A new platform for Australian universities to complement specialist PhD training with industry experience has been established with the newly reached agreement between the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute’s (AMSI) all-sector, all-discipline APR. Intern program and the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (IMCRC).
Under the new agreement, PhD students will be given the opportunity to work for companies and apply their expertise in practice while their train. The approach has been welcomed by everyone involved and has been dubbed as mutually beneficial, both for the PhD candidates and the companies that will take advantage of the new platform.
All parties involved also agree that these specialist PhD internships will play a critical role in upskilling the sector to retort any challenges and opportunities that might arise in the future.
According to the official media release, 23 skilled PhDs will be matched to manufacturing SMEs and larger companies, thus providing them with the opportunity to apply their specialist expertise to drive advanced and digital manufacturing and optimisation solutions.
“Contributing to the delivery and impact of NRIP, these placements bring specialised research skills to the manufacturing table, while also transforming university-industry research engagement,” said APR. Intern Director and Melbourne Enterprise Professor, Gary Hogan AM.
AMSI Director, Professor Tim Brown welcomed the agreement by pointing out the importance of PhD engagement with industry as a necessary step to transform the manufacturing industry.
“The APR. Intern program will allow companies, especially SMEs, to cost-effectively tap into manufacturing talent with unique skillsets across automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing and augmented reality,” added IMCRC CEO and Managing Director, David Chuter.
“Over the course of three, four or five months, a PhD intern could work, for instance, within a company’s operations team to identify where automation could most benefit the organisation and assist with planning migration towards a digital manufacturing strategy.”
