If you’re an undergraduate student or coursework masters with a strong academic record, a Vacation Research Scholarship is a great way to explore a future career in research.

UniSA's Vacation Research Scholarships offer an opportunity to work closely with our experienced researchers at one of our world-class institutes or centres. These short-term (four to eight week) scholarships are open to students from all domestic universities and are an ideal way to build on your academic knowledge. Working with our researchers, you’ll be able to broaden your research capabilities in a specialised project and gain insight into a career in research.

Benefit from UniSA's world-class research across a diverse range of fields, offering you the opportunity to focus on your chosen research topic in a professional environment.

Further your knowledge and real-world experience across specialised areas such as health, science or engineering, all while growing your professional network along the way. Find out more about the available Vacation Research Scholarships in your area of study below.

2023 Vacation Scholarship application and project details will be updated in August 2023. Please check back then or contact research.students@unisa.edu.au for further information.

How to apply

Explore vacation research scholarships 

  • yoga-meditation Allied Health & Human Performance minus-thin plus-thin

    In addition to the list of projects below, the following staff are willing to accept vacation students. Please contact them directly to discuss possible project opportunities.

    Carmel Nottle has a  range of ongoing projects in the area of assistance dogs and also pets and health. All projects revolve around the human-animal interaction space. 

    Elio Arruzza is happy to contribute to any primary or secondary research project within ALH. Area of teaching is Medical Radiation. Previous experience with systematic reviews.

    Katrina Li two keys areas of research interest are 1) on the epidemiology (e.g. the prevalence, causes, and risk factors) and impact of chronic lung conditions; 2) on teaching and learning practices that creates a supportive learning environment and enabling students to become life-long learners.

    Margarita Tsiros has a background in paediatric physiotherapy. Put simply, she is interested in helping children to ‘move well’ and ‘move more’. She conducts research across a range of topics that relate to optimal child development and movement, but she has a special interest in overweight and obesity in children. She is particularly interested in improving health service delivery for children above a healthy-weight and/or with movement difficulties.

    Rose Boucaut  area of research is physiotherapists working in occupational health and ergonomics, which is an expanding field within physiotherapy. Wanting to develop global competencies for physiotherapists in this field which currently do not exist. 

    Rose Boucaut has a research interest in promoting work health and safety, from manual handling to standard setting for physiotherapists working in this field. The variety of settings for this work means this work is generally exciting and there is room for improving its practices within this field.

    Allied Health & Human Performance

    • A Scoping Review of The Use Of Radiomic-Based Imaging for the Diagnosis and Classification of Parkinson’s Disease minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:  There is an emerging number of publications using radiomics in researching neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. The use of machine learning potentially enhances the diagnostic value of medical images.

      This scoping review aims to inform clinicians the current body of evidence existing on the applications of radiomics in Parkinsonism disorders, and describe its ability to predict, diagnose and classify Parkinsonism disorders, the range of radiomics features extracted from the substantia nigra and other brain areas, and on which image modalities and patient population it is most effective.

      One completed journal manuscript submission is required as the endpoint measurement of the project.

      Contact Person: Dr. Anson Chau

       

      Apply now

    • Challenges of COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Physics And Biomedical Engineering Workforce - Worldwide Survey Analysis minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:  This project aims to evaluate and discuss the most significant challenges encountered by STEM professionals associated with remote working during the COVID-19 lockdown. An international survey has been designed. responses were received from over 900 professionals from 76 countries. Analysis of qualitative data will be performed to assess the impact of the pandemic, using Nvivo software. The work is aimed to be published.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Prof. Eva Bezak

       

      Apply now

    • Developing a Protocol for Publication of Non-Traditional Research Output in Occupational Therapy minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The Participatory Community Practice (PCP) course has an industry reputation for excellence. It also is a flagship course for the UniSA occupational therapy program. However, the industry focus has meant that there are very few research outputs from the PCP course.

      This can be addressed by publishing these industry commissioned projects as non-traditional research outputs. The development of a protocol for publication would provide a route towards quality improvement and scholarship of teaching and learning.

      These publications may ultimately facilitate future research grant applications and research outputs in specific areas of practice that have been piloted by students.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Prof. Mary Butler

       

      Apply now

    • Development of a Systematic Engagement Evaluation Strategy for a Participatory Community Practice Placement minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Participatory Community Practice courses have been running at UniSA for over 20 years in the occupational therapy program. In that time significant relationships with external agencies and communities have been developed but not evaluated.

      Data is available for years 2014 – 2019, which includes information about remoteness, source of funding type and sector, target community demographic and geographical area, etc. A mixed methods approach will be used to analyse data in ways that can inform specific engagement and ongoing evaluation strategies in the future, including an understanding of the diversity of communities served. 

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Ben Stellar

       

      Apply now

    • Evaluation of the Genfriends Inter-Generational Student Placement Program: Student Perspectives minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Building on the OT Program’s substantial networks, profile and research in student placements in the preschool and aged care industry since 2002, this research project focusses on evaluating a new student placement program. This exciting initiative has been in development and trialled in 2020, see article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.768778/full through funding by the Office for Ageing Well.

      The GenFriends program brings together 2 sites: in aged care and a preschool site, where students run the same group activities at each site, while being virtually connected with each other, enabling intergenerational connections. In 2021-2022, the GenFriends Program was formally written up and structured with the first cohort of students trialling the new program in SP5, 2022. The proposed research will gather the students’ perspectives of the program via interviews.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Kobie Boshoff

       

      Apply now

    • Examining Athletes' Rehabilitation Journeys Post-Injury minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Research examining rehabilitation from injury in sport has typically focused on physical rehabilitation and returning to sport. This project aims to review the literature concerning the psychological impact of injuries in sport. This project will provide the student with an opportunity to review and critique existing literature and to identify gaps in knowledge and future research directions. 

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: As. Prof. Nicola Ridgers

       

      Apply now

    • Exploration of the Temporal Pattern of Dietary Carbohydrate Intake and its Relationship With Mood minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Both the amount and composition of food can influence the relationship between food intake and mood. We are interested in the temporal patterns of food and nutrient consumption and relationships with mood.

      This project will explore data captured as part of a larger study validating a chrononutrition questionnaire in day workers and shiftworkers. The student will be involved in data analysis and interpretation.

      Contact Person: Prof. Alison Coates

       

      Apply now

    • Foster Cats in Aged Care - Next Stage Setting Up Work minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: A cross organisation team with membership across UniSA, an aged care service and animal welfare to trial a foster cats program bringing the needs of vulnerable older people together with that of homeless animals to facilitate better human and animal outcomes. The student would be involved in supporting the team to ensure ethics and project planning is ready for implementation in March/April.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Janette Young

       

      Apply now

    • Gender-Dependent Chemotherapy: The Next Step Towards Personalised Medicine? minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Chemotherapy is a common treatment approach in the management of malignant tumours. Gender-based treatment is a relatively new aspect that is researched by the scientific community. Owing to physiological, genetical and biological differences between the two genders, it was shown that both tumour control as well as adverse events are influenced by gender and imply the need for different dose constraints.

      A number of studies show gender-dependent response after chemotherapy of nonhormonal cancers, some of these dissimilarities being linked to gender-related sensitivities.

      This project aims to conduct a literature review of all published pre-clinical and clinical studies that evaluated gender-dependent treatment response to radiation and/or chemotherapy among cancer patients. The results will be summarised in a report with the aim to publish.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Eva Bezak

       

      Apply now

    • How do Women With Pelvic Pain Want to Learn About Pain? minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Persistent pelvic pain (PPP) is a significant healthcare concern affecting approximately 14-25% of females of reproductive age. Each year Australia spends over $9 billion on treating PPP. Current interventions for PPP management often result in suboptimal patient outcomes.

