Picture (above): Lightning storm over Queensland. Credit: TexAus (Flickr CC 2.0).

PhD opportunities are now available to work on projects jointly supervised across the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEX) and Bureau of Meteorology. Candidates will be enrolled in one of the CLEX universities and spend significant time at the Bureau of Meteorology. This will allow the student to experience both the University academic and the publicly funded research agency environment.

Successful candidates will become part of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, an international research consortium of five Australian universities (UNSW, Monash University, The University of Melbourne, The University of Tasmania and The Australian National University) and a suite of outstanding national and international Partner Organizations. The Centre provides excellent opportunities for travel and graduate student development.

The projects come with a $5,000/year top-up funded for 3 years by the Bureau of Meteorology. Successful applicants will also need to be successful in receiving a Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship, or an equivalent primary scholarship.

The following projects are available, and the $5k/year top ups will be awarded to 2 – 3 of these projects:

Enrolled at University of Melbourne

  • Urban thunderstorms: understanding and improving high-resolution simulations of convection and extreme rainfall. Supervisors: Professor Todd Lane (UniMelb)- tplane@unimelb.edu.au, Humphrey Lean (UK Met Office), Charmaine Franklin (BoM)
  • Data assimilation methods for forecasts in an alternative climate. Supervisors: Professor Craig Bishop (UniMelb)- craig.bishop@unimelb.edu.au, Dr Pandora Hope (BoM)
  • The climatology of severe convective winds in Australia and their sensitivity to global warming. Supervisors: Professor Todd Lane (UniMelb)- tplane@unimelb.edu.au, Dr Andrew Dowdy (BoM)

Enrolled at Monash University

  • Understanding the role of SAM on Australian climate variability and extremes in the present climate and in a warmer world. Supervisors: A/Professor Julie Arblaster (Monash)- julie.arblaster@monash.edu, Dr Ghyslaine Boschat (BoM) and Dr Ariaan Purich (UNSW)

Enrolled at the Australian National University

  • TBC

Enrolled at UNSW Sydney

  • TBC

We seek expressions of interest from outstanding graduates with a strong academic record (e.g. Honours class I, Masters by research, or equivalent). Graduates with a strong background in mathematics, physics, atmospheric science, oceanography, climate science, engineering, or similar quantitative sciences are particularly encouraged to apply.

Project-specific questions should be directed to each project’s lead supervisor. Expressions of interest should be submitted here. Note: this is not an official application, if your expression of interest is accepted, we will guide you through the application process.