Discover employment opportunities, internships, the Australian Parliamentary Fellowship program and the Summer Research Scholarship program.

On this page:

  • Employment opportunities
  • Parliamentary Library Internship
  • Australian Parliamentary Fellowship
  • Summer Research Scholarship Program
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    Employment opportunities

    The Parliamentary Library provides access to books, journals and newspapers, comprehensive media monitoring and specialist databases. The Parliamentary Library is also one of Australia's major research libraries, providing tailored, confidential briefings and statistics to parliamentarians, parliamentary committees, and staff acting on their behalf. Expert researchers provide independent analysis of Bills before Parliament and publish quick guides, chronologies and in-depth research publications on issues before Parliament. The Parliamentary Library also maps a range of data including election and census results.

    Parliamentary Library Internship

    The Parliamentary Library runs an internship program each year to engage with future library professionals and foster relationships between the Parliamentary Library and Australian tertiary institutions.

    Internships

    The Parliamentary Library Internship program provides interns with an opportunity to develop their skills in a well-regarded library with highly professional and experienced staff.

    The successful interns receive:

    • experience working in the Australian Parliament
    • interaction with highly skilled librarians and researchers in the Parliamentary Library
    • experience that can be used towards university course credit
    • privileged access to the Parliamentary Library’s collections and facilities.

    The Internship is open to students who have commenced studying for an ALIA accredited Librarian qualification at an Australian institution. It is open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Applicants must be Australian citizens. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are encouraged to apply.

    The internship is for up to 20 days and can be undertaken one day a week for the semester, or in an intensive block. The internship is a work experience opportunity and is not remunerated.

    Applications

    Applications for the 2024 Parliamentary Library Internship have now closed.

    Australian Parliamentary Fellowship

    The Australian Parliamentary Fellowship provides support to an early career scholar to research and write a monograph for publication. The research must relate to the way Parliament functions, the way senators and members operate, or examine how a broad issue in national politics is dealt with in the Parliament.

    Fellowships

    The Fellowship is offered periodically and is of flexible duration (up to six months full-time with provision for part-time or broken periods of employment).

    The purpose of the Fellowship is to:

    • contribute to scholarship on the Parliament and its work
    • promote knowledge and understanding of the Parliament
    • raise awareness of the role of the Library’s research service
    • provide a researcher with work experience in the parliamentary environment
    • support early career scholars.

    Candidates must have completed and been awarded a PhD within the last three years and have:

    • a proven research and writing record
    • a capacity to deliver a quality monograph on time
    • a service orientation
    • judgement, discretion, integrity, flexibility and self-motivation
    • the capacity to work individually or as a member of a team.

    Applicants must submit an outline of their research proposal with their application.

    Applications

    Applications for the Australian Parliamentary Fellowship are currently not open.

