Research scholarships

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Research scholarships

Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Scholarships are designed to support postgraduate students of outstanding research promise undertaking a higher degree by research at ECU. There are two competitive HDR scholarship rounds opening each year with applications opening in approximately May and September each calendar year.

The 2025 ECU-RTP Scholarship round is now open and will close on 12 June 2025. Please see below for the current project opportunities.

How to apply

These scholarships are open to individuals who are prospective and current ECU students.
In order to apply for these scholarships, you must have a PhD, Integrated PhD or Master by Research course offer.
*If course admission applications have been submitted prior to the scholarship closing date but not assessed or approved prior to scholarship ranking, applications will be considered but applicants will only be provided a conditional scholarship offer, if successful.

To apply for these scholarships, you must either apply for a specific project offered by the relevant School or propose your own project. You may propose your own project but alignment with the research priorities of the proposed supervisors, School and University will be assessed. You must contact the proposed supervisors prior to submitting your application via the online portal.

Future HDR candidates

You are required to follow these steps.

Check the application process and eligibility criteria on the Scholarships webpage.
Review the advertised research projects below.
Contact the named HDR Supervisor or Project Lead to discuss the advertised projects. You can only be nominated for one project.
The HDR Supervisor or Project Lead, in consultation with others, will review and assess applications to identify suitable candidates.
If the HDR Supervisor or Project Lead determines you are the suitable candidate, you will receive a confirmation email inviting you to apply. This invitation to apply is confirmation of your scholarship application only.
Submit your application via the ECU Online Scholarship Application Portal.
- This portal will be open from 12 May 2025 until 12 June 2025.

If proposing your own project, you are required to follow these steps.

Check the application process and eligibility criteria on the Scholarships webpage.
Contact the potential HDR Supervisors for your proposed project to determine their suitability, alignment and availability.
Obtain a confirmation email from your proposed supervisors indicating a willingness to supervise your proposed project. You will require this confirmation email prior to applying. This invitation to apply is confirmation of your scholarship application only.
Submit your application via the ECU Online Scholarship Application Portal.

Please allow sufficient time to finalise your course and scholarship application. Importantly, several steps are required prior to final submission of the scholarship application, as outlined above. Scholarship application must be completed by advertised closing date which will be advised when the next round opens on 12 May 2025.

Current ECU HDR candidates

Current students should discuss being considered for scholarship with their supervisory team.

To be considered for an ECU HDR scholarship, current students need to be on a green progression status.

Submit your application via the ECU Online Scholarship Application Portal when the ECU HDR Scholarship round opens prior to the advertised closing date which will be advised when the next round opens on 12 May 2025.

Any enquires can be directed to enquiries@ecu.edu.au.

Project Opportunities 2025 ECU-RTP Scholarship round

Higher Degree by Research