Student topics

Lions mane strains are capable of producing very small fruiting bodies (mushrooms) in static liquid culture. In this project we will try establish parameters and conditions that favour mushroom synthesis on a liquid surface. If we can understand how and why this species produces mushrooms on a liquid surface – we may be able to target genes that could improve yields and tendency to grow hydroponically.'Hericium erinaceum (Bull.: Fr.) Pers. is an edible fungus of great significance in medicine. It …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Composite materials are widely researched and widely used in applications such as aircraft, automobiles, ships, structural components and even the space industry.There is a need to create new composite materials which are environmentally friendly and do not use fossil fuel based products. Moreover, the properties of the composites need to be improved while at the same time minimising the costs involved.Consequently our research group is working on composite materials which not only include inexpensive inorganic fillers from the mining sector …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Many industries generate copious amounts of waste products.Of particular interest are those wastes generated by the mining sector as typically a large fraction of the ore bodies are dumped or the agricultural sector.Potential solutions we are investigating include:converting aluminosilicate waste to zeolitestransforming inorganic waste to catalyst materialscreation of materials for water and wastewater treatmentmaking activated carbonrenewable fuels,

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

It is likely that every household would have some surplus medicines that are no longer required by the person who originally took them. Some countries have schemes for return of medicines for appropriate disposal while others do not. Inappropriate disposal of medicines can lead to environmental pollution or if stored, may lead to incorrect dispensing to other family members or friends.This project aims to review the available literature on disposal of medicines from households. This includes searching for literature on …

Study level

Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Public Health and Social Work

The removal of nutrients like carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater is critical to the prevention of eutrophication in receiving water systems and is carried out by complex microbial communities.Eutrophication can have devastating consequences on aquatic life and natural ecosystems, with toxic algal blooms also posing a risk to human health.Understanding the microbiology of phosphorus (P) removal from wastewater is considered essential to knowledge-based optimisation of enhanced biological P removal (EBPR) systems.Most of the species in these systems are novel …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

Research centre(s)

Centre for Microbiome Research

Fungi are essential components of all ecosystems in roles including symbiotic partners, decomposers and nutrient cyclers and as a source of food for vertebrates and invertebrates. While vital to soil health and organic matter turnover, fungi have great potential in sustainable design and medicine.Ganoderma strains in particular produce bioactive compounds and display growth characteristics that favour their use in medical and applied biotechnology. Some species produce triterpenoids, such as ganoderic acids, and have been used in traditional Asian medicine for …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is an advanced construction material which is characterised by high ductility and energy absorption. ECC can be used to replace normal concrete to control problems related to the brittleness of concrete such as crushing, spalling and bond splitting.This study will explore the feasibility of utilizing recycled textile waste such as polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) fibres as the main source of fibre materials for the ECC concrete.

Study level

Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Optimising the application rates of organic amendments in agricultural soils is one of the most promising and practical solutions to reduce nitrogen (N) losses into the environment while maintaining an economically-adequate crop production.Organic amendments alone often don't meet the crop's needs. Consequently, a supplementary application of N synthetic fertiliser is needed in conventional farming systems to meet perceived production needs.Accounting for the amount of plant-available N (PAN) released by organic amendments and combining this with N-fertiliser will:ensure N demands of …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

Research centre(s)

Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy

There is limited water monitoring occurring in the Gold Coast hinterland. In partnership with the City of Gold Coast, we will be setting up water monitoring networks to improve assessment and management of groundwater resources in this region.

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Science

School

School of Biology and Environmental Science

QUT’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences has partnered with Water Polo Australia to provide a research scholarship to a suitably qualified and highly motivated student. This industry-based candidature will have a core research focus based around the physical determinants of elite water polo players. The School of Exercise and Nutrition Science has a close working relationship with its internal department stakeholders in addition to National and local community sporting bodies inclusive of the Queensland Academy of Sport, Australian Institute …

Study level

PhD

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences

Melanoma is the 4th most common cancer in Australia. The link between skin cancer and UV exposure is now well established. If a DNA damage induced by UV exposure is left unrepaired, the mutation generated in the genome can lead to cell death or cancer. It is thus highly important to understand of how a cell can repair DNA damage. The main pathway to repair UV DNA damaged is the nucleotide excision repair pathway (NER) (Kamileri I. et al, Trends …

Study level

Honours

Faculty

Faculty of Health

School

School of Biomedical Sciences

An existing household Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) constitutes a large investment which may require approval and certainly requires professional installation. In contrast, a consumer Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is relatively low cost and can be installed by the householder "in-line" with a computer. However, these low cost UPS are often not efficient, and are not designed for "cycling", and often only have sufficient back-up time to allow the safe shut down of the attached computer.An efficient, larger capacity UPS …

Study level

PhD, Master of Philosophy, Honours, Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering

School

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Research centre(s)

Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices