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
Evaluation of language models and word embedding methods for natural language processing applications
In deep learning models, language models and word embedding methods have become popular to understand the context of text data. There exist many variants of these methods and have different limitations. This project will introduce you to the hot topic of language models and the fields of Natural Language Processing and Text Mining.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Critical evaluation of Star Formation Rate estimators in galaxies
This project aims to assess the reliability, accuracy, and limitations of various Star Formation Rate (SFR) estimators used in extragalactic astronomy. By leveraging multi-wavelength data from the ZFOURGE survey, the project will explore how well SFR indicators derived from UV, optical (Hα), infrared (IR), and radio observations compare to SED-fitted SFRs from CIGALE. The project will focus on understanding discrepancies, particularly in dusty star-forming galaxies and AGN hosts, and provide recommendations for improving SFR estimates in future research.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Chemistry and Physics
Evaluating the performance of PODs due to composite load models with high levels of embedded Distributed PVs (D-PV)
Power oscillation Damper (POD) in South QLD are used to provide sufficient damping to inter-area mode of oscillations (electro-mechanical modes). These oscillatory modes often change their characteristics due to changes in load dynamics and the inherent transmission system topology.While the interconnections between generators and transmission lines have not changed over the recent years, there is a significant change in the embedded load dynamics. With high penetration of rooftop PV (including PV distributed at LV and MV level), in South QLD, …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
Systematic evaluation towards the analysis of open-source supply chain on ML4SE tasks
Applying machine learning algorithms to source code related SE task is rapidly developing and attracts the attention from both researchers and industry engineers. While there are many program languages available, applying such techniques, i.e., the representation learning models, for different languages may achieve different performance. Particularly, they all have their own strict syntax, which determines the abstract syntax tree. Thus, a lot of different open-source supply chain are available, for example the parsing tools are used to build AST from …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
A preclinical evaluation pipeline for new antivirulence drugs targeting multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens
A post-antibiotic era—in which common infections and minor injuries can kill—far from being an apocalyptic fantasy, is instead a very real possibility for the 21st century.’ - WHO, 2014 (1). Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health priority. If no action is taken, AMR is predicted to kill more people than cancer and diabetes combined by 2050, with 10 million deaths estimated each year and a global cost of up to 100 trillion USD. New therapies to tackle multidrug …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Giant viruses in the human gut microbiome
The human body is home to a vast ecosystem of microorganisms including bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, and bacteriophages that make up the human microbiota. These microbes and their collective genetic material, known as the microbiome, influence a wide range of physiological functions including nutrient production and absorption, the development and regulation of our immune system, protection against potential pathogens, and even our mood and mental health. While distinct microbial communities exist throughout the body, the gut microbiome has gained particular …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Microbiome Research
Identifying emergent ecosystem responses through genes-to-ecosystems integration at Stordalen Mire
Permafrost thaw induced by climate change is predicted to make up to 174 Pg of near-surface carbon (less than 3m below the surface) available for microbial degradation by 2100. Despite having major implications for human health, prediction of the magnitude of carbon loss as carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4) is hampered by our limited knowledge of microbial metabolism of organic matter in these environments.Genome-centric meta-omic analysis of microbial communities provides the necessary information to examine how specific lineages transform …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Microbiome Research
Human Emotional Learning: Likes, Dislikes and Fear
There is currently broad agreement that likes and dislikes, including strong emotional responses such as fear and anxiety, are learned. However, little is known about the manner in which different forms of emotional learning interact or about how emotional learning once acquired can be modified, reduced or eliminated. In particular in the context of fear learning this is problematic as fear memories once acquired seem difficult to change and likely to return even after successful extinction – a phenomenon known …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Psychology and Counselling
Estimating the evolutionary history of plasmids and viruses
In the case of cellular life - bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes - determining the 'tree of life' is a comparatively well-studied problem.This vertical evolutionary history can be estimated using concatenated gene phylogenies, where single copy marker genes are concatenated into a single multiple sequence alignment which is then used in a phylogenetic tree reconstruction algorithm.Viral genomes and plasmid sequences, meanwhile, are more challenging to fit into a phylogenetic framework.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Microbiome Research
Occupant-in-the-loop: VR as pre-occupancy evaluation tools for climate adaptive design practices
Ongoing global warming, compounded by local overheating in cities and buildings, poses growing risks to occupant health, comfort, and well-being. Conventional design approaches rely heavily on predictive simulation, where occupant preferences and adaptive responses are typically simplified through assumptions based on average populations. This overlooks substantial individual differences in perception and behaviour, contributing to persistent gaps between predicted and actual building performance beyond simply energy performance. Although virtual reality (VR) is increasingly recognised as a promising tool for pre-occupancy evaluation …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
Developing and evaluating an evidence-based and practical system approach to reduce surgical site infections
A surgical wound is an incision in the skin that is made during a surgical procedure and generally expected to heal within two to four weeks by primary intention in an orderly manner through the normal wound healing process. However, this process can be disrupted by many factors, leading to complications such as wound dehiscence, non-healing wounds, surgical site infections and sepsis. On average, there are 11 surgical wounds infected for every 100 surgical wounds and these surgical site infections …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Nursing
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Healthcare Transformation
Adaptive evolution of anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea mediating methane oxidation in freshwater environments (PhD)
The as-yet-uncultured archaeal lineage Methanoperedenaceae are anaerobic methanotrophs with a key role in mitigating the atmospheric release of methane in freshwater environments. The metabolic diversity of these microorganisms directly links methane with several key biochemical cycles and suggests a remarkable ability of these microorganisms to adapt to diverse environmental conditions.The overall aim of this PhD project will be to uncover the metabolic diversity of the Methanoperedenaceae and to understand the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for these adaptations.Methods and ResourcesThe project will …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Microbiome Research
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