APR Internships
Our university is working with the Australian Postgraduate Research (APR) Intern program to place our finest minds into business to tackle research and development problems and accelerate innovation.
APR.Intern provides a platform for business to engage with PhD expertise through affordable, short-term, tightly-focussed projects. Supported by the Australian Government with a new R&D rebate, the program is available to all Australian businesses including SMEs, large corporations and government agencies.
Businesses can access a 50% Government Rebate on a tailored research project through APR.Intern. Project costs for the business include a monthly $3,000 PhD student stipend and a $5,500 fixed payment to both the academic mentor and to the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) covering all project management and administration costs. For a 3-month project, the cost breakdown is $20,000 – with $10,000 recoverable under the rebate scheme upon project completion.
What are the benefits?
- Rapid results in 3-5 months: Quick outcomes are achieved for your business through high-impact research projects
- Access Government funding: R&D rebates and vouchers through APR.Intern
- Retain intellectual property – all project-related IP remains with the organisation
- Fill a skills gap – access specialist PhD student and academic mentor to fast track innovation
- Minimal administration – No HR costs, all facilitation by APR.Intern
- Attract elite talent – offering student experience and employment is a recruitment tool and supports business planning
- The opportunity to develop specific industry-relevant questions and solutions to further innovation in your business is significant. More detailed information can be found on the APR.Intern program website.
Internships will be managed by APR.Intern to ensure quality control and duty of care and the initiative will sit alongside regular business development activity. The intent of the APR.Intern program is to bring new industry partners to universities.
How to participate
Businesses work together with students and their academic supervisors to scope the project and complete the following documents. APR.Intern’s Business Development team are also happy to assist along the way to offer guidance in preparing these documents.
These documents should then be sent to research-connect@cqu.edu.au to progress the application.
Principal Supervisor Approval Form
How the initiative works
For each internship, academic supervisors, their students and the industry partner, together develop a project plan for a 3-5 month internship on the template in consultation with APR.Intern’s Business Development staff. This is then delivered, along with a completed contract schedule, to APR.Intern for quality review and contract generation. APR.Intern will send the contract to all parties for signing. APR.Intern’s Business Development staff will help facilitate the development of a suitable project plan for an internship under this initiative.
Upon execution of an internship agreement, APR.Intern will facilitate the internship with regular check-ins to the student and industry partner, scheduling mid-point reviews against milestones, and following up on final presentations and reports.
If the project is identified as a possible promotion opportunity, APR.Intern’s marketing team will write a case study which can be shared on the industry partner’s, CQUniversity’s and APR.Intern’s media channels.
Eligibility, considerations, and constraints
The Government rebate under the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) – National Research Internship Program (NRIP) has specific targets, eligibility and key performance criteria which are outlined in the NRIP Commonwealth Conditions of Grant. In order to satisfy these, internships under this initiative will be subject to the following:
Internship projects must be 3-5 months in duration.
Students must have an academic mentor assigned to the internship who can provide guidance to them on completing the internship’s objectives as described in the project plan.
Students must complete a final report at the conclusion of the internship.
Rebates are only payable to industry partners upon payment of all invoices relating to the internship and on completion of an impact statement.
Contact
To find out more, please contact research-connect@cqu.edu.au
