University of Adelaide/Institute of Process Engineering (CAS) Collaborative Research Program Scholarships

    Through a unique collaboration between the School of Chemical Engineering of The University of Adelaide (the University) and the Institute for Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (the Institute) in Beijing, the University is pleased to be able to offer up to six PhD scholarships for the coming year. The recipients of these scholarships will be registered as a fulltime PhD student of The University of Adelaide, but will spend two years of their candidature at the University and up to two years at the Institute. Further details of this exciting scholarship program follow below.

To apply for one of the scholarships, you should follow this procedure:

1. Send an e-mail to Prof. Biggs (the University’s manager of the agreement) that includes the following (all in English):

covering letter that indicates which of the six projects below you are interested in (you may express interest in more than one project) and, in no more than 50 words for each project, why the project interests you;

your curriculum vitae;

scanned copies of you academic transcripts in original language and English translation;

if relevant, a list of any publications in print, press or submitted, being sure to show full details of each publication so as they can be sourced by the supervisors or, if submitted, a copy of the manuscript (as a PDF) and proof of submission (do NOT include those in preparation); 

if relevant, scanned copy of any in-date English Language Test (ELT) Certificate (see here for details of ELT requirements if your degrees were NOT taught in English; if the latter applies, please provide proof that the degrees were taught in English in their entirety).

2. Upon receipt of confirmation of willingness to supervise from Prof. Biggs, proceed to apply formally to admission to the University and a scholarship using the standard application form, which can be found at domestic students or international students. In the application, you must:

indicate clearly you are applying for the IPE-CAS/UoA scholarship; and

attach the confirmation e-mail from Prof. Biggs (no application will proceed without this).

If you wish to know more about any of the projects before applying for a scholarship, you should feel free to contact one or both of the principal supervisors listed for the project.

The scholarships are open to both domestic and international students. Recipients of the scholarships:

will be full-time students of The University of Adelaide and will be awarded a University of Adelaide PhD degree upon successfully meeting requirements of the degree;

will spend at least two years fulltime equivalent at The University of Adelaide in Adelaide, and up to two years fulltime equivalent at the Institute for Process Engineering in Beijing;

will receive a stipend at the APA/IGRS rate (set to be $25,392 tax-free in 2014) whilst residing in Australia, and a stipend of USD1200 per month whilst resident in China if a Chinese national OR USD500 + full accommodation in the Zhongguancun campus of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (which is around 1 km from the IPE;

will have the fees for the PhD degree waived;

will, for international students, have Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) covered for the period of candidature; and

will have access to all standard facilities and other standard services enjoyed by PhD students at The University of Adelaide and the Institute for Process Engineering.

The projects on offer for 2014 are:

A Method for Rapid Screening of Antibody-Drug Conjugates for Cancer Therapy. Primary supervisors are Dr Jingxiu Bi and Professor Guanghui Ma. The aim of this project is to develop and demonstrate a method for rapid screening of antibody-anti-cancer drug conjugates linked by pH and enzyme responsive linkers.

mRNA-based Nanovaccine for High-performance Anticancer Immunotherapy. Primary supervisors are A/Professor Sheng Dai and A/Professor Wei Wei. The aim of this project is to develop an mRNA-based nanovaccine to increase the DC uptake of tumour-associated mRNA, facilitate antigen expression, improve cross presentation, and induce strong CTL response against cancer.

Polymer Synthesis and Modification in Ionic Liquids. Primary supervisors are A/Professor Sheng Dai and Professor Suojiang Zhang. The aim of this project is to synthesize polymers or modify natural polymers in ionic liquids.

High Cell Density Proliferation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Primary supervisors are Dr Hu Zhang and Professor Xia Xu. The aim of this project is to establish a rapid method to proliferate IPS cells.

A Low Cost Catalysts for the Conversion of Tar into H-rich Synthesis Gas in Biomass Gasification. Primary supervisors are Dr Philip Kwong and Professor Xiangping Zhang. The aim of this project is discover a method for conversion of biomass tar into H-rich synthesis gas using recycled and active materials as catalysts.

An Efficient, Site-specific Conjugated Vaccine Development System. Primary supervisors are Dr Jingxiu Bi and Professor Zhiguo Su. The aim of this project is to develop a novel subunit vaccine system enables the site-specific conjugation of biomolecules to designed glycoconjugate subunit vaccines and thereby produce more effective vaccines.