Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative PhD Scholarship

Each year the School of Culture History and Language (“School”) in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific may offer an award known as the Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative PhD Scholarship (“Award”). Funding for this Award has been provided by the Commonwealth of Australia’s National Institutes Grant.

The ANU’s Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative (ECDI) has been established with support from the Commonwealth of Australia’s National Institutes Grant as a hub for trans-disciplinary research. The Initiative will adapt and apply methodological and theoretical advances from a range of disciplinary fields in the sciences and humanities and apply these to a wide range of case studies in order to understand the evolution of cultural diversity -primarily in northern Australia and its immediate Melanesian neighbours, but with global application. The central aim of the Initiative is to understand the drivers and processes underpinning the full span of human history in the Asia-Pacific, from initial human settlement through to the contemporary present.

The objective of this 3.5 year Award is to provide funding for an outstanding international student to enable them to pursue a PhD program in any field relevant to the interests of the ECDI, based in the School: including but not restricted to Anthropology, Archaeology, Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, History, Linguistics, and Philosophy.

The Award will be available each year to a prospective or continuing international student of Pacific Islander heritage who:

• is enrolled or enrolling full-time in a program of study for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The Australian National University in any field relevant to the goals of the Institute including but not restricted to Anthropology, Archaeology, Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, History, Linguistics, and Philosophy, and
• holds an Honours or Masters degree by research in a relevant discipline.

Preference will be given to candidates who are citizens of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, or Vanuatu.

When preparing your application, please contact Dr Chris Ballard for more information about the scholarship and application process at chris.ballard@anu.edu.au

Applications are due by 17:00 (AEST) on 11 October 2021, and should be submitted to the ECDI Administrator at joanne.allen@anu.edu.au. Full details of the scholarship can be found at www.anu.edu.au/study/scholarships/find-a-scholarship/evolution-of-cultural-diversity-initiative-phd-scholarship.