Find a research supervisor

Apply for a higher degree for research

Outline my research project and seek a supervisor

This is an important part of the application process to ensure Flinders can provide you with suitable supervision and research resources. Identifying a supervisor is as important as identifying the research project and an early discussion will allow you and a potential supervisor to explore opportunities.

You are more likely to be successful in securing supervision if your area of research interest falls within a Flinders University Research area.

Professional HDR courses

If you are considering applying for one of the following courses, please contact the Course Coordinator before you contact a prospective supervisor:

Thesis only HDR courses

For PhD and Master by Research thesis only courses, prepare the following information before you contact an academic staff member about supervising your project.

Research experience statement

In a maximum of two pages, summarise:

Your name and contact details eg skype/ email/ phone
University course/s where you undertook research. Include:
Length of course in full time years
Thesis title, word length and abstract
the proportion of research in the overall course.
Relevant research employment experience, if any
Publications relevant to proposed research, if any. Provide URL, Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number and title OR evidence of artefact or creative works or other research output.

Save your research experience statement as a single pdf entitled ‘(Your surname) experience’.pdf

Research outline

Many potential supervisors will want to read about your proposed research before they consider supervising it. Prepare a research outline that defines the direction you want your HDR project to take you, using the guide below.

In approximately 500 words, write a clear description of your proposed HDR research project that outlines the what, why and how.

Include a suggested title.
Provide a brief statement of what your research will try to achieve: What is its aim? What are the objectives?
Demonstrate your engagement with a Flinders Research area. Demonstrate how your proposed research aligns with your proposed supervisor’s work.
Investigate what has already been published in the area. Your project must aim to make a significant –and for doctoral level, original- contribution to that field. Demonstrate originality.
Include the proposed methodology.
Include a timeline NB full-time Masters are expected to be completed within two years and full-time PhDs within three years (thesis only degrees).
Include a bibliography.
Estimate any potential significant projects costs, if possible. This will help the College review whether funding is available.
Save your research outline as a single pdf entitled ‘(Your surname) research outline’.pdf

Academic transcripts, if available

Provide, in English, academic transcripts for relevant university courses only.
Including a grading key (found on the back of the transcript or provide a hyperlink to the grades page for your alma mater)
If your official academic transcript is available via the My eQuals platform you can provide the URL, and password if needed, to allow access to the digital document
Save your academic transcripts as a single pdf containing only relevant transcripts, in order of most to least recent/ relevant, entitled ‘(Surname) transcripts’

Search for a research supervisor

Once you have prepared the information above, you are ready to start searching for an academic staff member to supervise your thesis.

You are more likely to be successful in securing supervision if your area of research interest falls within a Flinders University Research area.

To identify a prospective supervisor, review the Research supervisors named on Flinders Research area page that best matches your project.

You should carefully review the information on the staff member’s ‘Research’ and ‘HDR supervision’ tabs to explore whether you think they are a good match for you and your proposed research.

Contact them and provide your drafted Research outline and Research statement.

Let them know that you have followed the instructions on this ‘Find a supervisor’ website.

If your area of interest is not one of the Research areas at Flinders, type key words in the search box below to describe your area of interest. Review the generated list of academic staff. Please note, not all staff on the list can supervise HDR projects and if not, they will refer your enquiry on.

Find a supervisor

Search for experts by name, research, topic or role.

No academic staff can supervise me. What do I do next?

If you have contacted a number of academic staff without successfully identifying a potential HDR supervisor for your project, you are welcome to email the HDR Admissions team hdr.admissions@flinders.edu.au who require the following information before they can determine whether further assistance can be provided:

the search terms you used and/or how you identified prospective supervisors
the information you prepared for the prospective supervisors (per instructions above) •
the names of the staff you have attempted to contact and any evidence of returned emails from those staff.