La Trobe University Industry Research Scholarship - Environmental Archaeology of Port Phillip Bay: Reconstructing human-environment interactions in the Holocene

We are seeking an enthusiastic and highly motivated student to undertake a fully funded PhD project in Environmental Archaeology reconstructing the Holocene palaeoenvironment of Port Phillip Bay, to investigate human-environment interactions.

About our research project

Port Phillip Bay, on which Melbourne is located, has a complex history, with evidence for a late Holocene drying event within the last 2,800-1,000BP years, corroborated by local Aboriginal oral traditions that describe the bay as a former hunting ground (Holdgate et al. 2011). The project will involve analysis of sediment cores from the eastern flank of the bay that extent back to 14,000BP, with the aim of better understanding sea level fluctuations, palaeoecological change, and land management practices within the bay (for example Aboriginal fire management).

Environmental archaeology approaches such as the study of pollen and charcoal in the core, combined with geochronological techniques will be employed to investigate sea level change in the bay, vegetation change, and the role people played in managing the environment. There is scope for fieldwork, and to retrieve further cores to bolster the analysis. This research is respectfully carried out on Bunurong Country and funded by LXRP, and will be undertaken with full consultation of all stakeholders.

Benefits of the scholarship include:

• a La Trobe Research Scholarship for three and a half years, with a value of $28,392 per annum, to support your living costs (2020 rate)

• a fee-relief scholarship for up to four years to undertake a PhD at La Trobe University
• relocation allowance and publication/thesis allowance
  

• opportunities to work with La Trobe’s outstanding researchers, and have access to our suite of professional development programs.