Applying for a research degree at UniSA will usually involve preparing an application for a research project with a defined topic, supervisory panel, and in some cases, financial support.
You can also request to work with a supervisor to develop your own project. Note that UniSA only offers research degrees in the areas provided in our project listing.
If you are an applicant with external sponsorship or scholarship funding, please get in touch with the Graduate Research Admissions team on +61 8 8302 5880 and select option 1 or email research.admissions@unisa.edu.au so that we can provide you with advice specific to your needs.
If you would like to develop a project to suit your needs, you will need to:
1. Put together a short cover letter and CV:
- Your cover letter should provide an overview of you and your experience, and the type of research you want to do. This should be no more than one or two pages. You may also choose to include a high-level research proposal that describes the aim of your research and your proposed methodology; and
- Your CV (or resume) should include your relevant study and professional employment experiences, as well as a chronological listing of all research outputs you have authored or co-authored such as publications (e.g. journal articles, book chapters, conference publications) and original creative works (e.g. live performances, curated exhibition events). Please use bibliographic citations appropriate for your field of study.
2. Use the Find a Supervisor search bar below to identify potential supervisors who have expertise in your field of research:
- To use the tool, type in a word or two which relates to your proposed research topic or field in the search field. This will show you the academic staff within the University that match your chosen area of research. Click on the name of the academic to view their staff profile, which includes information related to their area of research/teaching along with their contact details.
- You can also browse potential supervisors by Academic Unit
3. Contact your proposed supervisor with your research proposal and CV
- Please be aware that supervisors are not obliged to offer their support to your proposal. Supervisors may not have capacity to take on additional students, or they may not share your research interests.
4. Following discussions between you and the proposed supervisor, your proposed supervisor will submit an internal request to obtain approval for your project
5. If the project is approved, you will be invited to apply.
Finding a supervisor hints and tips
- Remember to be professional and courteous when contacting supervisors, think of your email as you would a professional covering letter
- Your email should be concise, but should clearly explain to the academic why you think they would be appropriate to supervise your research and why they should consider supervising you
- Consider attaching your transcript(s) to your CV
- Consider contacting a UniSA academic that you've worked with in the past, or whose research you have read
- Remember to read the information the academic staff member has provided on their staff profile
- If you are having difficulties in locating an appropriate supervisor consider contacting the local Research Degree Coordinator.
