PhD Scholarship – Social Policy - ARC Discovery Grant: Young People with Disability & Young Carers: Opportunities & Contributions

Outstanding candidates are sought for a three-year PhD scholarship for full-time research on an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research project “Young People with Disability & Young Carers: Opportunities & Contributions". This ground-breaking project in social policy is a partnership between Flinders University and Lancaster University, UK. It is co-designed with young people as community researchers and advisors.  

Disability and chronic illness impact the lives of both young people with disability and young carers, who comprise a large proportion of all young Australians: about a fifth of school-aged Australians access disability-related support and just under one in ten under 25s provide care for a family member with disability. In recent decades, Australia has sought to recognise the rights of young people with disability and young carers, as evident in the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (2008) and the passing of the Carer Recognition Act (2010). Australia has also made substantial investments in social policy initiatives through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (2013) and interventions to support young carers at school. Despite these policy efforts, young people with disability and young carers continue to experience material disadvantage, poor educational outcomes, unemployment and social exclusion.

However, our understanding of the circumstances of young people with disability and young carers and how social policy supports them is greatly limited by a lack of knowledge of opportunities that young people with disability and young carers value (e.g., with respect to education or employment) or contributions they regard as important (e.g., in terms of caregiving, family formation, or active citizenship), or the role of policy in supporting their contributions.

The PhD project should aim to address this gap in knowledge by examining an aspect of social policy as it impacts on young people with disability and young carers (aged 12–24 years). The project could take advantage of existing large scale survey data or engage in in-depth qualitative research to produce evidence on young people’s interactions with policy interventions and how these support their aspirations and access to opportunities they value. There will be opportunities for developing skills in both qualitative and quantitative research, and policy analysis. Project leaders will welcome applications from a broad range of disciplines (eg., social sciences, public health, education, disability studies) that contribute to debates in social policy.

The PhD candidate will receive supervision from Professor Gerry Redmond (College of Business, Government & Law); and Professors Sally Robinson and Joanne Arciuli (both of College of Nursing and Health Sciences); with support of emeritus Professor Eric Emerson, Lancaster University.

The scholarship includes:

• a stipend valued at $33,000* per annum tax free 
• a Research Training Program Fee Offset to cover all tuition fees (applies only to domestic students).
• flexible financial support to cover fieldwork costs, conferences or editing.

The scholarship will be awarded for a maximum of three years. Recipients may be eligible for one six-month extension subject to application and consideration by the Scholarships Committee.

People with lived experience as a young person with disability and/or young carer are encouraged to apply.

To be eligible for the award of this scholarship a student must:

• be an Australian citizen; a New Zealand citizen or an Australian permanent resident at the closing date for applications; or an international student who meets the postgraduate entry requirements and the English proficiency levels set by Flinders University for international students at the time of application; and
• be enrolled or be able to commence a research higher degree at Flinders University in Semester 2, 2023, or Semester 1, 2024; and
• have completed a Bachelor degree with Second Class (Division A) Honours or above, or an equivalent level of academic attainment in a relevant field.
• Meet the other general conditions of the award which will be as per current conditions of award for Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships.