Real Focus feature stories

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is an opportunity for the US to rebuild its global image. But it’s not just about the football, Dr Morgan Rees writes. It’s about politics. And for the US, domestic politics is about to go under the floodlights…

Read more of Net gains: America’s World Cup test

Filed under: Justice

Legal scholar Dr Amanda Bull examined small business insolvency for her PhD. She says that small businesses don’t fail alone – our laws fail them too.

Read more of The big problem facing small business

Filed under: Law

How do we restore trust in the climate and energy debate? Let’s start with transparency and accountability writes Carly Lubicz-Zaorski, PhD researcher and QUT Digital Media Research Centre Policy Officer.

Read more of Reality bites: Moving on from misinformation

Filed under: Creative Industries

Professor Gary Mortimer is Australia’s pre-eminent commentator on all things retail, internationally recognised for his research. Since pushing shopping trolleys at 15, he’s seen the industry transformed by everything from new technologies to pandemics.

Read more of The future of retail: it’s less than human

Filed under: Business

Research Fellow and PhD candidate in QUT’s Australian Centre for Health Law Research Casey Haining addresses calls to allow access to voluntary assisted dying for Australians with dementia.

Read more of Voluntary assisted dying and dementia: should it be allowed in Australia?

Filed under: Law

How Australia can better protect children and young people from harm in the rapidly evolving online world was the focus of QUT Bold, the university’s flagship series connecting community with leading research addressing society’s most pressing challenges.

Read more of Building online safety for healthy societies

Filed under: Law

Dr Lyndall Bryant, QUT property economist, examines Australia’s housing crisis and considers what policies are working and which are not.

Read more of When good intentions backfire: why Australia keeps making housing less affordable

Filed under: Business, Justice

A social network for AI bots? Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz took the new Moltbook platform on a test drive and found the conversation dull, the technology fascinating, and the cybersecurity risk frightening.

Read more of Moltbook is boring. That’s precisely why you should pay attention

Filed under: Business

It’s not often someone finds the exact niche they were born to fill but that is the case for Professor Helen Wallace whose research brings stellar satisfaction – growing nutritious foods while empowering women to earn their own income.

Read more of PNG's humble nut that cracked open women’s empowerment

Filed under: Science

For most families, leaving the paediatric intensive care unit is a welcome milestone. But the challenges – and psychological scars – can continue long after. Professor Debbie Long is helping ensure no family faces recovery alone.

Read more of Helping families heal

Filed under: Health

For over a decade, Professor Craig Costello, from the QUT School of Computer Science, has been working in a field called post-quantum cryptography. His mission? Create an uncrackable code.

Read more of The quantum threat to your data and our race to stop it

Filed under: Science

Professor Martin Mills has been an activist, a marathon runner, a teacher, an academic and a shaper of policy. He’s now on a mission to address Australia’s teacher shortage crisis and it’s not a problem only money can fix.

Read more of How do we attract and keep teachers? It starts with respect

Filed under: Education