Fisheries scholarships worth up to $90,000 for number crunchers

25 August 2008

MFish and NIWA are offering postgraduate scholarships in quantitative fisheries science worth up to $90,000 each.

MFish Chief Scientist Pamela Mace said the scholarships were available to PhD students at $30,000 per annum for up to three years, and to Masters students at up to $25,000 per annum for up to two years.

“Candidates for our Quantitative Fisheries Science Postgraduate Scholarships should have majors or minors in both biology and a quantitative field like mathematics, statistics, economics, engineering or computer science,” Dr Mace said.

“The quantitative discipline is critical to our mandate to conserve and manage New Zealand’s fisheries, but there is a world-wide shortage of trained graduates.

“Our aim is to attract top performers into the field, particularly in fish stock assessment. Their Masters or PhD work will also make a significant contribution in our priority research areas.”

Dr Mace said the number of scholarships available would depend on the quality of applicants.

“We expect applicants to have a strong quantitative background with statistics, calculus or mathematics courses to at least second-year level.

“We will then ask some applicants to develop a relevant, feasible proposal for a research project. If a student is awarded a scholarship, their project will be supervised jointly by NIWA, MFish and their university,” Dr Mace said.

The scholarships will begin in the 2009 academic year, and applications close on 30 November 2008.

The Quantitative Fisheries Science Postgraduate Scholarships programme was set up in 2006.

The first recipient, Oliver Hannaford, began an MSc in Statistics in the 2007 academic year. He has since completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Science with distinction, and is working on a stock assessment model for west coast snapper and two other statistics papers.

Applicants who are New Zealand citizens will be given preference, and must study in New Zealand, with the possibility of undertaking some courses through an Australian university.

For more information on the scholarship and how to apply please contact:

Richard Ford
Principal Scientist
MFish
richard.ford@fish.govt.nz
04 819 4664

Or,

Beatrice Stewart
Administration Support Officer
MFish
beatrice.stewart@fish.govt.nz
04 819 4265