Honours Project Recruiting
The following project details have been provided by our academic supervisors wanting to advertise projects or project areas in their research group. Note that Honours projects aren't limited to the projects highlighted below.
Students are encouraged to contact staff to discuss potential projects. You'll find contact details for all of our staff on our People pages.
How to apply
Contact the person listed in the projects below to submit an expression of interest.
Developing equitable nature-based solutions to improve people’s wellbeing: a case study in the Kali Gandaki watershed, Nepal.
Project description
Ecosystem services are the benefits people receive from nature and these can be enhanced through nature-based interventions. In the Kali Gandaki watershed in Nepal, benefits from interventions like rehabilitation of degraded land or terrace improvement have been estimated. Examples of these benefits include avoided repair costs to housing from landslides, or reduced erosion in farmers’ land. In order to deliver equitable environmental management solutions, it is important to understand the socioeconomic conditions of the population. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with 25% of the population living below the poverty line. This project will utilise spatial analysis techniques to first map poverty levels in the Kali Gandaki watershed. Then, prioritisation approaches to identify where to allocate interventions that will improve the lives of the poorest sectors of the population. This project will include collaborations with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University. Ecosystem services are the benefits people receive from nature and these can be enhanced through nature-based interventions. In the Kali Gandaki watershed in Nepal, benefits from interventions like rehabilitation of degraded land or terrace improvement have been estimated. Examples of these benefits include avoided repair costs to housing from landslides, or reduced erosion in farmers’ land. In order to deliver equitable environmental management solutions, it is important to understand the socioeconomic conditions of the population. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with 25% of the population living below the poverty line. This project will utilise spatial analysis techniques to first map poverty levels in the Kali Gandaki watershed. Then, prioritisation approaches to identify where to allocate interventions that will improve the lives of the poorest sectors of the population. This project will include collaborations with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University.
Relevant field
Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Laura Sonter by email to discuss this project
Creating home away from home: Listening to the stories and views of the Kiribati diaspora community in Brisbane
Project description
Brisbane is home to a significant diaspora community from Kiribati, which is a low-lying island country in the Pacific Islands region. This project will utilise a qualitative, storytelling method to document and explore how this diaspora community maintains their distinct culture and connections to and with home. It will also seek to examine the diaspora communities’ views on the long-term future of Kiribati – and their role in this as a vibrant diaspora community living outside of the islands – given the serious concerns about climate change and disaster risk. Students will need to be interested in, and willing to engage in, social science methods for this project; and some funding will be made available to assist students with fieldwork.
Relevant field
Geography, Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact Associate Prof. Karen McNamara by email to discuss this project
How can education be transformational? Exploring the lives of former and current university students from Kiribati
Project description
Education is often touted to be transformational – not only for individuals, their families and communities but also wider society. Tertiary scholarship programs delivered by the Australian Government, for example, for neighbouring Pacific Island students seek to develop future leaders for the region. This project will utilise a qualitative method to explore the impact of tertiary education on the lives, hopes and pathways for former and current university students from Kiribati. Students will need to be interested in, and willing to engage in, social science methods for this project; and some funding will be made available to assist students with fieldwork.
Relevant field
Geography, Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact Associate Prof. Karen McNamara by email to discuss this project
Sustainable and regenerative agriculture
Project description
There is an opportunity to explore how “sustainability” in agriculture and “regenerative agriculture” are being framed and discussed and if they are shaping up as complementary or in conflict. One risk is that the “sustainability people” see regenerative agriculture as an almost ‘new age’, ‘superstition, faith-based idea that is essentially anti-science, and that the “regenerative agriculture people” see the sustainability discourse as perpetuating an outdated techno-optimist, status quo approach to food and fibre production. Exploring this and understanding the possible opportunities for constructive engagement with these ideas in the broader context of socially and environmentally responsible and sustainable agriculture for the 21st century, would be valuable to many in the agri-food/land management space.
Relevant field
Agriculture, Environmental Management, Geography
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Bradd Witt by email to discuss this project
Climate-Sensitive Urban Planning
Project description
More than half the world’s population now lives in cities or urban areas, which are responsible for more than 70% of carbon emissions. It is increasingly understood that cities must lead in tackling these problems and adapt to changes in weather patterns. The earth’s and humans’ vulnerability to the impacts of climate change is tied up with cities' ability to cope. But how prepared are cities to global warming? How well prepared and implemented are urban plans for climate change?
