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.

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Found 17 matching student topics

Displaying 1–12 of 17 results

Voluntary Assisted Dying

Ben White is interested in supervising PhD students in the area of voluntary assisted dying. Voluntary assisted dying is now legal in Victoria with Western Australia's law due to commence in mid-2021. Other Australian states look set to follow with a Queensland Parliamentary Committee recommending reform and Bills regularly introduced into other state parliaments. These new laws and their implementation provide fertile ground for PhD research. The Australian Centre for Health Law Research is undertaking a program of research looking …

Study level
PhD
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Involuntary Treatment for Mental Illness: Under what circumstances is it ethically justified?

Dr Sam Boyle is looking for candidates wanting to explore the ethical and legal issues associated with providing involuntary treatment for people with mental illnesses. Candidates may explore this issue in relation to ethics, human rights, or any other relevant angle, including an international comparative approach.

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

Supported and Substitute Decision-making

Associate Professor Shih-Ning Then is looking for PhD/MPhil candidates wishing to explore legal and policy responses to decision-making by, and on behalf of, adults with a decision-making impairment. Candidates with an interest in the human rights concept of supported decision-making and legal responses to this are encouraged to contact the supervisor. Doctrinal, comparative or empirical approaches to investigating these issues are possible.

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

How should the law distinguish between people who can make legally effective decisions and those who cannot?

Dr Sam Boyle is looking for candidates wanting to explore the ethical and legal issues that the issue of capacity gives rise to. In particular, candidates may want to consider how the law can validly incorporate medical understanding of mental functioning into the legal sphere.

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

Voluntary assisted dying, medical practitioners and conscientious objection

Should legislation permitting Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) provide medical practitioners with a right to conscientiously object to VAD and, if so, what should the scope of that right be?Should it include a right not to give a person asking about VAD any information about it? In Victoria the legislation provides an unrestricted right to conscientiously object whereas in Western Australia the right to object is qualified by a requirement to give the patient information about VAD. Which position is most …

Study level
PhD
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Tobacco control

As a prime advocate for plain packaging of tobacco products, Professor Matthew Rimmer is engaged in research and public policy work on tobacco control. He is interested in supervising research students working within the field of tobacco control - including in respect of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; trade and investment disputes over tobacco control; the plain packaging of tobacco products; restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship, and promotions; generational limitations on smoking; spatial restrictions on smoking; and civil …

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

Global Health and the Law

Professor Belinda Bennett is interested in talking to students who wish to undertake research on global health and the law, including the Sustainable Development Goals, legal issues related to global health governance, global public health, and health and human rights.

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Technology, Innovation and Health

Professor Belinda Bennett is interested in talking to students who wish to undertake research on legal issues related to technology, innovation and health, regulation of innovative health technologies, legal issues related to genomics, the use of artificial intelligence in health care, and the use of robotics in health care.

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Housing and older people

Associate Professor Tina Cockburn is interested in supervising students who wish to undertake research about housing and older people (including assets for care arrangements, retirement villages and aged care facilities). Safe housing is a human right not enjoyed by all, particularly for older women who may have experienced financial insecurity throughout the life course. This is a significant issue facing modern Australian society, particularly in light of an anticipated economic downturn and increasing unemployment. Please contact the supervisor if you …

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Financial security and ageing

Dr Kelly Purser is interested in supervising students who wish to undertake research about estate planning, financial security and ageing. Financial security as people age is something that is determined by the whole of life course, not just what people do as they near retirement. It is therefore important to consider the implications of future planning on the life able to be led 'post-retirement'. This includes not only estate planning tools such as wills and enduring documents, but also financial …

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Human rights and ageing

Dr Bridget Lewis is interested in supervising students who wish to undertake research about human rights and ageing. There has been increasing focus on the importance of recognising, promoting and protecting the human rights of older people. This has been brought into sharp focus in recent times by, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic. Please contact the supervisor if you are interested in undertaking a PhD in this area. This topic is led by the QUT School of Law within the …

Study level
PhD
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Capacity, decision making and ageing

Dr Kelly Purser is interested in supervising students who wish to undertake research about capacity, substitute decision making and ageing, including how and when capacity is determined, and by whom. As people age they may not retain the capacity to be able to make legally recognised decisions giving rise to questions around who can determine what happens when someone can no longer make their own decisions, how and when this should be determined as well as what is the outcome …

Study level
PhD, Master of Philosophy
Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Law
Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

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