3 notes when looking for professors to guide a PhD in Australia

Fiona Lilley, a specialist in Monash University’s office of graduate research, and her teaching partner, Amarpreet Abraham, outline what to expect when pursuing a PhD.

According to Fiona, students should start their PhD as soon as possible. To be eligible for admission, international students are encouraged to find a tutor and contact the faculty directly in which they will be applying.

In Australia, PhD students must have a minimum of 2 professors. Each university will have its own process, so it’s important that you familiarize yourself with the research and application process.

For example, at Monash there is a 2-step process. First, applicants submit a letter of interest to the faculty where they plan to attend; Each faculty has different requirements, so it is important to check exactly what is required. If the faculty determines that they have the resources and facilities to support the student’s project, they will issue an offer of admission allowing the candidate to officially apply for admission and to receive the scholarship.

To find a tutor, students can search the database of the school they want to register. However, the best way to find PhD instructors in Australia is to look for articles that say “Available to supervise PhD” on your resume.

As a first step, you can email them with a brief research proposal and why you need to do it. From there, professors can determine if they are interested in your proposal/willing to accept a new PhD student.

Furthermore, Amarpreet Abraham says that when looking for mentors, it’s important that they have the same field of study.

“It is best to choose professors with a pre-existing positive academic relationship where you work together,” she says.

According to Abraham, to write a good research proposal, the sections in the paper should include the proposed title, the summary, the introduction, the proposed theoretical/conceptual framework, the research question, the importance importance of the study, limitations, literature review, research methodology/approach, data collection and analysis methods, and a reference list. This allows you to articulate your interests and approach to PhD study and the professor can also make suitable recommendations for research.

Abraham concludes that finding a mentor you can work well with, being prepared, and attending research seminars is the first step towards pursuing a PhD in Australia.

However, she also emphasized that candidates need to balance the time to take care of themselves to be healthy enough to pursue research. In addition, candidates should join social research groups to gain more experience.

Doan Hung (According to THE)