Postgraduate community

Find academic support and a range of opportunities to get involved in the intellectual and social life of our School community.

Distinguished Academic Visitor Program

Our Distinguished Academic Visitor Program aims to host a leading international biological sciences expert in our School each year.

The program enables discussion and knowledge sharing between our School's postgraduate community and a likeminded international academic.

Our postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, academics and staff nominate potential speakers who are then selected for invitation from a short list.

During their week-long visit, the visiting academic usually presents two School seminars, runs several workshops for postgraduates, and meets with students and research groups.

The initiative aims to invite:

established experts or up-and-comers in a broad field of study
academics who have published new and exciting results or techniques
enthusiastic and approachable speakers.

Past visiting academics

Fred Allendorf, Regents Professor, University of Montana
Peter Chesson, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona
Dr Matthew LeBreton, International Associate/Assistant Researcher, University of California, Los Angeles
Paul Ehrlich, Professor of Population Studies and Conservation Biology, Stanford University
Svata Louda, Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska
Verena Tunnicliffe, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Deep Ocean Research, University of Victoria
Dr Mike Bruford, Head of the Biodiversity and Ecological Processes Research Group, Cardiff University

Postgraduate representation

Postgraduate representation gives a voice to our honours, postgraduate coursework and HDR students through involvement in activities, events and School committee meetings.

Opportunities to get involved include:

School committees, such as the Postgraduate, Teaching & Learning, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, and Seminar committees
an annual postgraduate conference
the Distinguished Academic Visitor Program
weekly social Roof Terrace events for students, staff and peers
social and networking events.

You can also apply to join our Postgraduate Representative Committee, which meets regularly to discuss challenges and opportunities for improvement within our School, and runs the UQ Biology Postgrad Club.

Support for HDR candidates

Visit my.UQ's HDR information and services pages to access advice, resources and links to:

candidature management system and portal guides
milestone completion guides
thesis preparation, submission and examination advice and guidelines
scholarships and fees information
careers advice and resources.

Alternatively, visit the Graduate School website.

School Conference Travel Awards

Each year we aim to provide travel grants for eligible PhD and MPhil students to attend a conference during their candidature.

We hold application rounds every March and September.

Find more information about application deadlines, eligibility and how to apply (requires UQ login).

Statistical expertise

Many of our academics are experts in statistical analysis within a range of biological topics and data environments.

We also offer periodical workshops and statistics advisory sessions for postgraduates.

You’ll gain expertise in various statistical techniques and software packages on your degree program, but we recommend you ask for extra help as you need it.

We recommend that you seek statistical advice:

early in your project, to inform your experimental design
regularly throughout the lifetime of your project to help you address unforeseen changes to the study design and analysis of preliminary data
towards the end of your project for help with results interpretation and presentation

Contact your supervisor for more information.