"When you know that your research can have a direct impact, that makes a difference."
Snow Li, PhD Candidate from Medicine.
At UNSW Sydney we generate new knowledge and transform research discoveries into successful innovations to benefit society, the economy and future generations. We are committed to providing you with an unmatched PhD experience that includes outstanding research training and mentorship, world-class supervision, and access to research environments defined by excellence and collaboration.
We conduct research across a wide range of areas and invest considerable resources where we believe we can make the biggest difference, such as:
- Solar power (photovoltaics): We hold the world record for the conversion efficiency of a silicon solar cell, and we are home to one of the world’s fastest solar-powered cars.
- Clean drinking water: We created membrane filtration technology to filter water that is now used in taps around the world.
- Population ageing: We are developing economic and health policy frameworks for government and industry to sustainably manage this global challenge.
- Cancer treatment: We are improving diagnostic tools and treatments for cancer patients.
- The world’s first quantum computer: Using silicon, we are one of the global leaders in the race to build a quantum computer.
Key Research Areas
- Biomedical Sciences
- Water, Climate, Environment and Sustainability
- Next Generation Materials and Technologies
- Social Policy, Government and Health Policy
- ICT, Robotics and Devices
- Law, Business and Economics
- Fundamental and Enabling Sciences
- Contemporary Humanities and Creative Arts
- Defence and Security
Top 5 Research Centres
- Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics
- The Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity in Society
- Social Policy Research Centre
- Climate Change Research Centre
- Centre for Quantum Computation & Communication Technology
Top 5 Research Achievements
- UNSW is one of the world’s leading research and technology hubs for clean energy innovation across a range of transformational areas including clean fuels, renewables, grid decarbonisation, transport electrification, energy storage and policy. An example is our development of environmentally friendly thin-film solar cells made from non-toxic and abundant raw materials.
- UNSW is a global leader in health research and bioengineering, with expertise in infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancer treatment, healthcare, neuroscience, bionics, bioengineered materials and technologies, biomolecular innovation and medical imaging analysis. Our researchers are addressing today’s healthcare challenges and driving innovative clinical practices, treatments and devices.
- UNSW is using creativity and inclusion to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges and shape a better future for all. Our current research is promoting the realisation of equity and rights in business, health and gender justice, with an increasing focus on climate change among other pressing human rights issues.
- UNSW is developing better models for understanding climatic processes and dynamics to improve weather and climate prediction and support communities around the globe in the face of climate change. Our researchers are developing an understanding of the physics of storms and clouds, and how they interact with climate, atmosphere-ocean dynamics and teleconnections to regional rainfall variability and change associated with climate patterns particularly in Australia.
- UNSW is leading the world in the race to build a quantum computer in silicon and undertakes world-class research in optical quantum computing and quantum information technologies.
Numbers
- Over 100 Research Centres
- Approximately 4000 Research candidates
- Approximately 2000 Academic Researchers/Supervisors
Interview mit Richard zum PhD an der UNSW
Funding
- The GOstralia! Research Centre in cooperation with UNSW award exclusive PhD full tution fee scholarships open to all faculties. More information
- More funding information and application deadline available here.
- Prospective students can apply for scholarships for research study, or competitive grants as a professional researcher. More information
Research Projects
UNSW Projects
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Science |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Associate Professor Terry Ord, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington |
Project Description: | Ants are remarkable creatures that support their colonies by retrieving items of food in an often complex landscape. There is an extensive amount of research on how various species of ant navigate their surrounding environment, but very little has been done on the common meat ant and virtually no study has investigated the cognitive abilities of problem solving as it relates to efficient foraging behaviour in any ant species.The impacts of temperature on ant activity is well established, but the impact of temperature and climate change on the cognitive ability (and subsequent foraging efficiency) of ants is unknown. This project offers numerous opportunities to fill this knowledge gap and provide a broad assessment of the likely consequence of climate change on an ecologically important and dominant Australian invertebrate. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | UNSW Canberra |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dr Maryam Ghodrat, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | UNSW Canberra |
Project Description: | The aim of this project is to provide a robust smoke transport model to simulate wildfire smoke dispersion in Urban environment. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | UNSW Canberra |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dr Maryam Ghodrat, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | UNSW Canberra |
Project Description: | Smoke is composed of airborne liquid and solid particulates and gases that are emitted when fuels undergo combustion or burning. This project focuses on developing integrated and interactive coupled models of smoke, fire, atmosphere, and canopy; smoke operational and decision support systems; and plume-rise models for wildland fires. The end goal is to improve our understanding of smoke processes and mechanisms, such as factors determining plume evolution, feedbacks to ambient conditions, impacts of multiple updrafts on fire energy and plume rise, and formation of superfog. International and domestic applicants are invited to apply. The position is open until filled. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | UNSW Canberra |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dr Maryam Ghodrat, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | UNSW Canberra |
Project Description: | This research project aims to meticulously investigate the efficacy of a singular or multiple fuelbreaks within a uniform grassland setting situated on both flat and sloped terrains. The comprehensive analysis hinges upon the utilization of advanced 3D numerical simulations, wherein intricate simulations will be conducted employing a sophisticated physical-fire-model, specifically employing the FireFOAM software. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Medicine and Health |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dr Patrick Connerty, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington Campus |
