QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for Honours, Masters and PhD study. Search to find a topic that interests you or propose your own research topic to a prospective QUT supervisor. You may also ask a prospective supervisor to help you identify or refine a research topic.
Found 479 matching student topics
Displaying 421–432 of 479 results
Developing optimal management approaches to sustain the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is under significant threat from climate change.There are many options for management approaches to help sustain the reef, and many more are being developed. However, optimally planning these management actions is a difficult mathematical problem as they need to deploy over a large scale. This results in long timeframes for developing and executing these actions.This project will involve adapting the Modern Portfolio Theory to develop optimal management approaches to sustain the Great Barrier Reef.Modern Portfolio Theory …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
High-performance scoring of CRISPR targets
The CRISPR-Cas9 technology allows the modification of virtually any gene in any organism of interest. It's generated a lot of interest, both in the research community and the general population.One of the crucial components of CRISPR experiments is the design of the "guide RNAs" that will control where modifications occur. It's vital that the modification is made at the desired location and not elsewhere.We developed a method utilising high-performance computing to efficiently assess the "off-target risk" of each guide RNA …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Should Australia legislate to allow three parent babies?
In 2015, the United Kingdom legalised a form of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) therapy known as ‘three-parent IVF’ and, less colloquially, mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT). This IVF procedure is aimed at enabling women who have mitochondrial diseases that would normally be passed down to their offspring to have a healthy child instead. The technique involves removing faulty mitochondria from the intended mother’s egg and replacing them with mitochondria from a generically unrelated woman (by transferring the intended mother's nucleus to …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
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Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Aerosol presursors in Australian marine environments
Aerosols, tiny solid or liquid particles, play an important role in global climate regulation, firstly, by scattering and absorbing incoming solar radiation and, secondly, by their ability to take up water vapor from the atmosphere and serve as nuclei for cloud droplet formation (Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN)).With oceans covering 71% of the Earth’s surface, marine aerosols present a significant proportion of the global aerosol budget. Production of particles in the marine environment occurs via 2 pathways: 1) wave breaking and …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for the Environment
Assessing coral rubble restoration on the Great Barrier Reef
Coral reefs face cumulative threats from climate change to shipping and the concern is that this can cause reefs to transition from coral to rubble dominated states. The formation of coral rubble is a natural part of the reef cycle, however, too much rubble can decrease the resilience of reefs and prevent recovery. A number of coral rubble stabilisation methods are being utilised globally including Mars Assisted Reef Restoration System of hexagonal metal units that are deployed on reefs with …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Research centre(s)
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Centre for the Environment
The benefits of custom fit compression garments on markers of performance and recovery
Cape Bionics has its foundations in the aerospace industry in the design of compression suits worn by astronauts on the international space station. The research which underpinned the design of these space suits has now been applied to sport as a means of improving performance and recovery in elite athletes.For compression garments to be effective they must fit perfectly and apply specific pressure regimes. Cape Bionics use technology from the medical and aerospace industry to provide custom fit compression garments …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Capturing the impact of patient variability in a novel cancer treatment
In 2015, the Food and Drug Association (FDA) approved a lab-engineered virus for the treatment of melanoma (skin cancer). Since then, there has been a significant increase in the number of lab-grown viruses that are being tested in clinical trials as potential treatments of cancer. Unfortunately, it seems that a large number of patients in these clinical trials fail under this treatment and currently there is no way to distinguish between responders and non-responders to treatment.Fortunately, we can use mathematics …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Using time-controlled grazing to sequester carbon in Queensland rangelands
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
Atmospheric cooling and shading for the Great Barrier Reef
This research sits within the Cooling and Shading Subprogram of the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP).RRAP is an ambitious and innovative R&D effort that places Australia as the leader of coral reef adaptation and restoration science. It is a consortium of Partners, including QUT, dedicated to creating an innovative toolkit of interventions to help the Reef resist, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. These partners include the Australian Institute of Marine Science, CSIRO, the Great …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for the Environment
Analysing the oceanographic variables that generate and mobilise coral rubble on the GBR
There is increasing concern on the effects of global warming and how it is increasing the frequency and severity of disturbance events on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), an enduring living structure on our planet. For example, the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones is likely to increase and this will also reduce the time available for coral reefs to recover.Moreover, there are other factors that contribute to the vulnerability of coral to mechanical breakage, such as crown of thorns …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Interaction between pollen proteases and ACE2 receptor of SARS-CoV-2
Pollen allergy is a common seasonal respiratory disease triggered by hypersensitivity to pollen affecting 10-30% of adults and 40% of children, and is a predisposing factor for asthma. Pollens interact with airway epithelium to both stimulate innate immunity and elicit an adaptive immune response.Proteolytic activity is one route that stimulates release of alarmins and pro-inflammatory cytokines from mucosal epithelia. Previous studies have found the expression of Serine/Cysteine (Ser/Cys) proteases in some types of grass pollen grains, but it is not …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
What do ancient granitic rocks tell about the formation of Earth's crust
The Earth is a dynamic evolving planet that has continually changed throughout its history. This change is recorded in the different rock types preserved in the continental crust and is paralleled by the evolution of life. Study of Archean granitic terranes (4.0-2.5 billion years ago) provides invaluable information on the early Earth when 50% of the present day volume of continental crust was generated. You will help work out how Earth's earliest crust formed through:potential field workpetrographygeochemical analysis.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
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