International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) applications are due on 31 August.

Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) applications are due on 31 October.

Students who win an APA or IPRS must enrol before 31 March. There are no firm restrictions on when you can begin if you have your own finance.

Australian students:
Potential Australian PhD students should apply for an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA). The APA takes care of all your university fees and also pays a living stipend (tax free) per year for three years for a PhD. Students are able to live well on this amount of money in Canberra.
To win an APA, you must have a first class honours (or equivalent), good undergrad marks, good letters of recommendation and the support of a potential ANU supervisor as a minimum. Publications, awards and other evidence of achievement greatly help your chances. Many good students miss out. Students with second class honours occasionally are admitted but only if they have an exceptional record of achievement (such as publications). In general, it is extremely difficult and rare to win an APA at ANU to do a Masters because very few masters level scholarships are offered across the entire university.

APA applications are due at the end of October with decisions being made by early December for a start date early the following year. APA students must enrol by 31 March.

International students:
Unless you are independently wealthy and can afford to pay very large annual fees (plus living expenses) or have scholarship money from your own country to pay these fees, then foreign students must win a scholarship. The International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) pays the full university fees plus provides medical insurance and the cost of your airfare. A proportion of the people that win IPRS also win an ANU PhD Scholarship which pays a stipend to live on, but this is not automatic for IPRS winners. Students are able to live well on an ANU PhD Scholarship stipend in Canberra.

Please note: IPRS scholarships are EXTREMELY competitive and many very good people miss out. Each year at the ANU several hundred applicants are in the running for only around 18 IPRS scholarships which are spread across the entire university. Because of this extreme competitiveness, students applying to do a Masters are almost always excluded because they are not sufficiently competitive. Thus, students who already have a Masters and are applying to enter a PhD program will generally have a better chance. People who win IPRS generally have a masters, an outstanding undergraduate and masters record, outstanding letters of recommendation, awards, strong support from a potential ANU supervisor and most also have at least one publication. Because not all of the IPRS winners also win the ANU PhD Scholarship to pay a stipend, you may have to find an alternative source of funding to live on.

IPRS applications are due at the end of August with decisions being made by early December for a start date early the following year. IPRS students must enrol by 31 March.

The application process:
All potential Masters and PhD students interested in enrolling at the ANU must go through the ANU’s admission procedure which involves filling out an application and providing additional information. The procedure for applying for scholarships is part of the same application form. It is possible to apply for admission without applying for a scholarship.

There are several steps involved in the application process:

Step 1. Contact potential supervisors. You should carefully study the research interests of potential ANU supervisors and discuss your ideas with them. In order to gain admission to the ANU you must have the support of a potential supervisor. Unsolicited applications have little chance of success. If you need advice on which member of academic staff might be closest to your own research interests, please contact the Graduate Studies Convenor, who can point you in the right direction. While you may correspond with the Graduate Students' Section of the university over administrative matters, do not assume that such correspondence will be forwarded to the Program.

Step 2. Filling out the application. Once you have the support of a potential supervisor, you can start working on the application. Click here for further information on how to apply.

Here is some advice on how to fill out the application (numbers refer to the numbers on the actual application).

PART A
1. You must tick if you are applying for both admission to the program AND a scholarship, or just admission or just a scholarship only.
2. List any previous ANU applications.
3. List your personal details. Think carefully about your contact details, this is the address the ANU will use for all correspondence.
4. Note your residential status. If you are a permanent resident, then you might be able to apply for an APA rather than an IPRS.
5. List your marital status (for international students only).
6. List the number and age of any dependent children.
7. List your previous degrees and degrees currently underway.
8. List your English language proficiency. For English as a Second Language (ESL) applicants, you must provide the scores for either the TOEFL or IELTS test. Also list other language abilities.

PART B (most important section!)
9. For "Doctor of Philosophy in" or "Masters of Philosophy in" write "Science communication". For "School/Centre/Faculty" write CPAS. Note if you wish to be full or part time (note that APA and IPRS applicants must be full time). Write expected commencement date (note that APA and IPRS applicants must enrol before 31 March).
10. List your field of research (this only needs to be a broad theme). In the box give a very brief summary of your proposed research. In addition to this, you must also attach a ONE PAGE research proposal. This should include references. We strongly recommend that you work this proposal out with your potential supervisor.
11. List other supporting documentation that you have provided in the application. It is very important that you provide good evidence of writing ability. The best evidence is publications, but if you do not have any then you can include your honours thesis or major essays you have written. I also strongly suggest that you include a detailed curriculum vitae (CV) with your application. Even though this is not asked for, it helps the committee by providing them with a summary of your accomplishments.
12. List any awards or prizes you have won during your undergraduate or graduate work (primary and high school prizes don’t really count for much).
13. List any relevant work experience. This can be very helpful if you have done work that is in any way related to the research project you are proposing to do.
14. List any ANU staff that you consulted about the application, such as the Graduate Studies Convenor.
15. Name your potential ANU supervisor.
16. Provide details of the two people who will provide letters of recommendation for you. Even though the application package includes a single letter of form TWO letters of recommendation are required. You must photocopy this and provide one to each of your two referees. They must fill out this form AND provide a detailed letter of recommendation to which the form is attached. These letters can be mailed separately OR if you can get them before you send the application in, they can be included in the application as long as each is in a sealed and signed envelope.

PART C
17. If you are applying for a scholarship then you must tick the appropriate boxes. For APA applicants applying for the October round, you need to tick the APA box. It is also recommended that you tick the boxes for the ANU Graduate School Scholarships and the ANU PhD Scholarships. For IPRS applicants, you must tick both the IPRS box AND the ANU PhD Scholarship box. If you have won some other sort of scholarship or if there is some other agreement in place, please provide details in the "Other scholarships" box. If you think you might be eligible for one of the other scholarships that ANU offers, please contact the Graduate Studies Convenor.
18. List any Australian government or postgraduate scholarships you have had before.
19. If you are not applying for a scholarship you must provide details of how you will pay for your education.
20. Detail how you learned about the ANU.

PART D
Provide your signature and work through the checklist to make sure you have done everything.

In summary…..In addition to your completed application form, you should also include good evidence of writing, a detailed CV, a one page research proposal worked out with your potential supervisor, and arrange for three letters of recommendation.