Why study STEM at QUT?

Discovering how to improve lives by solving a range of real-world problems will be crucial in the future. Many of the jobs of today were unheard of a decade ago: app developers, big data analysts and sustainability engineers.

STEM careers provide the greatest opportunities to succeed in the future.

No university is better placed to help you launch your STEM career than Queensland’s only university of technology.

Why study STEM at QUT?

The fundamental underpinning of the skills you need for jobs of the future is STEM.

But did you know that there’s a secret formula to getting that great-paying, in-demand and stellar career that you’ll love? We call it STEM+X - where X is your passion, another field or a world-changing goal.

To help get you started on finding your perfect STEM+X combo, we’ve created a 60-page STEM+X guide in partnership with Careers with STEM.

Explore the magazine online

Your STEM career starts here

Think about the future. What issues do we need to address, as a society, to ensure longevity? Climate change. Water scarcity. Food shortages. Species extinction. Affordable housing.  With a predicted 75 per cent of future occupations needing STEM literacy, it means that a skilled STEM workforce is central to addressing these complex issues now and into the future.

Science and Advanced Science

Understand and tackle the greatest challenges facing our world and its future.

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Health and medical science

Explore the exciting intersection of health and scientific innovation with our courses in biomedical sciences.

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Mathematics

Analyse, provide insight and solve complex problems for our economy, society and the environment.

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Information Technology

Use information and automation to make our lives more connected, secure and easier.

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Games & Interactive Environments

Develop interactive worlds that motivate consumers and grow business.

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Data Science

Analyse and interrogate data to provide meaningful insights.

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Urban development

Plan, build and construct sustainable communities for the future.

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Architecture and design

Be inspired to create environments to positively affect human health, environmental quality and social relationships.

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Engineering

Create practical solutions to technical problems – and make life safer and easier.

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Lauren Blackwell, Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)/Bachelor of Science student

Double your career opportunities

A double degree can help you develop a portfolio of skills and capabilities so you will be flexible, prepared for change and able to maximise your career opportunities. Create your own specialist career niche by combining your STEM degree with a complementary study area that interests you.

Find the right double degree for you

What does a STEM career look like?

The Careers with STEM Job Kits are free 8-page e-mags you can download, offering a complete introduction to individual STEM careers.

Discover what a job in STEM is all about, meet real people working in the field, and find out what you can do right now to set your career on the right path.

Download your copy now

Ready STEM Go!

Tune in to hear from a great line-up of guest alumni from around the world, sharing their stories about the paths they’ve taken to get where they are in their STEM careers. Hosted by QUT STEM graduate, Mackenzi Oliver, these episodes will help you find your inspiration for a STEM career.

Watch all the episodes

QUT alumnus Dr Abigail Allwood is at the cutting-edge of space exploration

Women in STEM

With only one in four STEM workers being women, we recognise the importance of supporting and celebrating women pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

We're tackling this gender divide through a number of programs and initiatives, including #STEMtheTide.

Let's STEM the tide

Study at the heart of technology

You’ve got ideas that can help shape the world? Our courses will give you the tools, equipment and technology to bring your concepts to life.

We're Queensland’s only university of technology - future-focused and always exploring emerging disciplines and equipment. We'll help you push the boundaries of scientific development using cutting-edge facilities housed in our specialist precincts, labs and workspaces.

Science at QUT 360 tour Specialist facilities

Next-generation research

Our researchers work in key STEM areas, aiming to solve some of the major challenges facing society and the planet, including:

  • sustainable development and climate change
  • energy and food security
  • an ageing population and chronic disease
  • information dissemination and security.

Many of these leading researchers will be your lecturers. Their experience, passion and knowledge will be shared with you as part of your studies. They will inspire you to reach your potential and exceed your goals.

Naomi Paxton

"Combining polymer science and engineering innovations in biofabrication research has the potential to revolutionise how we treat tissue loss and improve the quality of care for patients."

Mardi McNeil

QUT PhD student Mardi McNeil was part of a team carrying out the first ever assessment of how a particular type of green macroalgae, Halimeda, affects the marine ecosystem in the Great Barrier Reef.

Evangeline Corcoran

"A highlight of my PhD studies so far is publishing my first lead author paper and receiving international honours as a ‘Woman to Watch’ in the drone industry for my role in researching the use of drones, thermal imaging and machine learning to monitor threatened wildlife."

Scholarships

We recognise the achievements and potential of our students, and encourage you to apply for our scholarships, bursaries and development programs. Scholarships offer both financial support and a wealth of invaluable experience. They can help shape and support your time at university. All you need to do is apply.

Explore more scholarships

Be part of it

Peer networks and support

A common misconception about university is that you have to do it ‘on your own’. You’ll be relieved to know that QUT offers many opportunities to get involved, make new friends, and receive proactive and timely support services to help you succeed.

Connect with your crew

Join a range of student-led projects and clubs: QUT Aerospace, QUT Construct, Girls in Engineering Making Statements, QUT Maths Society, QUT Motorsport, QUT Planning Student Association, Women in Science, and QUT Women in Technology are just some.

