Decision Automation for Orchards and Vineyards is an exciting new research programme funded by the NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This research programme is a partnership between the Universities of Auckland, Waikato, Canterbury, and Otago, the Plant and Food Research Institute, Lincoln Agritech Ltd, and several companies and industry organisations.

As partners, we are committed to working together on this research programme to design, develop, and evaluate robotics, as well as the sensing hardware and software that will perform vital tasks for orchards and vineyards. This project builds on previous research between the partners, including outdoor mobile robotics, pollination, harvesting, pruning, and yield estimation in orchards and vineyards.

We are currently seeking enthusiastic and capable PhD candidates to assist us to perfect these new technologies.

Multiple scholarships are available that include full stipends and tuition fees for three years. We especially welcome applications from Māori scholars as a number of our scholarships are reserved for Māori doctoral candidates.

To find more information about this please go to:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/engineering/news-and-events/notices/phd-scholarships-cares.html