Wyres lab

PhD Projects

What we offer

We offer PhD projects via the Monash Doctoral Program, and the Monash University School of Translational Medicine Translational Research PhD Program. Please see the linked pages for information about the University application process, eligibility and scholarships.

Example PhD projects can be found here, but in many cases we can also customise projects to cater for the student’s specific interests and learning objectives. Please remember that our lab is primarily computational, so all projects will have a significant bioinformatics focus. We don’t offer projects that are primarily wet-lab focussed.

Please read our lab manual to learn about our team and supervisory environment.

What we are looking for

We are a diverse, supportive team looking for candidates who will make a positive contribution to our research mission, who have a specific and genuine interest in our work and/or our team. You’ll need to clearly state your relevant interests in your enquiry email (see below).

Candidates should have demonstrated capacity to conduct independent research projects e.g. a successful Master’s project or Australian Honours year, be self-motivated and capable of independent learning.

Candidates should also have an enthusiasm for bacterial population biology and a background in biology, microbiology, epidemiology, genetics, statistics and/or data science. We don’t expect candidates to be experts in all of these disciplines, but you will need a good level of background knowledge in at least one area, and be able to show that you are capable of self-directed learning to establish new expertise.

Funding

It is important that students have access to adequate funding to cover tuition fees and support living expenses throughout the duration of their PhD program. From time-to-time we are able to offer funded projects, and if available these are listed below. However, we can also accept applicants who have secured their own external funding, or who are eligible to apply for domestic or international University administered scholarships.

Please be aware that the University administered scholarships are extremely competitive: There is a minimum grade expectation equivalent to Higher Distinction or H1 at Australian Honours / Masters degree level. Authorship of multiple peer-reviewed original research articles is also highly desirable for international candidates. In the interests of everyone’s time, we will only support scholarship applications if we believe the candidate’s resume is competitive.

Selection process

A PhD project is a big commitment for both the student and the supervisor. It’s essential that the student is a good fit for the team and the project, that the project meets the student’s learning objectives, and that the supervisory style meets the student’s needs.

Kelly has found it useful to have one or two meetings with potential candidates to understand their research interests and discuss potential projects. If we can agree on a suitable project, we ask the candidate to draft a two-page research proposal based on the discussions. We will also conduct a reference check before we can make the final decision on whether or not to support an application.

Candidates will have the opportunity to connect with existing students in the team before submitting their University application. This can be a great opportunity to find out more about how the team and department work, and what it is like to have Kelly as a supervisor.

How to make an enquiry

1. Make sure you meet the University eligibility requirements for enrolment and are aware of any relevant scholarship deadlines.
2. Send the following information via email to kelly.wyres@monash.edu:

• CV, including a list of any research publications with the full author list, article title and journal name
• Academic transcript(s)
• Brief description of your research interests and objectives, how these fit with our work and why you feel you would be a good fit for our team (2-3 paragraphs).
• Statement of funding status or intention to apply for a scholarship

We receive many emails with PhD enquiries. We are looking for candidates that show a genuine interest in our work. We expect candidates have read our research page and/or Kelly’s University profile page, plus one or two recent research articles.

The introductory email should be unique from any other that you send because it should include a few sentences that reference our work or our team, and what it is that specifically excites you about doing a PhD with us. Ideally, the email will also include one or two sentences detailing your skills or expertise that make you a great candidate for our team.

Please do not simply state that you are interested in Klebsiella and/or genomics and/or metabolic modelling. If these are your genuine interests, tell us why, or tell us about a scientific article you’ve read on the topic that you particularly liked, or tell us how these topics fit with your career aspirations. There is no single correct way to indicate your interest, but whatever you write should be genuine, and not something generated straight from an AI bot!

Funded opportunities

There are currently no funded opportunities available.