Graduate research funding

What is the Graduate Research Candidature Funding Scheme (CFS)?

The Faculty of IT allocates designated funding to each of the Faculty’s currently enrolled Graduate Research Students (PhD and MPhil) to support your candidature. These funds can be used for; Travel, Fieldwork and data collection, Specialised training and Specialised equipment to support research being conducted as part of your candidature.

• PhD students are allocated Faculty funding of up to $4000 in total for the duration of their candidature.
• MPhil students are allocated Faculty funding of up to $2000 in total for the duration of their candidature.
• An MPhil student who upgrades to a PhD is allocated additional funding to bring the total up to $4000.

Am I eligible?

You will need to fulfil the following criteria to be eligible for the Graduate Research Candidature Funding Scheme (CFS). You must:

• be currently enrolled as a PhD or MPhil candidate at Monash University Australia, AND
• if a PhD candidate, be enrolled in candidature for at least 6 months and less than 39 months full-time or part-time equivalent, OR
• if an MPhil candidate, be enrolled in candidature for at least 3 months and less than 24 months full-time or part-time equivalent, AND
• be applying for funding to use for the purpose of one of the following:
  • to support the costs of travel (including fares, accommodation and conference registration) in order to present a paper at a FIT Quality Conference as principal author of the paper being presented, which must cover original, ongoing research, be largely your graduate research work, report recent findings and be directly related to your thesis topic, OR
  • to support the costs of fieldwork, data collection, surveys, interviews relevant to your research, OR
  • to support the costs of specialised training or equipment crucial to undertaking your research.*

*Please check the eResearch capabilities that Monash has for research data management. This might be a better option than purchasing an external hard drive.

Note: Information for the purchase of software.

If you wish to access funding for travel but do not meet all the eligibility criteria; and if the purpose of the expenditure is supported by your supervisor/s you can, with their support, make a case to have your application considered.

How do I apply?

1. Check your eligibility.
2. Discuss the proposed purpose of the funding with your Supervisor/s and seek their support.
3. If you have already accessed this funding check if you have adequate funds remaining.
4. Seek guidance on your application from FIT Graduate Research Team (FIT-graduate.research@monash.edu) if required.
5. To access CFS funding for data collection (payment of participants), surveys, interviews, training or equipment: Submit an application to access your FIT Graduate Research CFS funding via the FIT Services Hub.
6. To access CFS funding for conference attendance or fieldwork:  Students who need to travel to engage in fieldwork, present at a conference or travel for other research related activities will need to apply for Study Away here. For information on the MGRO Travel Grant refer to the Managing your Travel page.

NOTE: Students applying for Study Away do not need to submit a request to access CFS funding via the FIT Services Hub.

7. Ensure you have followed all Faculty and University guidelines.

SAMPLE MONASH TRAVEL PLAN to attach to the Study Away application.

PhD students can access up to a maximum of $3000 between 6 months candidature until completion of Confirmation at which point the full amount of $4000 will become available.

When planning to utilise the FIT Graduate Research (CFS) Funds for Travel purposes and are also applying for funding for a Monash University Travel Grant students are required to contribute a designated amount of their FIT funding. For example: if applying for the maximum Monash central travel grant you must contribute $1035 from your FIT funding allocation of $4000. Total funding available will become $5,265 ($4,000 from FIT and $1,265 MGRO)

For more information see Monash University Graduate Research Awards and Grants

Monash Travel Bookings and Insurance

When planning travel, please review further relevant informationat Travel at Monash.

Please also refer to Student Travel Procedures as applicable. Travel bookings and arrangements are the sole responsibility of the student, as set out in the Staff and Student Travel Policy.

Note: ensure that accommodation is booked in accordance with the Staff and Student Travel Policy. Accommodation should “provide value for money appropriate to the location”. Students do not need to stay at the same accommodation as where a conference is being held.  A reasonable accommodation choice would be equivalent to $200-$250AUD per night.

Please refer to the Student Insurance website for more information and to download the relevant Global 24 Advisory Assistance 24/7 Hotline E-Card. Actively enrolled Monash Graduate Research students are automatically covered for up to 365 days when travelling overseas on Monash approved activities, ie. an approved Study Away application. Students should take the relevant Global 24 Advisory Assistance 24/7 Hotline E-Card with you in case of an emergency.

Reimbursements

University policy requires reimbursements to be claimed within six months of the transaction and within the same calendar year.

Any IT equipment over the threshold of $300 requires to be purchased by Operations via FIT Services Hub and/or eSolutions .

The cost of any additional equipment such as personal IT equipment or home office furniture, required to set up a working space at home are personal expenses. The university will not provide reimbursement for these items, see Working from home Procedure.