      Patient education is one method employed to improve pain management and is routinely recommended for the management of various persistent pain disorders. One type of patient education is pain science education (PSE), which aims to provide sufficient understanding of ‘how pain works’, including thorough explanations about the biological, psychological, and social contributors to pain and how to modify these factors to reduce pain and increase well-being.

      Tailoring PSE for women with PPP is in its infancy. When optimising PSE for persistent pain populations, it is important to consider the educational content and method of delivery. More specifically, uncovering preferred delivery methods is important for understanding factors that may influence consumer buy-in and promote participation.

      A qualitative study has been performed to investigate what PSE concepts are valued by women with PPP. As part of this study, qualitative data was collected to address what delivery methods women with PPP prefer when learning pain science education concepts. For example, is online or face-to-face delivery preferred, and are text or video more effective? This project will explore this data and aim to determine what learning methods, settings, and characteristics women with PPP prefer when learning about pain. This project involves analysing data that has already been collected (Human Research Ethics Committee protocol number 203392). The data has been collected as part of a wider PhD project.

      The successful applicant will work closely with the PhD Candidate and the supervisor (Dr Jane Chalmers) to understand and analyse the data. The qualitative data were collected via 20 individual, semi-structured interviews of adult women diagnosed with PPP, self-identified as ‘improved’ since their diagnosis, and had engaged with PSE. Qualitative data will be analysed using qualitative content analysis.

      Two independent reviewers will perform the analysis for reliability. Data analysis will involve: 1) becoming familiar with the data by repeated and active reading of the interview transcripts; 2: independently open coding the data (line by line) to develop an initial set of categories corresponding to PSE delivery methods preferred by women with PPP; 3) clustering categories with similar meaning together under over-arching categories; 4) meeting with the research team to discuss and consolidate findings.

      The final categories will be presented alongside their frequencies across all interviews. Inter­coder reliability will also be calculated between the two reviewers.

      The successful applicant will gain experience and technical skills in qualitative research, statistical analysis, engagement with primary data from a clinical population, and the potential for co-authorship on manuscripts resulting from the work. They will also have the opportunity to network with other research students and academics in the IIMPACT Research Concentration. The applicant will have access to the research laboratory Body in Mind at the UniSA City East Campus.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Jane Chalmers

       

      Apply now

    • Impact Of Student Placement Projects on the Community minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project will use an interpretive descriptive (qualitative) approach to evaluate outcomes from community projects carried out within the Participatory Community Practice course over the last 20 years by interviewing industry staff about the impacts they have seen for their communities when they have engaged with occupational therapy students.

      These findings are crucial to understanding the impact of these student projects and refining them for the future. Key questions include: 1.Did the intervention produce the intended results in the short, medium and long term? If so, for whom, to what extent and in what circumstances? 2.What unintended results – positive and negative – did the intervention produce? How did these occur? 3.How valuable were the results to service providers, clients, the community and/or organizations involved? 4.Are any positive results likely to be sustained? In what circumstances?

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Ben Stellar

       

      Apply now

    • Interprofessional Design for Health minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project aims to understand how health professionals can work within the context of design for health. It will involve doing a narrative literature review about relevant interprofessional frameworks in the context of Design for Health. As part of the project, the student will interview program directors about the barriers and facilitators to interprofessional work in the context of design for health. 

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Prof. Mary Butler

       

      Apply now

    • Lower Limb Bone and Skin Health Following Acute Eating Disorder. A Systematic Review. minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Podiatrists are skilled in the assessment and management of skin and bone-related concerns of the lower limb. The impact of chronic malnutrition on skin and bone health is well understood, however, less is known about the effects of acute eating disorders on the same health outcomes in the short or long term.

      This project aims to systematically review the literature to determine what common complications, specific to skin and bone health likely to impact the legs and feet, are observed in adolescence and young people with eating disorders, and if these changes are maintained over time.

      This project would suit a podiatry student with an interest in physiological changes associated with poorer nutrition. 

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Helen Banwell

       

      Apply now

    • Mental Health: Experiences of Carers and Consumers minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This scholarship provides an opportunity to work on up to two projects related to mental health. The first project focuses on carers’ perspectives and experiences of an Individual Placement Support (IPS) Program to assist consumers with a severe mental illness to gain employment. The second project is investigating consumer experiences of sensory approaches within forensic mental health settings.

      This scholarship will offer opportunities for the student to develop skills in reviewing literature and manuscript preparation, with potential to analyse data and develop a research protocol. The student will work with Dr Shelley Wright, Dr Amy Baker and Dr Jocelyn Kernot.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Shelley Wright     

       

      Apply now

       

    • Na‐MRI for Breast Cancer Diagnosis And Treatment Monitoring: A Scoping Review. minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Alterations in a cell’s sodium concentration may indicate malignant tumor growth. For breast cancers, early detection and therapy response monitoring enhances the possibility of patient survival. Na‐MRI presents as a promising and clinically viable imaging modality in assessing tumor cellularity, biochemical properties, and energy metabolism within the breast. Since trials have evolved from using rats to now human populations, several individual studies have been produced. Students undertaking this summer research project will work with research and academic staff to synthesize the current evidence in a scoping review.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Mr Elio Arruzza 

       

      Apply now

       

    • People’s Experience of Transition of Service Dogs minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The use of assistance dogs is a growing strategy in health care. These dogs are utilised by diverse groups in the community such as hearing and vision impairment, autism, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Assistance dogs play a valuable role in improving the functionality and quality of life of their handlers. The dog and handler form equal partnership based on loyalty, training and, most importantly, a trustworthy bond. Transition to retirement must be a difficult time for both dog and handler, yet little known about handlers experiences of when a service dog moves into retirement. This project plans to perform a scoping review to explore the research in this area.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Kristin Graham

       

      Apply now

       

    • Physiological Responses to Physical Activity in the Invictus Program minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project seeks to identify and map the key physiological responses to physical activity amongst participants in the Invictus program to develop a database for future researchs.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: As. Prof. Steve Milanese

       

      Apply now

    • Prevalence and Volume of Resistance Training Among Cancer Survivors minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project will involve analysis data from a cohort of 500 cancer survivors (breast cancer, colon cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma) to (1) estimate prevalence and volume of resistance training in this population; and (2) investigate what factors (eg sex, age, cancer type) are associated with engaging in resistance training. The student will also be involved in assisting with preparation of a scientific manuscript for publication in a scientific journal. 

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Terry Boyle

       

      Apply now

    • Reliability and Validity of an Assistance Dog Leisure Tool minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: A tool has been previously developed to examine leisure in assistance dogs. The reliability and validity of the tool now needs to be determined

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Carmel Nottle

       

      Apply now

    • Scoping Review of Animal Assisted Activities in Aged Care Settings minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This will be the first study nationally to explore the potential of using human-animal bonds in aged care, to facilitate social connections between intergenerational and intercultural groups at risk of loneliness and social isolation.

      To support this project, the student will be required to use Arksey and O'Malley’s (2005) methodology for completing scoping reviews to explore existing peer-reviewed and grey literature on how Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) have been integrated into aged care settings.

      The aim is to understand: What types of AAAs have been implemented in aged care settings, using both Face-to-Face and digital connection methods? and What are the potential barriers and enablers of implementing AAAs in aged care settings?

