The Vacation Research Experience Scheme (VRES) provides eligible students with the opportunity to participate in a research project. If you're interested in research and thinking of pursuing a research degree the scheme is an opportunity to see if research is right for you. Further information about the scheme is available on HiQ.
QUT offers a diverse range of student topics for VRES. Search to find a topic that interests you.
Found 182 matching student topics
Displaying 37–48 of 182 results
Understanding the effect of moisture on the mechanical properties of treated and untreated fodder for ingestion by cattle
Crop residues such as wheat straw, rice straw and sugar cane tops and trash are a major source of feed for ruminant livestock for small scale producers in the tropics during both typical dry seasons and droughts, but they are of poor quality and often have less than 30 per cent digestibility. A current QUT project funded by the Gates Foundation is measuring the digestibility and ease of ingestion for cattle, months or years after the residues are baled and …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering
- Research centre
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy
Tightly coupled Hardware-Software development using QSPICE.
Many power electronic systems (eg grid connected PV or battery inverters etc) are a complex integration of electronic sensing circuits and power electronic switching circuits all controlled by software within an embedded microcontroller. Accurate simulation of the interaction of software and hardware is difficult and often requires development and debugging on hardware prototypes. QSPICE is a realtively new freely available spice program which allows device level circuit simulation AND the integration of C/C++ and/or VHDL code as simulation circuit blocks. …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre
- Energy Transition Centre
Context-aware optimised process redesign
This project contributes to an ongoing research project that aims to transform how organisations improve business processes by integrating data analytics with contextual data. Existing process redesign approaches are often static, retrospective, and reliant on manual analysis. While process mining is commonly used to extract insights from historical data, the insights are rarely used to support continuous, real-time process adaptation. As a result, they fall short of enabling intelligent, self-adaptive process management.The research project addresses these limitations by proposing a …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Information Systems
- Research centre
- Centre for Data Science
Mathematics of advection diffusion reaction
This project will focus on the study of general deterministic (continuum partial differential equation) and/or stochastic (discrete random walk) models of advection, diffusion and reaction, concepts used widely in science and engineering to describe how physical quantities move, interact and evolve within a physical medium. In particular, the project will look to develop and apply mathematical techniques to improve the simulation and/or understanding of advection diffusion reaction phenomena.See Dr Carr's personal research website for more information about his research. Specific …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Mathematical Sciences
Digital Fashion Skills for Industry: A Pilot Study of Industry and Student Perspectives
Digital technologies are changing the way fashion products are designed, developed and produced. From 3D garment design and virtual sampling to digital product passports and material traceability, fashion businesses are increasingly adopting digital tools to improve communication, product development and supply chain management. However, there is limited understanding of how these technologies are being used across the Australian fashion industry, the skills they require, and how universities can prepare graduates for this changing landscape.Students will contribute to a pilot study …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice
- School
- School of Design
Developing A Smart Device to Improve CPR Outcomes
There are around 20,000 cardiac arrests in Australia each year. The chance of survival with cardiac arrest is currently very low and is dependent on the quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) received during cardiac arrest. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensors can non-invasively measure cerebral blood oxygenation and would be ideal for assessing the quality of CPR in a person in cardiac arrest. This project aims to develop and improve flexible near-infrared sensors for use in healthy volunteers and patients in future …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre
- Centre for Biomedical Technologies
Enhancing Road Safety through Feedback Control of Variable Speed Limits and Vehicle Connectivity
This project enhances road safety by mitigating traffic shockwaves, which are the main cause of read-end collisions. We will design, compare and evaluate Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) applied to highway vehicle speed control via 1) centralised Variable Speed Limits (VSL) affecting all vehicles, and 2) decentralised Individual Speed Advisories (ISA) sent to a subset of connected vehicles. This topic is interdisciplinary as it uses control theory applied to traffic engineering problems and is associated with an existing collaboration between the …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics
- Research centre
- Centre for Robotics
Using stable 15N isotopes to trace nitrogen fertiliser recovery and losses in agroecosystems
Stable isotope tracing is one of the most useful tools we have for measuring flows of elements in biogeochemical systems. Our research uses this technique to determine where nitrogen fertiliser goes after it is applied to a crop. To do this, we label fertilisers like urea with enriched 15N isotope, and measure where the 15N is recovered in the crop, soil and residues, or lost from the field in gases, runoff and leaching. The part that isn’t recovered can be …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Science
- School
- School of Biology and Environmental Science
- Research centre
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy
Using local large language models to create more human-like agents in traffic simulation
Microscopic traffic simulation is widely used to study congestion, road safety, traffic flow, and interactions between human-driven and automated vehicles. However, many traffic simulators rely on rule-based driver behaviour models, such as car-following and lane-changing models, which may not fully capture the diversity, variability, and context-awareness of human driving.This project will investigate whether local large language models can be used to create more human-like agents in traffic simulation. The project will build on an earlier student capstone study that explored …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre
- Centre for Future Mobility
Substance Use, Creativity and Scientific Work: Analysing a Global Survey of Researchers
Scientists are central to the production of knowledge, innovation and technological change, yet relatively little is known about their own wellbeing, substance use, work pressures, creativity or productivity. Popular culture often associates scientific and creative achievement with alcohol, stimulants, psychedelics or other altered states of consciousness. However, rigorous evidence on these relationships is limited, particularly across a large and internationally diverse sample of researchers. Existing research also tends to overlook the wider conditions that may shape substance use, including publication …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Economics and Finance
Co-simulation of traffic and system dynamics models for long-term transport policy impact assessment
Transport policies often produce effects across multiple time scales. For example, a policy may have an immediate effect on congestion and travel time, while also influencing longer-term changes in travel demand, accessibility, land value, and origin–destination travel patterns. However, detailed traffic simulation models usually focus on short-term vehicle movements, while strategic policy models often represent long-term feedback loops at a more aggregate level.This project will investigate how microscopic traffic simulation and system dynamics modelling can be coupled to support long-term …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Engineering
- School
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Research centre
- Centre for Future Mobility
Pre-testing Bioethics Surveys with Generative AI: Exploring Synthetic Agents Perspectives on Assisted Reproductive and Genomic Health Prediction Technologies
Assisted reproductive technologies and AI-powered genomic prediction are developing faster than many legal, ethical and policy frameworks can adapt. Policymakers and health researchers must make decisions about issues such as donor anonymity, post-humous use of gametes, non-medical sex selection, reproductive provider licensing, genomic data privacy, algorithmic oversight and the use of genetic risk information by insurers. These issues are ethically sensitive, technically complex and often difficult to investigate through traditional survey research.This interdisciplinary project analyses an existing dataset of 1,000 …
- Faculty
- Faculty of Business and Law
- School
- School of Economics and Finance
- Research centre
- Australian Centre for Health Law Research
Contact us
If you have questions about the Vacation Research Experience Scheme (VRES), the application process, finding a topic or anything else, get in touch with us today.