PhD Internships

Submit an Expression of Interest Form so that you can be kept up to date of internship opportunities in your area of interest.

You may be able to find opportunities through the following channels:

• Careers Online is the University of Melbourne's student employment portal featuring part-time and casual work, graduate programs and unique internship opportunities in Australia and overseas
• The GRSc Newsletter (emailed to all students monthly) for advertised opportunities
• Your Supervisor/ Academic colleagues may have industry connections and might be able to arrange an internship. If this is the case, and you require advice, please email science-industry-internships@unimelb.edu.au
• APR Intern is an internship program placing PhD students into business. You can subscribe to the APR intern mailing list to receive notification of new internship opportunities.

When you apply for an internship placement it is common practice to supply your cover letter and resume. Before you start applying for placements, it’s important to have these documents ready.

These resources may be helpful:

• Internship Cover Letter Template
• Resume Template for STEM

You can also utilise the Careers Centre resources to improve your documents before sending them to organisations.

Contact organisations with your CV, cover letter, and any other requested information to request an internship.

Once you have secured an internship with an organisation, you'll need to take a few steps to confirm it with the University.

• Complete the Internship Application and Risk Assessment Form
• Apply for the Specialist Certificate in Research Practice for Scientists

Once your internship agreement is signed and in place, you will be sent a course offer and will be able to enrol in SCIE90018 to being your pre-internship modules and assessment.

The Faculty’s preference is for internships to be completed following submission to ensure that students are focussed on the internship project and available to work on it in a full-time capacity.

In some cases, where Supervisor support is provided, students may be approved to take an internship prior to thesis submission. You should contact science-gr@unimelb.edu.au to seek approval if you wish to start an internship before you have submitted your thesis.

Students who submit their thesis in a timely way (on or before the maximum course duration) may be eligible for a fee remission for the course. You can find out more about the cost for domestic and international students here.

All University of Melbourne PhD-Science students, regardless of what stage they submit their thesis, are eligible to complete an internship (and the Specialist Certificate in Research Practice for Scientists) while their thesis is Under Examination. However, if you have submitted your thesis more than 4 years (EFTSL) after your commencement, you may be required to pay fees for the course.

Ideally, internships are started immediately after thesis submission, or before students receive their thesis examination feedback. Students may be able to complete the Specialist Certificate after completion of the thesis examination. However, this will be difficult for International students as the course is not full time.

Please note, eligibility for a fee remission may not be approved if your thesis was submitted more than 12 months before your internship begins.

Internship opportunities via APR are not available to students whose PhD is completed (e.g. has been submitted and examined/conferred).

You do not need a new visa to complete an internship. Note that enrolment in the internship (or Specialist Certificate in Research Practice for Scientists) does not provide you with the opportunity to extend or apply for a new visa.

However, International students will have a maximum of 6 months after thesis submission to complete an internship. Therefore, you would need to begin your internship as soon as possible after thesis submission to ensure that you'll be able to complete the project before the 6 allowable months of visa validity after submission is over.

No income tax will be deducted from your internship stipend payments. However, the income may be deemed taxable. This is because you may not be considered a full time student while completing the internship, making the payments subject to income tax. You should seek the advice of an independent tax adviser to determine if tax will be payable following completion of a tax return.