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Janette Young

       

      Apply now

    • Sensory Approaches in Mental Health Settings minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project aimed to better understand the use of sensory approaches in mental health settings. Most of the existing literature has focused on sensory approaches within inpatient settings. Therefore, this project involved a nationwide survey of occupational therapists working in a broader range of mental health settings.

      This scholarship will provide opportunities for the student to develop skills in analysing both qualitative and quantitative survey data, reviewing literature and manuscript preparation. The student will work with Dr Amy Baker and Dr Shelley Wright.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Amy Baker

       

      Apply now

    • Simulated Walking in Virtual Reality for People with Spinal Cord Injury-related Pain minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Around half of people with living with paraplegia have persistent pain, which is frequently felt in their paralysed limbs. Virtual reality can be used to simulate walking in people with paraplegia, with early data suggesting that this 'simulated exercise' can reduce pain. This situation may be analogous to phantom limb pain, for which mirror therapy is frequently used. We have created our own virtual walking simulator in a low-cost take-home virtual reality head mounted display. This creates unprecedented accessibility to this ‘brain-training’ approach. This project will explore this approach in a small sample of people with spinal cord injury-injury related pain.

      Contact Person: Dr. Daniel  Harvie

       

      Apply now

    • The Role of Denial in Diabetic Lower Limb Amputations minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Lower limb amputations (LEA) as a complication of diabetes are a growing problem despite the increased use of multidisciplinary approaches known to prevent amputation. The current focus on physical factors alone has not led to a substantial decline in LEA. An alternate approach is to consider social and psychological factors.

      Our research team is interested in capturing how patients perceive and respond to LEA with the aim to identifying unique interventions and therapeutic targets. A recent student project identified denial as a potentially important psychological risk factor.

      This project aims to expand this research by conducting a scoping review of the literature in denial in diabetes related lower limb amputations.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr. Kristin Graham

       

      Apply now

  • data-line-chart Business minus-thin plus-thin

    Business

    • Analysing How Online Subscription Television (E.G., Netflix) is Consumed, Extending and Replicating (Ehrenberg & Bound 1993; Winchester & Lees 2013) minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Steamed Video of Demand (SVoD) such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix is growing - in 2017 just over half of all households were accessing the service, by 2023 three quarters of all households will be steaming video content into their homes (Statista, 2020). 

      There is currently no empirical evidence as to whether the Laws of Growth apply to subscription television. To date, the extent of the knowledge is Double Jeopardy for newspaper {Ehrenberg, 1990 #1676}, Duplication of Purchase for radio stations {Lees, 2013 #21928}, and both DJ and DoP for websites {Corkindale, 2013 #29963}. While those are all media, there is some research on these patterns for non-media, but also non-FMCG areas including gambling {Hand, 2014 #32603}, leisure activities {Scriven, 2014 #26239}, and physical activity {Wilson, 2019 #85594}.  But to date, there is no examination of any NBD-Dirichlet consumer buying behaviour for subscription television.

      Therefore, this research can then address the following research questions:

      RQ1: What are the differences in how linear television and streaming television is consumed?

      RQ2: What is the repertoire size of SVoD?

      RQ3: Are consumers behaviourally loyal towards SVoD providers, as expected?

      RQ4: Does the NBD apply for SVoD?

      RQ5: To what extent does linear television share an audience with SVoD? To what extend does SVoD providers share an audience?

      Contact Person: Dr Zachary Anesbury

       

      Apply now

    • Generalizing Consumer Behaviour Differences by Age. Extending and Replicating Professor Mark Uncles’ Research (Uncles & Ehrenberg 1990; Uncles & Lee 2006) minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: There are three critical studies examining the relationship between consumer age, and category/brand buying behaviour. Uncles and Ehrenberg (1990) finds that younger households buy slightly more brands than older households (3.2 vs 2.7). However, older households buy from those categories slightly less often, and have smaller households –accounting for the small difference. Expanding the research to brand performance measures Uncles and Lee (2006) finds minimal differences in category buying behaviour, but at a brand level, sole loyalty is higher for the older consumers, and the Double Jeopardy pattern exists for each age group. Replication in Japan by Singh et al. (2012) also finds minor differences in category buying and the DJ pattern across age groups. 

      But these studies are limited. First, the research is within the UK (Uncles & Ehrenberg 1990), Australia (Uncles & Lee 2006), and Japan (Singh et al. 2012). Second, the data collection is as early as the mid-1980s (Uncles & Ehrenberg 1990), and most recently occurring nine years ago (Singh et al. 2012; Uncles & Lee 2006). Third, while one study uses observed panel data (Uncles & Ehrenberg 1990), the extension research uses future purchases probabilities (Singh et al. 2012; Uncles & Lee 2006). Forth, the sample sizes are small – ranging from 200 to 6,000 respondents (Singh et al. 2012; Uncles & Ehrenberg 1990; Uncles & Lee 2006). Fifth, research analyses few categories (between four and seven) (Singh et al. 2012; Uncles & Ehrenberg 1990; Uncles & Lee 2006). Sixth, researchers using intercept method only analysing the buying behaviour of the five largest brands (Singh et al. 2012; Uncles & Lee 2006). Last, and the biggest issue is the age groupings. Uncles and Ehrenberg (1990) using a binary approach (above or below 55), the other two studies use just three groups (under 40, 40-59, and 60-74) (Singh et al. 2012; Uncles & Lee 2006).

      Therefore, this research can then address the following research questions:

      RQ1: Are there difference in product category purchasing behaviour between younger and older buyers?

      RQ2: Which if any categories do younger buyers have larger repertoire sizes than older consumer?

      RQ3: How accurately does the Double Jeopardy pattern display age-based consumer behaviour?

      RQ4: What affect does age have on the negative binomial distribution curve?

      RQ5: Does customer sharing differ when examining age groups?

      Contact person: Dr Zachary Anesbury

       

      Apply now

    • How are Retailers Competing (I.E., Supermarkets, Department Stores) in an Online World? Extending and Replicating (Goodhardt, 1984; Keng, 1984) minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: With an increase in online supermarket shopping, which has been accelerated with Covid-19 restricting consumers to their homes, now is the opportune time to examine the buying behaviour in the online retailing world.

      There is an abundance of previous research examining how shoppers purchase from traditional bricks and mortar supermarkets. The Double Jeopardy pattern has been examined for supermarkets and retailers {Wright, 2002 #12901;Bhat, 1996 #4270}, and the Duplication of Purchase pattern has been examined for supermarkets {Uncles, 2009 #17954;Uncles, 1995 #4337} and retailers {Keng, 1984 #662;Goodhardt, 1984 #2446;Sharp, 1997 #4025;Brewis-Levie, 2000 #7166} and other varieties of stores {Uncles, 2008 #24084;Uncles, 2009 #17954;Sharp, 1997 #4025}. The same patterns have been examined in alternative types of stores such as fuel {Sharp, 1997 #4025}Bennett, 2000 #6950}, fast food {Bennett, 2001 #7150}. But no research has examined if these patterns are present for online retailers.

      Therefore, this research can then address the following research questions:

      RQ1: What is the distribution of online grocery and department store shopping?

      RQ2: Are consumers predictably loyal to online grocery and department stores?

      RQ3: Are shoppers polygamously loyal to online grocery and department stores?

      RQ4: To what extent does online grocery and department stores share customers, and do they share customers within store equivalents?

      Contact person: Dr Zachary Anesbury

       

      Apply now

    • The Role of Retirement Villages in Providing Affordable Age Specific Housing minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: With around 2,300 retirement villages across Australia, incorporating more than 68,000 retirement units and housing over 200,000 Australians the retirement villages industry represents a significant and steadily growing component of the age-specific housing market.

