Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Engineering

Undertake a PhD in Engineering at Flinders

Mastermind ingenious solutions to everyday problems

Design video games and devices to assist children with cerebral palsy.
Develop tools to help assess the performance of existing and new designs of hip and knee replacement.
Investigate the causes behind profound disturbances in breathing and sleep.
Work to design new concrete from recycled plastics.

Undertake an Engineering research-based higher degree at Flinders, and you’ll have the opportunity to work with engineers and clinicians, health researchers and web developers, designers and users, industry and government to collaborate on creative solutions to address global challenges in health, transport, defence and industry 4.0 manufacturing.

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Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering)

Duration: 4 years

Delivery mode:
In Person

Location:
Bedford Park

CRICOS code: 011338E

Annual fees:
2023: $38,800

Further information on fees listed

Master of Engineering

Duration: 2 years

Delivery mode:
In Person

Location:
Bedford Park

CRICOS code: 010609F

Annual fees:
2023: $38,800

Further information on fees listed

Research supervisors

How to apply

Enquire

Why undertake a PhD in Engineering at Flinders

Complete your research under the supervision of nationally and internationally recognised engineers and scientists
Rated ‘Well above world standard’ in materials engineering in the 2018 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment
Access Flinders at Tonsley, where Flinders engineering is co-located with the highly esteemed Medical Device Research Institute, the Centre for Defence Engineering Research and Training (CDERT) as well as some of Adelaide's biggest businesses and industries
Boost your expertise and career prospects, and become an expert in your area of specialisation
Apply your research to the real world with Flinders’ expansive network of industry, government and scientific partners
Utilise Flinders’ cutting-edge equipment and state-of-the-art facilities at Tonsley
Defence and Maritime are offering full PhD scholarships with a $10,000 top up to students who meet the selection criteria. For further information contact Professor Sam Drake.

Discover more about research at the College of Science and Engineering.

PhD opportunities

With the guidance of an expert supervisor, take the opportunity to leverage Flinders’ extensive industry connections and plug into our $120 million hub of innovation and entrepreneurship at Tonsley.

Your chosen research area is flexible, and ultimately agreed between you and your supervisor. Areas of focus could include:

Biomedical Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Robotic, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Or another area of interest in consultation with your supervisor.

You will drive a project that creates valuable new scientific knowledge; with the ultimate goal of finding economic and environmental solutions to real world problems.

You’re not here to reinvent the wheel – you’re here to reimagine the wheel, to progress the wheel, to dynamize the wheel, and to take it to places it’s never been before.

Hear about graduate Robert Trott's thesis

Putting Stroke Patients back in Control of Gait Rehabilitation

Your career

A PhD in Engineering will position you as an expert in your area of specialisation. A PhD is a stepping stone to professional research or as a highly sought-after expert in the private or public sector in Australia or internationally. This prestigious degree will equip you with valuable skills in communications, time management and organisation transferrable to any role.

Potential occupations include:

Professional researcher
Consultant or advisor
Senior or lead engineer
Project manager
Academic

Potential employers include:

Lockheed Martin
BAE Systems Australia
Department of Science and Technology Group (DST)
Australian Space Agency
Universities
Government agencies including security, commerce and health
Naval shipbuilding
SAAB Australia

Medical Device Research Institute

The Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) aims to develop innovative solutions to a range of healthcare problems including: new assistive technologies to make rehabilitation more engaging and build independence for people living with impairments; developing personalised models and new medical devices to improve surgery successes and big data to better understand Australian health.

To achieve this, we are bringing great minds together; engineers and clinicians, health researchers and web developers, designers and users, industry and government to collaborate on creative solutions to address global healthcare challenges.

Find out more

Centre Defence Engineering Research and Training (CDERT)

Centre for Defence Engineering Research and Training (CDERT) is to bring our research strengths to bear, to develop world-leading academic knowledge and capability in key disciplines that make up defence engineering and technology.

