I recently contacted a professor at an Australian university about PhD study. He said he would be happy for me to join his group however scholarships in Australia are very competitive and often given to those who have already published research. I'm a final year MSci student and I am on track for a first but does anyone know of any UK based scholarships I could use to fund or part fund my study over there?

Hi, Muchalnia,

I am not sure about UK scholarships for Australia study, but you could ask to be put forward for the next Australian scholarships round. Contact the Admissions and Scholarships department for more info. Start only after you have the outcome of the scholarship. Look at JASON database too for scholarship information. Unless you are wealthy, do not accept doing a PhD without living allowance.

Also, do consider that unlike UK, there are far less international conferences in Australia. You will not be able to hop on a train to another Uk city or take a short flight to Europe for conferences or lab visits. If you think that living scholarships in Australia are very competitive, think about the competition for travel grants to go abroad. You do need lots of exposure and networking during your PhD for a successful career later. Where do you most likely want to work after your PhD? The research job market in Australia is much smaller than UK and Europe too. The current NHMRC funding in Australia has a success rate of 13%. Not sure how the rate will be when you graduate and want to apply for fellowship or project grants. Do take all these into consideration in your decision.

Spending time abroad will almost always improve your CV. It shows that you are not afraid of risks, you are flexible, you take initiative when you really want something and you manage to adapt to a new place. All qualities that companies value very much and let's face it: that's where 80% of PhD students will end up. Most (decent) universities have nice scholarships with a travel budget. Most of my friends and colleagues go regularly overseas for conferences. I would bet this is the same in Australia. Everything is so international today that it is absolutely no problem to go back to the UK after a PhD in Australia.

Almost all universities in Australia have a PhD program. Just apply as an international and see what you get. Everything is competitive nowadays. Definitely don't do a PhD without full funding.