University of Tasmania, Australia

UTAS ELITE Scholarship in Southeast Australia Fire Ecology

The University of Tasmania has over 100 Elite Research Scholarships for PhD candidates in areas we excel in: the health and medical sciences, natural, physical and applied sciences, as well as business and management, regional development, education and the humanities.  Our Elite Research Scholarships are valued at over $30,000 per annum tax-free, and are available for three years, with a possible six-month extension.  We also support our PhD candidates with a suite of practical resources throughout their Higher Degrees by Research including laptops, opportunities for performance-based scholarship top ups, cloud data storage, a conference support fund, generic skilling and supportive candidature management which help each candidate navigate their own research path.

If you have an outstanding academic record and a passion for research we probably have an Elite Research Scholarship for you. Promising candidates within Australia and New Zealand are eligible for a return airfare to visit UTAS and their School of interest to help them decide. And if chosen, generous relocation support is available.  The Elite Research Scholarship is restricted to exceptional applicants whose research for their PhD will occur in a well-defined and managed (supervised) project.

Read more: 2013 Elite Research Scholarships at University of Tasmania, Australia : College Scholarships, PhD Scholarships, Postdoctoral, Graduate International Scholarships Fellowships
http://scholarship-positions.com

Comparative fire ecology of Tasmania and the Australian Alps

The Australian Alps, that span NSW, ACT and Victoria, has been impacted by a number of severe fires over the last decade, yet biologically similar ecosystems in Tasmania remains largely unaffected by such ‘megafires’.  Understanding the ecology of these fires is of great interest for fundamental and applied reasons. Targeted ecological studies provide opportunities to disentangle the effects of topography, vegetation type, land management and land tenure on fire spread, and statistical models developed from these studies can help identify areas at risk in Tasmania.  Understanding how fire history influences the spread and severity of subsequent fires is important in helping formulate sustainable fire management including prescribed burning and national park and production forest management. This project is part of a larger research effort that will build fire histories in south-eastern Australia from the satellite record and analyse them using geospatial statistics.  An allied field program will be undertaken to compare fire intensity and fuel loads in a cross-section of forest types in Victoria and Tasmania. The goal of the project is to better equip land managers to manage landscapes at risk of extremely intense bushfires.  The project is supported by grants from NASA (USA) and National Environmental Research Program (NERP) from the Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.