      Congregate housing is a clear preference for many older Australians. The retirement village model of housing, with its benevolent and not-for-profit sector origins, previously met this demand for affordable congregate housing. While this remains true to some extent, this housing market sector has increasingly been consumed by the for-profit, high-end housing sector that now marginalises a growing cohort of older Australians seeking affordable housing alternatives to the private market. Such well-established trends, and the fact fewer people are entering later-life with the security of home ownership, raises the question: is the retirement village sector interested in, or able to, provide affordable housing options for older Australians, and do older Australians see this as a viable affordable housing alternative?

      Given this context, it is timely that a review is undertaken to establish the reforms needed in legislation, policy, business practice and management to enabler the retirement village sector to deliver on the need for affordable housing options for Australia’s growing older population.

      Over a six week period, using an economic (business) and legal lens, the applicant will explore the retirement village industry through a desk-top review of the published and grey literature (e.g.: legislative changes and acts, submissions to legislation reforms, policy white papers, business plans and annual reports, planning submissions, development proposals and planning reviews) with the objective being the development of a larger research project in partnership with the Property Development Council or an ARC Linkage.

       

      From this scholarship the student would gain skills in literature searches, systematic reviews, and a broader understanding of project development.

       

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Helen Barrie and Dr Debbie Faulkner

       

      Apply now

    • The Uptake and Institutional Drivers of Sustainable Development Goals (Sdgs) Reporting: A Study of Indian Companies minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Since the endorsement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations in 2015, it has attracted considerable debate in public, policy, and research. The SDG goals and targets aim to address global issues affecting the planet, people, and prosperity such as climate change, poverty, and inequality. The United Nations has urgently called on all sectors around the world to transform the goals into tangible actions by embedding them into organisational policies and thereby contribute to sustainable development.

      Given the size and impact of the business sector, it has a critical role to play in advancing the SDG agenda. The business sector in developing countries, constitute on average, 60% of GDP, while generating 90% of jobs and 80% of capital inflows (OECD). Hence, the United Nations strongly encourages, the business sector, including publicly listed companies to apply their creativity and innovation to solving sustainable development challenges. However, little is known about how listed companies in developing countries are contributing to the SDG agenda. Therefore, this study aims to examine the uptake of SDGs by the top 100 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India by undertaking a longitudinal study of their corporate reports.

      This study will also uncover institutional influences that have shaped the uptake of SDG reporting in the context of a developing country. The focus of this study is on SDG reporting because it has emerged as an indispensable transparency and accountability tool. By measuring and disclosing SDG performance, companies can better engage stakeholders, enhance sustainable decision-making processes, and strengthen their accountability.

      The vacation scholar will be assisting the lead researcher over a period of 8-weeks in conducting relevant literature review, reviewing the SDG reporting framework, and collecting and analyzing data.  Thus, the student will have an opportunity to be trained in conducting relevant literature review and providing a critique, collecting data using databases, and analyzing data using Nvivo. The student will also have an opportunity to gain insights into international business perspectives.    

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Amanpreet Kaur

       

      Apply now

    • Working with Crime Data and its Effect on Social and Economic Inequalities in International Context minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The project critically evaluates how crime and corruption are linked to social, cultural, and economic discriminations in countries. This is part of a bigger research project; however, the candidate will experience how to work with empirical data and inform research findings based on simple quantitative analyses. The students will have the opportunity to use statistical software to analyse longitudinal data in economics.

      The 8 weeks’ work will particularly include:

      • Brief literature review to identify relevant indicators and measurements of crime, social, cultural, and economic discriminations (2 weeks)
      • Visiting various government websites and international databases to find secondary data on these relevant indicators (3 weeks)
      • Collecting the data in Excel spreadsheet, cleaning and organising the data (2 weeks).
      • Basic empirical analysis in excel/econometric software’s, e.g., graphs, correlations, summary statistics etc (1 week).

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: As. Prof. Raj Banerjee

       

      Apply now

  • pharmacy-medicine Clinical & Health Sciences minus-thin plus-thin

    In addition to the list of projects below, the following staff are willing to accept vacation students. Please contact them directly to discuss possible project opportunities.

    Dr Micah DJ Peters conducts research within the field of:

    • Aged care workforce
    • Evidence-based healthcare
    • Evidence synthesis research (e.g., scoping reviews, rapid reviews, and systematic reviews etc.)
    • COVID-19
    • Supportive cancer care
    • Gender and sexually diverse (LGBTIQ+) care

    Dr Allison Roderick conducts research within the field of:

    • Infection prevention and control
    • Perioperative care
    • Intensive care nursing
    • Simulation in postgraduate education
    • Missed nursing care

    A/Prof Larisa Bobrovskaya conducts research within the field Parkinson’s disease, stress, depression, diet, gut-brain connections, diabetes, hypoglycemia, animal models, tissue analyses, biochemical analyses. A specific project can be developed depending on students’ interest.

    Clinical & Health Sciences

    • Analysis of Megakaryocyte Structure and Function in Myeloproliferative Disorders minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: We have found that platelets from patients with myeloproliferative disorders differ to healthy donor platelets. Given platelets are derived from megakaryocytes we are extending our investigation to these cells. This project will focus specifically on megakaryocyte mitochondria.

      Contact Person: Dr Brian Dale

       

      Apply now

    • Are Air-Fryers as good as they say they are? minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Frying is an extensively employed concept in homes, restaurants, and industry, that includes food immersed in hot oil. During frying, numerous reactions with oxygen, due to the high temperatures and the release of water, that leads to succession of physical and chemical changes in the food products. In addition, a range of Maillard Reaction products such as acrylamide, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, heterocyclic amines and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are formed.

      In contrast, air frying circulates hot air uniformly around the food instead of immersing it in hot oil and reduces the fat contents in the fried food. Thus, the product is progressively dehydrated at a fixed frying temperature of 180°C, while the crisp characteristic appears on the fried products with minimum variations in food quality.

      Air frying is an emerging processing technology that has been widely accepted by consumers, used as an alternative to deep frying and are considered as a convenient method of cooking over conventional techniques. However, there are limited studies regarding the sensory acceptability and formation of dietary AGEs.

      In this study, the formation of specific AGEs in selected foods will be compared using air frying, oil frying and oven-heating techniques.

      Contact Person: Dr Permal Deo and Dr Evangeline Mantzioris

       

      Apply now

    • Bioinformatic and Functional Investigation of a Novel Blood Cancer Predisposition Gene minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project will use laboratory-based functional assays and bioinformatic, database and literature interrogation to generate data to better characterise a newly identified gene in its role in predisposition to bone marrow failure and blood cancer.

      Functional studies will include learning skills such DNA cloning, mutagenesis, tissue culture, transactivation assays and antibody-based assays. Computer-based skills will include bioinformatic analysis of sequence data, interrogation of local and worldwide databases and literature searches.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project requires in-person and online participation.

      Contact Person: A/Prof. Chris Hahn and Prof. Hamish Scott

       

      Apply now

    • Closed-Eye Visual Hallucinations: A Scoping Review of the Evidence minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Closed-eye visual hallucinations are a known but poorly researched phenomena distinct from visual hallucinations associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders and pathologies. While some people experience closed-eye hallucinations, the clinical significance, etiology, and possible treatments (if necessary) remain unknown. Further, because some reports suggest that the phenomena are not unpleasant or troubling, there may be potential value in understanding more about this very unexplored phenomenon in terms of its scope for therapeutic applications (e.g., similar to mindfulness, meditation, guided relaxation).