Working together with our partners in the defence industry, both in Australia and in allied nations, CDERT is focused on the provision of research, training and consultancy excellence. Our research objective is to work with our partners to find innovative practical solutions to real-world defence problems. Our training programs are designed to meet the rapidly growing demand from our partners, to build a highly-skilled workforce supporting the uptake of advanced technologies driving industrial transformation.

Our strong collaboration with the defence industry, coupled with our research strengths in key disciplines and our unique research facilities, support our capability in conducting world-class research and in achieving impact.

Find out more

Potential research supervisors

Flinders academic staff are recognised experts in their specialised Engineering fields. They are embedded in real-world applications of research, with extensive knowledge, networks and industry partners to support PhD students and deliver exciting and valuable research outcomes. Get in touch with a supervisor of your choice today, to discuss your area of interest, and start on your path to thought leadership.

Dr Amir Zanj

Associate Professor Egon Perilli

Dr Tom Vincent

Dr Amin Mahmoudi	Energy storage and renewable energy eystems, electrical machines and drives
Dr David Hobbs	Rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology, technology and disability
Associate Professor Egon Perilli	Bone biomechanics, bone imaging, modelling and instrumentation, fracture assessment, metabolic bone disease, modelling the structure of bone, Osteo-arthritis
Associate Professor John Costi	Biomechanics, biomechanics, bones, soft tissues and joints, biomedical engineering, bone biomechanics, multiscale testing, orthopaedics, robotic and biomedical engineering
Associate Professor Elena Sitnikova	Critical Infrastructure protection, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition(SCADA) systems cybersecurity, critical cyber-physical systems (CPS) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
Professor Karen Reynolds	Biomedical engineering, bone biomechanics, bone imaging, modelling and instrumentation, medical devices, non-invasive monitoring, virtual reality medical simulation
Professor Karl Sammut	Active vibration control, autonomous vehicles, computer vision, embedded systems, robotics, smart materials
Professor Mark Taylor	Arthroplasty, biomechanics, bones, soft tissues and joints, bone biomechanics, finite element analysis, orthopaedics
Dr Reza Hashemi Oskouei	Hip joint replacement, hip joint implants, hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings for implant materials
Dr Stuart Wildy	Composite structures and materials, engineering, experimental techniques, fracture detection, fracture toughness and mechanics of materials, interdisciplinary engineering and technology, marine composites and structures, materials engineering/science, mechanical properties of materials, stress analysis
Dr Youhong Tang	Polymer nanocomposites, Fibre reinforced composites, Chemo/bio fluorescent sensors, Hydrogels, Triboelectric nanogenerator
Dr Russell Brinkworth	Autonomous vehicles, robotics, infrared sensing
Dr Aliakbar Gholampour	Civil engineering, environmentally sustainable construction, materials engineering, construction materials performance and processes
Dr Kristy Hansen	Environmental noise, flow control, sleep, wind farm noise
Dr Tom Vincent	Concrete, concrete composites, FRP-confinement, high-performance concrete columns
Dr Hongyu Qin	Computational geomechanics, constitutive modelling of geomaterials, foundation and soil structure interaction, numerical methods in geomechanics, pile foundations, transportation geotechnics, underground excavation and tunnelling
Dr Nicholas Holyoak	Transport studies, civil engineering
Associate Professor Kenneth Pope	Biomedical analysis, EEG, CT, MRI, ICA, biomedical and electronic engineering, biomedical signal processing, signal and image processing
Associate Professor Paulo Santos	Artificial intelligence, spatial reasoning, knowledge representation, machine learning, cognitive robotics, computer vision and logic programming
Professor Samuel Drake	Spectrum security, electromagnetic systems security, signal processing, space, general relativity
Dr Shengjian Chen	Applied electromagnetics, RFID based wearable applications, leaky wave antennas, microwave absorbers, wearable and reconfigurable electromagnetic structures based on novel conductive materials such as graphene, conductive polymers and conductive fabrics