PhD Scholarship – The Structuration of Governance Processes

in Australian Aboriginal Public Health

  1. This PhD is ideally suited to a person who wants to develop a career in health policy research. You will need a minimum of Bachelor degree in health (public health and medicine, health sociology, medical anthropology) and Honours Degree by Research with a Class I award and above.
  2. The scholarship is only open for Australian domestic residents, and applicants must satisfy the requirements for Admission to Candidature for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. See:
  3. The scholarship is available at a stipend of $34,653 per year (indexed annually), plus up to $1,500 per annum for research expenses, an establishment allowance of $500, and a lap top upon commencement.
  4. You will be physically located at the Hunter Medical Research Institute and enrolled in a PhD program in the School of Medicine and Public Health, the University of Newcastle.
  5. You will work within a larger research project: Aboriginal Voice Integration and Diffusion in Public Health Collaboratives (AVID-PHC), with Chief Investigator Dr Mark J Lock. The AVID-PHC is an exciting and innovative study using mixed methodology, visual, mathematical, and interview methods in order to build a comprehensive understanding of a complex area of health policy.
  6. The central thesis of the AVID-PHC study is that Aboriginal peoples’ influence on public health services is mitigated by the governance design of the public health system. Aboriginal people are routinely asked to be members of advisory committees in health services because those services want to be better at delivering programs. Thus, the overall ‘governance design’ refers to how all these services’ governance structures and processes affect how Aboriginal voices diffuse from the committees through organisations to provide better services.
  7. The AVID-PCH Study entails: 1) a census of all primary health care organisations in the Hunter New England area (53 towns), 2) a census of all primary health care committees at three governance levels (executive committees, clinician/professional committees, and community advisory committees), and 3) identify all of the people who are members of each of the committees.
  1. Data analysis will focus on how the committees are linked by the committee members into a knowledge diffusion network, which is then visually and mathematically analysed through the techniques of social network analysis. Additionally, we will conduct over 300 interviews with committee members in order to describe the mechanics and machinations of voice diffusion. The interview questions and analysis is informed by structuration theory in order to capture the nuances of voice diffusion.
  2. Ideally your PhD will use a mixed methods approach (qualitative, quantitative) to establish a new methodology specifically for capturing (visually and mathematically) the ramifications of the inter-connections between governance structures and primary health care service access. This can be assessed through a combination of social network methods, confirmatory factor modelling, and interview analysis.
  3. You will need to send your academic qualifications, updated curriculum vitae, contact details for two academic referees, and be available for a telephone interview to discuss your interest in the topic.
  4. Applications are open now and close 30 June2014. Interviews will be conducted if necessary. The successful candidate is expected to begin inAugust 2014.
  5. Further inquires please contact Dr Mark J Lock on 02 4985 4979, or email .