If you would like more information or have any questions about this scholarship, please contact the project supervisors.
Professor Colin Bell
+61 3 5227 8043
Systems thinking for healthy schools
Applications close 5pm, Monday 15 June, 2026
Supporting a PhD candidate to research community-based systems dynamics and active implementation methods to help schools implement healthy environments.
Key details
Project supervisor
Deakin school and faculty
Additional supervisors
Location
Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus
Value and duration
This scholarship is available over three years and offers:
- a stipend of $37,450 per annum tax exempt (2026 rate)
- a relocation allowance of $500-1,500 (for single to family) for students moving from interstate.
Research aim
This PhD project explores community-based systems dynamics and active implementation methods for helping schools implement healthy school environments. Research questions the project will seek to answer are:
- can community-based system dynamics and active implementation be effectively integrated?
- are there implementation strategies that are cost-effective, acceptable, utilised, appropriate, feasible, delivered as intended and maintained in schools and what is the penetration?
- who is responsible for supporting schools with implementation strategies and where does accountability sit?
Answering these questions will provide school communities, partners and government with direct insight into how best support ongoing health promotion efforts in schools.
Background information
Our research at the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) helps communities take actions that safeguard children and improve their wellbeing. We have helped communities protect children from unhealthy weight gain for up to two years, something only a handful of other research groups have been able to achieve. Our most recent trial was designed to protect children for four years. Beyond two years however, we found that protection weakened and obesity returned. Feedback from communities pointed to the need for implementation support to help them reliably and sustainably provide healthy school environments. Nobody has explored whether system-wide changes to school environments can be implemented and sustained so that successive cohorts of children are protected from unhealthy weight gain.
This project will be a part of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded Systems Thinking with Active Implementation Research (STAIR) trial which sets out to do this by bringing together world-leading researchers experienced in community-based systems dynamics and implementation science with service delivery partners (Victorian Departments of Education and Health, Royal Flying Doctors Service, VicHealth) to identify determinants and interventions for obesity prevention and to trial co-designed implementation strategies to help schools sustain intervention actions. If successful, this study will be the first Australian study to test co-designed implementation strategies for helping schools sustain healthy environments.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible you must:
- meet Deakin's PhD entry requirements
- enrol full time
- hold an honours degree (first class) or an equivalent standard masters degree with a substantial research component.
- be a domestic student candidate (domestic includes candidates with Australian Citizenship, Australian Permanent Residency, or New Zealand Citizenship)
Please refer to the research degree entry pathways page for further information.
Ready to apply?
Please email your CV, academic transcript and example of written work, such as journal article, report or student assignment, to Professor Colin Bell. Your CV should highlight your skills, education, publications and relevant work experience. If successful, you will be invited to submit a formal 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.
