Student topics

Vision-based technologies offer new possibilities to assist individuals with cognitive disabilities to live independently. Ambient assistive technologies, such as smart mirrors and social robots, enable new ways to interact at home with AI technologies that can see.How can we engage people of all abilities in co-designing ambient assistive technologies?Participation in design is often defined on a spectrum where stakeholders can be categorised as simple informants (surveyed at the start of a project), evaluators (involved in trial iterations of a design), …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Computer Science

We invite applications for Honours research within an interdisciplinary research team examining how young people engage with AI companion chatbots (e.g., Character.AI, Replika) and how they manage risks and boundaries in these interactions.AI companions have grown in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic and are increasingly used by young people seeking connection. This trend raises important concerns, including exposure to harassment, misinformation, and self-harm, as well as the potential impact on human relationships when reliance on AI companions becomes significant.This project …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Computer Science

Lignin is one of the three major components of lignocellulosic biomass, such as sugarcane bagasse and woody biomass. It is renewable, low-cost, and rich in carbon, making it an ideal precursor for the production of sustainable carbon materials. This PhD project aims to develop high-performance, lignin-derived hard carbon for use in sodium-ion battery anodes.

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Australia has the potential to lead globally in supplying precursor materials for next-generation metal halide perovskite solar cells, leveraging its abundant critical minerals and strong mineral processing capabilities with an innovative "mineral to precursor to final product" strategy.This project will demonstrate the performance of next-generation metal halide perovskite solar cells using Australian sourced materials, complimented with computational modelling to understand the elemental interactions of any impurities.

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

CO2 capture and utilisation is a promising, emerging climate technology. However, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding its viability and economic impact. This project will be conducted in collaboration with an industry partner.

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

An active stroke rehabilitation orthotic is needed to assist the multitude of people affected by stroke each year. Several prototype hardware systems have been constructed, so we know the concept is feasible. Development for medical approval and manufacture is needed. Plus, artificial intelligence that adapts the rehabilitation strategies to help users

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Robotics

Robotic knee surgery can perform femoral and tibial resection. Currently it is not possible to use robotic technology for patella preparation; to do so will require miniaturisation of tracking, effective clamping of the patella and controlled use of a saw. This project will aim to develop the technology for any small bone resection with a robot, taking the patella as a test case.

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Research centre(s)

Centre for Biomedical Technologies

Smart cities hold immense potential for progress, but their success hinges on citizen empowerment and ethical data practices. Our research initiative, DataCare, aims at reshaping the landscape of smart cities by prioritising citizens, communities, and small businesses. This project, developed in collaboration with Brisbane Residents United (BRU), focuses on transforming smart cities from profit-driven entities to community-led developments.BRU is a community association serving as a vital grassroots advocacy and peer support network for suburban and local resident groups across Greater …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy

Faculty

Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice

School

School of Design

Research centre(s)

Digital Media Research Centre
Design Lab

Renewable electricity is remarkably cheap, and is only going to get cheaper. However, existing state-of-the-art CO2 capture and conversion processes use thermal energy (typically generated by burning natural gas). This modelling project will investigate electrochemical techniques for capturing CO2 from air (direct air capture) and converting it to useful chemicals and materials.

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

This project is exploring the regulation of greenwashing in Australia, and elsewhere. It is investigating the environmental, sustainability and climate claims made by companies in a variety of industries including energy, vehicles, household products and appliances, food and drink packaging, cosmetics, clothing and footwear. It is exploring the impact of misleading environmental and sustainability claims on consumers. It is compiling a database of disputes and controversies over greenwashing. This project is analysing various modes of regulation of greenwashing. It highlights …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Business and Law

School

School of Law

Research centre(s)

Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology

The demand for 3D scene understanding through point clouds is rapidly growing in diverse applications, including augmented and virtual reality, autonomous driving, robotics, and environment monitoring. However, the field faces challenges due to limited data availability and predefined categories. Training deep 3D networks effectively for sparse LiDAR point clouds requires significant amounts of annotated data, which is both time-consuming and expensive. Building on the advancements in 2D models that leverage the power of image and language knowledge, our project aims …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Extreme weather events can exacerbate slope and dam stability issues. Risk mitigation, stabilisation works, and engineered solutions to slope or dam failure require detailed site and subsurface characterisation – generally undertaken after a failure, but often resulting in unacceptable delays to remediation, impacting communities, transport, and water resources.This project will develop pre-emptive risk mitigation measures for at-risk sites, utilising remote sensing, geophysical, and monitoring approaches.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences