Student topics

The aim of this project is to engage with families with young children to design technologies that promote physical activity spread across the day. To promote healthy growth and development, children aged 1-5 years should be physically active for at least three hours each day. This may include running, jumping and playful activities. In this project we will explore how parents currently promote an active lifestyle, the technologies that they use, and the obstacles they may face to find the …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme

Every day in Australia, 50,000 people are suffering with a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), 1,000 are in hospital because of DFU, 12 will undergo an amputation and four people will die with DFU. People with a DFU typically require frequent and intensive weekly treatment at a multi-disciplinary diabetic foot clinic to effectively heal their DFU over a period of multiple months, to avoid infection, hospitalisation and amputation. A key challenge to healing DFUs is effectively engaging people in their independent …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Many physical processes can be modelled using time and space dependent partial differential equations. The solution of these equations provides researchers/industry with valuable insight into the underlying process and can often be used to explain phenomena that has been observed experimentally. However, due to the complexity of these processes and the irregular geometries on which they apply, exact analytical solutions to the governing equations are almost always not accessible. In such cases, numerical solution methods must be called upon to …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Lipids are among the most structurally diverse of all the biomolecules and thus deciphering their many functions requires bio-analytical technologies capable of uniquely identifying and quantifying individual molecules in a milieu of many thousands of analogues. Mass spectrometry is the pre-eminent technique for contemporary lipid analysis but is challenged by the preference of certain lipids to ionise with a polarity that affords sensitive detection but does not permit detailed structure elucidation. This project will develop advanced instrumentation capable of on-demand …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme

The gas-phase chemical reactions of organic peroxyl radicals control the combustion efficiency of engines and influence the chemical and physical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. Despite their central importance, these reaction intermediates have proven elusive; with limited experimental observations of the radicals themselves and the complex reaction networks governing their formation and fate. This study will deploy two advanced mass spectrometric methods to isolate and interrogate the chemical and photochemical reactions of peroxyl radicals in the gas phase. Direct measurement …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme

Worldwide transportation fuel production is currently circa 100 million barrels per day with the vast majority from fossil fuel sources. Pyrolysis and liquefaction are potential promising thermochemical technologies for producing renewable fuels and chemicals from biomass, however, the resultant biocrude/bio-oil has many complex properties inherited from the characteristics of the original feedstock, which make it a generally low-grade fuel alternative. Upgrading of the bio-oils are necessary to produce higher quality products and challenges exist to cost-effectively achieve this target. There …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

In Oct 2013 WHO and their International Agency for Research on Cancer classified particulate matter and outdoor atmospheric pollution as carcinogenic to humans. The main contributor to high atmospheric pollution episodes in urban environments are secondary organic aerosols (SOA), or photochemical smog, generated in the atmosphere through oxidation of reactive volatile gasses, primarily coming from traffic.Estimates point out that diesel vehicles are responsible for 65% to 90% of the secondary pollution formed from vehicle emissions. The origin of 75% of …

Study levels

PhD

Honours

Sleep, together with healthy diet and exercise, is a key pillar for a healthy lifestyle. It is important to feeling well and to performing well at university.However, students often have unhealthy sleep habits due to stress caused by exams, leisure activities and work commitments.

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Social robots require excellent communication and interaction skills to be able to operate effectively in dynamic social environments. This includes the ability to capture, understand and respond to complex social content given by humans, such as verbal (e.g. semantics, pauses) and non-verbal (e.g. visual cues, body language) information. Therefore, social robots must be able to adjust to individuals on a case by case basis, as well as being able to identify and provide appropriate responses.The aim of this project is …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that use computer programs called “bots” to mimic the sequence of actions taken by a human through a series of computer-based applications in order to accomplish a particular task. The sequence of actions that bots mimic is referred to as ``bot-flow’‘. A ``bot-flow’’ is typically comprised of various computer-human interactions, such as keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, and launching an application.Currently, a design blueprint of a bot-flow is needed in order develop a bot. …

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme

In Australia, private biodiversity conservation organisations use revolving-fund programs to achieve conservation goals. Using a fixed amount of capital, land is purchased, protected via conservation covenants, and then re-sold for a profit. The revolving-fund managers then move on to a new property.To achieve long-term success, revolving-fund managers need to ensure that the properties they purchase:contain important biodiversity valuescan be resold at close to or greater than the purchase price (adjusted for inflation), andcan be resold in an appropriately short amount …

Study levels

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme

Depending on your background, we will develop a specific project aim that relates to components of this larger project. Your research activities could involve one or more of the following:3D modelling of scaffolds using participant scans3D printing scaffolds using our in-house 3D printersMechanical testing of scaffoldsIn-vitro cell culture work

Study levels

Honours

Vacation research experience scheme