The Vacation Research Experience Scheme (VRES) provides eligible students with the opportunity to participate in a research project. If you're interested in research and thinking of pursuing a research degree the scheme is an opportunity to see if research is right for you. Further information about the scheme is available on HiQ.

QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for VRES. Search to find a topic that interests you.

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Found 192 matching student topics

Displaying 25–36 of 192 results

Polymer theranostics for nanomedicine

The personalised treatment of disease though nanomedicine will allow for more effective and safer treatments for patients. Polymer theranostics provide for the simultaneous detection of disease, treatment, and monitoring of therapeutic response. Our research group synthesises new polymeric materials and investigates how they can be used in applications such as:potent antivirals to fight future pandemicsthe effect of radiation on materials for improved radiotherapy for cancerresponsive imaging agents that can report on metabolic processes of diseasecharacterizing the interaction of polymeric materials …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Chemistry and Physics
Research centre(s)
Centre for Materials Science

BIOM02 Improving and benchmarking software tools for microbiome data

This is an interdisciplinary topic, at the intersection of bioinformatics and microbiome sciences.Microbiome data is complex, high-volume data and keeps evolving, requiring novel computational method development as the wetlab approaches changes and databases grow. Thus, novel computational methods are required to take advantage of them. We have already developed several methods that are already widely used: SemiBin, macrel, NGLess, argNorm, and others. However, we also have several needed improvements to these that we wish to implement and test.Specific projects can …

Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Biomedical Sciences
Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Challenges to data sharing of electric vehicles: Alleviating privacy concerns with edge computing

The Australian Government has released Australia’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy to increase the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia (Australian Government, 2023), which has the potential to reduce carbon emissions substantially, given that electricity is produced from renewable energy sources (Degirmenci & Breitner, 2017).Despite environmental benefits like reduced carbon emissions, EV owners become increasingly concerned about their privacy due to enhanced EV connectivity and increased personal data sharing through EV digital services. Edge computing, where data is processed …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Information Systems

Sequential Inject Analysis (SIA) For Industrial Control

High-purity alumina (HPA) has been earmarked as a critical mineral commodity due to its use in LEDs, batteries and scratch-resistant sensor coverings. QUT has partnered with Lavablue to create an alumina mini plant at Redlands as a testing ground for new technologies related to alumina. When producing chemicals such as HPA, analysis of final and intermediate products is needed. In this project, a Sequential injection analysis instrumentation will be developed to serve the QUT/Lavablue mini-plant.

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Chemistry and Physics
Research centre(s)
Centre for Materials Science

Artificial intelligence (AI) to balance fluctuations of intermittent renewable energy sources

Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a significant role in analyzing and predicting energy consumption and production patterns from renewable sources such as solar and wind (Lyu & Liu 2021). This is particularly important due to the key challenge of intermittency, where major renewable sources for electricity, such as solar and wind, are subject to the inconsistencies of the weather (Watson et al., 2022).In this project, we investigate how AI and machine learning algorithms can optimize smart grids and other components …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Information Systems

2032 Brisbane Olympic Games: How can we achieve climate-positive urban objectives?

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. …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Information Systems

Contact-line dynamics

One of the more challenging aspects of modelling in fluid dynamics is the contact-line problem: how does a contact line (a junction between two different fluids and a solid) move over time? A variety of models exist, such as disjoining pressure models, Navier slip models, and the imposition of a prewetting film, to name a few.In this project we will explore the behaviour of these different contact line models in the context of closing or healing liquid films. A hole …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Mathematical Sciences

Exploring engineering professional identity using digital journey maps

The journey of becoming an engineer is often a long and complex process, and somewhere along this journey we each begin to recognise that “Yes, I am an engineer!”. This recognition is called your professional identity.Professional identity is an evolutionary and constantly transforming process which is influenced by technical knowledge, industry experiences, peer connections, personal values and many other factors. It involves the reconciliation of engineering expectations and responsibilities with personal identity and is one identity of numerous within each …

Faculty
Faculty of Engineering
School
School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Exploring Skills, Hiring, and Innovation in the Australian AI Ecosystem

In today's rapidly evolving world, where innovation serves as a catalyst for economic growth, understanding the dynamics between firms' skills, job hiring practices, and innovation becomes paramount. This exciting VRES project offers a unique opportunity to delve into the wealth of real-world data collected by our research team at the ARC Centre for Behavioural Insights for Technology Adoption (ARC BITA), which intertwines firms' skills and job hiring information from LinkedIn with their innovation levels, as measured by patent data from …

Faculty
Faculty of Business and Law
School
School of Economics and Finance
Research centre(s)
Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology
Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology

Scalable simulation-based inference using multifidelity methods

Bayesian inference is a popular statistical framework for estimating the parameters of statistical models based on data. However, Bayesian methods are well known to be computationally intensive. This fact inhibits the scalability of Bayesian analysis for real-world applications involving complex stochastic models. Such models are common in the fields of cell biology, ecology and epidemiology.Multifidelity estimators are a promising class of asymptotically unbiased estimators for dealing with the scalability challenges (Warne et al., 2022; Prescott et al., 2024). These approaches …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Mathematical Sciences
Research centre(s)
Centre for Data Science

BIOM06 Identification and investigation of novel genes and genetic variants involved in migraine.

Migraine is a debilitating neurogenetic disorder which can be caused by genes related to ion channel function. The Genomics Research Centre performs diagnostic testing for migraine-related disorders in Australia and we have recently developed a NATA accredited Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach for molecular testing. However, as only ~20% of patients referred to our laboratory for genetic testing have pathogenic mutations in the known genes, we have undertaken whole exome sequencing (WES) to identify novel genes and variants involved in …

Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Biomedical Sciences
Research centre(s)
Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health

ENS02 Development of a muscle-actuated forward dynamic simulation of the muscles active during sprinting in both the rested and fatigued state.

In running-based sports, there is a prevailing belief among coaches that excessive anterior pelvic tilt during sprinting poses a significant risk for hamstring strain injury. Previous research using muscle-actuated forward modelling suggests that excessive anterior pelvic tilt increases stretch on the biceps femoris long head muscle, which is injured in 90% of hamstring strains. This modelling, while indicating a potential mechanism for hamstring strain at high speed, only considers speed as a variable. During gameplay, athletes are frequently required to …

Faculty
Faculty of Health
School
School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences

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