      In this project, the student will learn to undertake and report a systematic scoping review using best practice evidence synthesis methodology in collaboration with experienced academic mentors. At least two published manuscripts will be developed over the course of this project, providing the student with the opportunity to begin building their track record in research excellence and publication. The skills the student will learn through this project have strong application potential across many subjects and will place the student strongly for further postgraduate study.

      Contact Person: Dr Micah DJ Peters 

       

      Apply now

    • COVID-19 and Workforce Wellbeing of Australian Midwives minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The healthcare workforce has faced unprecedented challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the RBRC conducted the largest workforce wellbeing survey of nurses and midwives in Australia. The survey included demographic and COVID-19 factors and assessed domains of the workplace climate including psychosocial workplace conditions, job satisfaction, burnout, and mental health.

      At the time, COVID-19 was relatively contained in Australia by global standards, however nurses and midwives were still concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 on their health, wellbeing, and the work environment. Midwives and nurses reported an average level of resilience, and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress were in the normal range, however this has not been explored in detail. Over 800 midwives responded to the survey, but data for midwives have not been explored as a discrete professional group.

      There is an opportunity to explore and report on these data and compare findings of this study with other existing (but limited) studies of midwives practicing in Australia since the pandemic. The health and wellbeing of the midwifery workforce is critical as Australia faces a shortfall of midwives going forward.

      For information on data available for analyses please see the full report at https://www.unisa.edu.au/contentassets/0429d3a6ea70464b80a0b37aa664aa0c/covid-19-and-workforce-wellbeing-survey_report_final.pdf

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Ms Pam Adelson and Dr Julie Fleet

       

      Apply now

    • Defining the Genetic and Developmental Basis of Human Lymphatic Vascular Disease minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Lymphatic vessels are a crucial component of the cardiovascular and immune systems. These specialised vessels are control tissue fluid homeostasis, direct immune cell traffic and regulate the absorption of dietary fats. Abnormalities in the growth, development and/or function of lymphatic vessels underlie human disorders including vascular malformations, lymphoedema, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The goal of our research program is to understand how lymphatic vessels are built during development and how defects in this process cause human disease.

      This project will investigate how lymphatic vessel identity is programmed by transcription factors; molecular switches that bind to DNA and turn genes on and off. A range of cutting edge genomic, proteomic, molecular and cell biology techniques will be employed to dissect how transcription factors work together to control lymphatic vessel identity and how this process goes wrong in human lymphatic vascular diseases including primary lymphoedema.

      Contact Person: Prof. Natasha Harvey

       

      Apply now

    • Developing vascularized human minibrains for assessing drug cytotoxicity in healthy brains minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Brain cancer is one of the most lethal type of solid cancer, and the clinical management of this disease has not changed in the last 30 years. Patient-derived tumour organoids are currently being used to screen new therapies to identify those drugs that effectively kill tumour cells. Yet, no in vitro preclinical model allows for measuring the cytotoxic effects and possible short-long term side effects these drugs can have on healthy brain tissue. This project explores the development and characterization of vascularized cerebral organoids derived iPSCs from healthy donors as a platform to quantitatively assess the detrimental effect new generation of anti-cancer drugs have on the normal brain and its vasculature. If successful, during the preclinical stage, this will enable me to discard drugs that can be toxic to patients and provide a better killing effect in tumour cells, which will be assed in parallel on patient-derived brain tumour explants, already developed in my laboratory.

      Contact Person: Dr Guillermo Gomez

       

      Apply now

    • Development of Long-Acting Injection Using Different Formulation Technologies (Spray Congealing and Oily Solution) minus-thick plus-thick

      Project Summary: Oral route is characterized using frequent dosing regimens to keep up the therapeutic level. Many patients failed to adhere to the frequent dosing regimen which ultimately results in treatment failure, relapse, flare-up, and poor treatment outcomes. In Australia, about 10.4 billion is spent annually to address the complications arising from suboptimal medicine use.

      The objective of the project is to develop a Long-acting injection/delivery system using two different formulation technologies- microsphere and oily solution. The project aims to develop once-weekly injections of the selected model drug. The student will be involved with the preparation and characterization of the formulation using different analytical techniques and instruments.

      Contact Person: Prof. Sanjay Garg and Dr Franklin Afinjuomo

       

      Apply now

    • Does Resveratrol Influence Placental Development? minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Impaired fetal substrate supply because of either placental insufficiency, preeclampsia or maternal undernutrition causes intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). These IUGR babies are not only at an increased risk of longer stays in the NICU and increased perinatal morbidity but may also be at an increased risk of epigenetic programming and the development of chronic disease in adult life. To reduce the risk of these poor outcomes, the development of interventions to improve fetal substrate delivery is at the forefront of perinatal research.

      The pregnant sheep model is often used to study fetal development in the setting of in utero substrate restriction and has led to medical advances such as the use of antenatal steroids in pregnancies at risk of preterm birth. Using this animal model, we have shown resveratrol to increase uterine artery blood flow and fetal oxygenation. However, unlike the human placenta; the sheep placenta does not appear to allow resveratrol to cross from the maternal to the fetal circulation.

      This project will use techniques such as qRT-PCR to measure placental gene expression and immunohistochemistry to determine protein abundance and distribution of signaling molecules known to be both involved in placental development and responsive to resveratrol and MRI data. We hypothesize that resveratrol will activate signaling molecules on the maternal but not the fetal side of the sheep placenta.

      Contact Person: Prof. Janna Morrison, Dr. Jack Darby and A/Prof. Michael Wiese

       

      Apply now

    • Fetal and Maternal Drug Metabolism in Complicated Pregnancies minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: To obtain the best outcomes for both mum and fetus during pregnancy, drugs are often required to treat illness. However, there is limited information available on the short and long term adverse fetal effects of a large proportion of drugs used during pregnancy. Animal studies can provide preliminary data regarding the safety of a drug during pregnancy. There is a large amount of human and animal evidence showing hormonal and metabolic changes that occur in both the mother and the fetus because of reduced or accelerated fetal growth. These changes could affect maternal, placental, and fetal expression of drug metabolising enzymes and drug transporters and hence alter fetal drug exposure.

      This project will isolate microsomes from maternal and fetal livers in animal models of high and low substrate supply. Using in vitro protocols, we will assess the activity of cryptochrome P450 enzymes to determine if pregnancy complications impair drug metabolism.

      Contact Person: Prof. Janna Morrison, A/Prof. Michael Wiese and Dr Ashley Meakin

       

      Apply now

    • Fibre Optic Technology to Enhance Diagnosis minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Diagnosis of many diseases is highly invasive requiring biopsies and off-site analysis, fibre optic technology can allow instant, low-cost non-invasive results in any location. We are developing new probes to attach to fibres that will give rapid responses to changes in disease markers. A student could work in one of the three areas: synthesis of a responsive molecule, analysis of response using spectroscopy or fibre optic attachment and evaluation.

      Contact Person: As. Prof. Sally Plush

       

      Apply now

    • Flow Cytometry-Based Bio-Tools minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: A flow cytometer can measure fluorescence data from thousands of individual cells per second. The sample is loaded on the cytometer and the cells travel in a fluidic stream through a flow cell, where lasers excite any fluorophores in the cell. Scientists can make a cell fluoresce by staining cellular proteins or structures with fluorescent dyes. Flow cytometric data contains the fluorescence profile from each cell. We can use this data to enumerate and classify the cell populations within a given sample (immunophenotyping; healthy vs. cancer cell vs. modified cell).

