PhD Opportunities
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PhD Opportunities

Our Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) opportunities provide First Nations students a unique opportunity to develop their basic research, academic leadership, and research innovation skills with access to the world-leading researchers and clinicians.

Current First Nations PhD Candidates

Joel Liddle

Joel Liddle (Perrurle) is an Arrernte man and has extensive family ties throughout Central Australia. His mother’s family are non-Indigenous and first arrived in Victoria in 1852. Joel commenced his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2020. His research focusses on understanding community perspectives on young Aboriginal men’s mental health in the region (aged 16-40) and the associations between cultural continuity, biculturalism, bilingualism and mental health. 

Joel has worked in a variety of engagement roles throughout remote Australia since 2010. He continues to be an Arrernte language consultant on the Indigemoji project and has published and co-published several academic publications in both English and Eastern/Central Arrernte. He is also a research affiliate with the Strehlow Research Centre (Alice Springs) and works with ethnographic archives to revitalise and repatriate cultural knowledges currently held in archives to communities in Central Australia. 

Joel has a Bachelors Degree in Sports Science (ACU Melbourne), a Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Knowledges (Charles Darwin University), a Professional Certificate in Indigenous Research (UniMelb), and is a research affiliate with the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Charles Darwin University.