    Past monographs and research
    Year Fellow Monograph
    2024 Dr Elizabeth Buchanan Navigating our southern flank: Australian Parliament and Antarctica since 2000
    2015 Dr Edward Scarr Changing attitudes to mental illness in the Australian Defence Force: a long way to go…
    2010 Dr Peter Brent The twitter election (unpublished)
    2009 Dr Scott Brenton What lies beneath: the work of senators and members in the Australian Parliament
    2008 Dr Joel Bateman In the Shadows: the Shadow Cabinet in Australia
    2007 Dr Timothy Kendall, BA Hons (Melb), MA (Melb), PhD (La Trobe) Within China’s Orbit? China through the eyes of the Australian Parliament
    2005 Dr Sophia Dimitriadis, BSc (ANU), PhD (ANU) Water recycling – issues, techniques and technologies (unpublished)
    2004 Dr Kate Burton, BA Hons (Macquarie), PhD (ANU) Scrutiny or secrecy? Committee oversight of foreign and national security policy in the Australian Parliament
    2003 Dr Angela Pratt, BA Hons (Wollongong), PhD (Wollongong) Practising Reconciliation? The politics of reconciliation in the Australian Parliament, 1991–2000 
    2002 Dr Maurice Rickard, BA Hons (Melb), MA Hons (Melb), MEd (La Trobe), PhD (La Trobe) Principle and Pragmatism: a study of competition between Australia’s major parties at the 2004 and other recent Federal elections
    2001 The Fellowship was not offered in 2001.
    2000 Dr Jennifer Curtin, BA MA Hons (Waik), PhD (ANU) The Voice and the Vote of the Bush: The representation of Rural and Regional Australia in the Federal Parliament
    1999 Dr Marion Maddox, BA Hons (Syd), PhD (Flinders), PhD (NSW) For God and Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics
    1998 Dr Adam Cobb, BA (Syd) MA (ANU) PhD (Cantab) Tyranny of Insecurity (unpublished)
    1997 Dr Trish Payne, BA, MA Qual. (ANU), Dip Ed, PhD (Sydney) The Canberra Press Gallery and the Backbench of the 38th Parliament 1996-98
    1996 Dr Gianni Zappala, BEc (Hons) (Sydney), MA (London), PhD (Cantab) Four Weddings, a Funeral and a Family Reunion: Ethnicity and Representation in Australian Federal Politics
    Dr Liz Young, BA (Hons), PhD (Adelaide) Minor Parties...Major Players? The Senate, the Minor Parties and the 1993 Budget
    1995 Dr Keith Abbott, BA 1991 (Honours, First Class), Deakin University, PhD 1994 (Cantab) Pressure Groups and the Australian Federal Parliament, Political Studies Fellow Monograph No. 3, 1996
    1994 Dr James Warden, BA 1982, University of Tasmania, BA (Honours, First Class) 1983, Political Science, University of Tasmania, PhD 1991, ANU A Bunyip Democracy, The Parliament and Australian Political Identity, Political Studies Fellow Monograph No. 2, 1995.
    1993 Dr Stephen O'Kane, BBus (Public Admin.), BBus (Local Govt) (RMIT), Grad Dip Pub Pol (Melb), PhD (Deakin) Senate Select Committees: Effectiveness, Co-operation and Public Accountability for the Perspective of the Loan Council Inquiry (unpublished)
    1992 Dr David Lovell The sausage makers? Parliamentarians as legislators, Political Studies Fellow Monograph No.1, 1994.
    1991 Dr John Henderson, BA, MA (Hons) (Canterbury), PhD (Duke, Nth Carolina). Parliamentary reform in Australia and New Zealand: the views of the Parliamentarians (unpublished)
    1990 Peter J Bayne, LL.B (Hons) (Melbourne) J.D. (Chicago) The Court, the Parliament and the Government
    1988-89 Greg McIntosh, BEc, Dip.Ed (Monash), BA (Deakin) Rounding up the Flock? Executive Dominance and the New Parliament House, APSA-Parliamentary Fellow Monograph, 1989
    1986-87 Kevin N Tuffin, BA (Hons) (Western Australia) Government Expenditure and Accountability: The Joint Committees of Public Accounts and Parliamentary Scrutiny
    1984-85 Geoffrey I Skene, BA (Otago), MA (Hons) (Canterbury) Specialties of the House: An Investigation into Subject Specialisation Amongst Australian Senators and Members of the House of Representatives, APSA/Parliamentary Fellow Monograph, Nov. 1988
    1982-83 Patricia Y Smith, BA (Hons) (Queensland) Did not complete the Fellowship
    1980-81 Dr John G Uhr, BA (Hons) (Queensland), MA, PhD (Toronto) Questions Without Answers: An Analysis of Question Time in the Australian House of Representatives, APSA/Parliamentary Fellow Monograph No. 4, 1982
    1979 Neil J Funston, (John) MA (Monash) Southeast Asian Issues in the 31st Parliament, APSA/Parliamentary Fellow Monograph no. 3, August 1980
    1978 James A Walter, MA (Hons) (La Trobe) The Acculturation to Political Work: New Members of the Federal Backbench, APSA/Parliamentary Fellow Monograph, 1979
    1977 Martin S Indyk, BEc (Hons) (Sydney) Influence without Power: The Role of the Backbench in Australian Foreign Policy, 1976-1977, 22 Dec. 1977
    1976 David B Lundberg, BA (Hons) (Adelaide) Diploma of Social Sciences (Stockholm) Tutor in Political Science, Flinders University The Role of the National Parliament in the formulation of Industry Development Policy in Australia
    1975 David H Stephens, MA (Monash) Influences Upon Specialization in the Australian Senate, Dec. 1975
    1974 Brian L Hocking, BA (Hons) (Bristol), MA (Leicester) Australian Parliamentarians and Foreign Affairs
    1973 Oliver D. Mendelsohn, BA (Hons), LL.B (ANU), MA (California) Australia's Foreign Aid: The Perceptions of Parliamentarians, 19 Dec. 1973
    1972 Edward J G Prince, MA (Monash) Information Supply to the Legislature: Characteristics of Legislative Research Service Written Output, 1968-1971, March 1972
    1971 Kenneth Chan, BA (Hons) (Sydney) PhD Parliamentarians, their Source of Information, and the Parliamentary Library

