Research scholarships

Full title: Crafting regulation to enable low emissions on-farm solutions: Activating agrivoltaics PhD top up scholarship

The project will identify legal and regulatory barriers and opportunities and develop recommendations to strengthen the enabling environment for farmers to adopt and scale agrivoltaics as a low emissions on-farm solution.

Working with Associate Professor Madeline Taylor and Dr Andrew Burke, the PhD candidate will be a member of the multidisciplinary Agrivoltaics Zero Net Emissions Agriculture (ZNE-Ag CRC) team, with potential top-up salary funding of $10,000 per annum.

The ZNE-Ag CRC research team is evaluating how solar panels can improve farm conditions by:

• identifying the best setups for crops and pastures
• modelling how to boost food and energy production.

The student will be part of the ZNE-Ag CRC PhD cohort and will:

• attend CRC conferences and professional development opportunities
• deliver on ZNE-Ag milestones around reducing on-farm emissions.

About the scholarship

The integration of agrivoltaics can provide additional income streams for farmers from their land, while supporting agricultural productivity, economic growth and greenhouse gas mitigation.

This PhD project will examine the legal and regulatory issues associated with agrivoltaics in Australia, with a focus on supporting farmers to achieve zero net emissions activities while maintaining or expanding agricultural production.

The project will investigate regulatory challenges and opportunities affecting the adoption and scaling of agrivoltaics by farmers, including:

• offtake agreements
• collaboration across property boundaries
• planning and development assessment and approval processes
• access to financial incentives
• taxation relief
• biosecurity requirements
• the marketing and export of agricultural outputs from agrivoltaic systems.

Availability

This scholarship is available to eligible domestic candidates undertaking a direct-entry, three-year PhD program.

Domestic applicants who are currently living overseas can apply. However, to receive the scholarship, the selected candidate would be required to enrol full-time and study on campus during their PhD candidature.

Applicants must receive a primary scholarship offer to be eligible for this top-up scholarship and should apply through the domestic scholarship round.

• PhD candidates within Macquarie Law School may also apply for essential research funding of up to AUD $5000.
• Additional competitive project funding is available within the Macquarie University Faculty of Arts PGRF scheme.

We are seeking a legal scholar with expertise and/or an interest in the energy transition and decarbonising agriculture. The successful applicant will be interested in working in a multi-disciplinary team and engaging with a broad range of stakeholders.

You must have:

• an interest in engaged research associated with achieving net zero emissions agriculture
• completed a master degree in any area related to regulation, preferably in relation to agriculture and/or energy
• advanced comparative legal and policy analyses skills
• evidence of the ability to conduct independent research and assume responsibility for the development and completion of research projects and publications.

It is desirable that you have:

• experience of working closely with industrial partners on close to market research projects
• demonstrated knowledge and an emerging profile in energy research, climate transition, and/or decarbonising agriculture.

Components

The scholarship comprises a potential $10,000 per annum scholarship salary top up supported by the Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC.

How to apply

Before submitting your application, submit an expression of interest (EOI) to Associate Professor Madeline Taylor at madeline.taylor@mq.edu.au.

Your EOI should include your CV, and a separate cover letter (no more than three pages) that demonstrates how you meet the following selection criteria:

• demonstrated research expertise in regulatory analysis (prior knowledge of energy applications in the agro-industrial sector will be valued)
• completed a master degree (with thesis component) in any regulatory area
• advanced comparative legal and policy analyses skills
• evidence of the ability to conduct independent research and assume responsibility for the development and completion of research projects and publications.