PhD Scholarship: Gender and community-led disaster resilience (Fire to Flourish program)

Department: Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC)

Faculty/Division: Office of the Senior Vice-Provost and Vice Provost

Location: Clayton, Victoria, Australia

Employment Type: Full-time. PhD Scholarship

Duration: 3 year and 3-month fixed-term appointment

Remuneration: The successful applicant will receive a Research Living Allowance, at current value of $30,000AUD per annum 2022 full-time rate (tax-free stipend), indexed plus allowances as per RTP stipend scholarship conditions at:https://www.monash.edu/study/fees-scholarships/scholarships/find-a-scholarship/research-training-program-scholarship#scholarship-details

The Setting:

This PhD Scholarship is provided by Monash University, hosted by the Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative (MUDRI), an academic unit within the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC), in partnership with the Monash Fire to Flourish program, within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute.

Monash University is committed to achieving excellence in research and education, built upon a deep and extensive engagement with the world, to serve the good of our communities and environment. At Monash, we nurture our researchers and their research. In particular, Monash’s Graduate Research program is designed to prepare graduates with the knowledge, skills and abilities to develop a broad range of skills and professional attributes and make an impact in industry, government, community or academia after graduation.

Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) is a whole-of-university, interdisciplinary collective Centre focused on the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of injury in all settings. MUARC draws from the substantial Monash University strengths in all the core disciplines of statistics, engineering, health sciences and social sciences. MUARC undertakes research across the following broad injury themes: intentional injury; transport; home, sport & leisure; workplace; outcomes after injury; and disaster resilience. MUARC is one of the world’s leading injury prevention research Centres and is Australia’s largest and most respected transport road safety research Centre. Through high-standard research and independent recommendations, MUARC aims to challenge and support citizens, governments and industries to eliminate serious health losses due to injury. Since our founding, we have developed research-based solutions that have led directly to making Australians safer and have made us an acknowledged leader in the field. To learn more about us and the work we do, please visit our website.

The Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative (MUDRI) is the unit within MUARC where the PhD student will be located. MUDRI was established to harness university-wide expertise with the goal of strengthening community-based disaster resilience. It aims to provide the evidence to shape new approaches to disaster preparedness and management in the context of the Australian Governments’ National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and its National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. To learn more about us and the work we do, please visit our website.

MUDRI has a longstanding partnership with Gender and Disaster Australia (GADA). To learn more about GADA and its work, please visit the GADA website.

Fire to Flourish is a partnership between Monash University, the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Metal Manufactures Pty Ltd, and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation. It was formed in response to the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires and seeks to strengthen resilience in communities that were affected by the bushfires in ways that address inequities. The Program brings together a consortium of partners with the University’s transdisciplinary research capabilities to work with communities over a 5-year program to build resilience and develop the connections and leadership to shape their trajectories towards a thriving future through community-led processes. Fire to Flourish is developing an inclusive, participatory and evidence-based model for strengthening holistic resilience. The Program has a significant focus on supporting communities to lead their own local initiatives and connect with each other to create the capacity, conditions and solutions for their long-term resilience. The underlying principles for the program are: be community-led; foreground Aboriginal wisdom; address inequities, enhance inclusion and self-determination; be strengths-based and trauma-informed; be holistic and impactful; learn, adapt and evolve.

The Fire to Flourish program will recruit a cohort of PhD students who will work together as an interdisciplinary cohort under the supervision of the Chief Investigators and Research Fellows. We are currently seeking exceptionally talented candidates interested in joining our Fire to Flourish transdisciplinary PhD program. We have eight unique and exciting opportunities across Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI), Faculty of Business and Economics, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and The Monash University Accident Research Centre.

We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous peoples and are committed to providing a culturally safe and vibrant place of study. We support diverse pathways into research that recognise a broad range of experience.

The Opportunity:

The Opportunity

A unique and challenging opportunity exists for an exceptionally talented candidate interested in undertaking a PhD at Monash University in an exciting, collaborative, transdisciplinary environment as part of the Fire to Flourish Program.

The PhD research opportunity involves qualitative social science research into gender and community-led disaster resilience, with a focus on how gender inequities can be addressed.

Disasters can bring out the best in people, but they can also reinforce long standing inequity and injustice. This project will include:

– a comprehensive review of international research and practice literature on gender and disaster resilience

– examining how gender inequities can be addressed through community-led resilience initiatives and practices

The scope of the research programme will be led by the PhD candidate and their supervisory team, in alignment with the Fire to Flourish program and priorities emerging from focus communities.

The PhD candidate will undertake a doctoral training program and be welcomed into both MUDRI and the transdisciplinary Fire to Flourish program. They will be supported to present their work and publish in appropriate forums, extend their professional network and contribute to the communities with which they engage.

Supervision

Your supervisory team will draw on experienced researchers with PhD supervision and community-based experience.

Eligibility – Candidate Requirements

As the successful candidate, you will:

● Have a relevant Honours or Masters degree with H1 or equivalent

● Meet the eligibility criteria for PhD candidature at Monash University

● Be an Australian or New Zealand citizen

● Have an interest in gender research in the disaster setting and specifically, in the environment of the 2019/20 national bushfires

● Have excellent written and verbal communication skills

● Have the ability to work independently, as well as part of a team

● Have the ability to plan, organise, manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines; and

● Have analytical thinking, data analysis and critical problem-solving skills

How to apply

Potential candidates should complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) form: https://monash.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0GIbkg5tXJ4hlhY

Please include a one page research proposal, and submit this form, with full CV and transcripts, to the Graduate Research Administrative Officer (see details provided above).

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview at MUARC.

Enquiries

Dr Caroline Spencer, Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative (MUDRI), (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) caroline.spencer@monsh.edu