Scholarship for Assistive Technology & Society

As part of the establishment grant for the Monash Assistive Technology and Society (MATS) Centre (https://www.monash.edu/mats/about), the Faculty of IT is providing a scholarship to support the Centre activities.
The MATS Centre helps people living with disabilities to lead self-directed lives. Emerging assistive technologies have the potential to break down many of the barriers that people with disabilities face at school, university, work and in the social sphere. Our work is guided by on-the-ground partnerships with the community to ensure we’re addressing real problems faced by real people and creating a lasting impact. Join us and help to create a world that is more inclusive and equitable.

The succesful candidate will explore an area of research focus within MATS and the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT). The precise details of the PhD project are open to negotiation, but it should be designed with the aim of making a positive difference to the life experience of people with disabilities. Projects that fall into one (or more) of the following themes are encouraged:

• Innovative Assistive Technology: The co-design and evaluation of new assistive technologies that address the real-world needs of people with disability. These might, for instance, utilise conversational agents, computer vision, mixed reality, wearables etc.
• Disability, Technology, and Society: Research with a sociological or anthropological focus on the use of bespoke and/or mainstream technology for disability inclusion and/ or barriers to access.
• STEM Participation: Research addressing barriers and increasing participation in STEM education and STEM careers by people with a disability.
• Community and Workplace Participation:  Research investigating the use of assistive technologies to increase participation in cultural, sporting and other community activities and technologies that address barriers currently restricting employment. 

The proposed project may focus on the experience of people with disability in Australia or other parts of the world where the student and/ or supervisory team have strong links to relevant disability communities. 

This opportunity is limited to Australian citizens, Australian Permanent Residents, NZ Citizens and a person entitled to stay in Australia, or to enter and stay in Australia, without any limitation as to time.

Applications are due by Wednesday 15 November 2023, 11:55pm AEDT

If you are interested, please contact

Prof Kim Marriott, Director of MATS, Faculty of IT

Email: [email protected]  

Note that he will not necessarily be the PhD supervisor but based on the topic will match you with an appropriate supervision team.