Proposals for joint research with China

The NZ-China NCD Research Collaboration Centre (NCD CRCC) this year signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and three NZ universities (University of Auckland, AUT and Otago University) to offer full scholarships for up to 10 Chinese students per year to undertake doctoral studies in NZ on a topic related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The PhD scholarship covers full tuition fees, living allowance and health insurance for up to 48 months, return international airfare, and visa application fee.  Other benefits include the opportunity to access to the same opportunities to apply for research support as other doctoral candidates at the NZ universities as well as to apply for additional support from the NCD CRCC to undertake activities that develop research collaboration between China and New Zealand. Students with permanent residence status in New Zealand or any other country are not eligible to apply but students who are in the first year of a PhD in New Zealand may do so.

Proposals are sought from any research supervisor at the University of Auckland, AUT and the University of Otago working in the field of non-communicable diseases, who is interested both in attracting a PhD student from China and developing their own research links with China. The CSC scholarships are prestigious and attract high quality students.  Research proposals need to show:

• Evidence of track record of research links with China or strong interest in establishing research links;
• Alignment to NCD CRCC priority areas (cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity, neuropsychiatric disorders and age-related diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, modernisation of traditional Chinese medicine, gene-environment interactions and big data)

Contact Dr Hu Zhang on 03 470 9700 or at hu.zhang@otago.ac.nz.