PhD Scholarship - Wiser Healthcare

About the role

A three-year fixed-term PhD scholarship is available for a motivated PhD candidate to join Wiser Healthcare at Monash University, within the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. The scholarship is funded by the NHMRC and sits in a new Centre of Research Excellence focused on strengthening health system sustainability and resilience. It is supervised by Professors Denise O'Connor and Rachelle Buchbinder.

The CRE brings together researchers from five Australian universities, consumers, clinicians, health service organisations and policymakers to tackle overuse of low-value care and underuse of effective care. The research questions will be developed with the candidate, with potential areas including healthcare overuse and underuse, (de-)implementation science, health system sustainability, environmentally sustainable health care and the development and evaluation of interventions to improve healthcare delivery.

Required profile

• Australian citizenship, New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residency; international applicants are not eligible.
• An Honours or Master's degree with a substantial research component, or equivalent research experience, in a relevant clinical or methodological discipline such as medicine, allied health, nursing, public health, health services research, implementation science, data science/biostatistics, health economics, epidemiology or another relevant field.
• A strong academic record and demonstrated aptitude for research.
• An interest in improving the value, sustainability, equity and/or quality of health care.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team.
• Strong organisational, analytical and interpersonal skills.

What we offer

• A tax-free Research Living Allowance of $41,400 AUD per annum (2027 full-time rate), indexed plus allowances as per the RTP stipend scholarship conditions.
• Supervision by internationally recognised researchers and integration into CRE methods groups and multidisciplinary research teams.
• Participation in the CRE's research capacity-building program, with mentoring, professional development, research dissemination and involvement in the wider Wiser Healthcare network.

Applicants must meet the PhD admission criteria at Monash University and submit an expression of interest by 7 December 2026, including a cover letter, CV with publications, academic record, referee contacts and proof of English proficiency if held. Enrolment is expected by January-February 2027.