Prospective Students

PhD opportunities

Dr Chiaro is looking for excellent and highly motivated PhD students (domestic and international) to work on one of the following projects: 

• Seismic performance of retaining walls with lightweight granular soil-tyre chips backfill materials

• Discrete element modeling DEM and microscopic investigations of granular matters including mixtures of hard-soft-crashable materials. 

• Liquefaction potential and cyclic behaviour of gravelly sandy soils

• Large deformation characteristics of sands with fines, crashable sands and volcanic soils

Ideal applicants will have strong experimental skills and/or sound background in soil constitutive models and numerical methods.

If you consider yourself as having a strong academic background and have an interest in topics on this website for postgraduate research (see also Research and Publications for more details), please contact Dr Chiaro via email (gabriele.chiaro@canterbury.ac.nz) to informally discuss this opportunity (include the research title in the email subject). Please also provide ALL of the following details:

·         An academic transcript (not required for UC domestic students);

·         A brief curriculum vitae (2pg max) emphasising courses completed and publications;

·         A brief statement (one page) of your career goals and previous research experience

·         For international students – Statements from two referees that should focus on the applicants: (i) academic skills; (ii) ability to work as part of a vibrant research team; (iii) independent knowledge skills; and (iv) written and oral English communication skills (particularly for non-native English applicants). The referee statements may be sent either with, or separate to, the application from the candidate.  A contact phone number and email of the referee should be provided in their statement.

·         Attach all English conference or journal publications (including those under review), and theses. It is expected that student applying for a PhD will generally have one of more peer-reviewed publications (including those in review);

·         For non-native English speakers: Evidence of sufficient English communication [See here].  The minimum requirements are either: (1) a TOEFL score greater than 90, of which writing must be greater than 20; or (2) a IELTS score of 6.5 with no section lower than 6.0]

You will receive a reply to your email only if you provide ALL of the above material. So please do not send any incomplete/generic inquiries.

Further details on postgraduate study at the University of Canterbury can be found here. You should also investigate potential scholarships to cover tuition fees and stipend from the UC Scholarships office, or external agencies.