Grants and Writing Resources for Monash University

Thirteen doctoral candidates presented at the 2026 Monash Three Minute Thesis Final in August. A candidate in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences won with a talk called "The Deathly Hallows of Medicines," a candidate at the IITB-Monash Research Academy was runner-up, and People's Choice went to a presenter from Monash University Malaysia. The year before, 12 graduate researchers received the Mollie Holman Award, which Monash counts among the highest academic honours it gives.

Three Minute Thesis

Active PhD and Professional Doctorate Research candidates who have passed their confirmation milestone can enter 3MT at Monash. Talks are spoken word, three minutes at most, with one static slide and no props. Master's students can't enter. Rounds begin in departments, schools, institutes, faculties and campuses, followed by a live wild card event and the Monash final. The Monash winner receives $5,000 and represents the university at the virtual Asia-Pacific final, the runner-up receives $2,000 and the MGA People's Choice $500.

Thesis Awards

Monash lists two honours for finished theses on its prestigious awardees page. The Mollie Holman Award, set up in 1998, recognizes thesis excellence along with a significant contribution to, and publication of, the recipient's research. The Vice-Chancellor's Commendation for Thesis Excellence goes to doctoral and research master's graduates who have met their degree requirements and whom their faculty presents as outstanding contributors to research.

Research Scholarships

Monash's stipend and allowance rates set the full-time RTP Stipend, which also applies to the Monash Graduate Scholarship, at $37,145 a year in 2026 and $41,100 in 2027. The Indigenous RTP Stipend was $53,608 in 2026. Part-time candidates receive half. The relocation allowance is $1,000 for a move from interstate or $2,000 from overseas.

The graduate research scholarships page links to these rates, to the scholarship policy, and to separate stipend and tuition scholarships at Monash Malaysia and Monash Indonesia.

Help With Writing

Student Academic Success is Monash's free academic skills service. Its 1:1 consultations with learning advisers in Australia and Suzhou run 25 minutes on Zoom, once a week at most, and cover academic writing, academic English and study planning. Advisers may give first feedback on a section of your draft. They don't proofread or edit.

For doctoral candidates, the service runs PhD writing workshops and courses: ten-part Intensive Writing Courses for Science Communication and for Humanities and Social Sciences, and two-hour Zoom workshops on writing literature reviews in STEMM and in the humanities, arts and social sciences. Monash Doctoral Program participants can count them toward professional development hours.

Thesis Submission and Access

Final theses go into Bridges, the university's research repository, and the thesis preparation and submission page explains how you set who can see yours and when. The page makes the case for open access, which lets people find a thesis through Google Scholar, Trove and similar services. With approval you can choose a one-year embargo, for example to protect material you plan to publish, or a three-year embargo for commercial, patent, confidentiality or privacy reasons. Monash accepts either a traditional thesis or a thesis including published works, in which certain chapters contain your submitted publications.

For a final edit before submission, our PhD-level editors work with Monash students at every level. See our Monash University dissertation and thesis editing page, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.