PhD Stipend Scholarship – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences/Monash AI institute [AI-enabled personalised coaching for physical activity and other health behaviour change across diverse cultural contexts]

PhD Stipend Scholarship – Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences/Monash AI institute [AI-enabled personalised coaching for physical activity and other health behaviour change across diverse cultural contexts]

Job No.: 698720

Location: Clayton campus

Employment Type: Full-time

Duration: 3.5 years fixed-term appointment

Supervisory Team: Lead Supervisor - Associate Professor Matthew Ahmadi; Co-supervisors: Dr Nicholas Koemel, Dr Syafiq Asnawi, Prof Emmanuel Stamatakis, Prof Adeeba Kamarulzaman, Dr Zhanna Sarsenbayeva, Assoc Prof Sam Liu, Prof Patrick Olivier

Collaborating Supervisors & Team: Monash Institute of Medical Engineering, School of Psychological Sciences (The Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health), School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash Faculty of Information Technology, and Monash University Malaysia

Remuneration: Fully funded PhD Scholarship ($37,000 per annum). The stipend rate is indexed annually and published on the Monash University Graduate Research Stipend and Allowance Rates website.

The Opportunity:

We are recruiting PhD candidates to join our team at the School of Psychological Sciences working across AI-enabled personalised health. Supported by the Monash AI Institute, this program brings together researchers from Monash Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash Information Technology, Monash University Malaysia, and industry partners to develop the next generation of personalised AI health coaching systems. Students will join a multidisciplinary PhD cohort spanning health, behavioural science, artificial intelligence, data science, and digital health, with opportunities to collaborate across disciplines, institutions, and industry.

The PhD Project:

Project Title: AI-Enabled Personalised Coaching for Physical Activity and other health Behaviour Change Across Diverse Cultural Contexts

Project Description:

This project explores the potential of AI-enabled personalised health coaching for building healthy sleep, physical activity, and dietary habits. The research will cover topics including:

• Human-AI interaction and trustworthy AI
• Intelligent wearables and multimodal sensing
• Culturally adaptive AI for behaviour change
• Translation into real-world community interventions

This program includes work across medicine, computer science, and AI with an international team of researchers and industry partners to develop safe, scalable AI systems for behaviour change.

Selection criteria:

Prospective applicants must satisfy Monash University PhD entry requirements as outlined in the Monash Graduate Research Admission Procedure, including:

• Open to domestic candidates (Australian citizen, New Zealand citizen, or permanent resident status).
• A bachelor’s degree of at least four years in a relevant discipline, which includes a research thesis or project, with a minimum overall average grade of an Honours degree equivalent to the First Class Honours Division A; OR
• A master's degree in a relevant discipline which includes a research thesis or project equivalent to at least 25 percent of one year of full-time study, with a minimum overall average grade of honours equivalent to the First Class Honours Division A; OR
• A qualification, or combination of qualifications and relevant professional or research experience, deemed equivalent by the Graduate Research Committee (or delegate).

How to apply

We are seeking expressions of interest from qualified domestic candidates who wish to apply for this PhD opportunity. This position has a two-stage selection process:

Stage 1: Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI)

Candidates should contact the supervising researcher and include the following when submitting an EOI:

1. A cover letter not exceeding 500 words stating your suitability and research interest.
2. A curriculum vitae including peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and relevant research/work experience.
3. Scanned copies of academic transcripts.
4. Contact details of two academic and/or clinical referees.

Stage 2: Submit a PhD candidature application

Candidates whose EOI is successful will be invited to submit a full application for Monash PhD candidature.

Enquiries: Meghna Pathak (

Meghna.pathak@monash.edu

Closing Date: Submit your interest before 31 October

Supporting a diverse workforce