Industry Engagement Opportunities

Industry or Research End User  is defined as an individual, community or organisation external to academia that will directly use or directly benefit from the output, outcome or results of the research.

Examples of end users includes:

businesses, governments, non-governmental organisations, communities and community organisations.

Specific exclusions of research end-user are:

• Other higher education providers
• Organisations that are affiliates, controlled entities or subsidiaries (such as Medical Research Institutes) of a higher education provider
• Equivalents (international or domestic) of the above exclusions (Department of Education, Skills and Employment)

Please click here for examples of End user Reporting Codes.

If the primary purpose of the project is to fund a research student stipend through a research contract,  particular care must be taken with negotiating terms and conditions. The Research and Innovation Services Contracts team works with the Graduate Research School to arrange agreements where there is a student involved.

I am an industry partner looking to support a HDR research candidate through a scholarship

The purpose of an Industry research scholarship is to provide living allowance support to the candidate during their studies.  There are a variety of ways industry can support from full scholarships to top up scholarships. If you are an industry partner further information is explained in this information document on supporting a candidates.

I am an industry partner looking to donate money to support a HDR candidates scholarship

These are called philanthropic scholarships. usually donors are individuals who support  HDR scholarships. The Advancement office looks after these opportunities and works in partnership with the the Graduate School to oversee the  establishment of new HDR philanthropic scholarships, their advertisement  and  award. if you wish to donate money to support a HDR candidate, please see more information here.

I am an Advisor wishing to seek industry funding to support a HDR candidate. 

As an advisor it is important to understand how to work with the teams at JCU to support a candidate. This industry scholarships information guide for Advisors is a useful information resource, to help you when considering Industry support for a candidate. It is also useful for candidates to understand how these are established.

JCU aspires to be an entrepreneurial university for the tropics. We want to ensure that our Higher Degree by Research candidates are inspired to create solutions and deliver impact in their chosen field.  More than 50 per cent of HDR graduates find a career outside academia.  We want to ensure that candidates who wish to pursue a pathway to becoming an entrepreneur, including those who wish to commercialise the outcomes of their research, are well prepared by the time they complete their research degree.

As part of our professional development offering at JCU, we are introducing a new pathway to assist in maximising candidates’ research impact through entrepreneurial skills training. This new undertaking will consist of HDR-tailored introductory and advanced sessions, starting with an overview of what is possible, titled Lab to Market, leading through to Entrepreneur Simulator experiences and coursework subjects for those who wish to go further.

JCU draws upon the resources and expertise of Research and Innovation Services to provide the guidance and training you need to turn your research ideas into a fulfilling career.  We encourage candidates from all disciplines to think broadly about what non-traditional careers might be possible for a research-degree qualified graduate and how your ideas might one day be turned into products in the marketplace.

HDR candidates can count all training in Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation towards RD/RM7003 Professional Development, and may choose to exclusively focus on these activities in the Flexible Component category.

The purpose of the National Industry PhD Program is to ramp up university and industry collaboration and innovation by facilitating 1,300 Industry PhDs over 10 years.  The program commenced in 2023.

Round 4 closed 9 August 2024.  Please check back for Round 5 opening dates!

If you wish to apply for this program, please contact grs.staff@jcu.edu.au for access to the online system.

CSIRO Industry PhD (iPhD) Program

CSIRO's Industry PhD (iPhD) Program brings together an industry partner, a university and Australia’s leading science agency, CSIRO, to co-develop a four-year industry-focused PhD project. PhD students will gain unique skills to focus on impact-driven research. The iPhD program is part of an Australian Government initiative to better translate university research into commercial outcomes.

CSIRO has implemented a new EOI submission process  for the iPhD Program. All EOIs must be lodged via the online submission portal with all partners involved in the submission. The leading supervisor (university, CSIRO or industry) will need to register an account and then invite the other supervisors to register also. This will provide access so all supervisors can work together on the EOI form individually, or simultaneously. For further information on how to use the online submission portal, see this video, written guide or download the read-only EOI form.

For 2026 expression of interest intakes, round one will open on 2 February and close on 2 April. Round two will open on 4 May and close on 7 August. For EOIs submitted in 2026, projects are expected to start late 2026/early 2027.

CSIRO will host an information webinar on Friday 6 February, 12:30pm to 1:15pm AEDT. Register here.

For projects commencing late 2026/early 2027, please see the below details:

• Projects will include a full Government-funded base scholarship, project expense and development package, and funds for student training as per the rates listed in the table below.
• The industry partner is required to contribute an annual top-up as per the rates listed in the table below.
• As part of the PhD project, the student will complete a three-month industry engagement component, as well as receiving career and professional development training by CSIRO.

Refer to the iPhD Program Rules, website and university brochure for more information.

CSIRO :The NextGen Graduates Program

The Program will fund nationally competitive scholarships to attract and train the next generation of artificial intelligence (‘AI’) and emerging technologies specialists and build technology capability and skills across a range of fields. The Programs will provide scholarships to domestic students (Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents) only.

It is a cohort-based, industry driven, multi-disciplinary Graduate Training Program. A cohort of students is a group of students, an expected minimum of 10, who enrol at the same time and are working on related projects that tackle a real-world challenge. When enrolling through a cohort program the students are expected to collaborate with each other and to utilise peer to peer learning, expanding on their different backgrounds and experience to provide richer research environment

Essential course work is part of the program and is Open to Masters students right through to PhD

For more information please see CSIRO NextGen website.

More on CSIRO and JCU collaboration can be found here!