Relevant field
Planning
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Dorina Pojani by email to discuss this project
Gender Issues in Urban Transport
Project description
Gender issues, including gender equality, gender equity, and gender mainstreaming or gender integration, have become important in transport, as well as other policy areas. Among women, there are highly important individual distinctions that depend upon location, income, age, household, elder- and child-care responsibilities, ethnicity, employment status, degree of disability, class, and education. Notwithstanding such variety, there are significant differences between the transport needs, travel behaviors and patterns, and levels of physical access to work, services, and recreation of women compared to men. Gender-based transport differences tend to be more accentuated in developing countries. A gender analysis of transport systems seeks to reveal these differences in particular contexts. It also seeks to uncover potentially detrimental effects proposed transport programs or projects might have on women and men.
Relevant field
Planning
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Dorina Pojani by email to discuss this project
Socio-Economic Inequalities and Gentrification
Project description
As the rich-poor gap widens, regions re-urbanize, and wealthier residents flow into once-low-income inner-cities, longtime residents can be priced out. How do these dynamics play out? Is displacement extensive? What kinds of people are displaced, and how do people and groups fare after they leave gentrifying neighborhoods? How does the built environment change as gentrification takes place? Does gentrification lead to more population and built environment diversity? Is gentrification and displacement a symptom of the scarcity of quality urbanism?
Relevant field
Planning
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Dorina Pojani by email to discuss this project
The biodiversity of mine sites: exploring the extent, type and vulnerability of regional ecosystems occurring on Queensland’s mining leases
Project description
Mining leases occupy more than 170 thousand hectares of land in Queensland. Extracting, transporting and processing minerals at these sites causes significant land clearing and biodiversity loss; however, some ecosystems are avoided and their biodiversity value may persist throughout the mining life cycle. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent and types of regional ecosystems that currently occur on mining leases in Queensland and investigate whether their biodiversity is capable of persisting in such altered landscapes long term. The project will utilise a variety of spatial datasets and the student will require some experience using GIS software.
Relevant field
Environmental Management, Conservation Biology
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Laura Sonter by email to discuss this project
Where and how much mining happens next? Estimating the factors explaining mine size and spatial distribution in Australia
Project description
Australia’s mining sector currently contributes $114 billion annually to the national economy and is well positioned to grow in the coming years. However, mining activities threaten biodiversity and governments and conservation organisations require new tools to predict and minimise negative impacts. The purpose of this study is to determine the social, economic and environmental factors explaining the size and spatial distribution of mining activities in Australia. This information will help determine where future mining threats to biodiversity may occur and illustrate where conservation plans and policies must be improved. The project will utilise spatial datasets on mining operations and other factors explaining mine expansion. The student will require an interest in environmental management in mining and have some experience using GIS software.
Relevant field
Geography, land use change, Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Laura Sonter by email to discuss this project
Deep Sea diagenesis of coral skeletons, Tasmantid Seamounts, Coral Sea
Project description
Deep sea corals can serve as archives of geochemical information relevant to palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate reconstructions as well as palaeoproductivty. However, we do not know the rates at which such archives are changed through diagenesis on the sea floor. This project will help find out. A large suite of corals dredged from the same location, have differential staining and alteration. This project will employ SEM and EDS to investigate staining and textural changes, including bioerosion, in deep sea corals.
Relevant field
Marine Science; Earth Science
Supervisor
Please contact Prof Gregg Webb by email to discuss this project
Enhancing Australia’s waste wool supply chain for local packaging manufacturing: circularising to support food cold chains
Project description
The project will address the cold chain secondary packaging crisis – the reliance on environmentally damaging polystyrene boxes – and the need to identify alternatives that are economically, socially, and environmentally viable. The project will examine cold chain distribution channels in the food supply chain and identify sustainable polystyrene alternatives. Circular economy entrepreneurial opportunities to improve reuse and recycling in Australia will be identified.
