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 170 matching student topics

Displaying 49–60 of 170 results

Profiling Aerosol Liquid Water Content over Australia

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, …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Rainbow reading: Reviewing queer young adult fiction for use in secondary English in Queensland

In Queensland, lists of texts prescribed for use in high school English are used in conjunction with other curriculum documents to shape the content of study in senior English subjects. Prescribed text lists contain varied representations of what counts as notable and important enough to be worthy of recommendation for use with young adult learners, and research suggests that LGBTIQ+ subjectivities are seldom represented in the current lists. Further research that involves teachers and students in appraising the benefits and …

Faculty
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
School
School of Teacher Education and Leadership
Research centre(s)
Centre for Justice

Spectral methods for partial differential equations on irregular domains

Spectral methods are among the most efficient methods for solving many important partial differential equations on regular domains (like a rectangle). However, when the problem domain is not a regular shape there are various ways in which the approach can be adapted, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. This project will explore a semi-novel approach that leads to a very elegant formulation, with ease-of-use for the end user being paramount.

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

Physics informed neural networks for medical imaging using diffusion MRI

Neural networks are a modern method for machines to learn informative mappings from input data to output data. Physics-informed neural networks supplement the traditional neural network architecture with structure or constraints derived from physical principles. This is known to greatly improve the rate and quality of learning when such physical knowledge is available. In the case of diffusion MRI, the physics knowledge comes in the form of model equations describing the physical process of diffusion. The objective of this project …

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

Water waves and signal analysis

The classic v-shaped wake pattern behind a ship (or duck) that is moving through the water is familiar to everyone. But did you know that information about the source of the disturbance is encoded in this wake? By sampling the wake at a single (or multiple) points over time, we can learn a lot about the vessel that created it. This project is concerned with deducing properties of vessels from their wakes by analysing the signal generated by sampling the …

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

Disciplinary Expertise in Accessible Assessment for Learning

CIESJ  STEL Seed Grant: Disciplinary expertise in accessible Assessment for Learning

Faculty
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
School
School of Teacher Education and Leadership
Research centre(s)

Centre for Inclusive Education

Race and Representation: Black journalism

Utilising the work of Stuart Hall and proponents of Black journalism, particularly Dr Amy McQuire, this project will examine the regime of racial representation of Indigenous women. The work of key Black journalists will be highlighted with a view examining how racialised representations are contested through an effective politics of representatation.

Faculty
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
School
School of Communication

Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies and Anti-Racism

This VRES placement explores critical Indigenous Research Methodologies with particular focus on Rigney’s Indigenist Research Methodology. It advances an understanding of Indigenous research methodologies as integral to an anti-racist practice.

Faculty
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
School
School of Justice

Racism, Rights and Climate Justice: Where is race in climate change scholarship?

As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance powerfully stating that “the global climate crisis is a racial justice crisis” (Achiume, 2022). This VRES project will conduct a review of current academic scholarship and policy to see whether and how race and racial injustice is addressed. It considers how we might better understand and respond to demands for ‘climate justice’ by attending to racial injustice, particularly in the context of settler …

Faculty
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
School
School of Justice

Benchmarking computational methods for structural optimisation

Structural optimisation is a powerful computational methodology for finding high-performing designs for structural components or material architectures. For example, what periodic scaffold would provide the highest possible stiffness for its weight?Solving such a problem computationally requires an understanding of the relevant equations required to model the physical properties of interest, as well as efficient implementation of a range of numerical methods including finite elements, finite differences and optimisation algorithms.With recent developments in 3D printing technologies it is now becoming possible …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Mathematical Sciences

Mathematical and computational models for diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI)

In 1985, the first image of water diffusion in the living human brain came to life. Since then significant developments have been made and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) has become a pillar of modern neuroimaging.Over the last decade, combining computational modelling and diffusion MRI has enabled researchers to link millimetre scale diffusion MRI measures with microscale tissue properties, to infer microstructure information, such as diffusion anisotropy in white matter, axon diameters, axon density, intra/extra-cellular volume fractions, and fibre orientation …

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

Optimisation of piezoelectric materials for robotics applications

Piezoelectricity, which translates to “pressure electricity”, is the phenomenon in which certain materials convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, and vice versa. Such materials are common-place and are used in a variety of applications including sensor, actuator, and energy harvesting technologies.The capabilities of such piezoelectric materials have not yet been fully realised. We plan to use computational structural optimisation to design new piezoelectric materials and components that may contribute to novel sensing technologies for robotics applications. Essentially, robots need stress …

Faculty
Faculty of Science
School
School of Mathematical Sciences

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