The ARC Centre of Excellence Undergraduate Summer Scholarships in Climate System Science are highly competitive scholarships intended to provide undergraduate students from Australian universities an introduction to cutting-edge climate science research at one of our five universities, or our national partners- CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Students should be in their second, third, or post-honours year and interested in pursuing a postgraduate degree in climate system science. Current Centre of Excellence students are not eligible for this scholarship.

Scholarships are available for  students to conduct supervised research for a six-week period during the summer break from November to February, with a break around the holidays. The scholarships are valued at $3,800 for the six-week research project (projects based at Monash are paid at $500/week for 6-8 weeks).

Students will conduct supervised research on one of the following projects:

Based at UNSW

1. Climate-carbon cycle interactions on centennial to millennial time scales [More information]
2. Spatial patterns of precipitation changes in a warming world [More information]
3. The deep pathways of ocean circulation around Australia from Argo floats [More information]
4. How will the Southern Ocean respond to Anthropogenic Forcing? [More information]
5. Future projections of heat waves [More information]
6. Biological production in the ocean estimated from satellite observations and Lagrangian modelling [More information]
7. Fractal geometry of sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll fronts [More information]

Based at University of Tasmania

8. Pathways and dynamics of the upper limb of the overturning circulation [More information]
9. Standing meanders and transient eddies near the Macquarie Ridge [More information]
10. Improved estimates of North Atlantic heat and freshwater transport [More information]
11. Interactions between physics and biology in Leeuwin Current eddies [More information]

Based at CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology

12. The relationship between reduced rainfall and heat waves (this project can be based at either UNSW or CSIRO Hobart) [More information]
13. Cool changes in Southern Australia (based at the Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne) [More information]
14. Ozone and Australian climate variability (based at the Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne) [More information]

Based at University of Melbourne

15. How much is climate change influencing Australia’s extreme temperatures? [More information]
16. Water vapour transport into the stratosphere due to the Australian Monsoon [More information]

Based at Monash University

Note- projects based at Monash University need to apply through the Monash Scholarship website, applications open September 16, close October 11.

17. Rossby waves and climate variability in southern Australia [More information]
18. The impact of modelled sea surface temperature errors on Australian Climate [More information]
19. A hail climatology for Victoria and associated proximity environments [More information]

Students interested in applying for UNSW, UTAS, UMelb, CSIRO and BoM based projects should provide a package containing:

• a cover letter explaining their interest in the scholarship program and a ranked shortlist of up to 3 projects they are keen to work on,
• a current academic transcript, and
• a short CV with particular focus on their computational skills.

This package should be sent to coecss.grad@unsw.edu.au before 15 October 2013. It is anticipated that applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application within three weeks of the closing date.

For further information, contact Graduate Director- Dr. Melissa Hart