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Career Boards
Australian PhD scholarship opportunities

Nutrient recovery from a source separated urine for a circular economy
Nutrient in a Circular Economy (NiCE): ARC Industry Research Hub
PhD project objectives includes:
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Objective 1: Investigate nutrient recovery systems’ performance and coordination and understand their applicability to the wastewater network in a circular economy of nutrients.
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Objective 2: Identify and analyse performance barriers (e.g. technical, financial, compatibility, capacity) that currently limit how these systems can integrate well into circular nutrient economies within the Australian context.
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Objective 3: Understand and analyse the water utilities’ perception in the circular nutrients’ systems business model and how these new systems enable or impede the effective transition to circular nutrient economies.
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PhD support:
The student will be jointly supervised by Prof Hokyong Shon and Dr Sherub Phuntsho at CTWW. The total scholarship stipend is AUD$50,000 (tax-free) per annum for 3.5 years, and additional funding for travel and project work up to $9,500 will also be available. The successful applicant can begin in Jan/Feb 2024.
Initial closing date: 30 November 2023
Open to only: Australian citizens and current Permanent Resident visa holders.
If you require further information on the position, contact Prof Ho Kyong Shon by email on
Hokyong.Shon-1@uts.edu.au or Sherub.Phuntsho@uts.edu.au
For further information including eligibility and how to apply, please click here.
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A novel ion-selective membrane development for efficient lithium recovery
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW)
PhD project objectives includes:
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Objective 1: To develop ion selective membranes with sulfonated polyether ketone polymer for membrane capacitive deionisation system. The development of a sulfonated polyether ketone composite membrane using Lithium selective adsorbents and nanomaterials as the fillers with high ionic conductivity and selectivity to be incorporated as a cation exchange membrane for membrane capacitive deionisation system.
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Objective 2: To develop metal organic framework-on-sulfonated polyether ketone membrane with high Lithium-ion selectivity and permeability. Lithium ion to monovalent ion selectivity of an ion selective membranes will be boosted by creating a thin metal organic framework layer on the sulfonated polyether ketone substrate.
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Objective 3: To understand the fundamental of ion transport within ion selective membranes. Computational and analytical models using molecular dynamic simulation and density functional theory will be used to confirm the experimental data (Aim 2) and provide insights into the mechanisms of selective ion transport within the membranes.
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Objective 4: To develop solar-driven membrane capacitive deionisation electrochemical process for selective Lithium-ion recovery. The membrane capacitive deionisation system will be optimised in terms of cost and energy efficacy and scaled-up for selective Lithium-ion recovery from various salt solutions.
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PhD support:
The student will be jointly supervised by Dr Sherub Phuntsho, Dr. Gayathri Naidu and Prof Hokyong Shon at CTWW. The total scholarship stipend is AUD$50,000 (tax-free) per annum for 3.5 years, and additional funding for travel and project work up to $9,500 will also be available. The successful applicant can begin in Jan/Feb 2024.
Initial closing date: 30 November 2023
Open to only: Australian citizens and current Permanent Resident visa holders.
If you require further information on the position, contact Prof Ho Kyong Shon by email on
Hokyong.Shon-1@uts.edu.au or Sherub.Phuntsho@uts.edu.au
For further information including eligibility and how to apply, please click here.
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