      There are several projects on offer in the flow cytometry lab:

      Extracellular Vesicle Characterisation
      Extracellular vesicles transport cargo (protein, metabolites, nucleic acids) between cells and cell-niches. Vesicles are small and at the edge of flow-cytometric measurement. We want to establish a robust protocol to measure and sort vesicles, so we can study their contents and biogenesis.

      Cell Metabolism
      Of late, cell metabolism within cancer is under the spotlight. We would like to establish assays to measure cell metabolism by flow: mitochondria activity, cell kinetics, reactive-oxygen species production. This will help us to easily compare the effects of gene-knockout, therapeutic treatments, cell-type effects in the context of cancer.

      Fluorescent Protein Systems
      We can make cells express proteins that emit colour. This allows us to “colour/paint” cells of interest to track or monitor them. We can also create a hybrid gene that fuses a fluorescence gene and gene of interest, so that we can study our gene of interests’ function.

      • Colour competition: “paint” cell types of different colours track different cell types in a complex mixture.
      • FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) can detect molecular interactions and cellular location.

      Contact Person: Dr Bradley Chereda

       

      Apply now

    • Formulation Development and Evaluation of Chewable Tablet and Chewable Gel minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project aims to achieve the best formulations for a drug in the dosage form of chewable tablets and chewable gels according to Quality Attribute Considerations for Chewable Tablets (Guidance for Industry, FDA, 2018).

      The student will have experience in the evaluation tests for chewable tablets and chewable gels, critical attributes for chewable tablets and chewable gels, and these formulations' optimization process.

      Contact Person: Prof. Sanjay Garg and Dr May Song

       

      Apply now

    • Formulation Development and Evaluation of a Controlled Release Tablet minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: A controlled release formulation will be developed and evaluated in this project. The student involved in this project will have experience in many different instruments, including formulation preparation equipment, evaluation instruments, and analytical tools; e.g. tablet press, hardness tester, dissolution tester, and HPLC. In this study, the student will learn how to design a formulation and the criteria of the controlled-release preparation. 

      Contact Person: Prof. Sanjay Garg and Dr May Song

       

      Apply now

    • Impact of Cortisol On Drug Exposure in the Fetus minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Preterm birth affects more than 20,000 births in Australia. Glucocorticoids are routinely used to reduce the risk of respiratory distress syndrome in preterm births by promoting lung maturation. However, the use of glucocorticoids during pregnancy has been associated with adverse fetal outcomes including low birth weight. In addition, glucocorticoids also regulate the expression of Cytochrome P450 enzymes, a class of enzymes involved in drug metabolism, and drug transporters such as P-glycoprotein.

      Therefore, using a sheep model, we propose that infusion of the endogenous glucocorticoid, cortisol, in late gestation will alter the expression of drug metabolising enzyme and drug transporters in the placenta, fetal liver and brain.

      Contact Person: Prof. Janna Morrison, A/Prof. Michael Wiese and Dr Ashley Meakin

       

      Apply now

    • Impact of Maternal Undernutrition on Fetal Cardiac Development minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Human studies show that babies who are born small because of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy, in adult life. However, we do not yet understand the molecular basis of this association and therefore we are limited in our capacity to implement effective intervention strategies. One factor that may cause IUGR and the programmed risk of cardiovascular disease is maternal undernutrition. Here, the developing fetus does not receive enough nutrients from the mother.

      This project will use both a well-established sheep model as well as a one-of-a-kind non-human primate model of maternal undernutrition to determine the molecular links between poor growth in utero and the predisposition toward poor heart health in later life.  To address this, this project will use techniques as qRT-PCR to measure the gene expression and Western Blot to measure the protein abundance of signaling molecules involved in cardiac growth and development.

      Contact Person: Prof. Janna Morrison and Dr. Jack Darby

       

      Apply now

    • Improving Lung Development Through Increased Pulmonary Oxygen Delivery minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), where a baby weighs below the 10th percentile for their gestational age, occurs in 6.5 % of live births. These IUGR babies have an increased risk of preterm birth with impaired maturation of the lung. This increases their risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS).

      One way of preventing IUGR and thus the risk of preterm birth and RDS, would be to increase fetal substrate (oxygen and nutrients) supply. Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in the skins of red grapes, increases uterine artery blood flow. We hypothesize, that increased uterine artery blood flow will accelerate lung maturation via increased oxygen delivery to the fetal lung.

      This study will determine the impact of maternal resveratrol supplementation on the expression surfactant proteins (qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry) in the fetal lung and align this expression with pulmonary oxygen delivery (fetal MRI data) in the late gestation fetus.

      Contact Person: Prof. Janna Morrison and Dr. Jack Darby

       

      Apply now

    • New Membrane Active Antimicrobial Agents minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Antimicrobial resistance is predicted to become the direct cause of ten million deaths annually by 2050; exceeding the mortality of cancer. There is an urgent need for new drugs. We have developed a lead compound which shows excellent activity, this project would focus on synthesising new analogues of this compound to be evaluated for activity.

      Contact Person: As. Prof. Sally Plush

       

      Apply now

    • Perioperative Simulation in Post-Graduate Education and Learning minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Simulated health care experiences provide opportunities for learners to explore clinical scenarios in a safe and controlled manner. Perioperative management and the nursing care of the perioperative patient requires safe learning opportunities beyond undergraduate studies. There is limited research into the value of simulated learning experiences in perioperative post-graduate learning and education.

      This systematic review will explore the incidence, beliefs, perspectives, and experiences of simulated learning in post-graduate perioperative education and learning. This will form the first stage in research exploring simulated learning opportunities in post-graduate perioperative nursing and the impact of intradisciplinary learning on the organisation and patient morbidity.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Allison Roderick 

       

      Apply now

    • Sleep and Physical Activity in Dialysis Patients minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Sleep and physical activity are essential for health and wellbeing. For dialysis patients, sleep complaints are commonly reported, and physical activity is often limited (due to a range of factors such as dialysis). Physical activity and sleep are thought to be interrelated. High levels of physical activity are thought to promote sleep, while a good night’s sleep is thought to reduce fatigue and increase physical activity levels. The interplay between sleep and physical activity is an important issue for dialysis patients.

      The purpose of this summer vacation project is to assist in a study that examines time-use in dialysis patients. This project will involve assisting a range of activities to build research skills and experiences. Key activities will include using the MARCA (Multimedia Activity Recall for Children and Adults) software to interview patients who agree to take part in the study, as well as assist with a literature review.

      The project is ideal for a student who would like to gain research skills, is interested in pursuing a Master’s by research or PhD, is interested in working with dialysis patients and/or wants experience communicating and talking to patients.

      This exciting opportunity will be available two students.

      Contact Person: Dr Lisa Matricciani

       

      Apply now

    • Sleep in Final Year Nursing Students minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Sleep is essential for physical health and cognitive wellbeing. Final year nursing students are often busy undertaking final theory subjects and clinical placements, which often require rotating shiftwork.

      This project aims to examine sleep in final year nursing students. This summer vacation scholarship will involve a range of activities to build research skills and experiences. Involvement will include assisting in data analysis and a literature review. The project is ideal for a student who would like to gain research skills, is interested in pursuing a Master’s by research or PhD and is interested in understanding the importance of sleep and/or the student experience.

      This exciting opportunity will be available two students.

