Student topics

Many environmental issues are globally significant problems and countries have to engage and interact with each other to resolve them despite having different domestic priorities. Current challenges around climate, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and plastics are just some of the issues that are influenced by international standards, agreements and institutions.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Law

Aerosol liquid water content (ALWC) is a ubiquitous constituent in atmospheric aerosol particles. The degree of ALWC present in aerosol particles is influenced various factors, including relative humidity, temperature, particle mass, size distribution, and aerosol composition. Comprehensive analyses on ALWC have been conducted in the Northern Hemisphere, but similar work has rarely been done in the Southern Hemisphere due to the scarcity of aerosol particle measurements. In the atmosphere, ALWC scatters radiation and reduces visibility, significantly affecting air quality, weather, …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

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

Join the team to be part of an exciting QUT-lead project into materials for Lithium-ion batteries. The project is part of the Federally supported Future Battery Industries - Cooperative Research Centre, which hosts projects all-over the country that are aiming to boost the industry, create clean energy jobs, and enable a sustainable future.In this role you gain access to QUT's one-of-a-kind in Australia, Advanced Battery Facility. At the facility we build lithium batteries in a range of shapes and sizes. …

Study level

Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Chemistry and Physics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Materials Science
Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices

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

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

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing has become commonplace when studying microbial communities and their relationship with the health of our planet, and their direct effects on our own health. Currently, there are >180,000 shotgun metagenomes publicly available, but until recently trying to treat these data as a resource has been challenging due to its extreme size (>700 trillion base pairs).Recently we have developed a tool that can efficiently convert this base pair information into a straightforward assessment of which microorganisms are present …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Permafrost thaw induced by climate change is predicted to make up to 174 Pg of near-surface carbon (less than 3m below the surface) available for microbial degradation by 2100. Despite having major implications for human health, prediction of the magnitude of carbon loss as carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4) is hampered by our limited knowledge of microbial metabolism of organic matter in these environments.Genome-centric meta-omic analysis of microbial communities provides the necessary information to examine how specific lineages transform …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Trustees have a duty to act in the best interests of beneficiaries. In particular, it has been held that “(w)hen the purpose of the trust is to provide financial benefits for the beneficiaries, as is usually the case, the best interests of the beneficiaries are normally their best financial interests.” (Cowan v Scargill [1985] 1 Ch 270 at 286 per Megarry VC) This may require consideration of not only the economic well-being of the trust fund more generally, but also …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Law

Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as intense heatwaves, floods, and bushfires, is triggering disruptive disasters that have a significant impact on communities, ecosystems, and economies. While our national climate change adaptation strategy places a paramount focus on enhancing community resilience, it is crucial to recognise that not all communities face climate risks in the same manner. Diverse communities exhibit varying capacities to respond and adapt to distinct climate hazards. This reality underscores the imperative for …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Architecture and Built Environment

Research centre(s)

Centre for the Environment

Climate justice aims at sharing the benefits and burdens of climate change equitably between individuals and communities, regardless of their socioeconomic status, geographic location, or other demographic factors (Upham et al., 2022). Yet, ethnic minority populations are disadvantaged, for example, with rising energy costs and limited access to renewable energy sources, such as African Americans in the United States (Nature Energy Editorial, 2020) or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia (Cain, 2024).In this project, we analyse eco-equity as a …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Information Systems

Research centre(s)

Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology

Brisbane is the first host city to be contractually bound to deliver a climate-positive Olympic Games in 2032 (Queensland Government, 2023). Most of the 8,000-megawatt coal plants are expected to close by 2032, which requires a viable and sustainable transition to renewable energies (Simshauser, 2024).In this project, we investigate how digital energy services and analytics (DESA) can help a sustainable energy transition for a climate-positive 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.ReferencesQueensland Government. (2023). All Queensland. All in. 2032 procurement strategy. https://www.forgov.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/404030/Q2032-procurement-strategy.pdfSimshauser, P. …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Information Systems

Research centre(s)

Centre for Data Science