The PhD top-up scholarship program is an important part of Wine Australia’s investment in developing researcher capacity and ability, ensuring we have researchers developing the skills and expertise needed for working on opportunities that will help improve sustainability and profitability of the Australian grape and wine sector.
While this opportunity is open to applications from PhD candidates delivering innovative research aligned to the One Grape and Wine Sector Plan themes addressed in Wine Australia’s Strategic Plan 2025-2030, this year we have identified several priority topic areas of interest. Preference may be given to applicants addressing a topic from the below list:
-
Etienne-F59 / Pixabay Novel strategies for pest, disease and virus management in Australian vineyards.
- Plant breeding and gene target identification.
- Novel mid-strength wine production processes.
- Nonchemical control of disease, for example using UV-C and autonomous technology.
- Environmental, Social and Governance challenges as outlined in the ESG Investment Plan.
- Novel strategies across waste circularity, treatment, safe reuse of secondary materials and circular markets.
- Consumer insights, with a focus on moderation and health, export and emerging markets, macro and external drivers, value perception.
- Development and adoption of digital, data and Artificial Intelligence.
Eligibility criteria
Wine Australia offers supplementary scholarships for up to 3.5 years full-time study.
Candidates must:
- Be enrolled in, or have applied for, full-time PhD study.
- Hold, or have applied for, an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend Scholarship or another equivalent stipend scholarship through their host university.
Scholarships are awarded based on:
- academic excellence and research ability
- research feasibility and methodology
- industry alignment, considered against the priority topic areas of interest
- industry impact, considered against industry partnerships and engagement with industry, research outputs path to market or adoption by industry
- expertise of the proposed supervisor(s) and supervisor support, with the supervisor affirming that the project is feasible and that the candidate has a good track record
- quality of an applicant’s Curriculum Vitae, and perception of the likelihood for ongoing involvement in the Australian wine sector, and
- funding availability.
Key dates
Applications open on Monday 13 October 2025 and close on Friday 14 November at 5pm (Australian Central Daylight Savings Time).
Further information
Please refer to Wine Australia’s website here.