Today La Trobe University announced the Shah Rukh Khan La Trobe University Ph.D. Scholarship, providing a life-changing opportunity for an aspiring Female Researcher from India to make a meaningful impact in the world.

Aligned to Shah Rukh Khan’s leadership on humanitarian and social justice causes, this prestigious four-year Ph.D. scholarship aims to inspire a Female Researcher from India to undertake research to help find solutions to the growing challenges of our time. The Scholarship is being introduced in recognition of Mr. Khan’s dedication to Women’s Empowerment, through his Meer Foundation.

Registrations opened today for Research candidates to submit their interest for the Scholarship by 30 August 2019. The successful candidate will be a Female Indian national, who has completed a Masters by Research Degree (or equivalent) within the past 10 years.

The candidate will be supported with a four-year Research Scholarship valued in excess of $200,000 (AUD) to be completed at La Trobe’s state-of-the-art facilities in Melbourne, Australia. They will undertake Research supervised by the University’s leading Experts in either Health, Sport, Information Technology, Cyber Security or Engineering.

The announcement was made during Shah Rukh Khan’s visit to La Trobe University as a Chief Guest of the 2019 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. La Trobe is the first Australian University to Award Shah Rukh Khan with an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), in recognition of his wide-ranging humanitarian work, including establishing the Meer Foundation to support and empower women, who have survived acid attacks in India.

La Trobe Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Dewar, said Mr. Khan’s philanthropic leadership drove the decision to create a Ph.D. Scholarship in his name.

“The Shah Rukh Khan La Trobe University Ph.D. Scholarship recognizes Mr. Khan’s extraordinary altruism, demonstrated in his work to advocate for Women’s Empowerment.”Professor Dewar said.

“Reflecting La Trobe’s Values of Inclusivity, Equity, and Social Justice, this Scholarship will offer a unique and potentially life-changing opportunity for an Indian Woman to conduct research in a critical area affecting the world such a Cyber Security, Health or Engineering.”

Shah Rukh Khan welcomed the announcement of a Scholarship in his name.

“As a passionate advocate for Women’s Equality and Empowerment, I am delighted that this Scholarship will give an Indian Woman a chance to pursue research in a field, which is likely to lead her towards an exciting and successful career. I thank La Trobe University wholeheartedly for giving someone this wonderful opportunity,” Mr. Khan said.

The Shah Rukh Khan La Trobe University Ph.D. Scholarship recipient will receive benefits including:

a four-year La Trobe University Full-Fee Research Scholarship

a La Trobe Graduate Research Scholarship for three and a half years, with a value of $27,596 (AUD) per annum (2019 rate) to support living costs, visa length Overseas Student Health Cover for a single candidate

access to La Trobe’s world-class research facilities, the suite of professional development programs and supervision by award-winning researchers

Interested candidates must submit their eligibility for the Shah Rukh Khan La Trobe University Ph.D. Scholarship by 30 August 2019.

For more information about Scholarship eligibility criteria, please refer to www.latrobe.edu.au/srk

Background

· La Trobe University is ranked in the top 1.2 percent of universities worldwide

*Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 | Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities 2019

· Dignitaries that La Trobe University has hosted from the Indian subcontinent include, Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Kapil Dev, Malaika Arora Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajkumar Hirani, and Abhijat Joshi

· La Trobe University is one of only two universities in Australia teaching Hindi, and the only Australian University to teach a subject on the history, music, and storytelling of popular Hindi cinema

· La Trobe University is one of the founding members of the Australia India Institute

· In 2005, La Trobe’s Melbourne campus in Bundoora was featured in the first major Bollywood blockbuster film to be made entirely in Australia, Salaam Namaste, the film collected close to $10mil US at the box office.

· La Trobe University alumni now hold senior positions on boards across the globe with more than 19,000 graduates with Chinese and Indian heritage.

· The La Trobe Library collection houses more than 38,000 volumes of monographs, journals, magazines and government publications from India, one of the largest collections in Australia.