Relevant field
Sustainable Consumption and Production, Industrial Ecology, Circular Economy
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Anthony Halog by email to discuss this project
Enhancing sustainable waste management in agri-food production (Case of Sugarcane Industry)
Project description
The project seeks to advance the development of circular economy (CE) (i.e. finding value out of wastes) by examining the operations of Australia’s agri-food sector at an enterprise level. The project aims to determine optimal, workable pathways in creating higher value-adding products from agri-food sector wastes. This project is expected to contribute in fundamental understanding of the motivations and drivers governing wastes. Expected outcomes are CE business models, possible industry arrangements and policies in mainstreaming wastes for eco-efficiency and sustainable development.
Relevant field
Sustainable Consumption and Production, Industrial Ecology, Circular Bioeconomy
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Anthony Halog by email to discuss this project
Potential of urban food production in terms of the resources available in cities (Case of Brisbane)
Project description
The project will assess the potential of optimizing urban/peri urban agriculture and vegetation in terms of nutrient, water, and energy, considering urban morphology and weather as well as life cycle impacts. The specific objectives include:
1. Performing a city-wide metabolism characterization with a focus on the energy, water, food and waste nexus;
2. Develop a dynamic material flow analysis of recovered nutrients and collected rainwater for local food optimization;
3. Determine the life cycle carbon footprint of a city.
Relevant field
Sustainable Consumption and Production, Industrial Ecology, Circular Economy, Urban Ecology
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Anthony Halog by email to discuss this project
Secondary prospectivity in Queensland: the search for new economy metals in mine waste.
Project description
New technologies are required to support the transition to low-carbon economies. These rely upon resources of ‘new economy metals’ including cobalt, tungsten, rare earth elements, indium, gallium and germanium. Traditionally, these metals were considered unwanted by-products of base metal and precious metal mining operations, and consequently are concentrated in mine waste.
In collaboration with the Geological Survey of Queensland, this project will examine secondary prospectivity in Queensland’s mine waste. The project will first involve field sampling at a designated mine site. Next, the collected samples will be geometallurgically and geoenvironmentally assessed using bulk geochemical, mineralogical and mineral chemistry tools primarily using labs at UQ. These data will be used to assess metal fertility (and environmental risks) at the studied site informing which mineral processing technologies could be used to recover the identified new economy metals.
Relevant field
Geology, Mineralogy, Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Carlos Spier by email to discuss this project
Applications of hyperspectral technologies for characterising mine waste from Tasmanian Ore Deposits
Project description
Mining activities generate vast quantities of waste rock material, which if sulphide bearing, can pose acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD) risks to ecosystems. To predict AMD, chemical tests are routinely used by the mining industry. However, with the advent of new drill core characterisation technologies, there is now an opportunity to better understand properties of future waste materials at the early life of mine stages, facilitating the design of improved waste landforms- with a focus on minimising AMD production. Funded by the Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT) this project, focussing on Tasmanian ore deposits, will seek to develop new applications for data generated by a HyLogger (infrared-based drill core scanning technology) to environmentally domain waste materials. This project involves visits to MRT (Tasmania) to select and analyse drill core and at UQ the use of several mineralogical tools.
Relevant field
Geology, Mineralogy, Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Carlos Spier by email to discuss this project
Urban inequalities in the city
Project description
The city manifests and reproduces urban inequalities through unequal access to services and infrastructure, unequal access to decision-making process by diverse groups, and unequal use of public space. The project will look at one or more aspects of inequalities in cities in the Global North or South, using qualitative research methods. No funding available.
Relevant field
Planning, Environmental Management, Geography, Development, Social Science
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sonia Roitman by email to discuss this project
Disaster responses and recovery from an urban planning lens
Project description
The project examines how disasters are framed within the urban planning system. It analyses responses and recovery actions from the government and from civil society organisations (Non-Governmental Organisations and communities), looking at how the top-down and bottom-up approaches can complement and learn from each other. The project will analyse urban areas in the Global North or South, using qualitative research methods. No funding available.
Relevant field
Planning
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sonia Roitman by email to discuss this project
Sustainable Development Goal 11: Safe, Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable Cities
Project description
The project examines SDG11 and how it is being addressed according to a) regulatory frameworks; b) stakeholders involved; c) projects and activities. The location of the study can be a city in the a city in the Global North or South. The project will mainly use qualitative research methods. No funding available.
