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 46 matching student topics
Displaying 37–46 of 46 results
Adaptive evolution of anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea mediating methane oxidation in freshwater environments (PhD)
The as-yet-uncultured archaeal lineage Methanoperedenaceae are anaerobic methanotrophs with a key role in mitigating the atmospheric release of methane in freshwater environments. The metabolic diversity of these microorganisms directly links methane with several key biochemical cycles and suggests a remarkable ability of these microorganisms to adapt to diverse environmental conditions.The overall aim of this PhD project will be to uncover the metabolic diversity of the Methanoperedenaceae and to understand the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for these adaptations.Methods and ResourcesThe project will …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Microbiome Research
Coordinated control of multi-robot systems for environmental management
Single robotic systems can't accurately measure dynamic processes and map large areas in challenging environments. However, managing multiple robotic systems simultaneously poses many challenges around coordination and control. This is particularly true in environments where there's a lack of communication with the system. This project will explore multi-robot swarming and formation control to monitor, manage and track large-scale environmental phenomena.In this project, you will explore multi-robot swarming and coordinated formation control for dynamic process monitoring, target tracking and coordinated mapping. …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Re-localisation in natural environments
Re-localisation in robotics involves the process of determining a robot's current pose, consisting of its position and orientation. This can either be within a previously mapped and known environment (i.e. prior map) or relative to another robot in a multi-agent setup. Re-localisation is essential for enabling robots to perform tasks such as autonomous monitoring and exploration seamlessly, even when they encounter temporary challenges in precisely tracking their location in GPS-degraded environments. For instance, consider the 'wake-up' problem, where a robot …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Aerosol presursors in Australian marine environments
Aerosols, tiny solid or liquid particles, play an important role in global climate regulation, firstly, by scattering and absorbing incoming solar radiation and, secondly, by their ability to take up water vapor from the atmosphere and serve as nuclei for cloud droplet formation (Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN)).With oceans covering 71% of the Earth’s surface, marine aerosols present a significant proportion of the global aerosol budget. Production of particles in the marine environment occurs via 2 pathways: 1) wave breaking and …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for the Environment
The softer side of next-gen entrepreneurship: the emotional experience and success
Next-generation (next-gen) entrepreneurs are described as people who operate solely in online environments (i.e. via the internet). The internet and mobile technologies have profoundly impacted the ways in which business is conducted, yet little is known about this new type of business environment. There has been considerable research into entrepreneurs who operate largely in physical 'bricks and mortar' settings, however the literature is limited in providing insight into entrepreneurs who operate solely in online environments.We know that emotions influence the …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- School
- null
- Research centre(s)
- null
null
Corporate social and environmental performance information and related accountability practices
Due to stakeholder attention, companies are increasingly disclosing social and environmental performance information within their annual and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports.OutcomesThis study will investigate whether these disclosures reflect real performance, and thereby create accountability practices by corporations. Both Australian and international companies are the focus of this project.The project considers both qualitative and quantitative methods.
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Accountancy
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
Physics-informed reinforcement learning for complex environments, using graph neural networks
Neglecting to incorporate physics information into world models for reinforcement learning leads to reduced adaptability to dynamic and complex environments and overall learning outcomes.In this project, we endeavour to develop and implement learnable models in reinforcement learning (RL) based on graph neural networks (GNNs). These models will integrate object and relation-centric representations to enable accurate predictions, strong generalization, and system identification in complex, dynamical systems. Additionally, we will focus on leveraging extensive world knowledge or physics information to refine representations …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Using agricultural waste and organic amendments for sustainable agriculture and soil health
Optimising the application rates of organic amendments in agricultural soils is one of the most promising and practical solutions to reduce nitrogen (N) losses into the environment while maintaining an economically-adequate crop production.Organic amendments alone often don't meet the crop's needs. Consequently, a supplementary application of N synthetic fertiliser is needed in conventional farming systems to meet perceived production needs.Accounting for the amount of plant-available N (PAN) released by organic amendments and combining this with N-fertiliser will:ensure N demands of …
- 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
Modeling roost selection by flying foxes in Moreton Baty region
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Accountancy
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