UQ Career Development Scholarship* Guidelines

Current UQ Graduate School administered scholarships provide a 3.5-year stipend (living allowance), subject to satisfactory progress towards thesis completion. This period has been considered sufficient to include any additional coursework that is required to prepare students to undertake their research studies.

The recent ACOLA review of research training in Australia emphasised the importance of producing graduate researchers equipped with broad skills and abilities for a variety of careers and recognised the value of industry placements. The report recommended that every HDR candidate who wishes to undertake a placement should be encouraged to do so.

The UQ Career Development Framework (CDF) provides development opportunities for students and extended experience opportunities (including industry placements) consistent with the Commonwealth’s industry engagement agenda. To facilitate PhD candidate career development and engagement with the CDF, UQ is offering the Career Development Scholarship (CDS) – an optional, additional stipend extension of up to 6-months, to enable the completion of activities that build the transferable and professional skills of PhD candidates.

It follows that this stipend (living allowance) extension should be dependent on the fulfilment of broader career development activities and that undertaking a UQ Graduate School administered placement be an essential component of the activities undertaken.

The CDS, therefore, supports PhD candidates who have engaged in the UQ Graduate School Career Development Framework in a significant and sustained manner throughout candidature. It is expected that a candidate undertaking this Career Development Scholarship will complete all requirements of the PhD within 4 years, including undertaking an oral examination of their thesis. This means the thesis should be uploaded at least 3 months prior to the 4 year mark. This scholarship is available to any student who commenced prior to January 2022 and meets the critieria.

*Applies to UQ scholarships only (see the UQ and RTP Research Scholarship Policy)

If you commenced your program after January 2022, please refer to the placements information regarding other funding opportunities avaliable

Guide to activities required for Career Development Scholarship (CDS) eligibility

This scholarship (CDS) is only available to students who commenced prior to January 2022 and meet the critieria outlined below, and are not already in receipt of a 4 year base living stipend. The intention of the scholarship is to help you to prioritise your career development, while managing progress towards completion of your PhD. To obtain this extension you must meet eligibility criteria related to your candidature, your scholarship, and demonstrate continued and sustained engagement in career development activities throughout your candidature. To meet this last criteria, you will need to accrue 30 points of Career Development Framework (CDF) experiences and sessions, which must include a 15-point Placement Activity (which must be approved prior to submission of your CDS application) and at least 15 points of CDF sessions (from the list of 1-point eligible CDF Sessions below).

Below you will find a comprehensive list on what constitutes a Placement, Experience, and Session. You need 30 points to be eligible for the CDS comprised of 1 x 15 point placement and 15 points of other activities listed below.

~ Denotes activities that may not be recorded by the Graduate School, and as such, evidence of their completion must be attached to your application.

All CDS applications must have at least one 15-point placement activity from the options listed below.

15-point Placement

Graduate School administered placement (domestic or international). The placement must be pre-approved by the Graduate School and be at least 30 days.
Australian Postgraduate Research (APR) Interns (previously called AMSI Internship)~
CSIRO On Accelerate program~
Ventures iLab Accelerator~
Sport Accelerate Program~

All CDS applications must have 15 points from the options listed below.

10-point Experiences

Ventures Validate ~
Start-up AdVentures (UQ Idea Hub mobility program)~

5-point Experiences

CSIRO On Prime program~
Graduate Teaching Assistant program~
Graduate Digital Research Fellowship~
International research experience of at least 2 weeks (distinct from candidate's thesis research)~
Three Minute Thesis (Faculty final or further)~
UQ Idea Hub program~
Wonder of Science program~
Ventures Activate ~
Idea Hub Social Enterprise ~
Ventures Virtual Hackathon ~
LeadHers ~
Ventures Curiosity PhD ~

