence of research writing) and academic transcripts to:

Kendra Whiteman
Visitor and student coordinator
Agriculture Victoria
kendra.whiteman@agriculture.vic.gov.au

PhD research program in animals

The animal PhD program will focus on new knowledge for advanced predictive innovations that will enable higher levels of farm profitability and the development of disruptive technologies. Cost effective high risk/high reward science projects will be offered to prospective students, and 20 PhD scholarships are scoped for the DairyBio21-26 Animal program. As science knowledge requirements are ever increasing the new program has an emphasis on developing the workforce of the future. Students will have industry exposure and training in communication.

PhD topics scoped are in the following areas:

• Individual animal prediction using genomic, herd-test, milk data, clinical data, and sensor data sources
• Data integration from wearable sensor devices to expand and improve traits
• Calf survival and performance, epigenetics and lifetime factors
• AI integrating with genomic predictions
• Microbiome technology for economic and emission traits
• Molecular phenomics including milk and blood metabolomics
• Long-read sequencing defining structural variants and imputation improvement
• Biological understanding for economic traits

The aspirational vision for new enabling disruptive animal technologies includes a focus on value from Biobanks and examination of high performing animals, Sensor data and big data for collective benefit, prospects for edits in elite animals including genome editing target sites identification.

PhD research program in forages

The forage PhD programs will focus on using a broad range of biotechnology and genomics to ensure the delivery and security of the feedbase for the dairy industry for the next century.

PhD topics scoped are in the following areas:

• Genome editing in novel species – to deliver more nutritious crops for future climate change
• Speed breeding – manipulating plant growth in tissue culture and applying genomics for maximal improvements in the shortest time
• Phenomics – hyperspectral image analysis of seed and plants to screen for critical traits that have been inaccessible
• Biophysical modelling – to computationally integrate plant growth, climate change and genomics to breed for the future
• Genome editing for apomixis – to fundamentally change plant production systems
• Many others

All of the areas described include access to the most advanced technology, training and skill development in genomics, bioinformatics, plant phenomics (hyperspectral imaging) and biotechnology.

The skills will challenge you and make you industry relevant for a career in research and development. You will have access to excellent supervision and support and by being exposed to many different scientific disciplines will have unprecedented experience knowledge and opportunities.