Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Marine Spatial Planning

The Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Marine Spatial Planning supports a PhD student within the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney to undertake research on marine protected area zoning. This Scholarship is funded by the Enhancing Pacific Ocean Governance (EPOG) program between the Commonwealth of Australia represented by Geoscience Australia and the University of Sydney. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered the cornerstone of global marine conservation providing an effective area-based management tool for safeguarding coastal and ocean biodiversity and crucial ecosystem services. The effectiveness of MPAs in achieving biodiversity and sustainable use objectives is dependent on the regulatory arrangements assigned to zones within a protected area. This project will involve spatial analysis and modelling of activities permitted within existing MPAs in coastal and Commonwealth waters. The scholarship provides a stipend allowance equivalent to the University of Sydney Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend rate of $41,753 per annum (indexed annually) for up to 3.5 years, subject to satisfactory academic performance. Recipients must undertake research in geospatial analysis and marine spatial planning and hold at least an Honours degree (First Class or Second Class Upper), a Master's degree with a substantial research component, or equivalent in geography, marine or coastal geosciences. Preference is given to applicants with a background in coastal or marine science, geographic information science (GIS), spatial data analytics, GIS programming (e.g., R, Python, Earth Engine) and working knowledge of spatial statistics, along with strong analytical skills and ability to build effective working relationships with diverse stakeholders including state and national government departments.