Relevant field
Planning, Environmental Management, Geography, Development, Social Science
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sonia Roitman by email to discuss this project
Music, policies and space in Brisbane
Project description
This honours project will look at how music events are regulated in Brisbane. What are the policies (including planning policies) impacting live music in Brisbane? Are they policies specific to Brisbane (ex: Fortitude Valley precinct). Different music genres could be considered. Methods would include interviews and analysis of policy documents. Preferably a longitudinal analysis considering the evolution of these policies over time. The student should look at the policies related to the preservation of heritage buildings (Are music venues considered as heritage buildings?)..
Relevant field
Urban Planning Program/Urban Studies
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sebastien Darchen by email to discuss this project
Placemaking in the Suburbs
Project description
This honours project looks at the way “Places” are created in suburbs of Brisbane. Are those places the results of initiatives driven by local communities? Who is leading the Place-making process? The student could look at different place-making processes in selected suburbs. A particular attention will be on how current plans should enable placemaking processes to happen. How can we better support community initiatives aiming at creating better “Places” in the suburbs.
Relevant field
Urban Planning Program/Placemaking
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sebastien Darchen by email to discuss this project
Understanding past changes in the Great Barrier Reef using offshore sediment cores
Project description
This project will use sediment core samples from the continental slope, proximal to the Great Barrier Reef, to understand the changes in the reef over glacial/interglacial sea level cycles. We can use offshore sediment cores to determine the history of the Great Barrier Reef as the reefs shed their sediments down the continental slope into the adjacent basins. The aim of the project is to determine the timing of different sediment fluxes from the reefs and the land to understand the re-initiation of the present day Great Barrier Reef around 9000 yrs ago. The project will involve processing marine sediment core samples in the lab for a range of analyses including carbonate content, grainsize, foraminifera, stable isotopes, radiocarbon.
Please ask as there are several other paleoceanographic projects available.
Relevant field
Sedimentology/Marine Geology/Marine science/Geography/Environmental Science
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Helen Bostock by email to discuss this project
Epi-benthic and infaunal copepods of sediment samples collected in a transect across Moreton Bay
Project description
The aim of this project is to establish differences in the epibenthic/infaunal from samples collected in Moreton Bay in collaboration of CSIRO plankton team. The project would focus on the understudied group of harpacticoid copepod. Copepods are the most abundant zooplankton in the region and an indicator of water quality. However, harpaticoid copepods from this region have not been studied in detail. The student will undertake field work with the CSIRO team and then microscopy in the laboratory to identify the species. Specimens will be organised by morphotypes (shapes) and the student will identify the organisms to the highest possible level (Family, genus or species). Images of the specimens will be produced to develop an image database for different taxa. Given the lack of any previous study on harpacticoid copepods we expect to find new species.
Please ask as there are several other plankton projects available.
Relevant field
Sedimentology/Marine Geology/Marine science/Geography/Environmental Science
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Helen Bostock by email to discuss this project
Planning Healthy Cities
Project description
Recently, there has been more focus on the health impacts of urban and regional planning all around the world. The available projects focus on the associations between urban planning/policy and the three components of health: physical, mental and social health. Some topics include: 1. The role of built environment and planning policies in physical activity, active transport, healthy behaviours. 2. Urban planning impacts on social capital and community cohesion. 3. Planning policies and built environmental design for mental health.
Relevant field
Urban Planning, Public Health, Architecture
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sara Alidoust by email to discuss this project
Planning Age-friendly Cities
Project description
The population of Australia is ageing, similar to many other counties all around the world. Recently, there has been an increasing amount of evidence on the impacts of the built environment on the health and wellbeing of older people. The available projects focus on urban planning and policies aimed at developing enabling environments for older people to live an active life and stay engaged in the community. Some topics include: 1. Planning policies for developing age-friendly cities. 2. Developing age-friendly cities in China. 3. Neighbourhood planning for healthy ageing.
Relevant field
Urban Planning, Public Health, Architecture
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sara Alidoust by email to discuss this project
Urban Policy for Social Sustainability
Project description
Recently, there has been an increasing focus on community health and wellbeing at the local government level planning policies. Several local governments, in Australia and internationally, developed wellbeing frameworks and social sustainability frameworks to inform their planning policies aiming at improving the community wellbeing. This research is focused on identifying current gaps, inform local government plans and policies and help developing integrated and comprehensive government frameworks on community wellbeing/social sustainability/liveability. Some topics include: 1. Developing evaluation frameworks for social sustainability and planning liveable cities. 2. Developing evaluation frameworks for community wellbeing. 3. Community engagement in planning policy.