QUT Entrepreneurship

Why wait until you graduate to create your business, social enterprise or side hustle? QUT Entrepreneurship is the perfect place to collaborate, network and share ideas with fellow budding entrepreneurs and like-minded students from across the university.

Oodgeroo Unit

The Oodgeroo Unit is QUT's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student success unit, providing admission pathways, dedicated study spaces, tutors, cultural support and scholarships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

News

11th August 2021

Investigating tax avoidance by multinational enterprises and finding opportunities to counter inequality online were among seven QUT-based projects awarded more than $6.5 million through the Australian Research Council (ARC) 2021 Future Fellowship Scheme.

Minister for Education and Youth, Hon Alan Tudge announced funding for the projects, which focussed on areas of national priority.

Professor of Taxation Kerrie Sadiq (pictured above) from the QUT School of Accountancy and the Centre for Decent Work and Industry received $1,026,048 to address tax base erosion caused by profit shifting. She aims to generate new knowledge on international tax and develop a blueprint for allocating profits.

“Tax reform is of immediate and critical importance to achieve sustainable economic growth in Australia and to ensure our place in the world,” Professor Sadiq said.

“Conservative estimates of the loss of tax revenue in Australia due to multinational entities avoiding paying tax is approximately AU$4.2 billion per year. Globally, it is estimated to be a US$420 billion problem.

“The digital age has exacerbated this already significant tax problem and is one of the most difficult issues to resolve.

“There is a rapidly diminishing capacity of nations to secure any share of the profits of multinational entities by any tax or other means in the current technological environment.”

Professor Sadiq said her project was a direct response to the 2018 Senate Economics References Committee final report on corporate tax avoidance that recommended a major overhaul of Australia’s international tax system.

“The report included recommendations for amendments to what is considered by many as a currently flawed regime.  Amendments were suggested to the existing rules on excessive debt loading, transfer pricing, mandatory reporting, and public disclosure, to name a few.

“A systematic structure for allocating multinational enterprise profits will address the important problem of tax base erosion caused by profit shifting.

“This will provide a major tool in securing Australia’s revenue base in the digital age,” she said.

Also focused on innovation in the digital age, Professor of Law Nicolas Suzor (pictured) from the QUT School of Law received $1,004,050 to help to tackle misogyny, racism, and other forms of structural discrimination online.

Professor Suzor’s research examines the role that digital platforms—including search engines, social media, peer economy, and news platforms—play in amplifying or countering inequality online.

“Increasingly we expect platforms to do something to counter abuse, discourage discrimination, and promote marginalised voices, but we don’t really know what we want them to do.

“My project aims to find legal, ethical, technical, and commercial opportunities that could encourage platforms to more effectively tackle discrimination in the digital age.

“The research will look at private sector responsibilities to avoid contributing to discrimination, hatred, intolerance and abuse, and how the law should develop to ensure that our digital environment is more equal and fairer.

“We don’t yet have the data to know what works to combat inequality online. This project allows us to develop new methods to understand, measure and evaluate how inequality manifests on digital platforms and what works to counter it.”

Professor Suzor is a member of the Oversight Board, an independent organisation that hears appeals and makes binding decisions about what content Facebook and Instagram should allow or remove, based on international human rights norms.

His four-year project is due to commence later this year and will be based in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society and  QUT Digital Media Research Centre.

QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research), Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik said the university’s success in the Future Fellowships round was a testament to QUT’s real world and outcome-focussed approach to research that makes a difference to Australia’s innovation potential.

The ARC Future Fellowships scheme supports mid-career researchers to expand Australia’s knowledge base and research capacity which in turn aims to provide economic, commercial, environmental, social and cultural benefits for Australia.

QUT Future Fellows (L-R) Dr Laura Bray, Professor Christopher Drovandi, Professor Kerrie Sadiq and Dr Ben Woodcroft. (Absent: Professor Nicolas Suzor, Dr Arian Wallach, Dr Ayesha Tulloch)

 

QUT 2021 ARC Future Fellows

  • Professor Kerrie Sadiq - $1,026,048 to investigate international tax in the digital age: a blueprint for allocating profits.
  • Professor Christopher Drovandi - $1,026,000 to develop a scalable and robust Bayesian inference for implicit statistical models.
  • Professor Nicolas Suzor - $1,004,050 to find legal, ethical, technical, and commercial opportunities to counter inequality online.
  • Dr Laura Bray - $937,478 to improve our understanding of the biological mechanisms that drive blood vessel formation and function that could potentially enable more predictive and targeted drug efficacy and safety testing.
  • Dr Ben Woodcroft - $928,160 to improve predictions of our future climate by understanding the evolution of soil communities of microorganisms and their viruses.
  • Dr Arian Wallach - $822,444 to investigate how values shape conservation science and policy by utilising a feminist philosophy of science approach. Expected outcomes include creation of a real time, interactive global biodiversity map that reveals biodiversity trends, species, conservation risks and opportunities.
  • Dr Ayesha Tulloch - $814,820 to improve biodiversity outcomes of agricultural food production and consumption and generate new knowledge about impacts of interventions and shocks on the environment, human health and livelihoods in agri-food systems.

Media contacts
Novella Moncrieff, 07 3138 1150 or novella.moncrieff@qut.edu.au
After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
 

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