If you have any questions about this scholarship, please email the Researcher Development Academy.
Need more information? Download the terms and conditions.
First Nations graduate research scholarship
Applications will open on 20 January 2026 and close on 13 March 2026 (July 2026 intake)
Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander graduate researchers.
About this scholarship
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’.
Value
- Stipend of $53,608 per annum tax exempt.
- $15,000 research bursary 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.
Duration
- Doctoral degree: three years for stipend and four years for the tuition fees offset.
- Masters degree: two years for stipend and two years for the tuition fees offset.
Am I eligible?
Ensure you meet all criteria before submitting an application. To be eligible for this scholarship, you must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. This means you are:
- of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent; and
- identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander; and
- are accepted as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander by the community in which you live or have lived.
To demonstrate meeting these requirements, you 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 medical or legal service)
Please note: statutory declarations are no longer accepted in lieu of one of the above documents.
Additionally, to be eligible for this stipend, you:
- must not be receiving income from another source to support your living costs while undertaking your course of study if that income is greater than 75% of your First Nations RTP Stipend rate. Income unrelated to the your course of study or received for your course of study but not for the purposes of supporting general living costs is not considered.
For information about our RTP Scholarship Policy please refer to the Higher Degrees by Research (HDR) Scholarships Procedure.
Selection criteria
To be awarded the First Nations graduate research scholarship you must:
- have completed at least four years of tertiary education studies
- have achieved 80% or equivalent in the research component of your 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.
Ready to apply?
Current graduate researchers
Complete the currently enrolled graduate researcher scholarship application form (DOCX, 50KB)
Prospective graduate researchers
Learn more about submitting a successful application.
Research degree entry requirements
Set yourself up for success. Each type of Deakin research degree has specific entry requirements designed to ensure that graduate researchers are well prepared for the challenges of advanced study.
