The Adelaide Graduate Research School (AGRS) and the City of Adelaide are partnering to create an internship opportunity for University of Adelaide PhD students, to contribute to the following project.

Methodology for estimating service populations in capital cities

About the City of Adelaide 

Located in the geographic heart of Kaurna Country, the City of Adelaide celebrates its cultural heritage, unique natural surrounds and structures its footprint in a way that allows it to adapt to the changing needs of the community and a dynamic global landscape. Our focus is on our community’s wellbeing and quality of life - investing in city improvements and on future planning, so we continue to design a liveable city where future generations can continue to live authentic and meaningful lives. This is an exciting opportunity to join our team and be a bigger part of our amazing city!

At the City of Adelaide, we thrive in an environment that is welcoming, inclusive and safe, and celebrates difference.  We value and embrace our diverse perspectives and recognise the value diversity has in fuelling innovation and enabling brilliant experiences for our diverse community. 

Project description

This purpose of this project is to develop a methodology that could be implemented by the City of Adelaide to calculate the daytime or service population for the local government area. For locations such as capital cities and tourism areas, the daytime or service population is often significantly greater than the resident or overnight population. Having an accurate estimate of this population group would help with emergency or disaster management planning, transport planning, services and program planning, and infrastructure planning include asset renewals. While there is currently a methodology in place at the City of Adelaide, there is opportunity to improve this process including potentially using activity data (based on mobile devices).

Areas that this project could relate to include applied economics/statistics, urban planning, public policy, emergency management, demography, or spatial analysis.

The nature of the activities for the research internship would include literature review, review and critique of existing council methodology, development of a methodology to calculate the daytime population including identification of data sources and their ongoing viability, application of the methodology to come up with a new daytime population estimate.

In terms of research outcomes, this methodology could potentially be replicated by other councils could provide a great contribution to the sector. It would also allow the student to apply what they are learning to a real world setting and gain experience in the public sector through working in a capital city council.

The internship start date is negotiable, though it is anticipated to commence in mid-2024.

Eligibility:  The PhD student must be:  

• within the first 18 months of their candidature,  
• willing to undertake the research internship for a minimum duration of 60 FTE business days,  
• making satisfactory progress, and  
• undertaking research in an area aligned with the proposed research internship project  

More information about University of Adelaide's Research Internships is available here.

Application Process:  To apply, please email the following documents to hdr_internships@adelaide.edu.au (HDR Internships Team) with the subject line – City of Adelaide Internship:  

• Resume
• Cover Letter (of not more than 2 pages) outlining your interest in the internship and describing how your research area aligns with the proposed field of research internship.  

Please note that applications will be considered on a rolling basis and the advertisement may be closed earlier if a suitable applicant is shortlisted for a particular project prior to the listed closing date. Furthermore, if shortlisted, a meeting is likely to be organised between the student, their supervisor and the organisation's focal contact person within a week of shortlisting. Students may consider discussing their internship plans with their Principal Supervisor in anticipation of that.