      Contact Person: Dr Lisa Matricciani

       

      Apply now

    • Social Media Influencers: The Impact on Prescription Medicine Use minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project involves exploration, quantification, and qualification of:

      • Social media platforms used by the public to inform medication use;
      • Frequency and type of medication issues posted on these platforms;
      • How to measure social media influence in the health care space and
      • A review of current legislative and regulatory requirements with respect to prescription medicines and social media.

      This project would suit any undergraduate or Master’s clinical health sciences student with an interest in quality use of medicines, social media, and behavioural psychology.

      Support will be provided to analyse the research outcomes and draft both an internal report/presentation and manuscript for publication.

      The supervisory team will include pharmacists, health service utilisation and intervention researchers, pharmacoepidemiologists, Pharmacoeconomics and statisticians.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Jodie Hillen

       

      Apply now

    • Supportive Cancer Care for Infant and Early Childhood Cancers: A Scoping Review of the Evidence minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: While relatively uncommon, infant, and early childhood cancers cause significant negative impacts on families and can result in tragic outcomes for those affected.

      Supportive care in cancer aims to improve the quality of life of people who have an illness or disease by preventing or treating, as early as possible, the symptoms of the disease and the side effects caused by treatment of the disease. Supportive care includes physical, psychological, social, and spiritual support for patients and their families and encompasses pain management, nutritional support, counseling, exercise, music therapy, meditation, and palliative care. Supportive care may be given with other treatments from the time of diagnosis until the end of life.

      In this project, the student will learn to undertake and report a systematic scoping review using best practice evidence synthesis methodology in collaboration with experienced academic mentors. At least two published manuscripts will be developed over the course of this project, providing the student with the opportunity to begin building their track record in research excellence and publication. The skills the student will learn through this project have strong application potential across many subjects and will place the student strongly for further postgraduate study.

      Contact Person: Dr Micah DJ Peters 

       

      Apply now

    • Systematic Review of Missed Care in Critical Care Nursing minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Missed care poses a significant burden on the health care system and is linked to poorer patient outcomes. Missed care represents care that is delayed or omitted. Missed nursing care in the management of critically ill patients is under-researched. The management of patients in the critical care environment (ICU) provides improved patient outcomes and yet in many cases increases morbidity and mortality associated with risks, such as, ventilator associated pneumonia. In addition, the cost of specialist critical care services poses an economic burden in a climate of limited health care funding.

      The acuity and fast paced environment of critical care means that care is timely. Missed opportunities for care is therefore vital in the overall outcomes of the patient and the broader community. This project will conduct a systematic review of the literature to explore missed nursing care in the context of critically ill patients. The systematic review will provide the first stage of a broader study to explore the incidence and rationale to remediate associated morbidity and mortality.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Allison Roderick 

       

      Apply now

    • Systematic Review of Missed Care in Venous Access Management minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Missed care poses a significant burden on the health care system and is linked to poorer patient outcomes. Missed care represents care that is delayed or omitted. Missed nursing care in the management of venous access is under-researched. The incidence of complications associated with venous access is well document in the literature, such as venous thromboembolism, phlebitis and hospital acquired infections (HAIs). However, understanding the incidence of missed nursing care in relation to these complications is currently not understood.

      The project will conduct a systematic review of the literature to explore missed care in the context of venous access management in acute care hospitals. The systematic review will provide the first stage of a broader project to explore the incidence and rationales, to mechanisms to remediate associated complications in venous access management.

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Allison Roderick 

       

      Apply now

    • Systematic Review of Staffing Levels and Venous Access Complications minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The incidence of complications associated with venous access devices is well document in the literature, such as venous thromboembolism, phlebitis and hospital acquired infections (HAIs). However, understanding the incidence of staff levels and venous access complications, is currently not understood. The project will conduct a systematic review of the literature to explore venous access complications and staffing levels in health care. Anecdotally amongst infection prevention and control professionals, it is well understood that the incidence of venous access complications increases with new rotations and recruitment of staff.

      The systematic review will provide the first stage of a broader study to explore the association between staffing levels (skill-mix, timing, number of staff and experience) and venous access complications.

      The study would then use artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (MI) to predict areas of risk associated with staffing levels and skill mix in acute care hospitals and explore systems to mitigate these risks. 

      MODE OF STUDY: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact Person: Dr Allison Roderick 

       

      Apply now

    • Tackling Neuroblastoma Using a Multi-Omics Bioinformatics Approach minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Neuroblastoma is a devastating and highly diverse childhood cancer that affects mostly children under 5. The underlying molecular biology is poorly understood and current therapies are highly damaging to the children. This project aims at understanding this complexity to find new treatment options and targets for precision medicine. Using a multi-omics approach, the students will analyse data to understand the different biological origins of neuroblastoma tumours as part of determining new tumour subtypes.

      The project will involve gaining experience in analysis of gene and miRNA expression and may include opportunities for analysing both bulk and single cell sequencing data.

      Contact Person: Dr. Katherine Pillman and Prof. Greg Goodall

       

      Apply now

  • art Creative minus-thin plus-thin


    In addition to the list of projects below, the following staff are willing to accept vacation students. Please contact them directly to discuss possible project opportunities.

    Guy Keulemans: Design and sustainability, practice-based research into resource extraction and use/reuse including repair

    Andrew Allan: Planning for Environmental Sustainability; Water Supply; Carbon neutral world, urban infrastructure planning

    Creative

    • Architectural anthropology: an holistic method for understanding Country and Culture for architectural students minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:This project is in two parts: It involves architectural anthropological methods in an intensive fieldwork component as well as a design/research component around the production of a theoretical historical analysis of literature of these methods, in addition to a built cultural heritage adaptive reuse analysis for the repurposing of structures for a cultural centre and/or housing.

      Part 1: Will involve a 1-2 week intensive on Country, meeting Traditional Owners and community, drawing and measuring built cultural heritage in regional South Australia, using the VERNADOC manual method as well as forms of digital capture (augmented reality).

      Part 2: relies on a design research focus whereby tasks will include a literature and precedent review in its employ to establish the parameters, limitations and opportunities to realise an adaptive reuse design of the documented structure. Visualisations (augmented and or other digital technologies) of the redesign with a synopsis of the literature will provide insight and a preliminary feasibility study for Councils and Traditional Owners to establish the future of the repurposing project. This work builds on the CI’s former research around the revised 2021 National Standard of Competency for Architects and pedagogical requirements to deliver understandings of First Nations Peoples’ cultural concept of Country for professional registration and to practice as an Architect in Australia.

      Contact person: Dr Julie Nichols

       

      Apply now

    • Co-design of a Community Service for Improved Intergenerational Play and Mental Health in the Regional South Australia minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Traditionally in developed nations, the aged and the young are separated in living and social contexts with little opportunity for meaningful interaction. Research suggests that segregating generations aggravates intergenerational conflicts and in addition, social isolation in older people is associated with functional and cognitive decline and dementia. The aim of this project was to develop an intergenerational play program as part of the first dedicated intergenerational play space in the regional South Australia (SA), Australia. The intergenerational program focuses on building services for older people experiencing social isolation and associated mental health problems. Providing an intergenerational service outside the normal confines of age-care or child-care settings provides novel opportunities for people who are generally excluded from public settings. Data will be collected through co-design workshops with community members and workshops with professionals from health, arts and design, and occupational therapy. Our research employed intergenerational design principles to co-design an intergenerational program utilising existing public spaces, to foster local support networks for older people at risk of social isolation. 

