Tom and Dorothy Cook Scholarships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine

The Tom and Dorothy Cook scholarships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine will be open to competition among candidates who:

• Are commencing, or in the process of applying for, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at JCU and
• Have a primary or secondary supervisor based in JCU's Discipline of Public Health and
• Have a research project related to public health, laboratory and clinical investigations of population health and
• An significant element of the research project focusses on the Mackay and central Queensland region and
• Meet JCU's admission requirements for MPhil or PhD degree.

Because of the specific requirements of this scholarship, and the variety of potential projects and their scopes, we highly recommend applicants follow the steps below prior to submitting an application:

Discuss this opportunity with your supervisor/s (or potential supervisor) from the Discipline of Public Health to ascertain if the Mackay-based elements are suitably significant/comprehensive
The adviser may contact A/Prof Sue Devine to discuss the opportunity further and confirm that the potential project meets the scholarship requirements
Once your supervisor has confirmed that the project is suitable for this scholarship, you may submit an application. Applications need to include the following:

A cover letter and
An up-to-date resume and
Full academic transcript and
A research summary (up to two pages) including project background, proposed methodology and relevance to Mackay and Central Queensland region and
Details of two referees (email/address/contact number).

The original Cook family migrated from England to Australia in 1837. 75 years later Tom's father purchased land in Mackay and in 1915 built a family home, which is currently known as Greenmount Homestead. In 1950 Tom Cook wed Dorothy Drysdale, a successful businesswoman, owning and running a ladies' fashion and beauty shop in Brisbane. Tom and Dorothy settled at the Mackay residence, where they lived for most of their 31-year marriage. The passing of Tom and Dorothy in 1981 and 1995 respectively ended eighty years of the Cook family residing at Greenmount. In 1984, Dorothy gifted the homestead to the Mackay Regional Council. Dorothy left a final gift to the community of Mackay in the form of a research scholarship at James Cook University.

These scholarships are offered to higher degree research students to undertake a Master of Philosophy or Doctor of Philosophy in the field of public health, laboratory and clinical investigation of population health in Tropical Northern Australia.

The research program should have as one of its elements a focus on the Mackay and central Queensland region.
The scholarship aims to build research capacity for these regions and align with JCU's public health and medical research strategy.

Research projects considered for this scholarship may focus on:

• strengthening an existing and underdeveloped area of research
• building a novel area of research excellence
• attracting excellent personnel to public health and medical research
• interventional studies to improve population health
• understanding population genetics in diseases endemic to Tropical Northern Australia.

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