Generative AI and academic research (MPhil Scholarship)
Application dates
- Applications close: 28 September 2025
What you’ll receive
You’ll receive:
- a stipend of $37,010 per annum for a maximum duration of 1.75 years while undertaking a QUT MPhil. The duration includes an extension of up to 3 months if approved for your candidature. This is the full-time, tax exempt rate which will index annually
- a tuition fee offset/sponsorship, covering the cost of your tuition fees for the first two full-time equivalent years of your studies
- the opportunity to work with a team of leading researchers, to undertake your own innovative research in and across the field.
Eligibility
To be eligible for this scholarship you must:
- meet the entry requirements for a QUT Master of Philosophy, including any English language requirements
- enroll as a full‑time, internal student
- start your degree in February 2026.
You must also:
- have completed a bachelor degree (AQF Level 7) or equivalent in a relevant discipline, with a minimum grade point average of 5 (on a 7 point scale)
- have a strong interest in undertaking a 2-year research project on generative AI and academic research
- develop a research proposal that responds to and aligns with the scholarship topic and articulates the contribution your research will make
- demonstrate excellent capacity and potential for research.
It would be advantageous to have:
- experience with critical and/or qualitative digital communication and media research methods (platform biography, policy analysis, app walkthrough, website analysis).
How to apply
Apply for this scholarship at the same time you apply for admission to a QUT Master of Philosophy.
The first step is to email Dr Kevin Witzenberger detailing your academic and research background, your motivation to research in this field and interest in this scholarship. You must include a:
- cover letter
- up-to-date CV
- full academic transcript
- research proposal addressing the scholarship topic using the research proposal template (DOCX file, 89.1 KB)
- writing sample (such as an article, essay or thesis you have written).
What happens next?
You will be advised of the outcome of your written application by 4 October 2025. If your application is shortlisted, we will invite you to an online meeting with the project team. If your application is selected for the scholarship, you will be asked to submit a formal expression of interest (EOI). In your EOI, you will be required to nominate Dr Kevin Witzenberger as your proposed principal supervisor, and copy the link to this scholarship web page into question two of the financial details section.
If you are an international applicant, you will need to have met our English language eligibility requirements by the time you submit your expression of interest.
About the scholarship
Applications are open from exceptional students to complete an MPhil on research-oriented generative AI platforms. These platforms, which include functions such as ChatGPT’s deep research ability, as well as more academic-oriented services like Consensus or Research Rabbit are transforming the way academics work. By using an adapted walkthrough method (Dugay et al. 2018) to perform case studies of a few selected services, this project will aim to critically assess the alignment or divergence between:
- platform environments of expected use (e.g. marketing and promotional claims)
- platform affordances (what the platforms actually enable users to do and how)
- institutional rules (norms, practices, and policies that apply to the uses of the tools and platforms to create academic research outputs, such as journal policies).
This project will help to advance knowledge about the potential benefits, risks and downstream impacts of AI for Australian and global knowledge systems. It will also help academics and other researchers to make informed decisions about whether, when and how to use generative AI tools as part of their writing and publishing activities.
The scholarship is part of the Generative AI and the future of academic writing and publishing project, funded by the Australian Research Council. The MPhil project will be supervised by Dr. Kevin Witzenberger, and will be based in QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre