Become a program partner and support a PhD student undertake a research project that tackles your business problem. Students are jointly supervised by the industry partner, the student's university, and CSIRO.
Expressions of interest
If you work in industry and have a project idea, and would like to commence the EOI process, please contact us. Round 1 expressions of interest are open until 19 April 2024 for new projects.
Program benefits
- Develop new, or strengthen relationships with universities and CSIRO
- Gain new knowledge and research solutions for challenges facing your organisation
- Enhance innovation and build R&D pipelines through university and CSIRO knowledge transfer
- Gain access to university and CSIRO facilities and expertise
- Develop highly skilled and customised talent to assist with future recruitment.
Program funding and support
The iPhD program is funded by the Australian Government and the industry partner for up to four years. Funding for each year consists of three components:
- Student Scholarship of $47,020 p.a. (2025 rate) comprising of $35,020 p.a. provided by the Government and $12,000 p.a. provided by the industry partner.
- Project Expense and Development package of up to $13,000 p.a. provided by the Government for research operating costs and research skill development.
- Student career and professional development training funding provided by the Government and developed/delivered by CSIRO.
Program funding amounts increase annually. Please refer to our Program Rules for yearly rates.
Program requirements
iPhD projects must:
- align with CSIRO and Government priorities
- address an industry problem while complying with the university PhD requirements
- be up to four years duration
- include at least 60 workdays of project related activities under the guidance of the industry partner, which is referred to as the Industry Engagement component.
Industry Partners must:
- have a registered ABN or ACN
- have a substantial presence in Australian presence
- commit to fund a top-up scholarship for the student. For projects commencing in 2025, the total cost over four years is $49,091 (excluding GST)
- provide a suitably experienced staff member to co-supervise the student
- provide the student with a 60-day Industry Engagement component
- be a Research End User
- provide access to facilities and infrastructure, if required for the project
Project development stages
Expressions of Interest (EOI) are accepted from 1 February each year. The round will be divided into two phases, a primary phase with EOIs due on 19 April, and a secondary phase with EOIs due on 23 August. EOIs must meet program eligibility requirements and will be evaluated against assessment criterion. Please refer to our Program Rules for further information. If successful, a Collaboration Agreement will be executed between the involved parties and the project is then advertised via the participating university for a student. For EOI’s submitted in 2024, projects are expected to start late 2024/early 2025.
Infographic explaining the project development stages and approximate timeframes of the CSIRO Industry PhD Program. PhD project development Collaboration agreement Student recruitment iPhD commencement
Program resources
Key documents
- Program Rules PDF (498 KB)
- Program Rules TXT (28 KB)
- Expression of Interest form PDF (1 MB) (read only, request editable copy by emailing the iPhD team)
- Expression of Interest form TXT (15 KB)