How to Find a PhD Supervisor in Australia (and Get Funded)

Australia runs on a genuine funding floor, similar in spirit to Canada's guaranteed minimums, called the Research Training Program (RTP). It's easy to read that as "funding is basically guaranteed in Australia," which isn't quite right. The RTP sets the stipend rate once you're awarded a funded place, it doesn't create that place for you. A supervisor generally still has to want you specifically before an RTP allocation happens at all.

How Australian PhD funding actually works

The RTP is a government-funded scheme that Australian universities use to cover PhD stipends, tuition, and a portion of overhead costs. Each university receives a block of RTP funding and allocates it across a limited number of places each year, at a rate the university itself sets within government minimum and maximum bounds. Getting one of those places still typically depends on a supervisor's willingness to take you on, in Australia's HDR (Higher Degree by Research) system, the supervisor relationship is central, closer to the individual-doctorate model than a purely committee-run process.

Real RTP stipend numbers, by university

Actual published rates, not estimates, confirm the current number on each university's own scholarships page before relying on it. All figures are tax-free for the first 4 years:

• University of Sydney: $42,754/year
• University of Melbourne: $39,500/year
• UniSC: $38,000/year
• University of Queensland: $37,500/year
• Monash University: $37,145/year
• QUT: $37,010/year
• Flinders University: $36,061/year
• Griffith University: $35,656/year

Part-time places are typically funded at 50% of the full-time rate. The range between universities is real, over $7,000/year between the lowest and highest listed here, worth factoring into where you target, not just who.

How to actually find a supervisor

• Search the university's HDR supervisor directory, most Australian universities maintain a searchable database specifically for prospective research students, more current than a general staff directory.
• Check recent publications in your niche to find who's actively producing work right now, not just who has a department profile.
• Contact the graduate research coordinator in the relevant school if you can't identify a clear fit, a real, underused shortcut, they often know who has current capacity before it's posted anywhere.
• Ask current HDR students in a group you're considering; they'll tell you more about a supervisor's actual working style than a profile page will.

What to actually include in the first email

Same core structure as everywhere else: a proper greeting, a specific line on their actual recent research, your relevant background, and a clean one-page CV attached. See how to email a professor for PhD funding for the full structure, and the right CV format for a cold email specifically. If you already hold external funding, mention it, that's useful disclosure. Don't open by asking whether they personally have an RTP place for you.

Why cold-emailing still matters despite the RTP floor

A set stipend rate removes some financial uncertainty once you're in, it doesn't remove the supervisor's decision before that. Popular professors get 100-200 cold emails a month regardless of country and decide whether to reply in about four seconds, Australia's funding structure doesn't change that filter at all. GradScoutFunding finds professors filtered by field and country (including Australia), confirms they're actively publishing, and drafts a personalised email grounded in their real work for you to review and send. Try the professor search tool free, your first 2 credits cost nothing.

Common questions