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 13 matching student topics
Displaying 1–12 of 13 results
Where should we put our sensors? Designing smarter water quality monitoring networks
Water utilities and environmental agencies face a deceptively simple question: where should we put our sensors? In a piped stormwater network, the question matters because finding an illicit discharge quickly depends on having the right sensors at the right places. In an open creek or river, the question matters because spatial coverage, transport dynamics, and cost trade-offs all influence whether monitoring will actually answer the question being asked.Decisions about sensor placement are still often made on the basis of accessibility, …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Smart triggered sampling: low-cost devices and intelligent retrofits for capturing the moments that matter
Many water quality issues are event-driven. The most informative signals often appear during short windows associated with storms, illicit discharges, first flush, or operational upsets. Capturing these windows is genuinely hard. Manual sampling is often too slow, especially overnight or during fast-changing events. Conventional autosamplers help, but they are large, power-hungry, and typically deployed only at major assets, leaving smaller drains, tributaries, pump stations, and pollution hotspots without coverage. Even when an event is captured, fixed-interval sampling fills bottles after …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
See it without touching it: low-cost non-contact sensing for our waterways
Many of our most important waterbodies, including reservoirs, lakes, lagoons, wetlands, sedimentation basins, and constructed wetlands, are still monitored using sparse in-water sensors and periodic grab sampling. These methods are costly to maintain, hard to scale across many sites, and often miss spatially variable changes in water quality.Non-contact sensing offers a different approach. Cameras, spectral sensors, radar, thermal imaging, and other sensing modalities can observe water from outside it, reducing fouling, simplifying servicing, improving worker safety, and enabling broader spatial …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rapid pathogen detection in water: from lab prototype to field-ready public health tool
Faecal contamination is one of the most consequential water hazards because it directly affects public health. Beach closures, do-not-drink advisories, and waterway warnings all depend on detecting microbial contamination quickly and reliably. Today, monitoring still depends largely on infrequent sampling and laboratory turnaround times that arrive long after the contamination has come and gone.Direct microbial sensing has advanced through biosensors and microfluidics, but most concepts remain at low technology readiness and are rarely demonstrated as field-usable systems. Reliability in the …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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
Monitoring Corneal Immune Cell Changes After Anti-Inflammatory and Immunosuppressant Eye Drops Using In Vivo Confocal Microscopy
This project investigates how corneal immune cells in the human eye respond to topical anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant eye drops. By using in vivo confocal microscopy, we aim to monitor real-time cellular changes to better understand treatment effects in common ocular surface conditions.
- Study level
- Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Clinical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Vision and Eye Research
Centre for Vision and Eye Research
Understanding human behaviour during automated driving
We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Vision Science and Human Factors PhD Researcher to join an interdisciplinary research project, conducted in collaboration with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and industry partner Seeing Machines—world leader in human-machine interaction and an industry leader in artificial intelligence (AI), that enable machines to see, understand and assist the people who are using them.A PhD scholarship is available for this project.Learn more about the scholarshipOur program offers:World-class research environment: immerse yourself in a …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Clinical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Vision and Eye Research
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
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Architecture and Built Environment
Smart electrochemical aptamer biosensors for continuous monitoring cell health and function
Microphysiological systems including organ-on-chip platforms and 3D tissue models are transforming how we study human biology, enabling advanced in vitro models for tissue regeneration and drug testing that are far more physiologically relevant than conventional cell culture. However, a critical gap remains in how we monitor these living systems: current approaches rely on destructive or invasive methods that require cell sacrifice or physical sampling. Even the least invasive options are endpoint-based, capturing only a single snapshot in time making continuous, …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Advancing monitoring of diverse grass pollen with computer vision
We're seeking motivated students to join an ongoing multidisciplinary project that brings together computer vision and deep learning field with pollen aerobiology as part of the Australian Research Council Discovery Program—Digitally-Integrated Smart Sensing of Diverse Airborne Grass Pollen Sources. The successful candidate will be primarily based in the Allergy Research Group at QUT's Kelvin Grove campus.Grass pollen is the main outdoor allergen source globally, triggering hayfever and asthma in over 500 million people. With over 10,000 species, the influence of …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Health
- School
- School of Biomedical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Robotics
Centre for Immunology and Infection Control
Driver engagement and risk in automated driving: Advanced data analytics leveraging driver monitoring systems
The project aims to the explore concept of empathic machines in the context of driver monitoring systems (DMS) and automated driving. The successful candidate will contribute to advancing the understanding of driver engagement, situation awareness, and risk through leveraging advancements in data science techniques on vehicle sensor, DMS, and other related datasets.To apply for this position, please submit the following documents:a cover letter outlining your research interests, relevant qualifications, and motivation to join the Empathic Machines projecta detailed curriculum vitae …
- Study level
- PhD
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Centre for Future Mobility
Natural disaster (landslide, earthquake) mitigation using remote sensing, geophysics, and site monitoring
Extreme weather events can exacerbate slope and dam stability issues. Risk mitigation, stabilisation works, and engineered solutions to slope or dam failure require detailed site and subsurface characterisation – generally undertaken after a failure, but often resulting in unacceptable delays to remediation, impacting communities, transport, and water resources.This project will develop pre-emptive risk mitigation measures for at-risk sites, utilising remote sensing, geophysical, and monitoring approaches.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
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