Relevant field
Urban Planning, Public Health, Architecture
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sara Alidoust by email to discuss this project
Housing and Neighbourhood Planning for the Ageing Population
Project description
With the increasing ageing population worldwide and in Australia, planning age-friendly environments has become an important issue that needs further attention from planners and policy makers. This project will investigate neighbourhood planning and new sharing schemes for residential buildings for older people. The findings will contribute to developing better housing initiatives for the ageing population that improve the health and wellbeing of this age cohort. Potential topics include: 1. Emerging housing models and lifestyles for older people, e.g. house-sitting, co-living. 2. The associations between master planned community developments and the health of the ageing population.
Relevant field
Urban Planning, Public Health, Architecture
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Sara Alidoust by email to discuss this project
Prospectivity of deep marine sediments for ‘new economy’ mineral resources
Project description
Rare earth elements (REE) particularly the heavy ones together with Yttrium (REY) are important for the development of modern technology associated with renewable energy and sustainability goals. We know that deep sea muds in the Pacific Ocean, which accumulate at very slow rates are significantly enriched in REY (Kato et al. 2011). Courtesy of Earth’s heat engine and the plate tectonic processes it drives lithified versions of such muds can become accreted continental margins in subduction complexes. This project will examine deep marine cherts in eastern Australia to ascertain their prospectivity. It will involve fieldwork for sample collection with follow up labwork.
Relevant field
Earth Science, Geology
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Renjie Zhou by email to discuss this project
Diamonds in ophiolites: Testing hypothesis on deep recycling of tectonic plates
Project description
Discovery of diamond and other high-pressure minerals in ophiolites (remnants of ancient ocean crust) has challenged our traditional view on the pathways of recycling of crustal materials in the context of plate tectonics and mantle convection. One of the conundrums, which has puzzled the geoscientific community, is that these minerals, such as diamonds, must form several hundreds of kilometres deeper than the formation of their hosting ophiolites. Locating and charactering exotic minerals from classic ophiolites are key to solving some of the highly debated questions. Enthusiastic students who are interested in mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry are encouraged to participate in this research. The student will work with samples from ophiolites collected in the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, New Caledonia) using a range of advanced analytical techniques (High Voltage Pulse/HVP processing, electron microprobe analysis, laser ablation ICP-MS, and SHRIMP ion probe)
Relevant field
Earth Science, Geology
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Renjie Zhou by email to discuss this project
Honours research with the Tectonics and Biostratigraphy Research Group: Design your own project
Project description
Enthusiastic students are encouraged to join our ongoing research efforts in understanding the development of convergent plate margins around the globe. We carry out research in the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau, eastern Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and other places to reconstruct critical geological processes such as continental collision, subduction, mountain building, and resource accumulation, by using a combination of sedimentary, igneous, paleontological and metamorphic records. Students who are interested should contact us as early as possible to develop projects together. The student will work in a multiciplinary environment while focusing on a project that involves a combination of some of the following techniques: field mapping, petrography, micropaleontology, geochronology, thermochronology, and tectonic modeling. The exact project will be determined based on its scientific merit (e.g., whether it addresses an important scientific question) and the student’s background and interests.
Relevant field
Earth Science, Geology
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Renjie Zhou by email to discuss this project
Where should seaweed farms go in Moreton Bay?
Project description
Several groups are proposing to install Moreton Bay’s first commercial seaweed farm. These developments are expected to deliver several ecosystem benefits, including water bioremediation and habitat provisioning, but may also cause conflicts with current sea-uses. Where these seaweed farms should go and the spatial extent to which they should be developed is an important first step in the sustainable development of this industry.
Relevant field
Quantitative Modelling, Spatial Analysis
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Eve McDonald-Madden by email to discuss this project
Australia's biodiversity and the beef industry
Project description
Australia is a megadiverse country with great richness and uniqueness. Australia is also one of the largest exporters of beef in the world. This project explores these two important aspects of the Australian landscape to try to understand the potential impacts of future beef cattle expansion, and the effectiveness of current biodiversity protection in Australia.
