Student topics

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory disorder driven by complex interactions between environmental, microbial and immune-mediated factors. An unfavourable shift in gut microbiome composition, known as dysbiosis, is now considered a key feature of IBD, however it is unclear how specific microorganisms and their interactions with host cells contribute to disease onset and progression. Previous IBD studies have been largely limited to older sequencing methods with low resolution. Furthermore, these studies have predominantly focused on bacterial populations, …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

The market for fashion, clothing and textiles has failed, causing an externality characterised by overconsumption, oversupply and resulting largely in textile waste. Legislative change at a geopolitical level seeks to address these issues, however, there are numerous actors involved with diverse interests.

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice

School

School of Design

Research centre(s)

Design Lab

Modern predictive analytics underpinned by AI-enabled learning (such as machine learning, deep learning) techniques has become a key enabler to the automation of data-driven decision making. In the context of process monitoring and forecast, predictive analytics has been applied to making predictions about the future state of a running process instance - for example, which task will be carried out next, when and who will perform the task, when will an ongoing process instance complete, what will be the outcome …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Information Systems

Research centre(s)

Centre for Data Science

Time-controlled grazing (TCG), or cell grazing is a management strategy in which cattle are stocked and rotated across small paddocks or “cells” according to fodder availability. Grazing takes place in short durations at high stocking densities, in an effort to mimic the grazing patterns of wild ungulate herds.This management strategy has gained traction in recent years due to claims that it improves both pasture productivity and diversity, whilst also increasing long-term carbon pools. Limited data is available on the impact …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Nutrients such as ammonium and phosphate species are essential in agriculture. However, release of excessive amounts of nutrients to waterways may result in eutrophication which can lead to toxic algae blooms, killing of fish and destruction of the environment.Compounding this issue is the fact that phosphate rock sources are gradually being exhausted. Hence, finding a means to capture and reuse phosphate species from sources such as wastewater treatment plants is potentially attractive.Consequently, this project involves the development of new phosphate …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Despite efforts to monitor and manage declining species and ecosystems around the world, biodiversity is still not routinely included in mainstream decision-making and continues to decline at the highest rate in human history. Added to this is the problem that both natural and agri-food systems are complex networks that are continually changing due to human and natural disturbances, with climate change likely to increase the impacts of extreme events like drought, fire and economic shocks on these networks.Because of large …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Data Science
Centre for the Environment

Despite efforts to monitor and manage declining species and ecosystems around the world, biodiversity is still not routinely included in mainstream decision-making and continues to decline at the highest rate in human history. Added to this is the problem that both natural and agri-food systems are continually changing due to human and natural disturbances, with climate change likely to increase the impacts of extreme events like drought, fire and economic shocks. Because of large uncertainties and trade-offs between many human …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy
Centre for the Environment

In recent years, with the rise in climate change impact, urban heat has become a major issue for many cities to tackle consequently. Extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change, which has directly caused a substantial increase in heat-related morbidity and mortality. This indispensably puts an extra burden on medical systems and national finance. Meanwhile, the urban heat island effect has been exaggerating the consequences caused by the increased extreme heat in metropolitan areas. …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Architecture and Built Environment

Recovering, recycling, reuse and reducing waste in the health sector becomes more and more important as it will help hospitals to become more sustainable and to reduce their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Life cycle assessments of materials, for examples plastic packaging, is an important tool to establish the best practice for recovery and recycling of these materials.

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Chemistry and Physics

Research centre(s)

Centre for a Waste-Free World

Australia is rich in lithium battery materials and is poised to be the world leader in sustainable energy storage. The rapid growth in the automobile and energy sector created greater demand for high-performance Li-ion batteries with high energy density. Conventional Li-ion batteries utilise a graphite anode with a limited theoretical capacity. Therefore, we need to develop alternative electrode materials with high energy density and a longer lifespan.Silicon (Si) has received attention owing to its high specific capacity at ambient temperature. …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Materials Science

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

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