PhD Scholarship: Data-driven methods to support national team selection - understanding player profiles, performance and availability

The UNSW Data Science Hub is collaborating with Football Australia, the national governing body of Football (Soccer) in Australia, to create a unique PhD scholarship opportunity. Earn your PhD while developing novel data-driven statistical tools for supporting national team selection while working with academic and industry experts in statistics, data science, and football.

The goal of this PhD research project is to help improve the selection of players into national football teams based on a range of data types, sources and availability, to improve performance of teams in international competition. National teams are required to select the best combination of players in specific positions who could be playing in different teams in different competitions all over the world at any given time. The research will focus on developing new models, methods,and algorithms to bring together and analyse a wide suite of asynchronous data from a diversity of online and internal sources to better understand player’s availability, performance, and overall synergy within a team or squad. Your research will be translated into opportunities for assisting decisions on player availability, relative performance, and ultimately actionable selection into a national team. This research will also inform on longer-term career development via athlete profiling, while advancing the state of the art in computational statistics research.

Strong statistical/mathematical knowledge is required. Experience in computational statistics and machine learning (e.g. any of computational Bayesian methods, time series analysis, signal processing, data fusion, probabilistic machine learning, neural networks, data assimilation etc.) and/or decision making under uncertainty (decision theory, game theory, optimisation) will be advantageous, as will an interest in human performance. Prior experience working with human performance data, or with a range of streaming and fixed data sources, is desirable but not mandatory. A love of football will also help!

About you:

•Scholarship open to all domestic applicants (Aus/NZ citizens or Aus permanent residents).

•Applicants should have a strong honours (or equivalent) degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, or Computer Science, with a strong mathematics and statistics component.

•An interest in developing novel and leading computational statistics/machine learning methods with real world impact.

•An interest in human performance and football.Scholarship Details:

$43,333 per annum (tax free*) ~$20k in allowances (training, travel, thesis).

Cost-of-living allowance, if eligible. For details, see here.

*See ATO for exempt income

Benefits

•This PhD opportunity will develop bespoke statistical & machine learning tools to discover new insights to improve sports & performance science for athlete development in football, squad selection, player profiling and strategy.

•Be part of a larger research student cohort in Sports Analytics and AI. This PhD opportunity is part of the CSIRO Next Generation Graduates Program (NGGP) consortium of universities, government and industry organisations in Sports Analytics and AI: a cohort-based, industry-driven, multi-disciplinary graduate training program.

•You will undertake industry placement with Football Australia as part of this PhD and see your original PhD research directly translated in the field. Your research will be implemented in commercial projects and will have real impact on high-performance sport.

•Receive additional support for training and career development from Data61/CSIRO, including training in machine learning and AI.

•Opens post-PhD career pathways in a range of technical and sporting areas, including research in computational statistics, machine learning and AI; sensor analytics; human performance analytics and management; roles in football clubs or teams; human machine interaction.

How to apply:

To apply, send your full CV, university transcripts, and a cover letter describing your interest in this PhD position at UNSW, and how it relates to your skills, to Scott Sisson, uDASH Director, uDASH@unsw.edu.au

Application deadline: 5pm AEST, 26th September 2025. Applications will be received until the Scholarship is filled, even beyond the application deadline. Expected PhD start at UNSW is Term 3, 2025 or Term 1, 2026.