Dreaming of pursuing a PhD in Australia with an Australia Awards Scholarship? Want to develop a strong research proposal that supports your scholarship application?
Join the Research Proposal Writing Workshop from 19 to 22 January 2027 and gain practical insights and guidance from experienced facilitators.
Designed for prospective PhD applicants from the Equity Target Groups, this intensive four-day online workshop will equip selected participants with practical techniques and strategies to develop a compelling research proposal. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss their draft proposals and refine them with guidance and feedback from facilitators.
Three Equity Target Groups were selected for inclusion in the Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Strategy through a process of research and consultation with the Governments of Indonesia and Australia. These are people with disability, women from disadvantaged backgrounds, and people from equity target provinces.
People from these groups are relatively more likely to have experienced disadvantage due to multiple factors, including social or cultural standards, expectations, bias, geographic or social isolation, financial and economic disadvantage, institutional discrimination, or limited access to opportunity.
Australia Awards in Indonesia will offer equity support on the basis that past disadvantage has limited the ability of people in these groups to compete on an equal basis alongside their peers. Equity support offers opportunities to catch up, with the aim of enabling individuals from the Equity Target Groups to compete successfully in merit-based processes. Some people may belong to multiple Equity Target Groups. An intersectional approach will be taken to understanding intersecting forms of exclusion and discrimination.
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2022, gender gaps persist, and the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed progress toward closing them. Although Indonesia has reached near parity and women outperform men on some indicators in health and education, overall Indonesian women still have very low representation at senior levels in the workforce, politically, and in senior decision-making positions.
Women in Indonesia face challenges of double or triple burdens in balancing work with domestic and other family responsibilities while managing religious, cultural, and traditional expectations about their role as women and their participation and agency, particularly in the workplace and society. Based on this understanding of how specific vulnerabilities can result in entrenched marginalisation for women, and using an intersectionality lens, Australia Awards in Indonesia will prioritise women as head of household, women with caregiving responsibilities, women with disability, women from disadvantaged regions, women from customary or traditional communities (perempuan masyarakat adat), and other groups of women who are disadvantaged because of their gender and socioeconomic status. The programme will support affirmative outreach and interventions to these groups of women to support their access and participation.
People with disability who are otherwise eligible are encouraged to apply for an Australia Awards Scholarship. Under Australian law, disability includes physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory, neurological, and learning disabilities, physical disfigurement, and the presence in the body of disease-causing organisms.
Reasonable accommodations will be made based on needs assessments to enable applicants, scholars and alumni with disability an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the programme at all stages. Additional support may be considered for returning scholars with disability to facilitate their transition back to Indonesia. The programme will also consider integrating on-award activities that connect scholars with disability with Australian institutions, such as non-government organisations and disabled people’s organisations that operate in Indonesia and may be able to offer internships in Australia and/or advice on career opportunities in Indonesia.
Equity target provinces are those with a Human Development Index score of less than 70, according to Indonesian Bureau of Statistics data from 2022. This covers East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua, Southwest Papua, South Papua, Highland Papua, Central Papua, West Sulawesi, West Kalimantan, Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi and Lampung. The list of equity target provinces will be maintained without change until at least 2026, regardless of annual changes to the Human Development Index.
Eligibility requirements
Applicants must intend to apply for an Australia Awards Scholarship in the 2027 application period and belong to one of the Equity Target Groups:
- People with disability
- Women from disadvantaged backgrounds
- People from equity target provinces (supported by a Kartu Tanda Penduduk issued in one of the provinces listed above)
Applicants must have a Grade Point Average of at least 2.75 on a 4.0 scale.
Applicants must include the latest English language proficiency result of at least 552 in TOEFL ITP, 80 in TOEFL iBT, 6.0 in IELTS, or 56 in PTE Academic. The test result may be obtained more than two years prior. Note that for an Australia Awards Scholarship application, the English language certificate must have been obtained no earlier than 1 January 2026.
Applicants who previously obtained a Master’s degree with an Australia Awards Scholarship must have completed the required four-year period of residing outside Australia before applying for a PhD-level award.
Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree are not eligible.
Workshop details
The workshop will be conducted online via Zoom and is expected to accommodate between 40 and 60 participants. Sessions will run from Tuesday 19 January to Friday 22 January 2027, covering core research proposal writing content followed by group consultations on draft proposals and closing sessions.
Required documents
Applicants must attach a curriculum vitae and short biography in English, a copy of their Kartu Tanda Penduduk, copies of previous academic certificates and transcripts, the latest English language test result, a draft research proposal in the specified format, and, for Government of Indonesia employees, the relevant appointment letter (SK PNS).
Participation requirements
Participants must join the online sessions via Zoom with a stable internet connection and attend according to the scheduled times.
Applications close on 30 November 2026. Selected participants will be contacted by email no later than 22 December 2026. For further questions, email aai-selection@australiaawardsindonesia.or.id.
Do not miss this opportunity to strengthen your research proposal and take the next step towards your PhD journey.