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 44 matching student topics
Displaying 1–12 of 44 results
I want to move it, move it: framing and enabling children's active play using novel technology
We're interested in exploring how tangible, embodied and embedded interactions (TEIs) can be used to facilitate active play in young children (age 3-5 years old). In this project you’ll explore how existing technologies are used to provide children with opportunities for active play, be involved in the design and development of new TEIs, and evaluate how these TEIs might facilitate sustained engagement with active play.This student project is part of a larger research project at QUT, which means you will …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
- Research centre(s)
-
Design Lab
Understanding and designing for digital self-care
The aim of this project is to better understand self-care practices with digital technologies amongst young adults and to explore opportunities for digital technology design.Self-care is a process of purposeful engagement in practices that promote holistic health and well-being of the self. Holistic health implies overall health and this encompasses more than just physical health but also includes mental, emotional and even spiritual health of a person. For some people, cooking can be a form of self-care to eat healthily …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
Human robotic interaction prototyping toolkit
Design relies on prototyping methods to help envisage future design concepts and elicit feedback from potential users. A key challenge the design of human-robot interaction (HRI) with collaborative robots is the current lack of prototyping tools, techniques, and materials. Without good prototyping tools, it is difficult to move beyond existing solutions and develop new ways of interacting with robots that make them more accessible and easier for people to use.This project will develop a robot collaboration prototyping toolkit that combines …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
- Research centre(s)
-
Design Lab
Robotic intention visualisation
Complex manufacturing environments characterised by high value and high product mix manufacturing processes pose challenges to Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC). Allowing people to see what robots are ‘thinking’ will allow workers to efficiently collaborate with co-located robotic partners. A tighter integration of work routines requires improved approaches to support awareness in human-robotic co-working spaces. There is a need for solutions that also let people see what the robot is intending to do so that they can also efficiently adjust their actions …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
- Research centre(s)
-
Design Lab
Conversational agents that can see
The development of conversational agents, whether as smart home devices, or embedded in mobile devices or social robots, has started in the world of chatbots, with only text available, and then started to build audio features, and finally considering context through sensors and cloud knowledge, as well as offering images in response to a query.However, little attention has been paid to other conversational modalities, such as showing, pointing, or gesturing. The reliance on these is exacerbated in conversation with people …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
Interaction design for enhanced science communication and citizen science
Science communication is typically done by scientists, but interaction designers and artists have the capacity to create for people's engagement. Technology and design for active engagement, such as embodied interaction design, can leverage people's understanding and engage them in more effective and sustainable behaviours. For example, invasive mosquitoes are one area of citizen science that poses significant risk to our environment and health in SEQ yet is little understood by the general population. Mosquito borne disease is a major killer …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
Interaction between pollen proteases and ACE2 receptor of SARS-CoV-2
Pollen allergy is a common seasonal respiratory disease triggered by hypersensitivity to pollen affecting 10-30% of adults and 40% of children, and is a predisposing factor for asthma. Pollens interact with airway epithelium to both stimulate innate immunity and elicit an adaptive immune response.Proteolytic activity is one route that stimulates release of alarmins and pro-inflammatory cytokines from mucosal epithelia. Previous studies have found the expression of Serine/Cysteine (Ser/Cys) proteases in some types of grass pollen grains, but it is not …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
Exploring the effects of interactions with intelligent agents in immersive systems
This research project aims to investigate the effects of interactions with intelligent agents on player experiences in various contexts, including videogames, learning-teaching, and complex data analysis. The intelligent agents will be developed using ChatGPT as a backend, and the studies will be conducted in both single-player and multiplayer settings, utilizing virtual and augmented reality technologies.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
Hostile Interaction Design
Hostile interaction design has emerged as a critical issue in contemporary digital environments, where design decisions increasingly prioritise institutional and corporate interests over the needs of users and citizens. Drawing parallels to hostile architecture—where physical spaces are designed to control behaviour, such as anti-homeless spikes or uncomfortable public seating—hostile interaction design manifests in digital systems as frustrating, impersonal, or obstructive experiences. These designs often shield corporations and governments from accountability, erecting barriers that prevent users from seeking help, lodging complaints, …
- 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
Supporting Boundary Management in Young People’s AI Companion Interactions
We invite applications for a PhD position 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 …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
Acceptance and adoption of ambient assistive technologies
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 ensure the social acceptance and support the adoption of ambient assistive technologies?Technologies that support independent living are about much more than fulfilling a particular task. They alter how people perceive themselves and how they engage with others. Students in this project …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
Respectful ambient interactions with vision-based assistive technology
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 design respectful ambient interactions that balance assistance and privacy?Students in this project will develop a method and theory of interactive intent for people with cognitive disabilities. The theory will be established through an exploration of the new types of interactions made …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
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