Enterprise PhD Scholarship: National Industry PhD scholarship for a PhD student to work in Psychology, AI and Education Technology
Overview
Title
Enterprise PhD Scholarship: National Industry PhD scholarship for a PhD student to work in Psychology, AI and Education Technology
College
College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Opening date
01-06-2025
Closing date
30-08-2025
Scholarship value
$40,000 (2025 rate, indexed at 5% annually)
Scholarship duration
3.5 years
Payment term
Paid Fortnightly
Enrolment status
Commencing
Student type
Domestic students
Level of Study
Higher Degrees Research
Description
We are seeking one outstanding candidate for a PhD scholarship to work on a project entitled: Human-Centred AI EdTech: Promoting Reading Engagement and Emotional Well-being in Children. This exciting project is funded by a National Industry PhD Program. Flinders University and Bookbot.com, are partners in the program.
The student will be based at Flinders University for 4 days a week. The candidate will be supervised by Dr Nathan Caruana (Principal supervisor, Flinders University), Prof. Genevieve McArthur (Adjunct supervisor, ACU & Dyslexia SPELD Foundation), and Mr Adrian DeWitts (Industry supervisor, Bookbot.com Founder). Associate supervision will be provided by the other members of the research team located at Flinders university.
Additional information
About the Industry Partner. Bookbot (https://www.bookbotkids.com/) is an AI-powered platform and app designed to enhance children’s reading engagement and fluency through interactive AI agents using advanced language models.
About the Project. This project supports a larger research program aimed at improving literacy and mental health outcomes in young people through individualised care, school-based programs, and digital health interventions. The proposed PhD project has two goals. First, it will leverage the Bookbot platform and data from over 5,000 users to evaluate a new psychosocial model linking reading difficulty, engagement, and emotional health outcomes (including self-concept and anxiety). This includes validating new psychometric tools developed by Dr Caruana and Prof. McArthur for measuring reading engagement and emotional health. These tools will be validated using key quantitative metrics from Bookbot, aiding in the platform’s evaluation with gold-standard metrics and providing insights into psychological factors affecting reading and emotional health. Second, the project will explore and evaluate the design and positioning of AI agents to promote engagement in children, using a co-design and inductive approach.
Benefits
The scholarship includes:
- a stipend valued at approx. $40,000 per annum tax free
- The scholarship will be awarded for 3 years
- a Research Training Program Fee Offset Scholarship to cover tuition fees for Australian Citizens, NZ Citizens and Permanent Residents, or tuition fee waiver for an eligible international student.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the award of this scholarship a student must:
- Be an Australian citizen; or New Zealand citizen; or have been granted permanent resident status; or are international citizens; and
- meet PhD admission requirements including: have an Australian Honours degree Class 1 or 2A or equivalent qualification, including a research component of at least 6 months’ full-time study achieving Distinction (75%);
- a psychology, cognitive science, education, data science or computer science background (psychology/psychological sciences postgrad preferred);
- evidence of excellence in communication with team members and study participants; and
- be available to commence as a full-time PhD student at Flinders University in semester 2, 2025 (July 2025, and no later than 1st September).
Application Information
ADMISSION to HDR
Those who apply for the scholarship opportunity that have not already applied for admission to a relevant HDR must also apply. Instructions on how to apply for admission can be found here: https://www.flinders.edu.au/study/apply/apply-research-degree/how-to-apply
By lodging this separate application, applicants acknowledge:
- The ‘Supervisor confirmation’ must refer to the application for this scholarship
- The application for PhD admission will only be assessed where:
- The applicant is successful in being awarded the scholarship
- OR
- The applicant confirms in the application for PhD admission that, if they are not successful in being awarded the scholarship, their supervisors agree that the project and enrolment can still proceed and the applicant agrees to this.
All other applications for PhD admission lodged in line with this scholarship opportunity will not be assessed and will be withdrawn.
APPLICATION
The applications for HDR admission and the scholarship will be separate processes; applications for admission to candidature are submitted electronically (link below).
Prior to submitting applications, prospective applicants are advised to contact the Project lead, Dr Nathan Caruana via email (nathan.caruana@flinders.edu.au) to discuss your interest and eligibility in the opportunity. The Project lead may invite you to apply and request a copy of your CV together with a covering letter outlining your relevant qualifications, experience, research experience and reasons for applying for the scholarship.
Applicants will be shortlisted and interviewed on a rolling basis.
The successful candidate will ideally begin by 1st August 2025, subject to negotiation and not later than 1st September 2025.
