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 12 matching student topics
Displaying 1–12 of 12 results
Habitable water infrastructures
This project explores buildings, public/civic spaces, and landscapes as water infrastructure. Water is integral to human survival; hence understanding buildings and urban spaces as habitable water infrastructure has the potential to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis and navigate too much water (floods) and too little water (drought) while offering different modes of occupation.With increasing rainfall intensities, floods, rising sea levels, and drought, the pervasive dichotomy between habitable spaces and water infrastructures can no longer hold. The two can't …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
Bushfire resistance design of buildings in urban-bushland interface using machine learning techniques
The project will use advanced machine learning techniques to identify the vegetation patches of urban-bushland interface residential areas, using either Google or Nearmap. It involves creating and learning a data set for vegetation types in sub-urban areas, developing analysis techniques/methods and conducting field-scale studies and risk analyses for buildings in bushfire-prone areas.Civil/mechanical/electrical engineering students interested in advanced technology, data analyses and technical writing are required.
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Bushfire design of residential buildings
This project aims to investigate the bushfire performance of residential buildings in the bushfire-prone areas of Australia. This includes a detailed review of:bushfire characteristicsradiant and convective heat ratestype of materials used to construct bushfire safe housesstructural and fire performance of external wall and roof panelsstructural and architectural building design requirementsThis comprehensive review will contribute towards developing conceptual models and design methods for external wall and roof systems for residential buildings in bushfire zones.
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Implementing virtual reality techniques to investigate users’ perceptions of hospital rooms
We have an ongoing project that investigates how patients and their carers respond to different lighting conditions and outdoor views in hospital rooms (recovery ward). We want to better understand how daylighting and views influence occupants’ attitudes during their recovery process.This would contribute to designing hospital environments that are more responsive to users’ requirements for well-being.
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
Technologies to capture human-building interactions for responsive built environments
We have an ongoing project that investigates how people change their work environment to suit their comfort needs. We want to better understand how building systems can be designed to increase human comfort over their personal comfort. This would contribute to designing buildings that are more responsive to occupant’s preferences and needs.
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
Engineering response to climate emergency with zero carbon footprint for building construction by 2030 using circular economy principles
We as engineers can make a contribution to address the current climate emergency.The Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council report (2016) found that if Australia's built environment sector reaches zero carbon emissions for the operation of residential and commercial buildings by 2050, it could contribute 28% to the country's 2030 emissions reduction target and save up to AU$20 billion.In this project we will consider the application of the circular economy, which is based on the principles of designing out waste and …
- Study level
- PhD, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Centre for a Waste-Free World
Investigating the application of sustainable AI practices in construction
The construction industry plays a vital role in the global economy and there is a growing interest in utilising artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its productivity and efficiency. Despite the industry's significant contribution to the economy, it has faced challenges such as large cost overruns, extended schedules, and quality concerns. Nevertheless, AI is making significant strides to remove these issues by revolutionising various aspects of the construction industry. This is evident from enhancing project planning and design to improving construction …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
Building explainable and trustworthy intelligent systems
Existing machine learning-based intelligent systems are autonomous and opaque (often considered “black-box” systems), which has led to the lack of trust in AI adoption and, consequently, the gap between machine and human being.In 2018, the European Parliament adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which introduces a right of explanation for all human individuals to obtain “meaningful explanations of the logic involved” when a decision is made by automated systems. To this end, it is a compliance that an intelligent …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Information Systems
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Building metallo-supramolecular cages for sensing and catalytic applications
The concept of creating molecular electronic devices has resulted in the development and rapid advance of the field of supramolecular chemistry.In this project we are particularly interested in how we can use simple building blocks to self-assemble into complex, functional structures both in solution and at the solution:surface interface.These types of structures have shown great promise in applications such as catalysis, sensing, drug delivery and even in the development of molecular machines.AimsThis project aims to:design, synthesise and characterise complex metallo-supramolecular …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Bushfire building risk assessment using drones
The project will investigate the feasibility of using drones to conduct bushfire risk assessments for buildings. It involves:learning about data capturing and analysis technique and methodsconducting field scale study and risk analyses for buildings in bushfire-prone areas.We're looking for civil engineering students with interest in:advanced technologydata analysestechnical writing.
- Study level
- Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
High energy absorbing materials and composites for building protection from collision damage
Protection of structures has become a priority for saving lives and preventing structural collapses caused by increased natural or man-made disasters. Most injuries and mortalities in these disasters are caused due to fragmentation of structures, and therefore, structural protection through systems that can absorb more energy and effectively contain the fragments (debris) are needed. Additive manufacturing (such as 3D printing) can be used to develop special geometries called auxetic geometries and composites using sustainable bioplastics which can absorb shock energy …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Improving the resilience of older masonry building roofs against winds and cyclones
Wind and cyclonic actions are important in the design of new buildings in many Australian regions including in QLD. Cyclone Tracy in NT proved that older masonry building were particularly vulnerable to cyclonic actions, and the even resulted in the improvement of construction codes.However, there are many buildings that predate the introduction of modern codes. These buildings may be vulnerable to wind and cyclonic actions. This project has been designed to study the wind vulnerability of older masonry buildings and …
- Study level
- Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Materials Science
Centre for the Environment
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