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The National Research Flagships Program is targeted at national goals which are closely aligned to the Government’s National Research Priorities. Their scale, longer time-frames and clear focus on delivery and adoption of research outputs are designed to maximise their impact in key areas of economic and community need. Collaboration is a key principle of the Flagship initiative and lasting solutions require partnerships that harness our national innovative spirit on an ambitious scale. The Flagship Collaboration Fund facilitates  the involvement of the wider Australian research community in addressing the critical national challenges targeted by the Flagships.

The Flagships offer top-up and full Flagship Postgraduate Scholarships to high quality students who are enrolled in a PhD at an Australian university, and who will be working on a project which is directly relevant to a Flagship program.

A listing of the priority research areas in which the Sustainable Agriculture Flagship is seeking applications for 2011 is available by following the link below, along with contact details for the Flagship.

http://www.csiro.au/partnerships/SAF-Postgrad-Scholarships.html

Top-up scholarships will be the norm. Valued at A$7000 per annum, they are available to PhD students who have gained (or expect to gain) an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) or equivalent scholarship.

In some circumstances full scholarships will be available. These offer a stipend of the equivalent of the APA plus CSIRO’s top-up amount of A$7000 per annum for up to three years.

Position Description

Applications for Flagship Postgraduate Scholarships will only be accepted from full-time students enrolled in an eligible Australian Higher Education Institution during the term of the award. While the normal expectation is that scholarships will be full time, they may be converted from full time to part time where CSIRO agrees that there are compelling reasons for this and the APA, if any, is also converted to part time.

For the year the scholarship is to begin, students must have, or expect to gain, first class honours or equivalent in relevant research areas. If applying for the top-up scholarship, they must also expect to receive an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) or university equivalent commencing in that year. If applying for the full CSIRO Flagship scholarship, a student cannot receive both an APA/equivalent and a CSIRO Flagship Scholarship.

International students are eligible to apply for Flagship scholarships but they must be able to show evidence of admission to an Australian university, as well as evidence that either their living costs or international student tuition fees are being covered by another scholarship or from private funds. Joint supervision of students by a university and a CSIRO supervisor is required, and such joint supervisory arrangements must be consistent with the Higher Degree by Research Regulations of the host university. In most cases the primary supervisor will be the university supervisor.