Applying for a degree
Honours
Honours is an important first step towards becoming an independent researcher. You can start at the beginning (February) of the year or mid-year (July).
- How to apply
- Grants and scholarships: e.g. the Hammond Scholarship, the Calver Scholarship, ESA applied forest conservation scholarship, Harry Butler Institute Scholarship
accelerated Research Masters with Training (aRMT)
This is a new degree started in 2021. The program only has a January start at present. There is about 12 weeks of course work where you will address the United National identified Global Challenges by working collectively and bringing your specific disciplinary skills to tackling one of the world’s wicked problems (completing units in Research Methods, Research Impact, and Design Thinking). This is followed by a research project (equivalent to the honours degree in scope and time). Costs: Domestic students pay no fees as this degree is offset by the Federal Government Research Training Program (RTP). International students should contact the Graduate Research Office to discuss fees and options. Benefits: a globally recognised degree and the necessary qualification and skillset to apply for Doctoral studies or embark on other career pathways. If you are interested to know more about this degree option, you can contact the Graduate Research Office.
Doctorate (PhD)
- How to apply for International students Please note that the closing date for scholarships for international PhD students is 30 September 2025.
- How to apply for Domestic students Please note that the closing date for scholarships for domestic PhD students is 31 October 2025
- Grants and scholarships
Where can you get funding to support your project?
Although wildlife studies generally have far less financial support than many other research areas, there are a number of generous funding bodies that could support your studies. Spend some time looking through these. Some hints for applying for grants:
- Check the deadline for the grants you want to apply for. Put these dates in your diary and give yourself plenty of lead time. You will want a lot of input into your application, so you need time to get it right.
- Pick the right grant – don’t scattershot apply for a load of grants that ‘might do’ or you will be wasting the grant bodies’ time and yours.
- Fill in the form exactly how the grant body wants it. If they want you to tell them about your research in 500 words, don’t use more.
- Show that:
- the research is needed (clearly identify ‘the problem’). Have a good, clear question and a good, clear projected outcome. No vagueness about what you want to do.
- you have worked out how to do it (you have a solid experimental design)
- you know how much it will cost and what you will spend the money on (and your budget is clearly justified). Tell them exactly what you want the money for – don’t be vague, be precise and concise; make sure you justify exactly why that specific amount is being requested.
- you know how it will make a contribution (the potential impact of your work).
- Get as many other people as possible to look it over and criticise it.
- *~Avoid being dull and worthy; loosen up and try to sparkle~* You need people to read your proposal sufficiently to want to support it, so make sure that it captures their attention and is interesting.
- Fill in the entire grant form! Make sure they have ALL the information they asked for.
Below are some funding options sorted by application deadline:
Please send us information on other grants if you become aware of them…
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