The Occupational Trainee Program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to get involved in leading edge research into water and wastewater management and treatment. Visiting students participating in this program will spend a minimum of 6 months working at our centre under the supervision of one of our experienced academics.

If you are interested in this program, please take your time to read about our research activities on this web site. Once you have decided which programs interest you most, contact the relevant academics or send an email to enquiries@awmc.uq.edu.au, including your up-to-date curriculum vitae.

To obtain an Occupational Trainee Visa, the Australian Embassy in your country will require a Letter of Invitation from the University of Queensland and a Letter of Approval from the Australian Department of Immigration (DIMIA). Before you can apply for the visa, you must do the following:

1. Complete our questionnaire. The questionnaire also contains detailed information about further requirements and documents we will need from you.
2. Once we have received the completed questionnaire and all documents (see questionnaire), we will consider your application.
3. If your application is successful, we will issue a Letter of Invitation.
4. We will send the Letter of Invitation and all information provided by you to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), seeking a Letter of Approval for your visit. This usually takes six to eight weeks depending on the workload at DIMIA, so it is important that the information you send us is as complete as possible. Incomplete information can lead to further delays in the visa application process.
5. When DIMIA approves your visit, they will send a Letter of Approval to us, which we will forward to you together with the Letter of Invitation. To speed up the process, we usually fax these documents to the applicant. It is, therefore, important that we have your valid facsimile number.
6. Once you have both the University Letter of Invitation and DIMIA's Letter of Approval you can apply for an Occupational Trainee Visa from the Australian Embassy in your country.

To be granted a visa the applicant, and any accompanying family members, must show that they have adequate health insurance for the first 12 months of the training program in Australia. Please also check with the Australian Embassy in your country whether there are additional requirements you might have to fulfil. For example, applicants from some countries will have to pass a medical examination prior to the visa being issued.

Please be aware that the AWMC does not provide any financial assistance whatsoever for travel, accommodation, living and incidental expenses to occupational trainees. We only cover expenses directly associated with the project and research work that you will do with us.

We look forward to welcoming you in our team!