Student topics

There is a full PhD scholarship available in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to support the newly awarded ARC Linkage Project on Next-generation traffic signals using artificial intelligence-based video analytics for safe, efficient and green intersections. The stipend has a cash value of $32,500 per annum for 3 years.To apply for this position, please submit the following documents via email to m1.haque@qut.edu.au:a detailed curriculum vitae (CV) highlighting academic achievements, research experience and …

Study level

PhD

School

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

The adage “united we stand, divided we fall” has frequently guided leadership practice – that is, for one to lead others effectively, one first needs to unite them. However, large groups of people often comprise smaller subgroups with distinct identities. How, then, does the leadership process look like when these smaller subgroups are polarised into conflicting factions that cannot simply be united under a common superordinate identity?This research broadly examines the process of leadership within teams and organisations where there …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

School

School of Management

The shopping centre (mall) is the central hub of modern retailing and holds a significant role in developing a first overall impression. As a result, shopping centres (malls) have focussed on creating positive customer experiences in shared public spaces. Bringing natural elements such as green plants, flowerbeds, water features, aquariums, animals, birds, and butterfly gardens into the hotel service setting, is an innovative approach known as biophilic design.The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of biophilic elements …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Recent work has identified outcomes of sustained customer aggression, however an opportunity lies in identifying the drivers of the specific dimensions of customer aggression. (See Mortimer, G., Wang, S., & Andrade, M. L. O. (2023). Measuring customer aggression: Scale development and validation. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 73, 103348.)Future research may also assess the extent to which each customer aggression type individually affects the different attitudinal and behavioural outcomes tested herein. Both expressive aggression forms may be stronger drivers …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

As a direct response to increasing customer aggression, employee associations (unions) are implementing measures to keep frontline team members safe. One such tactic was an ‘under-name-badge’ message (“I’m someone’s daughter”, “I’m someone’s dad”). Concerningly, there is a dearth of research into the effect of such messaging.Does alerting an aggressive customer to the fact the frontline team member is ‘someone’s daughter/son’ mitigate aggression? Alternatively, does alerting an aggressive customer to the fact the frontline team member is ‘a local/attends a local …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

As a direct response to increasing customer aggression, retailers are implementing measures to keep frontline team members safe – assets such as body worn cameras (BWC) and duress watches. Concerningly, there is a dearth of research into these technologies in a retail setting, with much of the earlier research being undertaken in corrective services, policing and train guards.Current research identifies, in some cases, the presence of such technologies can lead to a ‘back-firing’ effect (the aggressive individual becomes more aggressive), …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Programming robots to carry out desired tasks is difficult and time-consuming. This PhD project focuses on collaborative and instructional dialogue agents to help human operators program robot tasks.In this collaborative scenario, a human operator converses with an AI agent to explain the steps that are to be performed, using high-level references and abstractions that make sense to the human, as opposed to simple verbal instructions corresponding to rudimentary robot movements. The AI agent must interpret the high-level instructions and translate …

Study level

PhD

School

School of Design

Research centre(s)

Design Lab

Neuropathic pain effects '1 in every 10 adults over the age of 30'. The treatments available for neuropathic pain can at best be described as having 'moderate efficacy'. Due to the nature of neuropathic pain, the ability to scientifically study and understand its fundamental causes has been limited to animal models and trials. There are over 27 animal models for neuropathic pain where pain has been induced by macroscopic and microscopic nerve lesions, chemotherapy, viral infections and diabetes mellitus.Looking at …

Study level

PhD

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Materials play a crucial role in shaping people's perceptions, experiences, and emotional responses to the products they encounter. In automotive design, this significance is particularly pronounced within the interior cabin space, especially in the age of sustainability and electric vehicles (EVs).The materials utilised heavily influence how customers and users perceive the value, quality, and emotional aspects of their interactions. While numerous studies have examined the link between interior materials and traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the advent of EVs …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice

School

School of Design

Research centre(s)

Design Lab

QUT is involved in the science team for a recently Australian Space Agency-funded mission to Schrodinger crater, to deploy a Fleet Space seismometer. QUT is developing workflows to translate the seismic data into detailed subsurface models for site characterisation, off-world construction, and in-situ resource mapping of materials such as ice.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Data Science

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

School

School of Law

Research centre(s)

Australian Centre for Health Law Research

Weakly nonlinear waves are described by dispersive pdes, such as the famous Korteweg–De Vries (KdV) equation. These models have applications to a variety of phenomena in physics, including the propagation of water waves, but they are also interesting from a mathematical perspective because they can have special properties.While the KdV equation and its variants are well-studied in the literature, a new approach is to attempt to learn about wave propagation by investigating solution behaviour in complex plane. For example, there …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Mathematical Sciences