PhD Scholarship - Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE)

Job No.:

697973 Faculty:

Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (MADA) Location:

Caulfield Campus Duration:

3.5-year fixed-term appointment Employment Type:

Full time Potential Supervisors:

Professor Diego Ramírez-Lovering, Dr Michaela Prescott, Dr Tanvi Maheshwari, Dr Brendan Josey, Kerrie Burge, Professor Tony Wong, Professor Peter Breen Start date:

February 2027 (indicative) Remuneration: The successful applicant will receive a Research Living Allowance, at current value of $41,100 AUD per annum 2027 full-time rate (tax-free stipend), indexed plus allowances as per RTP stipend scholarship conditions at: www.monash.edu/graduate-research/study/scholarships/fees-scholarships/scholarship-policy-and-procedures. Suitable candidates may also have opportunities for sessional teaching. A tuition fee scholarship will be provided for a successful international awardee. International students are responsible for relocation, visa and Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) costs. About the Opportunity Applications are invited from outstanding domestic and international candidates for a PhD scholarship embedded within the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) program. RISE is an internationally recognised interdisciplinary research program developing and evaluating nature-based and hybrid infrastructure to improve health, environmental quality and climate resilience in informal settlements. As the program moves from successful pilot projects towards municipal and national implementation, these PhD projects investigate the scientific, technical and institutional innovations required to enable large-scale impact.



Successful candidates will join the Transforming Cities Hub at Monash University and work within an international network of researchers and implementation partners across Australia and Indonesia. Potential PhD Projects More than one billion people live in informal settlements facing increasing climate and environmental risks. While effective upgrading approaches have been demonstrated, significant challenges remain in scaling these approaches across diverse urban contexts. Applicants should align their application with

one

of the following doctoral research projects. 1. AI-Aided Site Reconnaissance and Rapid Assessments for Settlement Upgrading How can spatial analytics, remote sensing, and machine learning models be combined into rapid, low-cost assessment workflows to map environmental vulnerabilities, trace contamination pathways, and prioritise targeted water cycle infrastructure interventions across informal urban settlements? Informal settlements house nearly a quarter of the global urban population, yet urban-scale upgrading is often formulaic and not targeted, or hindered by the high cost, complexity, and time intensity of traditional site assessments to prioritise context-specific solutions. In data-scarce environments, targeted critical urban water services infrastructure offers a scalable strategy to mitigate contamination pathways and harbour environmental uplift.



This PhD project explores AI-aided rapid assessment methods for vulnerability mapping, contamination pathway assessment and site prioritisation at the municipal and national scales. The candidate will develop automated workflows to overcome uneven data availability, enabling governments and planners to target critical infrastructure interventions efficiently and maximise benefits. Urban data analytics, AI/Machine Learning, GIS, Spatial Planning 2. Optimisation of Hybrid Infrastructure Systems and Fit-for-Purpose Technologies How can green-grey hybrid water infrastructure be optimised and technical guidelines adapted to support consistent, fit-for-purpose technology selection across diverse socio-technical contexts at national scale? Moving from RISE’s initial 12 pilot settlements to nationwide implementation requires robust, adaptable engineering solutions. Building on monitoring and performance data from existing sites, this research investigates how to adapt, modify, and optimize decentralized nature-based solutions (NbS) and green-grey hybrid infrastructure—encompassing sanitation, drainage, and flood mitigation. The candidate will address critical gaps in technical guidance within Indonesian and regional policy contexts, developing standardised frameworks to streamline the selection and deployment of fit-for-purpose technologies across varied environmental and community settings. Urban Water Engineering, Water-Sensitive Urban Design, Environmental Technology, Water Quality 3. Social and Institutional Frameworks for Upscaling Participatory Design What elements of participatory co-design and community-based infrastructure implementation are essential for achieving long‑term sustainability and how can these be institutionalised within state‑led pr

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