PhD Scholarship Opportunity - 3Rivers Doctoral Network – Climate-Resilient Urban Transformations in the Asia-Pacific

Job no.: 692944

Faculty: Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (MADA)

Location: Caulfield campus

Employment Type: Full-time

Duration: 3.5-year fixed-term appointment

Remuneration: The successful applicant will receive a tax-free living allowance of $37,145 per annum for 3.5 years, and a Tuition Fee Waiver for the duration of the scholarship. Suitable candidates may have opportunities for sessional teaching. International students are responsible for flights, relocation costs and Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC).

Principal Supervisor(s): Professor Diego Ramirez-Lovering, Dr Michaela Prescott

Associate Supervisor(s): Dr Tanvi Maheshwari, Dr Brendan Josey

The Opportunity

Applications are invited from outstanding domestic and international candidates for two fully funded practice-based PhD scholarships  within the Monash Informal Cities Lab and Transforming Cities Hub, based at the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture in Melbourne, Australia.

The 3Rivers Doctoral Network is an international, multidisciplinary cohort investigating how climate-resilient urban transformations can be enabled through science-based, collaborative and practice-oriented research. The program builds on nearly a decade of Living Lab interventions across Indonesia and Fiji through the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) and the Citarum Action Research Program (CARP).

Doctoral research will focus on climate adaptation and resilience across three rapidly urbanising river basins: Citarum River (Indonesia); Klang River (Malaysia); and a rapidly urbanising basin in India’s Greater Mumbai region (TBC). Supervision may involve collaboration across Monash campuses in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and India.

About the 3Rivers Program

Rapid urbanisation across the Asia-Pacific is intensifying climate-related risks to water systems, settlements and infrastructure. Despite strong scientific evidence, development frequently proceeds in ways that undermine long-term resilience.

The 3Rivers program addresses this gap by:

• Testing research propositions in real-world Living Lab sites
• Designing, evaluating and scaling context-specific solutions
• Integrating science, design and governance systems
• Facilitating comparative and South–South knowledge exchange

Candidates will work within established multisector partnerships spanning government, community and industry.

About the Monash Informal Cities Lab and Transforming Cities Hub

The Informal Cities Lab conducts participatory action research with vulnerable communities in the Asia-Pacific region to transform the lives of people living in informal settlements. The Transforming Cities Hub is an initiative across Monash University’s Indonesian, Malaysian and Australian campuses that mobilises expertise to address the complex challenges faced by rapidly urbanising cities in the Global South. The Hub brings together Monash multidisciplinary researchers across engineering, architecture, urban design, IT, public health and social science, to shape transformative and innovative solutions for cities that are vulnerable to environmental and climate risks in our region. 

The Research Opportunity

The successful PhD candidates will investigate how climate adaptation strategies can be developed, tested and scaled within complex riverine urban systems.

Practice-based projects may engage with a range of topics, including but not limited to: Nature-based solutions for wastewater and watershed management; Settlement upgrading in climate-vulnerable contexts; Circular economy and waste-to-resource systems; Distributed and decentralised infrastructure systems; Adaptive planning pathways under multiple climate scenarios. 

The projects should aim to generate transferable evidence, tools and frameworks to support scaling and long-term system sustainability.

Lines of Inquiry

Expressions of Interest are invited under four interconnected themes:

• Enabling Participatory Design - Integrating co-design with infrastructure delivery and governance
• Enabling System Sustainability - Developing viable operations & maintenance models for decentralised climate infrastructure
• Scaling Solutions for Impact - Understanding the socio-ecological and political conditions required to move from pilots to systemic change
• Building Climate Resilience - Designing distributed nature-based systems that function at watershed scale under multiple climate scenarios

Projects may focus on one theme or combine multiple lines of inquiry.

Why This Matters

By embedding doctoral research within active Living Lab sites and multisector networks, the 3Rivers Doctoral Network seeks to close the gap between research and implementation. The program trains researchers capable of advancing climate-resilient and equitable urban transformations in rapidly urbanising contexts.

What the Scholarships Offer

• Fully funded PhD (stipend and tuition, subject to eligibility)
• Access to established Living Lab sites and primary datasets
• Engagement with government, community and industry partners
• International exchange opportunities across Monash campuses
• Membership in a multidisciplinary doctoral cohort
• Training in translational and impact-oriented research

The successful candidates will join a collaborative research environment spanning design, planning, landscape architecture, engineering and ecological science.

Candidate requirements

We welcome domestic and international applicants with a First-Class Honours or Master’s degree in a relevant field, including Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design or Planning. The successful candidate will:

• Demonstrate strong analytical and research capability
• Demonstrate capability in design or creative-practice research
• Show interest in interdisciplinary and field-based research in the Asia-Pacific region
• Demonstrate initiative and ability to work independently and in teams
• Possess excellent written and oral English communication skills
• Demonstrate research ability through publications (desirable)

Applicants must meet Monash University PhD admission requirements. Scholarship holders must enrol full-time and on campus. Successful applicants are expected to commence by October 2026.

Details of eligibility requirements are available at: www.monash.edu/study/courses/find-a-course/2022/art,-design-and-architecture-1322

Enquiries: Enquiries should be directed to: Dr Michaela Prescott, michaela.prescott@monash.edu 

Submit an Expression of Interest (EoI)

EOIs must be submitted as a single attachment to MADA-postgrad@monash.edu with the subject: ‘3Rivers PhD scholarship’. EOIs must include:

• Evidence of academic qualifications (i.e. transcripts)
• Evidence of English-language proficiency (if applicable)
• Curriculum vitae (including publications)
• Portfolio
• Academic writing sample
• A research proposal (see guideline: www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1229796/hdr_guidelines_architecture.pdf)

It is acceptable to use AI tools for editing and proofreading, with appropriate acknowledgement. For example: I used [ADD AI tool (ADD link if needed)] to [ADD how used] and [ADD number of iterations/drafts]. I modified the outputs in [ADD ways]. 

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed via Zoom in English.

Closing Date: Tuesday 26 May 2026, 11:55pm AEST