Relevant field
GIS, agriculture, biodiversity
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Eve McDonald-Madden by email to discuss this project
Estimating agricultural land prices in Australia
Project description
Land prices are a major driver of land-use change. However, despite their importance for understanding economic, social, and environmental outcomes of land use, land prices are either approximated by coarse measures such as market accessibility or, more often, omitted entirely from analyses due to the lack of data. The student will use existing spatial information on crop and livestock production and prices to generate a spatially explicit layer of land prices. Such spatial layer will provide an important step in understanding agricultural land prices and help inform land change and conservation costs.
Relevant field
GIS, Agricultural and land economics
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Eve McDonald-Madden by email to discuss this project
Are senescent palm oil plantations in Indonesia an opportunity for sustainable beef production?
Project description
Land prices are a major driver of land-use change. However, despite their importance for understanding economic, social, and environmental outcomes of land use, land prices are either approximated by coarse measures such as market accessibility or, more often, omitted entirely from analyses due to the lack of data. The student will use existing spatial information on crop and livestock production and prices to generate a spatially explicit layer of land prices. Such spatial layer will provide an important step in understanding agricultural land prices and help inform land change and conservation costs.
Relevant field
GIS, Land use change, agriculture
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Eve McDonald-Madden by email to discuss this project
How much agricultural land will be lost due to sea-level rise by 2100?
Project description
Land prices are a major driver of land-use change. However, despite their importance for understanding economic, social, and environmental outcomes of land use, land prices are either approximated by coarse measures such as market accessibility or, more often, omitted entirely from analyses due to the lack of data. The student will use existing spatial information on crop and livestock production and prices to generate a spatially explicit layer of land prices. Such spatial layer will provide an important step in understanding agricultural land prices and help inform land change and conservation costs.
Relevant field
GIS, Land use change, agriculture, climate change
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof Eve McDonald-Madden by email to discuss this project
Can Medicare data be used to nowcast Australian fertility?
Project description
COVID-19 has dramatically increased the need for leading indicators of demographic change including fertility. While official statistics provide the most accurate accounts of demographic change, they suffer from significant lag time. This project seeks to investigate the utility of Medicare data as a leading indicators of fertility change in Australia and provide insights into the impact of COVID-19 on Australian fertility behaviour.
Relevant field
Geography, Demography
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Elin Charles-Edwards by email to discuss this project
Tracing the public’s value on water
Project description
Water is a scarce resource in Australia, essential for our future prosperity and subject to many conflicting demands and requirements. This project will trace the historical dynamics of the public’s value on water in Queensland through text mining newspaper articles. It will identify the cultural contributing factors for impropriate government regulations which led to over allocation for the economic development in history and support institutional reform for future water resources management.
Relevant field
Natural resources management/environment management
Supervisor
Please contact Prof. Yongping Wei by email to discuss this project
Conditional approval: what conditions are put in place when an endangered species’ habitat is approved for clearing
Project description
Recent research at UQ found that 84% of Australia’s terrestrial threatened species lost habitat to land clearing in the last 20 years, and that clearing of threatened species habitat is still being approved under national legislation. The decision makers report that ‘strict environmental conditions’ are put in place when habitat clearing is approved. However, very little scrutiny has taken place for what these conditions are and how much of the impact of the clearing they are able to mitigate. This project would investigate the critical question of what are these conditions that are set for big development projects that impact threatened species, and how effective are they?
Relevant field
Conservation of threatened species, environmental policy, Environmental Management
Supervisor
Please contact Prof. Martine Maron by email to discuss this project
Age, provenance and facies of the Mount Birnie Beds, Northwest QLD
Project description
Little is known about the unconformity separating the Palaeozoic cover and underlying Proterozoic basement rocks of the Mount Isa Block in Northwest Queensland. The Mount Birnie Beds is the first sedimentary sequence to be preserved directly above this unconformity. This is postulated to have been deposited during the Early to Middle Cambrian following uplift and exhumation of the Mount Isa Block and opening of the Burke River Embayment (greater Georgina Basin). The maximum depositional age of the Mount Birnie Beds however, could be much older, and it may represent the final stages of Neoproterozoic peneplanation of the Mount Isa Block. The Mount Birnie Beds apparently record a marine transgression following the Cryogenian ‘Snowball Earth’ and are characterised by an upward-fining sequence of basal conglomerate (potentially tillite), diamictite, cross-bedded sandstone, massive ferruginous sandstone, red-green shale, mudstone and dolostone. The aim of this project is to describe the geology, facies and sediment provenance of the Mount Birnie Beds; define its maximum depositional age; describe the nature of the unconformity in the Burke River Embayment; and outline the possible paleoenvironment and tectonic setting in which the Mount Birnie Beds were deposited. The student will conduct detailed logging of the Mount Birnie Beds from drill core, thin section petrography, a review of bulk-rock geochemistry and obtain U-Pb age dates from detrital zircons by LA-ICP-MS.
