Information Page

February 28, 2019 Author: Michael

Hello,

Thanks for getting in touch. Due to a large number of daily enquiries, I’m not always able to reply to everyone – so I’ve put together this information page. Please have a look below to find more information:

PhDs | Jobs | Internships | Visit/Talk Requests | Recruiters | General Requests for Help / Advice / Contact

Prospective PhD students (full PhD at QUT)

Because we receive thousands of enquiries about PhDs every year (see here for an anonymized example of the volume of enquiries we receive), we are generally unable to have detailed discussions with everyone. The links at the bottom of this section provide some key information including application processes and my research topics.

Once you’ve registered your interest using the process below, we will approach you if we have a potential suitable project or topic.

If you have already sent me your CV, there’s no need to do anything more. If you want to express an interest (either in response to a specific call for applications or in general), please send your CV to michael.milford AT qut.edu.au. Briefly describe the parameters of what you’re interested in e.g. “I want to start a PhD in localization for robotics, starting in May 2023”.

If you don’t hear from us, you can assume that we don’t currently have any suitable PhD openings, or that we do not have a suitable potential PhD position for you. This applies whether this is an unsolicited application or whether you are responding to a specific call for PhD applications.

If you need a response quickly, you can assume that we don’t currently have anything suitable. We are, unfortuately, generally unable to answer questions about the process or your suitability, due to the volume of enquiries.

If we follow up with you, that is the time at which we can engage in more detailed discussion about eligibility, timing, application processes etc…

There are also project / grant-funded scholarships and “out-of-round” scholarships, but these are highly selective – once again, we will contact you if there are possibilities there.

Full Application Process (Only Relevant If We’ve Had Discussions With You)

Note: Please do not apply unless we have invited you to submit an application, or you have found another supervisor willing to support your application.

The full application process currently consists of two stages: an Expression of Interest (EOI) stage, followed by a full application (when you write a research proposal).

I am generally only able to consider taking on PhD students who either win full scholarships, or bring scholarships from their own country. In specific circumstances, I will fund scholarships from other sources of funding such as research or industry grants.

Since scholarships in general are quite competitive so we always encourage students to apply to several universities to maximize their chances of finding a funded position. There are more than 40 universities within Australia alone you can consider, as well as hundreds internationally. This way you greatly increase your chances of getting a great PhD position!

Key Links:

Prospective Staff (Postdocs, Research Assistants)

We generally do not accept unsolicited applications, but if of interest we will keep your details on record for future relevant opportunities.

If you are responding to a specific job or role we have advertised, and have not already done so, please provide your CV to michael.milford AT qut.edu.au with a note about the position you are interested in. If the job is publicly advertised, you’re of course welcome to apply.

We are only able to contact those who we shortlist for potential roles, so if you don’t hear back from us you can assume that we don’t currently have a suitable role, and that we will keep your details on record and reach out if there is a suitable opportunity in future. Due to the large volume of enquiries we receive, we’re unfortunately generally unable to provide any specific feedback. If you have time critical requirements to find a job, the safest default option is to assume we don’t have a suitable position.

Some Common Questions

Question: Am I competitive for this role? This depends on the field of applicants, which is typically very competitive. You can also check the selection criteria to see how well you match them.

Question: Are International Applicants Accepted? The role description will typically explicitly state whether the applications are only open to Australian citizens, permanent residents, or international applicants who are already onshore in Australia.

Good luck with your search – there are a range of opportunities across the university, corporate, industry and start-ups sectors.

Internships or Visiting PhD Students (including undergraduates)

We generally only consider long-term (9 months+) self-funded (as in you have funding from your university or home country) internships from undergraduates. We are not generally able to support internships shorter than this, or applicants requiring funding.

The same applies for visiting PhD students – we generally will only consider hosting self-funded (typically through scholarships from their home university or country) PhD students who stay 1 or more years at QUT as part of their PhD.

If you are not already funded, we are only able to help with requests to help support applications for funding (such as invitation letters) in exceptional circumstances.

At periodic intervals, we go through the list and approach some of the candidates for further discussions. If you haven’t already, please send me (michael DOT milford AT qut.edu.au) your CV / resume.

If you don’t hear from us, you can assume that we don’t currently have any suitable PhD openings, or that we do not have a suitable potential PhD position for you.

Requests for Visits / Talks

Thanks for your interest – if you’ve already sent your enquiry to michael.milford@qut.edu.au, then there’s no need to do anything else – we will get in touch if a talk or visit is feasible.

I am generally only able to consider fully-funded talk invitations at commercial or industry events.

If you don’t hear back from us you can assume that we aren’t able to do the talk or tour.

Recruiters

  • If you are a recruiter looking for suggestions, tips or referrals, I have a set of suggestions here.
  • If you are enquiring as to my interest in a role, I am always happy to chat possibilities (and hopefully provide suggestions) around strategic senior university roles (research or executive) or senior company or startup roles in fields including autonomous vehicles, robotics and artificial intelligence.
  • There is a password protected page with specific around types of roles, working locations, package expectations – e-mail michaelmilford AT gmail.com to get the password.

General Requests for Help / Advice / Teaching Resources / References / Selling Something

I will endeavour to reply to as many requests for help or suggestions or advice, but am unable to respond to many simply because of the volume of enquires received. If you do not get a reply you can assume that I am unable to handle your specific enquiry or request.

Q) Where can I find more information relevant to academia, research and careers?

I am growing a series of tutorial videos on aspects of #academia which you may find useful:

For educational resources there are lots of options like Udacity, The QUT Robot Academy, and my Robotics YouTube channel.

Q) I’m after a mentor: can you mentor me? A) I enjoy doing lots of mentoring but unfortunately have limited capacity to take on any more mentoring roles – good luck with your search. Here is a video I put together on finding and benefiting from mentors. You may also find useful this page on tips I use when I do mentoring. 

Q) I need a reference or referral letter,can you help me? A) Likewise, I do a large number of references, referral letters and award nominations each year, but am unfortunately generally unable to do this except for people I know well. One exception to this would be tenure reference letters of people I don’t know personally, which I will try to do where possible.

Q) I’m after detailed technical advice about topic X. A) If it’s a specific technical query about one of our core systems e.g. RatSLAM, SeqSLAM, Patch-NetVLAD and so on, reach out to my e-mail address. If you are after more general technical or research expertise, there are a wide range of online resources and universities, research organisations and start-ups you can contact.

Q) We are selling robot / sensor / service X – can I get in touch? A) If you are selling robots / sensors / AI / consulting services / a conference package, we will contact you if we are interested in your product.