Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Domestic/International Scholarship Opportunities at Faculty of Engineering
Job No.: 668860
Location: Clayton campus
Employment Type: Full-time
Graduate Research Degrees: 3291 - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Duration: 3.5-year fixed-term appointment
Remuneration: $35,013 per annum (tax-free stipend) (2024 rate)
Monash Engineering is a leading global centre for research consistently placing highly in international ranking lists. We engage with industry and other world leading institutes to carry out pioneering research that benefits society and changes the world around us. Our world-class researchers are driven by a passion and commitment to leaving a more sustainable legacy for future generations.
We are committed to training the next generation of research leaders through our graduate research degrees. Our students have the opportunity to make an impact and solve real world issues in a stimulating, supportive environment with access to cutting edge facilities.
The Opportunity
Expressions of interest are sought from outstanding domestic or international candidates for PhD study in the Civil Engineering Department, within the Faculty of Engineering, to contribute to an Australian Research Council funded project to develop a near-space surveillance capability for natural disaster risk prediction and monitoring.
This project will advance a new state-of-the-art near-space concept for natural disaster risk prediction and monitoring using round-the-clock passive microwave observation at L- and Ka-band (1.41 GHz and 36.5GHz), with a spatial resolution (~200-400m at L-band) that is two orders of magnitude better than that currently available from satellites, by leveraging the emerging high-altitude drone platforms that can loiter at the edge of space for months at a time.
The available topics within this project are listed below. Please note that there is a total of 5 PhD positions. Candidates for the first two topics (A & B) should start in January 2024 while the candidates for the other three topics (C, D & E) are to commence a year later in January 2025.
Under-Storage Soil Moisture [PhD A]: The under-storage soil moisture highly affects the temporal evolution of fuel moisture in response to atmospheric conditions, and so is critical to fire prediction. However, the algorithms to measure this from L-band radiometry have not been well studied due to the complexity of the problem, the resolution of available data, and a focus so far on agricultural rather than forested landscapes. Recent progress has been made using what is called the bulk retrieval model, but only using simulated data for a deciduous forest, so this approach will be further developed and tested along with others for application to a range of Australian landscapes.
Fuel Moisture Content [PhD B]: Leaves on the trees, leaf litter below the trees, and grass are the primary ignition fuel source for fires, and the moisture content of this fuel determines its ability to burn. Importantly, the moisture in this fuel contributes to the brightness temperature measured by the microwave radiometer, and so can be acquired as a “by-product” of deriving the soil moisture. Accordingly, PhD students A and B will collaborate closely on the fuel and soil moisture measurement algorithms across a range of vegetation types.
Flood Inundation Monitoring [PhD C]: One of the key challenges for inundation monitoring will be dealing with what is called the mixed pixel problem, the situation where both water and other features contribute to the overall response measured for the given pixel. Another challenge is masking of the water by overlying vegetation. Accordingly, the higher spatial resolution Ka-band data will be used to help unmix the water from land and infrastructure signals, and the longer wavelength L-band data will be used to see the water that is obscured by overlying grass and trees. Moreover, publicly available lidar data will be used to spatially enhance the inundation maps by using elevation information to determine where the water is expected to be located within the fractionally inundated pixels.
Fire-front Monitoring [PhD D]: A key challenge for fire-front monitoring will be to distinguish the TB response of partially filled fire pixels from the background response, particularly for fires of low heat intensity. Accordingly, one aspect of this work will be to confirm the spatial resolution requirements from the experimental L-band data collected at spatial resolutions between 50m and 1km. Moreover, similar to the flood inundation problem above, the Ka-band data will be leveraged to identify partially filled fire pixels while the L-band data will be used to identify fire in more densely vegetated pixels where the canopy may be masking the Ka-band measurements of heat.
Landslide Risk Prediction [PhD E]: Landslides occur as a result of steep slopes with low cohesion soils under supersaturated conditions. Consequently, soil maps together with terrain data and soil moisture information at a sufficiently high spatial resolution will be used to predict areas of landslide risk. To date there has not been operational passive microwave derived soil moisture at the resolution required to undertake fine scale mapping of landslide risk, and so this will be a pioneering work that extends the studies to date using coarse resolution and surrogate data.
To be eligible to apply for domestic postgraduate research scholarships an applicant must be an Australian citizen, an Australian Permanent Resident or a New Zealand citizen.
For further information, please follow the link for each Graduate Research Degree
Candidate Requirements
Applicants will be considered provided they fulfil the criteria for PhD admission at Monash University. Details of the relevant requirements are available at www.monash.edu/engineering/future-students/graduate-research/how-to-apply
Your application will be looked upon favourably if you:
- Graduated in the top 10% of your year level
- Graduated from a well ranked university
- Have authored peer-reviewed research publications
- Possess excellent written and verbal English skills
Note: applicants who are already enrolled in a PhD degree program or already hold a PhD degree will not be considered.
Applicants must show excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and the ability to conduct self-motivated research. They should have either completed or be in the process of completing a Bachelors H1 Honours Degree or already hold an H1E Bachelors and/or Masters degree. Candidates who are in the process of completing their H1 degree will be considered.
Application Process
To apply for a graduate research degree and/or scholarship at Monash Engineering please follow the following steps:
- Check your eligibility:
Before beginning the application process, make sure that you meet our entry requirements. You can check the minimum entry requirements for the PhD or the Research Masters in the course handbook. Applicants must also satisfy Monash’s English Language Proficiency requirements.
- Discuss the opportunity with the supervisor:
Professor Walker is the relevant supervisor for this opportunity, jeff.walker@monash.edu. Email information regarding the specific opportunity of interest, copies of your academic transcripts and curriculum vitae, together with a statement/evidence of how you meet the English language requirement.
- Submit an expression of interest:
If invited, complete the Expression of Interest form and submit this directly to the potential supervisor.
Please note the submission of the Expression of Interest does not constitute a formal application for a Research Degree.
- Obtain an invitation to apply:
If after assessing your Expression of Interest you are found to meet the requirements and the potential supervisor is interested to take you on as a graduate research student, you will be supplied with an Invitation to Apply.
All applicants are required to upload a copy of their invitation to apply with their formal application. Applications without this will not be considered.
- After you have received an invitation to apply you can then proceed to submit an application via the online application portal.
Enquiries
Further enquiries about the scholarship or application process should be directed to Graduate Research Office, eng-gradresearch@monash.edu or visit website www.monash.edu/engineering/future-students/graduate-research/phd.
For enquires about the project, please contact Professor Jeff Walker at jeff.walker@monash.edu.
Applications Close: Monday 30 September 2024, 11:55pm AEST
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