    Previously published Parliamentary Fellowship reports are available to search on the Research page.

    Parliamentary Library Summer Research Scholarship

    When offered, scholars work alongside specialist researchers in the Parliamentary Library in Canberra for a period of six weeks to produce a report on a topic of relevance to the Library’s research program:

    Why should I apply?

    The Parliamentary Library is a unique research environment and the Summer Research Scholarship allows scholars to understand and work within this important national institution. The scholarship also gives recipients the opportunity to:

    • build research expertise
    • contribute to scholarship on the Parliament and its work
    • receive training and access the Library’s specialist collections and databases
    • interact with subject-matter experts and
    • be guided by a mentor who will provide advice during the scholarship.

    Elements of the scholarship

    Recipients of the Parliamentary Library Summer Research Scholarship:

    • are based in the Parliamentary Library for a period of six weeks
    • present a short work-in-progress seminar and
    • produce a research report of 5,000–8,000 words

    Summer Research Scholars also participate in a number of activities during the scholarship period, including:

    • an induction program where scholars learn about the role of the Parliamentary Library, its place in the parliamentary environment, and the purpose and style of its research publications
    • research section meetings as appropriate and other Library activities
    • functions with summer research scholars from the National Library of Australia and the Australian War Memorial and
    • a guided tour of Parliament House.

    Upon successful completion of the scholarship, an honorarium of $1,800 is awarded.

    Applications

    Applications for the 2024 Summer Research Scholarship are now closed.

    Past recipients of the Australian Parliamentary Library Summer Research Scholarship
    Year Researcher Report Topic
    2024 Julius Mok Multiculturalism and social cohesion
    2024 KB Heylen Fintech debate in Parliament
    2021 Anne Michelle Davis
    		 Resurgent geopolitics in Antarctica: the nexus between science and diplomacy in Antarctic policy making 
    2019 Katherine Selena Taylor
    		 What does ‘water security’ mean for Australia? A review of Australian policy 
    2018 Kerrie Wratten Implementing teacher performance and development frameworks: some enabling factors. A review of the international literature 2008–2018
    Katherine Taylor What does ‘water security’ mean for Northern Australia? A review of federal policy
    Timothea Turnbull ‘To the moon and back’: parliamentary perceptions of ANZUS since 1950
    2017 Jacinta Dharmananda Parliamentary materials and interpreting statutes: lessons from inside Parliament
    Meaghan Vosz Participation is not enough: tracing the impact of marginalised children and young people on policy making in Australia
    2016 Georgia Allen The Senate electoral system: perspectives on reform
    Steven L. Jones The effectiveness of parliamentary oversight in defence procurement: an international comparison of Joint Strike Fighter procurements
    Muhammad Dan Suleiman Examining the political communication of Australia’s anti-terrorism laws in response to ISIS and the public trust in Parliament
    2015 Peter Burnett What are we really trying to achieve? Australian environmental meta-policy objectives since 1970
    Christine Reghenzani Women in the ADF: six decades of policy change
    Scarlet Wilcock Welfare overpayment and fraud: detection, investigation, prosecution
    2014 Louise St Guillaume Assessing the NDIS: how could the NDIS assist people with a PCW into employment?
    Marija Taflaga In the wilderness: preparation for government by the Coalition in opposition 1983-1993
    2013 Penelope Marshall Taking stock of taking control: a review of the impact of the 2005 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry report ‘Taking control: a national approach to pest animals’
    Wen-Ti Sung Policy think tanks and China policymaking in the United States

    Previously published Summer Scholar reports are available to search on the Research page.