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 6 matching student topics
Displaying 1–6 of 6 results
VRES: The High Court and the legal treatment of blockchain in the Block Earner case
This project examines the High Court of Australia’s decision in ASIC v Web3 Ventures Pty Ltd (Block Earner)—one of the first times the High Court has directly engaged with blockchain-based financial products. In June 2026, the Court unanimously held that Block Earner’s fixed-yield crypto product was a financial product requiring a licence, confirming that existing financial services laws apply to digital assets.This decision raises important questions about how the law understands blockchain technology. The Court emphasised that financial regulation is …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
VRES: Blockchain as an archive fairy tale.
This project explores how blockchain is understood as a new kind of archive. Blockchain is often described as a system that creates trust through secure, unchangeable records. However, this claim is shaped by broader stories and expectations about technology. These stories form what we call the cultural imaginary—a mix of hope and fear that influences how people understand and regulate new technologies.On one hand, blockchain promises transparency and certainty. On the other, it raises concerns about misuse, control, and misinformation. …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
Testing AI-generated judicial personas
This project explores the growing use of artificial intelligence in the legal profession to create “personas” of judges. These systems are trained on past decisions, legal reasoning, and perceived judicial attitudes to simulate how a judge might respond to a case. Lawyers can then use these simulated responses to test arguments and refine litigation strategy.The project examines how these tools work in practice, what assumptions they rely on, and how accurate or useful they truly are. It also considers broader …
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
New technology and the law
Computer vision has developed to a point where machines using artificial intelligence are better and faster than humans at performing many vision-related tasks. For example, we are now often processed through customs based solely on face recognition software. Add to this the fact that the average Australian is photographed on CCTV cameras around 75 times per day. Commercial applications of face recognition technology include Microsoft's Face Application Programming Interface that can be used to classify face images based on gender, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
The Law and Technology Interface
Dr Michael Guihot is looking for PhD/MPhil candidates interested in exploring the relationship between technological and legal change. Candidates are encouraged to identify a specific emergent technology or application (AI, robotics, blockchain, Internet of Things, commercial space tech, CRISPR, lawtech) through which to explore the relations and/or particular existing truisms, theories or accounts of the law-technology interface. The legal focus can extend from local Australian jurisdictions, to comparative analysis to a focus on public or private international law. This topic …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
Critical, historical, social or cultural examinations of law and technology
Continuing my 25 years of researching law and technology and growing an international research community on law, technology and humanities, I strongly welcome PhD students wanting to think more deeply about law and technology. I especially encourage projects drawing upon critical and theoretical perspectives, historical examinations, socio-legal methods, or drawing upon cultural legal studies. In addition to students studying emerging technologies, I also encourage projects looking at legacy or everyday technologies.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Law
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Justice
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