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 488 matching student topics
Displaying 97–108 of 488 results
Safe autonomous driving through dense vegetation via advanced perception
One of the remaining challenges to achieve off-road autonomous navigation for mobile robots is the accurate evaluation of vegetated environments, to determine where a robot can safely drive through. To achieve this, robots may use extra sensory modalities compared to humans, such as RADARs that can penetrate through vegetation and see behind it what is not visible to the naked eye. Another option is to physically interact with the environment to 'clear the way'.
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Branching processes, stochastic simulations and travelling waves
Branching processes are stochastic mathematical models used to study a range of biological processes, including tissue growth and disease transmission.This project will implement a simple stochastic branching process to generate simulations of biological growth, and then consider differential equation-based description of the stochastic model.Using computation we will compare the two models, and use phase plane and perturbation analysis to analyze the resulting traveling wave solutions.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Development of high value products from mining waste resources
Mining represents one of the largest industry sectors in Australia. It is central to creating 1 million direct or indirect jobs and generates significant wealth to Australia. However, the mining industry produces a substantial amount of waste material which ideally needs to be recycled.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Transforming home healthcare: leveraging technology for enhanced people experience
People with chronic illnesses face numerous challenges when it comes to caring for their health at home. The daily management of symptoms, medication adherence, and self-care routines can be physically and mentally demanding, requiring significant effort and discipline. Additionally, limited access to direct medical supervision, medical equipment, resources, and support may lead to difficulties in monitoring symptoms and seeking timely medical attention, further adding to the burden of self-care.From a human-centered design perspective, technology enhances the home healthcare experience through …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
- Research centre(s)
-
Design Lab
A mathematical model of disrupting cell-to-cell communication by bacteria
The emergence of resistance of bacteria to antibiotics presents a global healthcare challenge that intensifies the search for strategies to increase the effcacy of therapy. Several mechanisms are involved in resistance of bacteria against antibiotics such as mutations in genes, horizontal gene transfer, and biofilm formation. Bacteria can communicate with each other through production and response to local concentration of small molecules called autoinducers.This mechanism is called quorum sensing (QS).It has been suggested that QS can influence the resistance of …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Basic aircraft collision risk modelling and visualisation
Aircraft collision risk modelling is complex yet key to ensuring safe air transport (both crewed and uncrewed aircraft). Different collision risk models are better suited to different airspace environments which means model comparison and evaluation is an important research problem. This project takes a deeper look into a specific collision risk modelling approach: gas models.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Physics-informed machine learning
Recent advances in computer vision have demonstrated superhuman performance on a variety of visual tasks including image classification, object detection, human pose estimation and human analysis. However, current approaches for achieving these results center around models that purely learn from large-scale datasets with highly complex neural network architectures. Despite the impressive performance, pure data-driven models usually lack robustness, interpretability, and adherence to physical constraints or commonsense reasoning.As in the real world, the visual world of computer vision is governed by …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
New antimicrobial compounds with biofouling properties
Bacteria can readily adhere to the surface of synthetic materials and form a biofilm which is much more difficult to combat than circulating bacteria due to their extreme resistance to antibiotics. Thus, biofilms are of particular concern in the healthcare system, where they increase infection rates by contaminating medical devices, delay chronic wound healing and contribute to tooth decay. In systems used to transport water and oil, biofilms are associated with pipe blockages and corrosion which can result decreased efficiencies …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Design, derivation, and implementation of mesh-free finite volume solvers based on 3D unit cell morphology to estimate biomass particle effective parameters
The aim of this PhD project is to use lignocellulosic morphological features extracted from high resolution micro-CT images of biomass particles undergoing a dilute acid pretreatment process to perform computational homogenisation over representative unit cell configurations. Mesh-free finite volume solvers will be developed based on 3D point cloud data sets to estimate virtual biomass particle effective parameters, such as diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and permeability. The simulation results will be analysed to provide a fundamental understanding of the impact that changes …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Healthcare providers’ perspectives on wound care in aged care facilities
The ageing of the population in Australia, in line with other developed countries, is well documented, with the trend giving rise to an increase in incidence and prevalence of health conditions and complex health states for which age is a significant risk factor. As the skin ages, reduced moisture and loss of elasticity places the older person at increased risk of a variety of wounds such as skin tears and pressure injuries. In addition, the presence of multiple comorbid conditions …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Nursing
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Healthcare Transformation
Making seen what we can’t feel – wearable suns sensors for UV protection
Radiation exposure can be damaging, but at the right dose it can also have health benefits. An example, while ultraviolet (UV) light can cause skin damage and melanoma, it is also necessary for Vitamin D production. The key is knowing what dose we are receiving and when we have had too much. In this collaborative project with the School of Design, we are developing new wearable sun sensors that are sensitive to UV radiation, but also fashionable and desirable to …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Exploring the value and potential of hyperlocal gift economies
The Australian federal government has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 to address and reverse the effects of climate change and transition to a circular economy. Achieving net-zero will require a shift in how we use, share and dispose of products, and our relationship to our local communities and planet.In other words, this goal will require an extraordinary shift in the way we ordinarily live. As informal practices of circularity are already happening across Australian neighbourhoods, they have …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
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