[csaa-forum] PhD Scholarship - Care Leavers

[Tanja Dreher]

*WHO AM I? EVERY RECORD TELLS A STORY*

*Australian Research Council - PhD Scholarship*

A scholarship is available to work on an exciting collaborative research 
project with an interdisciplinary team which brings together academics 
from the University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University with 
the Department of Human Services and 14 Victorian community services 
organisations. The roots of the Who Am I project lie with a trio of 
enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the institutionalisation of 
children in Australia: Forgotten Australians (2004), Bringing Them Home 
(1997) and Lost Innocents (2001). The project, funded by an ARC Linkage 
Grant, investigates the role of the archive in supporting current care 
leavers and Forgotten Australians (past care leavers) in the 
construction of their identity.

The Linkage Grant provides for an Australian Postgraduate Award 
(Industry) scholarship to conduct a PhD, jointly supervised by the 
University of Melbourne’s Professor Cathy Humphreys (Department of 
Social Work) and Dr Andrew Brown-May (School of Historical Studies) and 
Professor Shurlee Swain from Australian Catholic University.

The APAI candidate will work on a project to glean the experiences and 
perspectives of recent care leavers, Forgotten Australians and 
Indigenous survivors of the Stolen Generations who have gone through the 
process of accessing the archival records of their time in ‘care’. The 
centrality of archives and records to identity-construction has been 
consistently alluded to in the government enquiries reports but has not 
yet been given the necessary attention either in terms of empirical 
research or theory building. The APAI student will make a significant 
contribution to knowledge related to the construction and 
re-construction of identity for care leavers and its relationship with 
the archive.

We are seeking a candidate with an academic and/or professional 
background that fits the interdisciplinary nature of the Who Am I 
project. He or she must have completed an honours degree in social work, 
social sciences or humanities. Preferably, the candidate will have 
experience in projects involving in-depth interviews or oral history. 
The right person will have the communication skills, sensitivity and 
commitment to build ethical relationships with the people whose 
life-stories we are interesting in hearing. The candidate will be part 
of a supportive team comprising representatives from academia and the 
community services sector.

*Scholarship Provided by:* the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family 
Welfare in conjunction with the Australian Research Council.

*To be undertaken at*: The University of Melbourne

*Level*: PhD

*Availability*: One scholarship is available to commence in 2009.

*Payment Information: *The stipend is $26,140 per year for 3 years 
(tax-free)

*Eligibility:* The student nominated for this award must:

· Have a relevant honours degree in the social work, social sciences or 
humanities at a standard that meets the University’s PhD entry 
requirement, namely at least a H2A average (75% or over).

· A masters degree in which 25% of the degree was based in a research 
project.

· Be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or an Australian permanent 
resident;

· Be a resident of Melbourne to meet the University of Melbourne 
Criteria for this PHD Scholarship

*Closing Date: xxx*

*Contact Details:* Please send to Cathy Humphreys 
cathy.humphreys at unimelb.edu.au <mailto:cathy.humphreys at unimelb.edu.au> 
an electronic copy of your Curriculum Vitae and a short letter 
explaining your interest in the Scholarship. Please include the name, 
position, email and phone number of two referees who are in a position 
to comment on your previous study. A certified copy of your academic 
transcript may be requested as part of the selection process.

-- 
Dr Tanja Dreher
ARC Postdoctoral Fellow
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Technology, Sydney
PO Box 123
Broadway NSW 2007
Email: tanja.dreher at uts.edu.au
Phone: (02) 9514 1671


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