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 239 matching student topics
Displaying 193–204 of 239 results
Southern ocean aerosols: Sources, sinks and impact on cloud formation and climate
Robust prediction of human-induced global warming and future climate requires more accurate climate models. Currently, aerosol-clouds interactions represent the largest source of uncertainty in our global climate models. To reduce this uncertainty, we need a better understanding of aerosol sources, chemical and physical properties, and processes impacting their growth to sizes where they can act as Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) and interact with incoming solar radiation.The Southern Ocean is a region of the world where climate and weather models, including …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for the Environment
Uncovering the dark transcriptome and proteome with long-read sequencing
Parts of the transcriptome and proteome are invisible to current technologies. We refer to them as the dark transcriptome and proteome and they encompass uncharacterised mRNA and protein isoforms. Importantly, this hidden molecular phenotype is believed to play a critical role in animal health and behavior.Recent developments in mRNA analytical methods such as long-read sequencing (PacBio, ONT) have enabled better characterization of isoforms and are redefining the transcriptome landscape in many species. We and others have found that data generated …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
Continuous time samplers (MCMC at the limit!)
The goal of this project is to develop new continuous time Monte Carlo methods for efficient sampling from high-dimensional distributions. Continuous-time Monte Carlo methods are a class of algorithms that use continuous-time dynamics to generate samples from target distributions, rather than the discrete-time dynamics used in traditional Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. These methods have been shown to have faster mixing and better exploration of the state space, making them particularly appealing samplers for challenging distributions.The main objectives of …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Unleashing the full potential of terminators for the regulation of gene expression in plants
Ultimately, the proper development of a plant and its ability to adapt to its environment is the result of how plants’ genes are expressed and interact with each other. Hence, it is of extreme importance to understand the mechanisms used by plants to regulate gene expression.Modification of the expression pattern of a gene is particularly important in modern biology. By changing the expression levels of a gene, it is possible to learn about its function, increase the production of a …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy
Unlocking the Potential of Simplex-Truncated Distributions
This PhD project aims to develop new methods for generating random samples from a specific type of probability distributions called simplex-truncated distributions. These distributions are commonly used in various fields such as statistics, machine learning, and biology.The project will involve the development of new techniques to generate random samples from simplex-truncated distributions. These techniques are based on a method called continuous-time Monte Carlo which is a cutting edge method in statistics that can generate random samples from complex distributions.The main …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Low-cost portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging for clinical applications
The aim of this project is to develop accurate low-cost medical imaging methodology for pseudo-3D mapping of Mammographic Density (MD) within the breast. MD is the degree of radio-opacity (“whiteness”) in an X-ray mammogram. It has implications for breast cancer risk, ease of detection of breast cancer, and monitoring of the efficacy of hormonal breast cancer prevention or anti-cancer treatments.Healthcare ChallengeThere is a growing need for affordable and accurate quantitative assessment of MD without ionising radiation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
Genome to phenome: exploiting multi-omics and deep learning strategies to decipher importance of isoforms in health and behaviour
The molecular process that leads to multiple mRNA transcripts being produced from the same segment of DNA (aka gene) is known as alternative splicing (AS). This is a common form of regulation in higher eukaryotes, enabling the production of novel protein isoforms, which in turn are known to have a big impact on phenotype. Understanding the regulatory factors involved in AS, including epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, will offer key insights into important biological phenomena (health disease, behaviour, production). …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
Prescriptive process analytics
With growing significance of data there is a need to harness the potential of that data for improved business operations. Historical data is often to provide a descriptive overview of how business processes have performed in the past. However, there is a need to be proactive and take appropriate actions to ensure that business processes perform in an optimal manner. Prescriptive analytics is a process that analyzes data and provides instant recommendations on how to optimize business practices. Prescriptive analytics …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Information Systems
Ecosystem responses to climate change and human impacts on sub-Antarctic islands: a context for conservation
Sub-Antarctic islands have unique ecosystems and landscapes under increasingly pressure from climate change. In many cases this is compounded by the introduction of invasive species since their discovery by humans in the 1800s.Understanding ecosystem and environmental responses to climate change and separating them from human-induced causes of change is essential for their future protection. To do this requires quantifying long-term, natural rates and variability of change, establishing the ‘baseline’ status of ecosystems and the environment prior to human arrival, and …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for the Environment
Scheduling of vessel movements in channel constrained ports
International trade is heavily reliant on maritime transportation which constitutes 80% of total volume. Ports have a significant impact on the efficiency of maritime transportation, with significant delays to vessels observed in accessing or departing ports. These delays can be a result of constraints on wharf capacity, channel capacity, access to tugs and pilots, or a combination of these factors. This project will focus on the development of novel operations research techniques to optimise the efficiency of scheduling vessel movements …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Identifying Indigenous contributions to knowledge
The Australian Census collects data every ten years to reflect who we are as a nation. But the data collected by the Census only tells part of our story.Indigenous people lived in Australia for thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers, accumulating a wealth of knowledge about Australia's land, climate, flora and fauna. Researchers have only begun tapping this knowledge as the basis for modern scientific research.This project will combine machine learning and text-analytics tools to develop a …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Process-data governance patterns
Data is recognised a strategic asset for organisations. There is a growing need to manage the voluminous data an organisation is exposed to in order to use it for decision-making.Of particular significance is process data, which consists of information about the execution of processes. Such information is used to uncover behaviour of processes within an organisation. This brings forth the significance of data governance. Data governance is the exercise of control and authority over management of data. Despite its significance, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Information Systems
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