PhD scholarships in substructural logic, Melbourne (Australia)

I've been awarded a fellowship that will run here at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia from mid-2020 to mid-2024, and as part of this fellowship I have two PhD scholarships available. The rest of this email gives more information about these scholarships.

David Ripley <david.ripley at monash.edu>

I can answer any questions and help navigate the application process. (If you are such an interested student who's received this email: hi there! I'm Dave. Looking forward to chatting with you!)

These are two fully funded ($29k AUD/yr) PhD scholarships in philosophy, with me as supervisor. Our PhD program runs for 3 years, and includes no coursework: it's basically hit the ground and write a dissertation. Teaching is sometimes available, for additional pay, but the scholarships themselves do not involve any teaching responsibilities. Relocation costs are also included up to $1500 AUD, and the university provides the government-required health insurance for students who are not Australian permanent residents.

The topic of the fellowship is substructural logic, with applications to resource sensitivity and resource management. I'm particularly interested in type-theoretic approaches to substructural logic, in applications of substructural logic in the design of programming languages, and in developing the theory of nontransitive logics by building bridges to better-known noncontractive logics. These will be research priorities for me throughout the fellowship. Students will be free (and expected, although of course I'll help) to come up with their own research projects, within the broad purview of the fellowship.

While the PhDs to be awarded are PhDs in philosophy, there is no requirement that students have a background in philosophy. (I didn't have a philosophy degree when I started my PhD, and I'm not about to start requiring one!) Interdisciplinary work is very welcome in our department, and I can help students develop philosophical angles on their work, if help is needed. The project itself sits in kind of a weird place for a philosophy project, and might be a good fit for students with a wide range of different backgrounds. It is important, however, that students have a strong background in logic or some closely related area; comfort with formal methods is a must.

The Monash department has good gender balance for a philosophy department. Our "tenured" staff comprises six women and eight men. I take diversity in philosophy seriously, and am particularly seeking applications from members of groups underrepresented in philosophy.

In addition to the Monash philosophy department, there are other philosophy departments in Melbourne (University of Melbourne, La Trobe, Deakin) that host events and talks. There is also the Melbourne Logic Group, which meets weekly during semester time. This group draws together logicians from multiple universities and multiple disciplines (mainly philosophy, but also mathematics and computer science) for colloquia, and it has been central to my own logic education. Melbourne also hosts the annual Compose::Melbourne conference, a conference for functional programmers, many of whom work in Melbourne and have strong interest in logical methods from a practical perspective. My hope is that these PhDs will provide experience and connections that can be useful to students whether or not they remain in academia.

Applications are officially due on 14 Feb, but interested students should contact me at david.ripley at monash.edu ASAP, so that I can answer any questions and help with the (somewhat confusing) application process. The university advertisement is at http://careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/job/602195/phd-scholarship-in-philosophy