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Thinking about the next step in your career, a PhD or a job in research? Join CSIRO for a taste of real research. (Image: iStockphoto)

Test drive a research career with CSIRO’s Graduate Fellows program

Finished your degree in maths, stats or engineering? Can’t decide whether to do a PhD or go directly into the workforce? Why not try out a research career with CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics’ Graduate Fellows Program.

  • 1 December 2011 | Updated 9 October 2012

About the Graduate Fellows program

The Graduate Fellows program offers a handful of talented honours graduates the opportunity to solve real world problems and experience a research career with CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics.

The program duration is two years, during which Fellows are paid a salary as a CSIRO employee.

The program takes an 'apprentice approach' where Fellows are mentored by leading research scientists and work on a range of exciting projects. Fellows are encouraged to present their work at a conference at the end of the second year.

The Graduate Fellows program includes:

  • a developmental or methodological project that you will be expected to present at a reputable conference
  • participation in applied projects which are aligned with the developmental project
  • mentoring by leading research scientists

Projects

Graduate Fellows positions are available at a number of locations including Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and Brisbane. The positions are advertised annually around October on the Careers with CSIRO webpage.

Eligibility

Fellowships are available to graduates who have completed an undergraduate degree (preferably with honours) in mathematics, statistics, computational science or engineering within the last eight years.

Applicants will be selected according to their interests and the project needs of the supervisor, taking into account academic merit.

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CMIS Graduate Fellows speak about their experience
In this video current and past Graduate Fellows provide their insight into the program.

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Transcript

Rohan Shah (Graduate Fellow 1st intake) – CSIRO’s got a reputation for doing interesting research.

Kate Saunders (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – I wanted a taste for research.

Stuart Mead (Graduate Fellow, 1st intake) – I get to do completely new things, completely exciting things, it’s just a fact of being in research.

Marc Piggott (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – It’s the freedom that you get.

Tarek Elgindy (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – It has been very exciting. There is a lot of really nice applications that we’ve been doing.

Kate Saunders (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – Coming straight out of university, I wanted to explore my options.

Tarek Elgindy (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – There were some really outstanding researchers that I was able to collaborate with..

Amy Chan (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – I was very surprised at the amount of training that I received at the beginning.

Marc Piggott (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – The people I am working with are very supportive, always very interested in getting you to work on interesting projects.

Stuart Mead (Graduate Fellow, 1st intake) – The graduate fellow program attracted me because I didn’t know if I wanted to do a PhD or do something else in the industry but I was quite certain that I wanted to do research and this gave me the opportunity to try out research whilst also still progressing.

Rohan Shah (Graduate Fellow 1st intake) - It was one of the few places I could go straight from university to doing something you know useful and interesting without having a PhD in my field.

Amy Chan (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – As a Maths graduate with an honours degree if I’m looking to stay into research but I didn’t want to jump straight into the PhD, this is basically the only research job out there that pays really well, allows me to do research and doesn’t require me to do the PhD first.

Marc Piggott (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – It’s a good combination of industry experience and research experience.

Stuart Mead (Graduate Fellow, 1st intake) - The next steps for me, I have decided I want to do a PhD. The experience at CSIRO really helps because you can demonstrate that you know how research works, you know you can produce work in research which makes supervisors a lot more willing to get you.

Marc Piggott (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – We’re preparing some software that we’re going to present at a conference.

Tarek Elgindy (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – starting at the drawing board and saying oh here is an idea, how do we break it down, what are the steps we can prove this thing, as someone who is new to the career of research that was all very exciting.

Stuart Mead (Graduate Fellow, 1st intake) – If you are very interested in doing research, being self directed I really would recommend the Graduate Fellows Program.

Tarek Elgindy (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – Graduate Fellows Program is a good opportunity to get some research done while you also get some applied projects involved.

Marc Piggott (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – Industry based work, academic work, you get both of that here.

Amy Chan (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – Decide what you like, there’s definitely options out there.

Stuart Mead (Graduate Fellow, 1st intake) – You can show that you can really make a difference.

Marc Piggott (Graduate Fellow 3rd intake) – It’s an actual research position so that’s what you will be getting yourself into.

Amy Chan (Graduate Fellow 2nd intake) – It's been a lot of fun.

Stuart Mead (Graduate Fellow, 1st intake) – Every day you really are learning something new.

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Reasons for the Graduate Fellows program

We created the Graduate Fellows program to support career development in the mathematical sciences.

CSIRO is already supporting the mathematical sciences in Australia on many different levels.

According to a recent report from the Group of Eight universities, Review of Education in Mathematics, Data Science and Quantitative Disciplines, the mathematical sciences are in crisis.

Talented students are not selecting majors in the mathematical sciences, opting for careers in finance and economics where there is perception of a stronger job market.

As a result Australia is experiencing a shortage of talented quantitatively trained students choosing to take up careers in the mathematical sciences.

CSIRO is already supporting the mathematical sciences in Australia on many different levels, by providing:

  • education outreach to schools
  • internship opportunities
  • scholarships
  • employment opportunities.

The Graduate Fellows program is just one of the ways CSIRO is helping to support the mathematical sciences pipeline in Australia and encouraging talented students to try out a career in research for two years.

The program aims to bridge the gap between the years after completing an honours degree when students are still deciding about their future and whether to pursue postgraduate studies.

Read more about CSIRO’s work in Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics.