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CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation.
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CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy.
The Opportunity
- Are you passionate about a career in research?
- Want to access CSIRO's world-class facilities and staff?
- Apply for a CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarship now!
CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarships provide enhanced opportunities in science and engineering for outstanding graduates enrolling in a PhD at Australian tertiary institutions. Collaborating with us to complete your PhD degree will give your research the edge. We offer you access to our leading scientists, engineers and mentors, the opportunity to take your research to the next level in our first-class facilities and first-hand experience in an environment where our innovative research really is changing the world for the better.
A CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarship is a supplementary award, which adds to the student’s support from a principal scholarship awarded by another body, e.g. RTP scholarship. In all respects recipients of awards will be regarded as students of the University at which they are registered, and all rules relating to degree candidature and the primary award will apply. In particular, recipients will undertake research at CSIRO as a student of the university concerned and will not be employees of CSIRO.
CSIRO Energy plays an important role in providing advanced energy research and development to assist governments, industry and the community, in the energy transition. We are partnering with local and global companies to deliver energy solutions for a sustainable future. For more information, please see our website at Energy.
Project Title: Lithium ion battery anode material (graphite) recovery
Project Details
Lithium ion battery has been growing rapidly in the global market and now become the dominant battery type due to their wide adoption in electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage (ESS) applications. It is expected significant volume of waste lithium ion battery will retire and need to be recycled in the next 5-8 years. Most LIB recycling work in the past focused on the recovery of cathode material. Graphite is dominantly used as an anode material in all types of lithium-ion batteries for EVs and BESS. China refines more than 90% of global battery-grade graphite. There is growing industry and government interest in LIB anode (graphite) recovery. The graphite in LIB is usually mixed with cathode as black mass either served as a reductant burnt in the pyrometallurgy process or undergoing numerous chemical processes in a hydrometallurgy process ending up as residual waste where the morphology and crystallinity are significantly changed, as well as contributing large quantity of harsh liquid chemical waste stream. This project will explore processes that can efficiently separate graphite from cathode material before chemical digestion, and then investigate the possibility of reuse of recovered graphite via purification and repair.
Contact: For more information on the research project please contact Yanyan Zhao on +61 3 9545 8395 or email yanyan.zhao@csiro.au
Location: Clayton
Scholarship: Top-Up Scholarship of $10,000 per annum, plus a learning and development budget of $5,000 over the term of the studentship
Tenure: 3 years
Reference: 97895
Eligibility:
To be eligible to apply you must have (or expect to gain):
- first or upper second-class honours or equivalent in a relevant research area;
- admission to an Australian University as a PhD student;
- hold an appropriate visa to study in Australia (if international)*
- be no further than one year (FTE) into a PhD on commencing at CSIRO
- hold a primary scholarship; for example, a Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship or other primary scholarship of similar value
- not be in receipt of any other Top-Up Scholarship
- a university supervisor who is willing and able to supervise you; and
- be available to commence with CSIRO no later than 30 June 2025.
* International applicants must be residing in Australia and have the appropriate immigration approvals to allow them to take up the scholarship.
The successful applicant will be required to obtain and provide a National Police Check or equivalent.
Applications will be assessed on:
- Quality and relevance of student project: The primary assessment criterion for a CSIRO PhD Top-Up Scholarship is the quality and relevance of the project being proposed. The research must be aligned with the advertised priority research area.
- Academic calibre of the student: The quality of the student is also critical to the assessment of a scholarship and candidates must hold (or expect to gain) a relevant first or upper second class honours (or equivalent) degree from a recognised university.
- Availability of appropriate university supervision: The relevance of the university supervisor’s research background and their willingness to supervise the student in collaboration with the CSIRO supervisor should also be made clear.
Flexible Working Arrangements
We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work.
Diversity and Inclusion
We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish.
About CSIRO
At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact.
CSIRO is committed to values-based leadership to inspire performance and unlock the potential of our people.
Join us and start creating tomorrow today!
How to apply:
You will be required to:
- submit a Resume/CV and Cover Letter (as one document) in the ‘Resume/CV’field which includes:
- the names and contact details of two previous supervisors or academic/professional referees; and
- a one-page proposal stating how your research interests align with the project aims.
- upload your academic results in the ‘Cover Letter’ field.
If you experience difficulties applying online call 1300 984 220 and someone will be able to assist you. Outside business hours please email: careers.online@csiro.au.
Applications Close
30 November 2024, 11:00pm AEDT
