The CCRC offers two pathways to apply for scholarships for outstanding honours students. These two pathways are outlined below.

1. ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather Scholarships

This Centre of Excellence is a consortium involving 5 leading Australian universities, plus government and industry partners. The Centre offers great opportunities to work with many of Australia’s leading climate scientists, with a wide range of training programs and opportunities to collaborate. The Centre undertakes research across 6 different sub-streams, covering many aspects of weather, climate change, impacts on society and climate modelling. To find a project, you can contact one of the centre’s Chief Investigators or Research Fellows based at UNSW and ask them about opportunities to do an Honours project at the CCRC.

The application page for Centre of Excellence Honours scholarships can be found here.

2.    CCRC Scholarships

For research outside the Centre of Excellence, the CCRC also offers a limited number of Honours scholarships for outstanding students. Our research covers a diverse range of topics, including atmosphere dynamics, physical oceanography, land surface modelling, climate variability, climate extremes, severe weather, paleoclimate modelling and carbon cycle modelling.

To find an honours project, you can check out the honours projects advertised at the CCRC. Another great way to set up a project is to contact a researcher at the CCRC and talk to them about your interests and what you’d like to learn about. Keep in mind, there are many potential project ideas that have not yet been advertised!

The application page for CCRC Honours scholarships can be found here.

Key dates

There are two possible start dates for Honours at the CCRC: T1 start and T3 start. See this page for term dates. The dates to apply for scholarships in the upcoming terms are as follows:

  • T3 2025 start: Applications open from 7/7/2025 to 7/9/2025.
  • T1 2026 start: Applications open from 1/12/2025 to 6/2/2026.

Scholarships are awarded based on academic merit and funding availability, and having a suitable background for the project and supervisor.

Skills we look for at the CCRC

We welcome students from Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Advanced Science, and similar degree programs. We especially look for students with a background in:

  • Ocean and atmosphere dynamics
  • Physics
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science

Further information about the BEES honours program (CCRC honours is managed by BEES) can be found here. Any questions, please feel free to contact the CCRC office at ccrc@unsw.edu.au

You can audit courses at UNSW in subject areas that cover gaps in your knowledge or develop skills required in your honours project. Many courses only run over one semester, so you need to think ahead.

Go to the research topics and honours projects pages for details on possible honours supervisors and projects. This information is not an exhaustive list, so if you are interested in a topic of study in climate science that isn’t specifically mentioned below, please feel free to contact the member of academic staff whose expertise is most closely aligned to your area of interest to see whether your proposed topic is viable and can be accommodated.

For more information, please feel free to contact the CCRC office at ccrc@unsw.edu.au. They will be happy to forward your email to the Honours Coordinator for further assistance.