RICOH a company with strong environmental commitments has announced another first.

Beginning in 2010 a PhD student whose research is based around clean energy technology will be selected to receive a supplementary scholarship of $5,000 per annum. The Ricoh Supplementary Scholarship is to provide supplementary stipend funds to a top ranked student whose project meets with a Clean Energy focus and who is in receipt of a major scholarship.

This Suppelementary Scholarship is being managed through the Adelaide Graduate Centre.

The duration of this Supplementary Scholarship is 3 years commencing 2010.
The value of the stipend is $3,000 paid fortnightly to the student.

Applications are via the Major Round (which closed on 31 October). From the Major Round applications received to date, a number of candidates whose project could potentially meet the requirements of this Supplementary Scholarship have been identified, and these will be forwarded to CET (ProfNathan) for review as agreed.

There is no necessity to create a separate application round. Should CET identify other suitable candidates outside of the Major Round Scholarship selection process the applicant must apply for Admission in the usual way and must meet Scholarship eligibility criteria.

Current applicants (in the Major Round) may contact the Adelaide Graduate Centre should they wish to be considered.

“This is the first industrial sponsorship for the Centre for Energy Technology and demonstrates Ricoh’s commitment to a clean environment” said Professor Gus Nathan of the CET. “Coming just after the launch of the CET this support from Ricoh is very welcome and will assist in attracting high quality candidates to the field of clean energy technology. We look forward to having Ricoh as a partner who is committed to putting leading edge research into practice”

Adelaide Brighton Ltd is supporting a PhD scholarship, the Adelaide Brighton Ltd William Schroder Scholarship, in the field of sustainable energy production using bio-mass feedstock through the School of Chemical Engineering. Applications are open and close on 11 December. For more information click here.

The Australian Centre for Ancient DNA based at The University of Adelaide, South Australia is currently looking for students interested in PhD opportunities in Environmental Genomics.

Six PhD projects are available in the field of Environmental Genomics, at the University of Adelaide starting in early 2010, working on an ARC LINKAGE funded project at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/acad/). Each project focuses on the application of targeted metagenomic assays to perform rapid biodiversity and taxonomy assessment on complex biological samples in the following fields;

Project 1) Forensics: Using the genetic content of soil samples to predict crime scene/source areas. Focusing on invertebrate, plant and animal signals. Project partners – Australian Federal Police

Project 2) Water Quality: Analysing the biodiversity of standard, desalinated and recycled/re-used water systems, focusing on the detection and identification of novel pathogens. Project partners – SA Water

Project 3) Mining/Conservation biology: Using environmental genomic methods to rapidly analyse plant, animal and invertebrate taxonomic biodiversity in soil samples from survey sites across South Australia. Project partner – Primary Industries Research South Australia, and Department of Environment and Heritage, SA

Project 4) Health: Developing metagenomic methods to detect and monitor known and novel pathogens in medical systems, focusing on point of care. Project partner – SA Pathology

Project 5) Antarctic biodiversity: Using environmental genomic approaches to analyse the biodiversity of Antarctic invertebrates using existing and field collected samples. Project partner: South Australian Museum

Project 6) Bioinformatics: Designing, programming and implementing software plug-ins for GENEIOUS, to allow the interface between environmental metagenomic data and end-users, including conservation, water and health managers. Project partners – Biomatters, NZ (producers of GENEIOUS)

The PhD projects are available to Australian and NZ citizens/permanent residents with a 1^st class Honours degree.

Applicants will also be encouraged to apply for Australian postgraduate awards (due Oct 31^st) where applicable, refer to this website for the application process http://www.adelaide.edu.au/graduatecentre/scholarships/postgrad/pgresearch/apa.html.  International students are also invited to apply, although international course fees are likely to be applicable. Other PhD projects are also available at ACAD – http://www.adelaide.edu.au/acad/

Please contact Maria Lekis (maria.lekis@adelaide.edu.au) or Prof. Alan Cooper (alan.cooper@adelaide.edu.au) for further details.

Two positions for the Adelaide node of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) are currently advertised on the University of Adelaide’s job website:

Eco-informatics Co-ordinator

Ecosystem Monitoring Network Co-ordinator

The application deadline is Friday 21 August 2009.

Fred Gurgel’s Lab at the University of Adelaide is seeking Honours and PhD students who are interested to work on the molecular systematics (phylogenetics and phylogeography), ecology and biogeography of Australian macroalgae.

Two fully funded PhD scholarships are available for eminent start:

PhD 1: Phylogenetics and Phylogeography of Marine Benthic Algae of the Great Australian Bight: Biodiversity and the Relict Species Concept.

Brief description: This study will use a range of molecular tools to: i) provide a comprehensive and taxonomical updated survey of the marine flora of the head of the GAB and vicinity (the taxonomy + phylogenetic component), ii) test the hypothesis that the Bunda Cliffs acts as a barrier to gene flow between western and eastern GAB populations (population genetics component), and iii) test whether macroalgal species considered ‘relicts’ trapped at the northern reaches of the GAB and SA gulfs belong to ancient populations or whether they arrived recently hence should be defined as “long range dispersals” instead (phylogeography component). This study will involve offshore expeditions and extensive remote field work jointly with GAB Marine Park and the Alinytjara Wilurara National Resource Management staff.

PhD 2: Phylogenetics and Phylogeography of Co-distributed Marine Macroalgae Across Australia.

Brief description: Perform a multi-marker, multi-species comparative phylogeographic study targeting macroalgal species with continuous and quasi-continuous distribution across the entire Australian continent (i.e. Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, Great Australian Bight, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney). A partnership between CReefs (www.creefs.org), DEH and the University of Adelaide.

Both PhD scholarships above are open to Australian and NZ citizens and permanent residents only. Essential skills include: manual driving, snorkelling, SCUBA diving certification (open water minimum), good field work spirit. Desirable skills: molecular biology, 4WD.

For further information please contact Dr Fred Gurgel (fred.gurgel@adelaide.edu.au). Applicants should send a brief letter of introduction, unofficial transcripts and a letter (email) of support from your Honours advisor. Please indicate in your email degree sought, previous relevant experience(s), why you are interested in pursuing such degree, and your interest in marine plants.