Building South Australian cancer research excellence through new PhD scholarships

Four unique PhD schol­ar­ships are being offered through a part­ner­ship between the South Aus­tralian Com­pre­hen­sive Can­cer Net­work (SAC­CaN), The Hos­pi­tal Research Foun­da­tion Group and Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty.

This pro­gram will sup­port researchers to advance can­cer sur­vivor­ship and sup­port­ive care research while con­nect­ing their aca­d­e­m­ic work with the health system. 

Aligned with the pri­or­i­ties of SACCaN’s HOPE (Holis­tic care and Opti­mis­ing Patient Expe­ri­ence) Sub­com­mit­tee and the Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty LiveWell Can­cer Research Cen­tre, the research will have a strong focus on local impact while con­tribut­ing to knowl­edge of nation­al relevance. 

The research pri­or­i­ty areas will explore: 

• inte­grat­ed can­cer sur­vivor­ship care in South Australia 

• patient-ini­ti­at­ed fol­low-up care that empow­ers can­cer sur­vivors to self-man­age and seek care when needed 

• the appli­ca­tion of exer­cise as med­i­cine in can­cer care 

• equi­ty in can­cer nav­i­ga­tion for pri­or­i­ty pop­u­la­tions (includ­ing Abo­rig­i­nal people). 

The schol­ar­ship pro­gram has a strong focus on research aimed at improv­ing can­cer out­comes and address­ing inequities for pri­or­i­ty pop­u­la­tions, includ­ing Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple, cul­tur­al­ly and lin­guis­ti­cal­ly diverse com­mu­ni­ties, and peo­ple liv­ing in rur­al and remote areas. 

Con­nect­ing research with the health sys­tem

Each schol­ar­ship requires the com­ple­tion of a research intern­ship with SAC­CaN through the Com­mis­sion on Excel­lence and Inno­va­tion in Health (CEIH). The intern­ship will involve research and devel­op­ment activ­i­ties relat­ed to the scholar’s area of research, pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage with SAC­CaN and the broad­er health system. 

The schol­ar­ships align with the SA Can­cer Plan 2025 – 2029 objec­tives to improve the can­cer expe­ri­ence and qual­i­ty of sur­vivor­ship. They also sup­port the vision of the new­ly released South Aus­tralian Health and Med­ical Research Strat­e­gy 2026 – 2036, which aims to trans­late research dis­cov­er­ies into every­day clin­i­cal prac­tice and prac­ti­cal health­care improvements. 

The Strat­e­gy also high­lights col­lab­o­ra­tion, grow­ing a stronger work­force and attract­ing and retain­ing tal­ent as impor­tant to strength­en­ing the state’s health and med­ical research ecosystem. 

By con­nect­ing aca­d­e­m­ic research with the health sys­tem, the schol­ar­ships will help build future can­cer research capa­bil­i­ty and cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for emerg­ing evi­dence to inform improve­ments in can­cer care. 

SAC­CaN’s Chief Can­cer Offi­cer, Michael Osborn says ​‘SAC­CaN has an impor­tant role in con­nect­ing exper­tise across South Australia’s can­cer sys­tem. These schol­ar­ships are an oppor­tu­ni­ty to build can­cer research capa­bil­i­ty while strength­en­ing the con­nec­tions between research, prac­tice and bet­ter can­cer care.’

Schol­ar­ship details

Each schol­ar­ship pro­vides a tax-free stipend of $43,840 per year for 3.5 years, along­side full-time enrol­ment in a High­er Degree by Research at Flinders University. 

Appli­ca­tions are open and close on 11 Decem­ber 2026. Find out more and apply.