QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for Honours, Masters and PhD study. Search to find a topic that interests you or propose your own research topic to a prospective QUT supervisor. You may also ask a prospective supervisor to help you identify or refine a research topic.
Found 145 matching student topics
Displaying 13–24 of 145 results
Advanced biosolid treatment: volume reduction and PFAS mitigation
PFAS, often called 'forever chemicals', are among the most persistent and harmful pollutants found in the environment. These substances accumulate in biosolids, a nutrient-rich by-product of wastewater treatment, making it challenging to safely reuse or dispose of them. Biosolid management becomes even more complex due to the large volume produced by treatment facilities, creating a pressing need for innovative solutions that address both PFAS contamination and waste volume reduction.This project focuses on cutting-edge approaches to treat biosolids, reduce their volume, …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Transforming wastewater treatment with anaerobic granular sludge technology
Are you interested in solving real-world environmental challenges? Wastewater treatment is essential for protecting the environment, and anaerobic granular sludge technology is at the forefront of creating sustainable solutions. Think of it as using natural microorganisms to clean water in an energy-efficient way, while also recovering valuable resources like nutrients and energy.In this project, you’ll dive into how anaerobic granular sludge works - tiny but powerful clusters of microbes that improve wastewater treatment by breaking down pollutants. This cutting-edge technology …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Scene Understanding for Underwater Imagery
Underwater ecosystems, including coral reefs and seagrass meadows, play a critical role in maintaining marine biodiversity, providing coastal protection, and supporting fisheries and tourism economies that millions depend upon globally. These habitats are increasingly vulnerable to climate change, pollution, and other anthropogenic impacts, demanding urgent efforts to monitor and restore them. Accurate scene understanding of underwater imagery enables fine-scale ecosystem monitoring across spatial and temporal scales, supporting essential activities such as habitat and biodiversity assessment, validation of aerial and remotely …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Metal halide perovskite solar cell performance based on impurity profiles from Australian sourced precursor materials
Australia has the potential to lead globally in supplying precursor materials for next-generation metal halide perovskite solar cells, leveraging its abundant critical minerals and strong mineral processing capabilities with an innovative "mineral to precursor to final product" strategy.This project will demonstrate the performance of next-generation metal halide perovskite solar cells using Australian sourced materials, complimented with computational modelling to understand the elemental interactions of any impurities.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Recovery of metal halide perovskite precursors from Australia sources
Investigate, model and experiment on the extraction and recovery of cations and anions, used in the synthesis of perovskite solar cells, from Australian resources.Australia has the potential to lead globally in supplying precursor materials for next-generation metal halide perovskite solar cells, leveraging its abundant critical minerals and strong mineral processing capabilities with an innovative 'mineral to precursor to final product' strategy.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Construction materials in extreme chemical and thermal processing environments
Investigate and identify materials that can be used to construct chemical plants using extreme chemicals and processing conditions.Australia has the potential to lead globally in supplying critical minerals for current and emerging energy technologies, however the extraction and recovery of these minerals are requiring more aggressive chemicals and processing requirements that are not suitable for traditionally used construction materials, such as stainless steel.Thus, this project will perform experimental material testing on a range of construction materials under extreme chemically corrosive …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Multiscale technology assessment of emerging CCUS processes
CO2 capture and utilisation is a promising, emerging climate technology. However, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding its viability and economic impact. This project will be conducted in collaboration with an industry partner.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Advancing precision control in atomic force microscopy
To advance precision positioning control technology through instrumentation of an 800×800 μm XY positioning table, equipped with two piezoelectric actuators to manoeuvre samples under a microscope. Positioning control systems designers struggle with trade-offs between positioning accuracy, actuation range, response time, and cost.Our goal is to enhance the positioning systems, used in atomic force microscopes, to improve their imaging accuracy and resolution while reducing overall hardware costs. By quantising analogue positioning sensors to simulate low-resolution (low-cost) encoders, we will explore new …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
A sense of touch for robots
Touch, or awareness of contact, is one of the key challenges in robotics, particularly in the soft and highly deformable environment of the human body. This project will explore the development and use of interferometric filters to quantify contact pressures through spectral changes in reflected light. Thus a quantitative 'image' of force may be created to both characterise and guide robot-tissue interactions.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Dual mode ultrasonics
This project develops a new approach to ultrasonic sensing, sending and receiving high frequency acoustic pulses from a low frequency platform to modulate spectral content and microscale spatial offsets. In doing so, it will give surgical robotics platforms access to the rich array of physical information in acoustic pulses, which can be used to characterise tissues encountered during surgery and guide the robot in the intervention itself.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Active stroke rehabilitation orthotic
An active stroke rehabilitation orthotic is needed to assist the multitude of people affected by stroke each year. Several prototype hardware systems have been constructed, so we know the concept is feasible. Development for medical approval and manufacture is needed. Plus, artificial intelligence that adapts the rehabilitation strategies to help users
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Tracking small bones for robotic surgery
Robotic knee surgery can perform femoral and tibial resection. Currently it is not possible to use robotic technology for patella preparation; to do so will require miniaturisation of tracking, effective clamping of the patella and controlled use of a saw. This project will aim to develop the technology for any small bone resection with a robot, taking the patella as a test case.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
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