Project Description: | Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a haematological cancer with dismal survival rates in children. A major limitation of AML treatment is the off-target toxicity of current chemotherapeutic therapies. Consequently, there is a need to identify molecular targets which are specific to AML and absent in healthy cells, allowing for a precision medicine approach to treat the disease. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of RNAs which have unique expression profiles in multiple cancers, including AML. Targeting lncRNAs therapeutically is a rapidly emerging field and presents an opportunity to specifically eradicate AML cells. Therefore, the aims of this project are to identify lncRNAs that are both specific and vital for AML cells and explore their potential as therapeutic targets. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Computer Science and Engineering |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Associate Professor Yang Song, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington |
Project Description: | While deep learning has achieved highly accurate performance for many different applications, such as image analysis and natural language processing, there is still significant limitation in its generalisability and robustness. In particular, deep learning models often perform well on the dataset that the models are developed for, but then perform poorly when applied to a different dataset, even when the datasets are for the same tasks. Various approaches have been developed recently to address these issues. In this project, we will further investigate this problem and the potential solutions will be based on domain adaptation, domain generalisation, out-of-distribution learning, meta-learning, etc. This PhD study will involve a comprehensive literature review of the state-of-the-art, selection of a certain type of methodology and application domain (i.e., general computer vision, biomedical imaging, autonomous driving, robotics, etc.), method development and extensive experimental studies. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Medicine and Health |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Professor Simon Rosenbaum, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington Campus |
Project Description: | This project will aim to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a supervised physical activity program as part of a Work and Development Order for people in contact with the criminal justice systems. The project will be conducted in partnership with Addi Moves at the Addison Road Community Organisation in Marrickville. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Medicine and Health |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Winifred Asare-Doku (w.asaredoku@@unsw.edu.au) |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington Campus |
Project Description: | Australia has a large culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population. There is limited evidence of alcohol and other drugs (AoD) use, harms and access to culturally sensitive and inclusive treatment options. Potential work for the PhD program, undertaken in collaboration with community partners, could include: 1. Systematic review of strategies to increase cultural responsiveness of AOD treatment services; Primary supervisor: Associate Professor Amy Peacock |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Candidate requirements: Masters or Honours in public health, psychology, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, biostatistics or a related field |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Material Science and Engineering |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Professor Jan Seidel, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington |
Project Description: | The project involves the study of nanoscale optical, electronic, and chemical properties of halide perovskite solar cell materials using scanning probe microscopy techniques such as AFM, KPFM, NSOM and nano-IR microscopy. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Medicine and Health |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dr Ryan Courtney ([email protected]) |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington Campus |
Project Description: | Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and is forecasted to cause over 8 million deaths per year by 2030, if smoking habits remain unchanged. The recent plateau in the rate of decline in Australian smoking rates, combined with a continuing social gradient in smoking cessation, outlines the unprecedented need for innovative and targeted smoking cessation strategies tailored to the most disadvantaged. This project will address this need by evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a tailored and widely scalable text messaging program, in achieving smoking abstinence for low-socioeconomic status smokers in Australia, compared to standard Quitline care. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Candidate requirements: 1. Masters or Honours in public health, psychology, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, biostatistics or a related field |
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Medicine and Health |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dr Daisy Shu, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington Campus |
Project Description: | Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in the elderly population. The molecular mechanisms driving AMD pathogenesis are yet to be fully elucidated. This PhD project is focused on characterising the metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunctions driving AMD pathogenesis. This project will leverage established AMD patient biobanks of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells and retinal endothelial cells. This project will use cutting-edge molecular biology techniques including examining the bioenergetic profiles of retinal cells, evaluating the role of oxidative stress and assessing mitochondrial ultrastructural morphology. Novel drugs that enhance mitochondrial function will be tested in iPS-RPE derived from AMD patients to restore normal function. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
Using stellar sounds to unravel the physics of stars, their planets, and the Milky Way | UNSW Sydney
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University: | UNSW Sydney |
Faculty: | Science |
Project Start Date: | 04/08/2025 |
Application Deadline: | 02/06/2025 |
Supervisor Name: | Dennis Stello, [email protected] |
Location (City/Campus): | Sydney, Kensington |
Project Description: | The field of asteroseismology -- the study of sound waves inside stars -- is being revolutionized by current NASA and ESA space missions. The data reveal frequencies of sound waves, which in turn provide unprecedented measurements on stellar properties like , size, mass, and age. Projects in the asteroseismology group aims to use these information-rich data sets to: 1. better understand how stars evolve The complexity of the data often involves development of AI-based analysis methods, pioneered by the group's students. |
Funding Information: | UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here. |
Additional Information: | Express your interest in this project by emailing the supervisor listed above. Include a copy of your CV and your academic transcript(s). |
Interviews & Testimonials
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