University of Wollongong PhD Scholarship

PhD Scholarship Opportunity at the University of Wollongong

This post announces a funded PhD scholarship at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in Australia on gender-based violence in the context of work, with a focus on reporting, help-seeking, and access to justice. The project is interdisciplinary and sits at the intersection of law, sociology, social work, criminology, and related policy/practice fields.

The scholarship is part of UOW’s Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Doctoral Training Program and is supervised by Associate Professor Sarah Ailwood (principal supervisor), Dr Rachel Loney-Howes (secondary supervisor), and Dr Laura Vidal (associate supervisor). The candidate will be based in UOW’s Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities HDR environment and will have opportunities to engage with policy and practice communities as well as community legal and social service organisations.

Research themes mentioned in the call include barriers to reporting gender-based violence in workplace and employment contexts, experiences of help-seeking and access to legal/organisational/community-based responses, the effectiveness of integrated legal and social service models, and policy/practice/systemic reforms to improve equity, accessibility, and sustainability of responses.

Eligibility highlights: applicants should have an Honours degree (ideally first class) or a Master’s degree with a major research component in criminology, law, sociology, social work, gender studies, public policy, or a closely related discipline. The ideal candidate will have a strong academic record, independent research capacity, interest in gender-based violence and work/employment, and preferably experience with qualitative, participatory, feminist, and/or trauma-informed research methods.

Funding: the scholarship is open to Australian domestic students and provides a stipend of $36,943 per annum, indexed annually. The successful candidate may hold paid employment provided it does not adversely affect PhD progress.

Application window: proposals are due 29 June 2026, and the successful candidate must commence by 31 August 2026. Applicants should submit a 3–4 page research proposal, CV, academic transcripts, a one-page cover letter, and referee contact details. Applications are to be emailed to [email protected].