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 661 matching student topics
Displaying 217–228 of 661 results
Understanding and manipulating bacterial motility for infection control
The recent COVID 19 pandemic reminds us of how difficult it is to control infectious diseases. Pathogenic microorganisms are known to be extremely 'smart' and are able to quickly develop mechanisms against most of our strategies aimed at eradicating them. Our group is focused on bacterial infections to implants and medical devices. We are in the pursuit to outsmart the bacteria to develop the next generation medical device and implant materials.Bacterial motility/movement and group-coordination on surfaces and in 3-dimensional environment …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Value-adding waste materials
Many industries generate copious amounts of waste products.Of particular interest are those wastes generated by the mining sector as typically a large fraction of the ore bodies are dumped or the agricultural sector.Potential solutions we are investigating include:converting aluminosilicate waste to zeolitestransforming inorganic waste to catalyst materialscreation of materials for water and wastewater treatmentmaking activated carbonrenewable fuels,
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
High performance energy storage materials and devices
Energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors, play an increasingly important role in our daily life as a reliable energy supplier. Supercapacitors are a type of energy storage system that possess merits of rapid energy storage and release (high power density) with a cycling lifetime of ten thousand or more. Nevertheless the energy density of conventional electrochemical capacitor is quite low.This project aims to enhance the energy density of supercapacitors without compromising their power density through innovative designing and synthesising electrode …
- Study level
- PhD, 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
Green polymer-inorganic composite materials
Composite materials are widely researched and widely used in applications such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, structural components and even the space industry.There is a need to create new composite materials which are environmentally friendly and do not use fossil fuel based products. Moreover, the properties of the composites need to be improved while at the same time minimising the costs involved.Consequently our research group is working on composite materials which not only include inexpensive inorganic fillers from the mining sector …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Advanced materials for perovskite solar cells
Solar cells using metal halides perovskite materials to absorb light is one of the most important scientific discoveries. These cells have the potential to provide cost-effective solar electricity in the future. In the last decades, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) demonstrated unprecedented progress towards this goal. This technology holds the world record for energy conversion efficiency and is comparable to commercial crystalline silicon, but at a much lower cost.Currently their instability and use of hazardous solvents and toxic lead are key …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Mines of the future
The mining industry is critical to the Australian economy with over 1 million jobs currently either directly or indirectly related to this sector. At present, a significant change in mining practices is occurring due to introduction of Industry 4.0 practices. Industry 4.0 involves the digital transformation of traditional mining methods through:additive manufacturingbig datamachine learningInternet of thingsroboticsautomation/instrumentationsmart processing.This project will develop industry 4.0 approaches to various ore bodies with the aim of controlling the influence of variable feedstocks, improving product quality, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Targeting a novel adaptive neovascular response of the tumour microenvironment to treat advanced prostate cancer
Prostate cancer (PCa) is a significant healthcare burden in Australia. Androgen signalling inhibition using androgen receptor (AR) antagonists is the principal systemic therapy for advanced PCa. Androgen receptors (AR) are an attractive therapeutic target due to their elevated expression in tumour epithelial cells and the retention of androgen signalling throughout the disease continuum.However, patients eventually develop resistance to treatment, and PCa cells metastasise to distant bone and visceral organs, representing an incurable stage of the disease. Understanding mechanisms that contribute …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
The impacts of retailers' collectable free-gifts on children
Have you collected any? From the McDonalds' 1998 Vintage to the Coles 2018 Little Shop and the Woolworth 2019 Lion King Ooshies, retailers have been trying many collectable premium/gift promotions, and most of them are free to get with a certain amount of consumption in the retailer's store.Generally speaking, premium promotion is an important marketing promotion strategy which increases the retailers' revenue and brand reputation (Foubert et al. 2008; Septianto et al. 2020). For example, Wang, Japutra and Molinillo (2020) …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations
Hearing colour and seeing sound – switchable optoacoustic imaging agents
Optoacoustic imaging is a relatively new medical imaging technique. It utilises laser light to excite an imaging agent, which in turn converts this light energy into heat. This heat is dissipated as a sound wave, which can be detected with an ultrasound receiver. This technique aims to overcome the minimal penetration depth of fluorescence imaging, and the lack of molecular specificity of ultrasound.In this project we are aiming to develop and synthesize intelligent imaging agents for optoacoustics, which are able …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Design, Simulation and Implementation of a Reliable PV Fault Detection Technique
Faults in any elements such as modules, lines, DC-DC converters and DC-AC inverters of photovoltaic (PV) systems can impact the reliability of the system and exacerbate the efficiency. Some other faults such as ground-fault might lead to significant issues such as the risk of fire. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate and detect the faults in the PV system and prescribe the appropriate actions.The supervisory team is looking for passionate students who are keen to conduct an overarching review and …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices
‘race for the surface’: designing the next generation antimicrobial biomaterials
When a biomaterial is implanted into the body and bacteria get into the implantation site, both the bacteria and tissue cells actively seek to establish their colonization on the biomaterial surface. This process, called ‘the race for the surface’ by Anthony Gristina in 1987, is still a subject of intense investigation. It is generally accepted that a biomaterial’s success in integrating with the body depends on if tissue cells win or the bacteria win the race. However, evidence from the …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Accountancy
Investigation of host tissue response to synthetic pelvic meshes in patients with complications
Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a prevalent disease affecting 37% of asymptomatic women. Pelvic mesh implantation is a common surgical procedure employed to treat stress urinary incontinence, rectal prolapse and pelvic organ prolapse. However, the use of pelvic meshes can cause complications such as erosion, infection, pain and discomfort, which sometimes require further surgery. In Australia, in November 2017, the TGA banned transvaginal mesh for prolapse. Currently, women with complications from their pelvic mesh may opt to have them surgically …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
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