The Bob Croser Woodland Recovery Supplementary Scholarships are funded by the Bob Croser Woodland Recovery Project to support full-time PhD students who are commencing research to support woodland recovery in the MLR.

Background

The Mount Lofty Ranges (MLR) in South Australia represent one of Australia's most heavily cleared and fragmented woodland ecosystems, with less than 10% of the original vegetation remaining. Over 90% of native vegetation in the MLR was cleared by the mid-1800s, and although remnant woodland ecosystems in the MLR still provide an important refuge for birds, the abundance of many woodland-specialist species is declining. Population decreases are not confined to threatened birds but are also evident in many species that are normally considered common but will soon become rare. Such declines will likely compromise the diverse ecosystem services these species provide.

In 2004 Robert Dean Croser bequeathed funds to the University to support woodland recovery in the MLR. Mr Croser was a member of the University’s Hughes Society and enjoyed attending musical concerts and research lectures at the University. To facilitate his request, the Bob Croser Woodland Recovery Project was established by the University’s Environment Institute, in collaboration with South Australian community and government groups. The project supports and is aligned with the ReBird the Ranges initiative, an alliance of partner organisations with shared passion and commitment to reversing the decline of woodland bird populations in the MLR. The donation will support research activities aimed at better understanding the optimal habitat reconstruction for declining bird species, how to best engage community and landholders in the recovery effort, and priority species-specific objectives for guiding restoration actions and monitoring the recovery of these critical but endangered species and ecosystem.

A cohort of PhD projects (see PhD project descriptions below) have been developed to achieve high-impact outcomes for bird recovery across the MLR in three priority research areas: (1) Policy, investment, and landowner motivation, (2) Understanding the requirements of bird populations to reverse declines, and (3) Quality habitat and vegetation: What should we plant where? 

Three supplementary scholarships are available for commencement at The University of Adelaide in semester 2, 2025 and three will be awarded for commencement in 2026 at the new Adelaide University (more information to come). 

Eligibility

Applicants must be accepted for admission into a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Adelaide and enrolling in one of the 6 approved PhD projects in semester 2, 2025. Applicants must be awarded a Research Training Program Scholarship or University of Adelaide Research Scholarship to be eligible for this supplementary scholarship.

PhD Projects

PhD 1. Promoting management and policy to protect and regenerate woodland birds in the Mt Lofty Ranges

PhD 2. The socio-ecology of Rebirding the Ranges

PhD 3. Next-generation monitoring of woodland bird populations in the Mount Lofty Ranges

PhD 4. Understanding the contribution of revegetation to woodland bird recovery to guide future restoration activities

PhD 5. Climate-resilient Mount Lofty Ranges: supporting plant biodiversity under heat, drought, and fire extremes

PhD 6. Climate succession in the Mount Lofty Ranges: a landscape approach to managing vegetation change