The Jerusalem-Melbourne Joint PhD (JM-JPhD) is an international research training group between The University of Melbourne, Australia, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
The University of Melbourne (UoM) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2008, renewed in 2018, to foster exchange and research collaborations. Both Universities affirmed this partnership in November 2012 with an agreement to establish the Joint Research Workshop Grants Program.
The partnership was further expanded with the development of a joint PhD agreement and the launch of the Jerusalem-Melbourne Joint PhD program (JMJPhD) in 2019. The first cohort, with a thematic focus on biomedical research, successfully recruited 4 Joint PhD candidates across two research teams. The second group of 4 projects being recruited in late 2020 includes research in veterinary parasitology and Natural Language Processing (NLP) in computational linguistics and cognitive science. All successful candidates will spend at least a year at each institution over the course of their candidature and be eligible to graduate with a jointly awarded PhD recognised with a testamur from each University.
Upcoming Jerusalem-Melbourne Joint PhD (JM-JPhD) research projects are advertised below. Please read the application guidelines before contacting the project supervisors.
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Cell-scale MRI
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an indispensable characterization technique, extensively used in chemical analysis, as well as in other fields (biology, physics). The imaging modality of this scheme, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has unparalleled capabilities in varied fields, and notably in biological and medical diagnostics. In essence, MRI uses pickup coils to measure magnetic signals generated by nuclear spins within …
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Canine and feline leishmaniasis in Israel, its relationship to human leishmaniasis, co-infections, risk factors and drug resistance.
This joint PhD project will be based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with a 12 month stay at the University of Melbourne. Supervision Team: Professor Gad Baneth (Hebrew University of Jerusalem); Professor Rebecca Traub and Dr Vito Colella (University of Melbourne) Project description: The leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by Leishmania species which inflict three disease forms in humans; …
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Novel metabarcoding diagnostics to safeguard against the incursion of emerging and novel canine and feline vector-borne zoonoses in Australia and Israel.
This joint PhD project will be based at the University of Melbourne, with a 12 month stay at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Supervision Team: Professor Rebecca Traub and Dr Vito Colella (University of Melbourne); Professor Gad Baneth (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Project description: Canine and feline vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) transmitted by ticks, fleas and biting-flies, are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality …
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Cross-linguistic Semantic and Syntactic Representation
This joint PhD project will be based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with a 12 month stay at the University of Melbourne. Supervision Team: Dr Omri Abend, Hebrew University of Jersualem; Dr Lea Frermann, University of Melbourne Project Description: The technological and theoretical importance of cross-linguistic applicability in semantic and syntactic representation has long been recognized, but achieving this goal has proved …
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Scalable Computational Cognitive Models of the Bilingual Lexicon
This joint PhD project will be based at the University of Melbourne, with a 12 month stay at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Supervision Team: Dr Lea Frermann, University of Melbourne; Dr Omri Abend, Hebrew University of Jersualem Project Description: Learning a second language (L2) is a major cognitive effort, yet humans are able to reliably acquire languages in addition to their native language …
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How to Apply
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST Applicants for Jerusalem-Melbourne Joint PhD (JM-JPhD) projects should: Identify a project of interest Register their interest with the project supervisor based at the University of Melbourne, including the following information: Name, contact details Joint PhD project of interest Cover Letter, CV and Transcript Any supporting documentation Note: All applicants are required to meet the entry requirements for a PhD at …
Current Jerusalem-Melbourne Joint PhD (JM-JPhD) research projects, from our first cohort with candidates scheduled to commence in 2020 are listed below.
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Diamond sensor for Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and radicals in general, play a fundamental role in a broad range of chemical and biological processes, usually as catalysts and mediators of various reactions. For example, ROS are crucial as catalysts in clean energy production, such as batteries and light-harvesting complexes, and are instrumental in cellular and inter-cellular disease processes, such as inflammation. Detecting and …
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Decoding the rhythms of cognition
This project investigates the representational content of brain rhythms: the actual information contained in each of the cycles of cortical excitability that the brain produces during perception. Better understanding the content of rhythmic fluctuations in physiology and behavior will allow us to elucidate the underlying neural architecture. To address this aim we will apply multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) techniques to …
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The rhythm of predictive coding
This project investigates the role of brain oscillations in the mechanisms involved in predictive coding. Predictive coding is an influential framework of cortical organisation. However, the canonical predictive coding model treats cortical processing as a stationary process: input remains constant and the sensory hierarchy converges on a minimum-error computational solution. Of course, the real world is dynamic and ever-changing, and …
Professor Steven Prawer
Steven Prawer is the academic lead of the Jerusalem-Melbourne joint PhD program. He is a Professor of Physics in the School of Physics and Director of the Melbourne Materials Institute in the Faculty of Science. He has a world wide reputation in advanced diamond science and technology with over 30 years of experience and over 390 scientific publications. A particular focus of his research has been the merging of the areas of nanoscience and neuroscience to push the boundaries of bionic devices.
Prof Prawer co-supervises joint PhD projects with A/Prof Nir Bar-Gill from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr Lea Frermann
Lea Frermann is a Lecturer in the School of Computing and Information Systems in the Faculty of Engineering and IT, in the field of natural language processing (NLP). Her research interests focus on improving automatic understanding of long and complex texts (books, movie scripts), with help of access to common sense knowledge. She is also interested in using machine learning for a deeper understanding of human language processing, and in using such insights to improve automatic language understanding. Dr Frermann co-supervises joint PhD projects with Dr Omri Abend from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr Hinze Hogendoorn
Hinze Hogendoorn is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne School of Psychological Science, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. His primary research interests lie in visual time perception. Using psychophysical, behavioral, and neuroimaging techniques, he tries to answer questions such as how time is encoded in the brain, and how the brain keeps track of time. Dr Hogendoorn co-supervises joint PhD projects with A/Prof Ayelet Landau from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Professor Rebecca Traub
Rebecca Traub is a Professor in Veterinary Parasitology in Veterinary BioSciences at the University of Melbourne. Her main research interest is in the development and application of molecular epidemiological and diagnostic tools to unravel public health risks posed by a range of direct, food-borne and vector-borne parasitic zoonoses. Prof Traub co-supervises joint PhD projects with Dr Vito Colella from the University of Melbourne and Prof Gad Baneth from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The IRTG Coordinator team consists of:
- Petra Van Nieuwenhoven
The team works with the Joint PhD program Academic Lead on operational activities, including recruitment and the end to end graduate research lifecycle processes for joint PhD candidates. Please direct all your enquiries to jointphd-admin@unimelb.edu.au.