Yam Paddock Project - PhD Scholarships

Biolinks Alliance is really excited to be involved, as a partner, in a new project looking at the role of cultural fire in Aboriginal food production.

The Yam Paddock Project lead by La Trobe University and Dja Dja Wurrung will look at how and where food plants were used in Victoria by Aboriginal people historically - as well as how fire can be used to manage their stocks. 

The project will strengthen Biolinks Alliances practices of working with Traditional Owners and increase the opportunities for the use of fire as an ecological management tool. This project is being made possible through funding from the Sallis Foundation and HMSTrust.  

Aboriginal cultural burning is also a powerful tool for restoring and managing the biodiversity of native grasslands

Aboriginal cultural burning is also a powerful tool for restoring and managing the biodiversity of native grasslands

Two PhDs are currently being advertised, one involving historic mapping and the other plant ecology.

Expressions of interest are required by 17 April, 2020, with a view to commencing in Semester 2, 2020.  Aboriginal people are particularly encouraged to apply.  Further details are below.

Historic mapping PhD:   

  • Aims to collate archival sources in a GIS database as a means of mapping historic cultural burning and food production activities.   

  • Contact Prof. Susan Lawrence, Centre for the Study of the Inland (s.lawrence@latrobe.edu.au)

Plant ecology PhD:

  • Focussed on botanical survey, plant population ecology, glasshouse trials and monitoring of cultural burns at research sites on country to increase knowledge for the on-going protection and management of traditional yam-field grasslands.

  • Contact Dr. Jim Radford, Centre for Future Landscapes (j.radford@latrobe.edu.au).

Sophie Bickford