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 17 matching student topics
Displaying 1–12 of 17 results
Advancing precision control in atomic force microscopy
To advance precision positioning control technology through instrumentation of an 800×800 μm XY positioning table, equipped with two piezoelectric actuators to manoeuvre samples under a microscope. Positioning control systems designers struggle with trade-offs between positioning accuracy, actuation range, response time, and cost.Our goal is to enhance the positioning systems, used in atomic force microscopes, to improve their imaging accuracy and resolution while reducing overall hardware costs. By quantising analogue positioning sensors to simulate low-resolution (low-cost) encoders, we will explore new …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Cyber-security aspects of battery storage systems
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are a key energy storage component in various electrical and electronic systems such as mobile phones, electric vehicles and grid storage. A properly designed battery management system (BMS) is crucial to guarantee the safety, reliability, and optimal performance of the battery as well as to interconnect the battery systems with each other and external systems through communication channels. However, security threats of the Li-ion battery systems are often overlooked by BMS developers in the design phase. The …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices
Control of concentrating solar thermal power plants
Concentrating solar power (CSP) is a technology that utilises mirrors (heliostats) to focus the sun’s rays on a solar receiver. This provides heat for a power generation cycle, creating thermal energy.Control of the heat transfer fluid temperature in the solar receiver is crucial for the efficient use/storage of thermal energy and to minimise the degradation of the receiver. The aim of this project is to design controllers for the heat transfer fluid pumps and the heliostats using a previously developed model of the receiver's thermodynamics.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Improving safety behaviours for respirable crystalline silica in construction work
Respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is a major health and safety concern, particularly in construction work processes. This project is aimed at understanding employer compliance implications and employee risk perceptions, attitudes, and safety behaviours towards the control measures used in workplaces to help minimise risk related to RCS. The overall intention of the project is to help ensure effective compliance is maintained when managing RCS in the workplace and to prevent silicosis in workers.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Management
Tobacco control
As a prime advocate for plain packaging of tobacco products, Professor Matthew Rimmer is engaged in research and public policy work on tobacco control. He is interested in supervising research students working within the field of tobacco control - including in respect of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; trade and investment disputes over tobacco control; the plain packaging of tobacco products; restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship, and promotions; generational limitations on smoking; spatial restrictions on smoking; and civil …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
-
Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Haptics controllers for natural interactions in VR
Virtual reality (VR) technologies have become cheaper and more accessible in the last couple of years. This allowed for exploring their use in different areas including gaming, health, education and training settings.While VR can provide high immersion via augmenting our senses in the virtual environment, user interaction with the virtual environment has been limited relying on pre-set gestures or default controllers designed by the companies who built the VR gears.The Vive Tracker is an accessory for HTC Vive which allows …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
Real-time control of nature-based solutions for multi-benefit water management
Nature-based solutions (NBS) such as wetlands, green roofs, and bioswales, are critical for sustainable urban water management. However, their benefits (flood mitigation, water quality improvement, biodiversity support) are often siloed or under-optimised.This PhD project will pioneer adaptive, real-time control strategies for NBS to maximise their environmental, social, and economic co-benefits. The research integrates sensor data, predictive modeling, and smart control systems to dynamically adjust NBS operations in response to weather, pollution events, and community needs.This project merges cutting-edge technology with …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Coordinated control of multi-robot systems for environmental management
Single robotic systems can't accurately measure dynamic processes and map large areas in challenging environments. However, managing multiple robotic systems simultaneously poses many challenges around coordination and control. This is particularly true in environments where there's a lack of communication with the system. This project will explore multi-robot swarming and formation control to monitor, manage and track large-scale environmental phenomena.In this project, you will explore multi-robot swarming and coordinated formation control for dynamic process monitoring, target tracking and coordinated mapping. …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
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
Model predictive control of connected vehicle platoons
Control of connected vehicle platoons can ensure the swift movement of traffic through a city by sharing vehicles' states and desired actuation. This networked control design can alleviate traffic jams, reduce vehicle emissions, and reduce fuel usage through improved aerodynamics. Model Predictive Control algorithms are a natural solution to address constraints arising from both communications and system dynamics. A key challenge is to design distributed control algorithms that are robust to disturbances in the environment and to stochastic information from …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Climate change and trustees: powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities
Trustees have a duty to act in the best interests of beneficiaries. In particular, it has been held that “(w)hen the purpose of the trust is to provide financial benefits for the beneficiaries, as is usually the case, the best interests of the beneficiaries are normally their best financial interests.” (Cowan v Scargill [1985] 1 Ch 270 at 286 per Megarry VC) This may require consideration of not only the economic well-being of the trust fund more generally, but also …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
-
Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Smart sensing for nutrients in our waterways: low-cost continuous monitoring for pollution tracking and real-time control
Nitrogen and phosphorus are central to the health of stormwater systems, rivers, wetlands, and lakes. They drive algal growth, oxygen stress, and downstream ecological impacts, and they are a key input to environmental reporting and catchment management. Yet most monitoring still relies on infrequent grab samples that miss the short pollution pulses that matter most.The challenge is delivering nutrient monitoring that is affordable, low-maintenance, and reliable enough for continuous deployment across many sites. Existing nutrient sensors are often too expensive …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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