Relevant field
Geology, Sedimentology, Petrology, Geochemistry and Geochronology/Earth Sciences
Supervisor
Please contact A/Prof. Carlos Spier by email to discuss this project
Isolation of milk-associated microbes and describing their effects on health in early life
Project description
In the first weeks of life, our guts become colonised with microbes that influence our immune system development. These microbes are sourced, at least in part, from breastmilk, which contains a surprising variety of microorganisms. Our work has demonstrated that environmental exposures, including maternal diet, strongly influence the composition of milk microbiomes. Furthermore, we have found that this is associated with changes in the immunological development of breastfed infants and their susceptibility to disease. We have isolated both beneficial and detrimental milk bacteria, and are studying how they influence host fitness. In this project, you will use the state-of-the-art culturomics technique to isolate additional milk-associated microbes. These isolates will then be genomically sequenced and functionally screened to determine their influence on health outcomes. This project has implications for the links between human and environmental health.
Relevant field
Microbiology, microbial ecology, and bioinformatics
Supervisor
Please contact Dr Paul Dennis by email to discuss this project
Small is Beautiful: Can Community Composting transform Karragarra Island into a Zero Waste Community?
Project description
Karragarra Island is one of five inhabited Southern Moreton Bay Islands (SMBI), which are part of Redland City Council. Council provides waste and recyclable collection services, but at considerable cost to rate payers since all materials have to be transported to the mainland for disposal or recycling. This project provides a unique opportunity to research (i) the capacity of a community-based organics recycling scheme for reducing food and garden waste going to landfill and (ii) the ability of a novel, solar-powered, small-scale aerated composting system to effectively process food waste and turn it into high quality compost.
Relevant field
Waste Management, Circular Economy, Composting
Supervisor
Please contact Dr. Anthony Halog by email to discuss this project
In-situ stress and subsurface fractures in the Galilee and Bowen basins, Queensland
Project description
Knowledge of geomechanical parameters (such as in-situ stresses, fracture and faults) is essential for understanding of geodynamic processes such as earthquakes and global tectonics. It is also a key control on the stability of all underground openings and management of geo-reservoirs. This project will use geophysical logs from wellbores in the Galilee and Bowen basins to identify fractures, and to determine in-situ stresses. The relationship between in-situ stresses and natural fractures can have significant implications in safe and sustainable usages of geo-reservoirs as well as mines. The student needs to be competent with a computer. It is also recommended that you have successfully completed Advanced Structural Geology, and Energy Resources. Interests in Geomechanics, Structural Geology and Subsurface Geology would be best suited to this project. The student completing this project will receive funding support in the form of bursary.
Relevant field
Geomechanics, Tectonics, Structural Geology and Geophysics
Supervisor
Please contact Dr. Mojtaba Rajabi or Prof. Joan Esterle by email to discuss this project
Fracture and mechanical stratigraphy in the Bowen Basin, Queensland
Project description
Mechanical rock properties, bed thickness, and interface greatly control the fracture characteristics of layered sequences. Hence, identifying the relationship between fractures and stratigraphic layer properties is valuable for understanding of fracture attributes in un-sampled areas. This project will use borehole image logs, which provide a 360° picture of the borehole wall, in order to identify subsurface fractures and faults. Rock mechanical properties of different intervals will be determined using available laboratory test measurements as well as using geophysical log data. Integration of fractures, rock mechanical data, and bed thickness will enable us to investigate mechanical stratigraphy and its link to fracture stratigraphy. The student needs to be competent with a computer. It is also recommended that you have successfully completed Advanced Structural Geology, and Energy Resources. Interests in Geomechanics, Structural Geology and Subsurface Geology would be best suited to this project. The student completing this project will receive funding support in the form of bursary.
Relevant field
Geomechanics, Tectonics, Structural Geology and Geophysics
Supervisor
Please contact Dr. Mojtaba Rajabi or Prof. Joan Esterle by email to discuss this project