HDR Scholarship - First Nations Graduate Research Scholarship

The Deakin University First Nations Graduate Research Scholarship is designed to enhance support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduate researchers.

By offering a competitive and supportive scholarship, Deakin hopes to provide better opportunities for Indigenous graduate researchers. The new scholarship is part of Deakin’s broader strategy to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in graduate research and contributes to the commitment in the Deakin Indigenous Strategy 2023 – 2028 to “empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Communities to understand and undertake research themselves, and recognising their rights and ancestral responsibilities as participants and researchers”.

Important dates

Applications for candidatures commencing from 1 May to 27 October 2025 are now open.

Full applications must be submitted by the round closing dates as below.

For further information, visit How to apply for a research degree.

2025 domestic round 2:
Closes 9 March 2025 (for mid-year intake)

2026 domestic round:
Closes 24 October 2025 (for February 2026 intake)

Benefits

Stipend and allowances

A stipend of $52,352 per annum tax exempt (2025 rate)

A $15,000 Research Bursary will be available for the duration of the candidature to help support the costs associated with the additional complexity that Indigenous researchers experience in fulfilling their obligations and responsibilities to Country, family, kinship relationships, community and the academy, and acknowledging the appropriate and respectful relationships that need to be maintained.

Doctoral degree duration
3 years for stipend and 4 years for the tuition fees offset

Masters degree duration
2 years for stipend and 2 years for the tuition fees offset

_{Please note: terms and conditions apply}

Eligibility criteria

Prospective candidates should ensure they meet all criteria before submitting their application.

To be eligible for this scholarship, a person must be a member of the “Aboriginal race” of Australia or a descendant of an Indigenous inhabitant of the Torres Strait Islands. For the avoidance of doubt, this means a person:

is of Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent; and
identifies as an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander; and
is accepted as an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in the Indigenous Australian community in which they live or have lived.

To demonstrate meeting these requirements, individuals must include a written statement to address the first two elements, and provide one of the following documents to meet the third requirement:

Confirmation of Aboriginality (COA)
Letter of support from a Local Aboriginal Land Council
Parents COA with a birth certificate
Letter of support from a local Indigenous cooperative or community organisation (such as a medical or legal service)

Please note, that statutory declarations are no longer accepted in lieu of one of the above documents.

To be eligible for this stipend, a student must not be receiving income from another source to support that student’s general living costs while undertaking their course of study if that income is greater than 75% of that student’s First Nations RTP Stipend rate. Income unrelated to the student’s course of study or income received for the student’s course of study but not for the purposes of supporting general living costs is not to be taken into account.

Please refer to the research degree entry pathways page for information on admission requirements to a HDR course at Deakin University.

For information about our RTP Scholarship Policy please refer to the Higher Degrees by Research (HDR) Scholarships Procedure.

Selection criteria

The First Nations Graduate Research Scholarship will be awarded to students as the result of a competitive process outlined in the ranking guidelines as below. Students receiving this award will be enrolled as on-campus full-time students.

Applicants for the First Nations Graduate Research Scholarship must:

have completed at least four years of tertiary education studies
have achieved 80% or equivalent in the research component of their previous study or an equivalent level of academic attainment, taking into account previous study, relevant work experience, research publications and other research experience
meet all other minimum entry requirements according to the Higher Degrees by Research (HDR) Admission, Selection and Enrolment Procedure, and all eligibility criteria of this scholarship. Please refer to research degree entry pathways.

How to apply

Prospective students

Learn more about submitting a successful application on the how to apply page.

How to apply

Current students

Complete the Current enrolled HDR student scholarship application form.

Apply for this scholarship (DOCX, 49.9KB)

The scholarship application process is highly competitive with a limited number of scholarships available. Unfortunately, not all eligible applicants will receive one.

What happens next?

Your application will be assessed and ranked based on the details you provide and your supporting documentation.

If you are successful, you will be contacted by the email address you nominated within your application portal account, unsuccessful applicants will not be contacted.

You'll find out if you were successful usually within six weeks of the application closing date. If you have not received an offer by this time, you have been unsuccessful. You can view the status of your application via your scholarship application portal account.