1-point eligible CDF Sessions

Academic publishing: Play by the rules \| Publishing ethically \| Authorship: Your rights and responsibilities	Networking in the digital space
Academic writing (8 week course)~	Planning and presenting persuasive research \| Presentation skills workshop – introductory \| Introduction on presentation skills \| Presenting research: An introduction \| Presenting your research
Applying for academic positions	Practical publishing part 1 and 2 \| Publishing your Research: Writing and submitting \| Promoting your publications: Maximising your research visibility
Becoming a resilient researcher	Publishing your research: Getting started \| How to get published
Build your personal brand (previously called ‘Capitalising on your PhD brand’)	Publishing your research: Strategies for success
Career control for researchers (online)	Publons Academy ~
Career shaping: Resumes and selection criteria \| Resilient researcher: Planning for the future	Research, policy and practice (various titles) \| Policy 101 (various titles)
Career shaping: Understand your skills and identifying opportunities \| Resilient researcher: Current career management \| Career shaping: Identifying opportunities for skills development \| Career shaping: Understanding your skills	Resilient researcher: Managing the gap (no longer offered)
Career strategy \| Career strategy: Plan for your future	Resilient researcher: Understanding yourself and others \| Understanding yourself and others
Communicating for impact outside academia	Smart, savvy and scholarly: Knowing where to publish \| Predatory publishers
Communicating in a global environment \| Communicating across cultures	Strategic networking: How to connect for impact
Communicating your research in the media	The imposter syndrome
CV essentials for HDR students \| Preparing your curriculum vitae \| Curriculum vitae basics for HDRs	The teaching academic: An introduction \| Teaching in higher education \| Teaching and learning clinic
Effective time management (various titles)	Three Minute Thesis (School or Institute heat)~
Graduate School networking event (various titles)	Turbocharge your writing
How to get published : An introduction \| How to get published \| Publishing your research: Getting started \| Publishing your research: Strategies for success \| Planning to publish	Tutors @ UQ~
How to navigate an academic career	UniQuest commercialisation workshop~
Impactful presentations: Delivering with confidence \| Advanced presentation skills \| Presentation workshops: Advanced	Using strengths to effectively work in teams
Intellectual property (no longer offered)	Win that grant: 6 rules for crafting a compelling proposal \| 5 rules of grant club \| Get a post doc and apply for grants (no longer offered)
Leaders and leadership: The challenge of ‘doing’ leadership \| leaders and leadership	Working in multidisciplinary teams \| Multidisciplinary teams
Lighting the spark: Entrepreneurial pathways to leverage your research \| Becoming an entrepreneur \| Taking the entrepreneurial pathway \| The entrepreneurial pathway to success	Working in teams: A practical guide (EdEx online module)~ Access instructions on obtaining your verified certificate
Making and measuring research impact: An introduction \| Promoting your research impact: Collecting evidence of research engagement	Working in the 3^rd space: Non-academic university careers
Mastering the art of paying attention	Writing for Nature (no longer offered)
Matching your potential with employment possibilities	Writing outside the academy (no longer offered)
Mine, yours, ours: Meeting everyone’s needs through assertive communications	Research Impact: Planning for optimal impact and engagement
Up to 5 points can be research skills based training (Research methods/techniques/analytics/statistics courses) from the CDF or other official training programs
Presenting at a conference (oral presentation or poster presentation) – The applicant must be the primary presenter and the conference must be organised by a national or international disciplinary peak body or professional association.	Publication of a peer reviewed journal article – The applicant must demonstrate the extent of their contribution to (a) the conception and design of the project; (b) the analysis and interpretation of the research data on which the publication is based; and (c) the drafting of significant parts of the publication or critically reviewing it so as to contribute to the interpretation. The applicant must have made a substantive contribution to at least two of these areas.

You can access the list of events you have attended through StudentHub. Please follow these instructions.

The Graduate School has been using StudentHub to track event attendance since June 2017. If you believe you attended CDF events prior to this date, please email us at graduateschool@uq.edu.au, and we will access the information from our archives.

Other programs

UQ ARC Training Centre scholarships with 12 month placements and Global Change Scholars who complete the full program, and any other programs that already provide 4 year base living scholarships are not able to receive the CDS as well. This is because the PhD program duration is a maximum of 4 years and receiving a base living scholarship already means the CDS cannot be applied.

Notes:

Career Development Framework Sessions are only eligible for consideration when focused on transferable or professional skills.
Applicants cannot count 5-point Experiences, 1-point eligible CDF Sessions more than once.
Only a maximum of 5 points of future CDF enrolments (courses not yet undetaken) can be considered.

How to apply

The Career Development Scholarship (Stipend) applies to UQ Graduate School administered PhD (living allowance) scholarships only. Please read the UQ and RTP Research Scholarships policy and procedures for important additional information regarding the specific candidature, scholarship, and career engagement requirements for this scholarship variation.

To apply for CDS, you will need to:

meet the candidature, scholarship, and career development eligibility requirements outlined here and in the UQ and RTP Research Scholarships policy and procedures, and
complete and submit the application form describing your completed and proposed career development activities during the remainder of your program and provide a plan setting out your proposed schedule of activities over the stipend extension period.
Applications must be submitted no later than 4 weeks prior to the expiry of your current scholarship.