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 15 matching student topics
Displaying 1–12 of 15 results
Mathematically optimizing the management of protected areas in the Antarctic ecosystems
Antarctica’s biodiversity is fragile and rapidly changing. Plants and animals as well as human activity are much higher within ice-free areas, which cover little of the continent. For these reasons, protecting of ice-free environments is critical for Antarctic ecosystem survival. Threats to the ecological integrity of Antarctica are increasing through climate change, biological invasion, and increasing human activity. Protected areas help to reduce these threats, and they are a cornerstone of conservation. Consequently, there is the need to create more …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Virus Search Algorithms
Meta-heuristics are powerful search algorithms for solving intractable optimization problems. There are many population based approaches, like genetic algorithms, evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm, etc. but most of these have a static population size.Viruses arise and attack populations periodically. They typically appear when populations become abundant. Viruses infect population members, and often reduce the number of individuals. Viruses create spaces for more individuals and balance competition.The concept of viruses may be mimicked and could be a useful optimization paradigm.
- Study level
- Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
Network Flow Improvement
Network flow is impeded by the arcs present in the network and their associated length/weighting. Arcs can be added or removed to debottleneck the network. But which ones? At what cost?
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Linear programming for network capacity analysis
Road, rail and multi-modal transport networks consist of capital-intensive infrastructure with high operating costs due to ongoing maintenance. Whether it be passengers or freight, the efficiency of these transport networks is crucial for maximising the economic benefits and offsetting the substantial costs.It is therefore important to understand the carrying capacity of a transport network as a whole, rather than taking a local focus on individual segments. These networks can be modelled in a number of ways, but linear programming (LP) …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Mathematically optimising value of information for biodiversity management
When planning environmental management, data are only valuable if they lead to improved outcomes. As new monitoring technologies and approaches are developed, it is critical that they are used optimally to focus on the most important information gaps.Monitoring technologies should only be adopted if they can deliver improved management utility, and new data should be rapidly gathered in locations where early information could offer warning signals of future ecosystem change. Mathematical and statistical approaches to assessing the value of new …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Centre for the Environment
Discrete-event-simulation modelling in Simpy with animation
Discrete-event-simulation (DES) is a dynamic modelling technique commonly applied in areas of mining, manufacturing, services sector, transport, logistics, supply-chains and healthcare, to name a few. It provides a computerised representation of a real or proposed system which can be analysed, tested and optimised through what-if analysis. Simpy is a freely available Python package which is superior to many expensive commercially available DES software packages in terms of its flexibility to model very complex systems, and to integrate seamlessly with a …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Optimal conservation management in uncertain Antarctic environments
Species and ecosystems in Antarctica are threatened. Optimal biodiversity conservation is an interdisciplinary field combining mathematical modelling and optimisation with ecology and conservation. We can use mathematics to understand the system, model how management actions might impact it, and then optimise which actions should be used. For example, we can explore where protected areas should be placed, how species should be managed, or how tourist impacts should be reduced. However, the complexities of conservation in Antarctica necessitate the application of …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Centre for the Environment
Understanding international governance in Antarctica through cooperative game theory
Antarctica is governed by a coalition of 29 countries ('consultative parties') who must agree unanimously before a law can be passed. This project will apply theories from social network analysis and cooperative game theory to map relationships between the different parties, and to predict their behaviour on a series of important environmental issues.
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for the Environment
Extraction and formulation of astaxanthin produced in Phaffia rhodozyma fermentations
Traditionally derived from unsustainable petrochemicals, astaxanthin (AX) can also be sustainably produced by microbial fermentation. The yeast Phaffia rhodozyma naturally produces AX as its main fermentation product through sugar assimilation.In previous studies, we improved the bioprocess to produce (upstream) AX in P. rhodozyma. This project aims to investigate the extraction, recovery, and formulation (downstream) of the AX produced in our improved AX production process.AX is a carotenoid pigment and potent antioxidant naturally occurring in some ocean animals such as salmonids …
- Study level
- Master of Philosophy, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy
Surprising genomes
Genomic sequencing has changed radically since the first public sequencing projects more than 25 years ago. The original human genome project cost more than two billion dollars; sequencing a human genome now costs as little as a thousand, and we may sequence whole viruses and bacteria as a matter of routine.The challenge now lies in rapidly analysing these genomes as they appear, and understanding quickly whether there is anything interesting in the new sequence to warrant further inquiry. This project …
- Study level
- PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
Where’s the confusion? And can we make sense of it?
Confusion matrices characterise the performance of classification systems on training and test data, but they can be hard to make sense of, especially when there are many possible classes to which an example could be assigned.We have developed confusR a method to visualise confusion matrices and make distinct the contribution of the classifier and the contribution of the prior abundance of different classes. We have also recently developed approaches for visualising uncertainty in confusion matrices and the performance metrics derived …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Computer Science
- Research centre(s)
- Centre for Data Science
The innovation equation: Unveiling the hidden links between skills, hiring, and innovation in the Australian artificial intelligence ecosystem
In today's rapidly evolving world, where innovation serves as a catalyst for economic growth, understanding the dynamics between firms' skills, job hiring practices, and innovation becomes paramount. This exciting VRES project offers a unique opportunity to delve into the wealth of real-world data collected by our research team, which intertwines firms' skills and job hiring information from LinkedIn with their innovation levels, as measured by patent data from Lens.At its core, this project builds upon a commissioned study by IP …
- Study level
- Vacation research experience scheme
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Economics and Finance
- Research centre(s)
-
Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology
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