MCDS Doctoral Academy

A campus wide multi-disciplinary program for PhD students using data science in their work.

About the program

The MCDS Doctoral Academy aims to bring together a campus wide multi-disciplinary cohort of PhD students (MCDS Doctoral Academy Fellows) to share their research, domain challenges and thoughts around the use, implementation and application of data science in their fields.

The Academy will support the Fellows through peer-learning opportunities, masterclasses, workshops, discussions, opportunities for presentations and more. Such a mixed environment will expose students to different disciplinary perspectives and stimulate the development of new approaches to the ways in which data science is incorporated in research.

The program is ideal for students who:

  • Enjoy engaging in cross-disciplinary research skills development and desire to build practical skills
  • Seek to explore ways that data science methodologies can be used and advanced within their research
  • Appreciate building a community of young researchers who consider data science matters in their field at the University of Melbourne

2021 Doctoral Academy Fellows

  • Kamal Akbari
    Research: Spatial Causal Inference Analysis
    Supervisor/s: Dr Martin Tomko and Prof Stephan Winter
    School of Infrastructure Engineering
    Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
  • Prakut Chaubal
    Research: Non Gaussianity and secondary Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies in the South Pole Telescope data
    Supervisor/s: Dr Christian L. Reichardt
    School of Physics
    Faculty of Science
  • Jean Linis Dinco
    Research: Analysis of an ongoing conflict through the lens of media frames
    Supervisor/s: Prof Robert Hassan and Dr Philip Pond
    School of Culture and Communication
    Faculty of Arts
  • Elliot Gould
    Research: Reproducibility and transparency of model-based research in applied ecology and conservation decision-making
    Supervisor/s: Dr Libby Rumpff, Prof Fiona Fidler, and Dr Hannah Fraser
    School of BioSciences
    Faculty of Science
  • Kaitlyn Hammond
    Research: Natural disturbance-based models for silviculture in the Victorian Central Highlands
    Supervisor/s: Prof Patrick Baker and A/Prof Craig Nitschke
    School Ecosystem and Forest Sciences
    Faculty of Science
  • Vivek Katial
    Research: Instance Space Analysis of Quantum Optimisation Algorithms
    Supervisor/s: Prof Kate Smith-Miles and Dr Charles Hill
    School of Mathematics and Statistics
    Faculty of Science
  • Shima Khanehzar
    Research: A data driven model of agenda setting in Australian politics
    Supervisor/s: Prof Andrew Turpin and Dr Gosia Mikolajczak
    School:
    Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
  • Sombol Mokhles
    Research: An Evidence-based Approach to Climate Change Experimentation in International City Networks
    Supervisor/s: Dr Kathryn Davidson and Prof Michele Acuto
    School of Architecture, Building and Planning
    Melbourne School of Design
  • Elle Pattenden
    Research: An examination of the motivations underlying, and consequences of, social network dynamics for the resolution of environmental collective action problems, using "gamified" experiments and simulations (agent-based models)
    Supervisor/s: Prof Yoshihisa Kashima and A/Prof Andrew Perfors
    Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
    Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
  • James Paynter
    Research: Time Domain Gravitational Lensing
    Supervisor/s: Prof Rachel Webster
    School of Physics
    Faculty of Science
  • Ifrah Saeed
    Research: Model-based and Hybrid Multiagent Reinforcement Learning in Internet of Things
    Supervisor/s: Prof Tansu Alpcan and Dr Sarah M. Erfani
    School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
  • Ann Ann Diana Tay
    Research: Exploring embodied values in Singaporean paintings through technical examination and data analysis
    Supervisor/s: Dr Nicole Tse and Prof Robyn Sloggett
    Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation
    Faculty of Arts
  • Zhoufeng Ye
    Research: Understanding breast cancer risk via an automated measure based on mammographic textural features: Cirrus
    Supervisor/s: Prof John Hopper, Dr Shuai Li, Dr Gillian Dite, and Dr Tuong Linh Nguyen
    Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
    Faculty of Medicine, Dental and Health Sciences