Lighting and Health in ICU (PhD scholarships)

Application dates

Applications close

22 June 2026

What you'll receive

• The QUT scholarship provides a full-time, tax-exempt stipend of $40,000 per annum for a minimum of 3 years (PhD), with the possibility of a 6-month extension. As this is an externally funded, project-based scholarship, any extension cannot exceed the remaining duration of the project if your candidature commences after the project start date.
• You will receive a tuition fee offset/sponsorship, covering the cost of your tuition fees for the first 4 full-time equivalent years of your doctoral studies.
• You will have the opportunity to work with leading national and international researchers – experts in Lighting and health, intensive care and sleep, lighting simulation and optimisation and lighting design.
• You will work within an interdisciplinary team; collaborate with healthcare, industry, and research partners; and contribute to the co-development of design guidelines and decision-support tools that translate research on light exposure and sleep into actionable strategies for improving patient outcomes and informing human-centric lighting design in intensive care settings.

Eligibility

How to apply

• The first step is to email A/Prof Veronica Garcia-Hansen (Subject: ARC Scholarship) detailing your academic and research background, your motivation to research in this field and interest in this scholarship. Please include:
  • your CV
  • academic transcripts for all completed degrees
  • cover letter (maximum 2 pages) outlining your interest in the project, relevant skills and experience, and how your background aligns with research on light, health, and human-centric lighting in the built environment.
• This project involves the collection and analysis of high-resolution environmental and physiological datasets, including light exposure and sleep metrics. All candidates will be expected to engage with field-based research in clinical environments, contributing to the design and execution of data collection, in addition to analysis and/or modelling. The project also provides opportunities to apply advanced statistical and machine learning approaches to understand human responses to the built environment.
• We welcome applicants from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including architectural science, lighting, building science, behavioural science, human physiology and sleep science, as well as data science, computer science, or related quantitative fields.
• Applicants should demonstrate experience in one or more of the following areas:
  • Environmental monitoring and field-based measurement (e.g. light, thermal, or physiological data)
  • Behavioural observation and human-subject research
  • Data analysis, including statistical modelling and/or machine learning techniques for high-dimensional or time-series data (e.g. sleep or wearable sensor data)
  • Simulation, optimisation, or computational design workflows (e.g. parametric modelling, performance prediction)
  • Experience working with wearable sensing data, longitudinal datasets, or multimodal data integration will be highly regarded.
• Applicants should indicate how their skills and interests align with one or both of the following research directions within the project:
  • Sleep and physiological data analysis, including statistical modelling and/or machine learning applied to wearable and environmental datasets
  • Environmental monitoring, modelling and simulation, including prediction, optimisation, and computational design of lighting systems
• A writing example (e.g. a thesis chapter, journal article, or substantial piece of academic writing) that demonstrates your analytical and theoretical capabilities.

The appointment to the PhD position is conditional on the successful applicant meeting the admission requirements of, and being formally enrolled in, the relevant PhD program at Queensland University of Technology. Only applicants who are successful in the project selection process and formally notified will be invited to proceed with the university PhD application.

What happens next?

• As part of the process, you may be invited to take part in an online or in-person interview to provide further details to support your application.
• If supported to apply, you will then submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) following the advice at How to apply for a research degree.
• In your EOI, nominate A/Prof Veronica Garcia-Hansen as your proposed principal supervisor, and copy the link to this scholarship website into question 2 of the financial details section.

About the scholarship

Project Overview

Join a cutting-edge research project investigating how circadian-responsive lighting can be designed and implemented in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) to support sleep, recovery, and overall patient outcomes. Patients in ICUs are frequently exposed to lighting conditions that disrupt circadian rhythms, contributing to sleep deprivation and increasing the risk of delirium. While advances in medical care have improved survival, the role of the luminous environment in supporting patient recovery remains underexplored and poorly integrated into design practice.

This project brings together an interdisciplinary team spanning lighting, architecture, health, and building science, in collaboration with leading hospital partners. It combines high-resolution measurements of light exposure and sleep with computational modelling, simulation, and optimisation to develop evidence-based, patient-centred lighting strategies.

A central aim of the project is to bridge the gap between measured environmental conditions, simulated building performance, and physiological responses, enabling the development of design guidelines and decision-support tools for human-centric lighting in critical care environments.

We are recruiting two fully funded PhD students to contribute to this integrated research program. The PhDs will work alongside a postdoctoral researcher who supports the coordination of environmental monitoring and field deployment. Both PhD candidates will be actively involved in the design and execution of data collection in real hospital environments, contributing to environmental measurements and/or wearable data acquisition as part of their research. Each PhD will then focus on complementary aspects of the project, spanning data analysis and modelling.

PhD 1 – Sleep and Physiological Data Analysis (Data-Driven Focus)

This PhD will focus on collection, analysis and interpretation of sleep and physiological data from ICU patients, in conjunction with measured environmental conditions, particularly light exposure.

The aim is to identify how lighting conditions influence sleep, circadian rhythms, and recovery-related outcomes in real ICU environments.

You will:

• analyse high-resolution sleep and physiological datasets (e.g. wearable sensor data) alongside environmental measurements.
• apply statistical and/or machine learning methods to identify patterns and relationships in time-series data.
• quantify the impact of light exposure on sleep and circadian outcomes.
• contribute to the definition of evidence-based targets (e.g. melanopic metrics such as m-EDI) for ICU lighting design.
• work closely with the modelling-focused PhD to inform simulation inputs and validation frameworks.
• translate findings into research outputs and design guidelines and decision-support tools for healthcare environments

You will be based at Queensland University of Technology and embedded within a multidisciplinary research team working closely with healthcare partners at the Prince Charles Hospital.

PhD 2 – Environmental Modelling and Lighting Simulation (Computational Focus)

This PhD will focus on environmental monitoring, simulation, and optimisation of circadian-responsive lighting strategies in ICU environments.

The aim is to develop predictive models of light exposure and to align simulated environmental conditions with real-world measurements and physiological data.

You will:

• monitor lighting conditions in real ICU environments.
• develop simulation workflows to predict spatial and temporal light exposure in ICU settings.
• model circadian-relevant lighting metrics and occupant exposure scenarios.
• apply optimisation techniques to evaluate lighting strategies, balancing circadian outcomes, visual comfort, safety, and energy performance.
• integrate and validate simulation outputs using empirical environmental and wearable datasets.
• undertake targeted prototyping and experimental testing of lighting concepts (e.g. spectral composition, control strategies, temporal patterns).
• translate findings into research outputs and design guidelines and decision-support tools for healthcare environments.

You will be based at Queensland University of Technology and will work at the interface of building science, lighting design, and computational modelling.