Doctor of Philosophy (Natural and Physical Sciences)

Develop high level independent research skills while making an original contribution of knowledge.Designed for high performing university graduates, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a postgraduate research degree with a supervised project of original research at its core. Develop high level independent research skills while making an original contribution of knowledge to a specific discipline or area of practice.

As a JCU PhD candidate, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake focused research in the tropics. You’ll explore and generate new knowledge to meet the social, environmental and sustainability challenges facing tropical communities.

Create new knowledge, transform your future.
Work closely with experienced advisors to identify a research question, design and implement a project, analyse the results and document the research as a thesis. The PhD generally has no required coursework, although some can be taken as an option.

Manage your project challenges and timeline pressures with structured milestones built into the program. Benefit from professional development activities, participate in international conferences and publish your work along the way.

To be eligible to apply for entry to a Doctoral program, an applicant must demonstrate the capacity to undertake research at the Doctoral level by the attainment of at least one of the following:

• A Bachelor’s degree with at least Second Class, Division A (Honours) in a degree program that included a total of at least a semester of supervised project work, the results of which contributed to the Honours grade;
• A postgraduate qualification which included: (a) supervised research component(s) of at least one semester or equivalent and resulted in the production of output(s) graded at the equivalent of Distinction or better, and (b) at least one research methods subject;
• A Research Masters degree, where at least two thirds of the degree consisted of a supervised research component and resulted in the production of a thesis or equivalent;
• Enrolment at this or another Australian university in a higher degree by research for the equivalent of at least 0.5 EFTSL with demonstrated satisfactory performance in the supervised research component(s);
• A combination of qualifications, research training and experience, considered equivalent to the above by the Responsible Academic Officer in the Enrolling Organisational Unit, e.g., senior authorship of at least one peer-reviewed publication plus completion of an appropriate research methods subject.