      Contact person: Associate Professor Fanke Peng

       

      Apply now

    • Design For Health – increasing interprofessional teaching and learning to address ‘wicked problems’ in the health system minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project aims to understand how design students can work with health professionals and Allied health students can collaborate on industry-based projects within the context of design for health.
      The student from CTV/ Match Studio will be supervised by Dr Jane Andrew and Assoc prof Fanke Peng, and work collaboratively with the Allied Health student supervised by Professor Mary Butler
      The Summer research project will involve undertaking a narrative literature review about relevant interprofessional frameworks in the context of Design for Health. As part of the project, the student will interview program directors about the barriers and facilitators to interprofessional work in the context of design for health.
      The CTV student (and the student from Allied Health) will have the experience of working and reflecting on why and how increasing interprofessional collaborations between design and health professionals can address many or the ‘wicked problems’ our health systems and services are currently facing.
      In addition, the students will be able to contribute to the development of stage two of a project ‘MOP’ Moveable Objects in the playground that builds on the collaborative project undertaken in Match Studio in SP5 with students in GRAP 5006 and researchers and design mentors, Dr Jane Andrew, Associate Professor Nicky Ridgers, Professor Mary Butler and Associate Professor Fanke Peng.

      Contact person: Dr Jane Andrew 

       

      Apply now

    • Developing a Digital Human Manikin for design prototyping minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: We have developed a Digital Huma Manikin (A Cad model of a human body) for use in CAD environments and VR to support design development and evaluation. We need to revisit the design of the manikin to make it suitable for a range of applications and CAD systems. This will suit a person interested in CAD modelling to develop design and research tools.

      Contact person: Dr Peter Schumacher

       

      Apply now

    • Developing the Rapid Human Environment Prototyping system minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: We have developed a large scale prototyping construction system to quickly create room sized constructions in the early stages of design for design development and user feedback.
      We are looking to further refine and develop the system and integrate digital projection. This will suit a person interested in developing physcial modelling to develop design and research tools.

      Contact person: Dr Peter Schumacher

       

      Apply now

    • Exploring Graphic Medicine Narratives minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The student will design a survey to ascertain if, and/or how, graphics or comics artists with an invisible disability/condition, use graphics or comics to express their sense of self and life with their condition. The student will also create a literature review of contemporary texts in this field, eg: graphic medicine.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact people: Dr Jess White, Ms Jo Mignone, Dr Jeanne-Marie Viljoen

       

      Apply now

    • Mega meta-research at MOD minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:  As a leading future-focused museum within UniSA, MOD. serves to connect research and the public.

      In showcasing the work of researchers, we also generate our own research within these overarching themes:

      • How might we build the capability of people for ethical futures thinking?
      • How might we curate and design?
      • How might we communicate research and STEM to the public?

      The meta-question is how we reflect on our own approaches to research.

      You will start by reviewing the map of research activity in MOD. and developing sets of questions to inform our activity in the research themes. The work will include a literature review to support at least one of the three main research questions, and you will also provide input into our active research initiatives including preparation of NTROs, assistance with journal papers and review of the Open Lab.

      Mode of Study: Some familiarity with MOD. will be required, so a site visit would be desirable, but the bulk of the project could be undertaken through remote/online work.

      Contact person: Dr Kristin Alford

       

      Apply now

    • OnSite – Blueprint Coding for Virtual Site Visits minus-thick plus-thick

      Project Summary: This scholarship will allow a student to participate in the current OnSite Project managed by Dr Sean Pickersgill. This project is currently developing next-generation immersive environments for construction site visits as well as data rich 3D environments. The successful candidate will be introduced to our use of the Unreal Engine for architecture purposes, developing interactive functionality and incorporating game-based behaviour prompts for users. You will be involved in the day-to-day development of the project and will assist us in creating optimised workflows for bringing Revit models from the architecture industry into a game environment with the associated user experience. While it is desirable that the successful candidate has some familiarity with the Unreal Engine and its editing environment, we are willing to develop these skills for the right candidate.

      Contact person: Dr Sean Pickersgill

       

      Apply now

    • OnSite – Data Management for Unreal minus-thick plus-thick

      Project Summary: This scholarship will allow a student to participate in the current OnSite Project managed by Dr Sean Pickersgill. This project is currently developing next-generation immersive environments for construction site visits as well as data rich 3D environments. The successful candidate will be introduced to our use of the Unreal Engine and the opportunity to create interactivity between the game environment and SQL databases using the mySQL plugin for the engine. Similar to the creation of player databases, we will be developing interaction between .csv databases and the game environment to allow us to create a unique form of data-rich site visit user experience, while allowing the OnSite team to accurately supply and harvest appropriate data resources from the application.

      Contact person: Dr Sean Pickersgill

       

      Apply now

    • Planning and policy-making for zero carbon emissions electric mobility in Australia’s cities and regions minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project examines the challenges in planning electric charging infrastructure for electric motor vehicles in Australia’s cities and regions. Currently Australia has very poor take-up of electric vehicles which is to a large part due to the range anxiety that accompanies electric vehicles and the lack of public and private high-capacity charging infrastructure. This project involves: appraising what the electric charging infrastructure needs are to power an all-electric motor vehicle fleet in Australia; investigating the different types of charging infrastructure that will be required in various urban and regional settings; determining the required changes to the planning system, transport and energy regulations, and transport and electricity networks to support widespread electric vehicle usage; and the nature of investment in electric vehicle charging required for universal uptake of electric vehicles in Australia. 

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Andrew Allan

       

      Apply now

    • Snap shot of South Australian Creative Practitioners minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Contributing to the development, administration and analysis of an on-line survey of around 25 questions aimed at people working in the South Australian Creative Industries sector. It will ask for information on education, moving to SA, income, employees, and a more general responses on outlook for the future of their business/ practice and the sector in general. It follows a model developed in Tasmania, to be adapted in the SA and post-Covid context. It will also align with related research based on the most recent census data. The results will be published by CP3/UniSA and disseminated at public events

      Contact person: Professor Justin O'Connor 

       

      Apply now

    • Towards a carbon neutral water supply infrastructure in cities minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project involves work on a literature review on carbon emissions reduction actions and policies for water supply infrastructure in cities. Currently much of the policy emphasis on carbon emissions reduction focuses on energy supply, transport and embodied carbon emissions in the built environment, however, when it comes to water supply, whilst there is some literature on the energy required to facilitate water supply, there is limited research on achieving carbon neutrality with water supply in cities with regard to operational aspects of water catchment management, water supply and storage. This project aims to provide an appraisal of the carbon emissions associated with water supply and investigate future options for governance, policies, urban planning, water supply technology and management that would help to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

      This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Andrew Allan 

       

      Apply now

  • classroom-teacher-present Education Futures minus-thin plus-thin

    In addition to the list of projects below, the following staff are willing to accept vacation students. Please contact them directly to discuss possible project opportunities.

    Dr Rhoda Abadia & Dr Sisi Liu: AI in education (personalised assessments). Text and predictive analytics. 

    Dr Shekh Rubaiyat: Assessments 

    Professor Anna Sullivan: Vacation scholars will have to opportunity to undertake research in the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion. A range of project possibilities are available including literature searches, literature reviews and data analysis. Topics include early career teachers, casual teachers, induction, classroom management, school discipline and school exclusions. Scholars will learn about large research projects and collaborate with teams. 

    Dr Neil Tippett: I am looking for one or more vacation scholars to assist with my ongoing research projects which examine educational policy and practice in relation to:
    • behaviour management and school discipline
    • early career teachers’ work and induction experiences
    • the development and enactment of policies within schools & school leadership practice.
    If you have an interest in any of these topics, then please get in contact, as there are many opportunities to be involved, including conducting literature reviews, analysing policies or previously collected data, and preparing academic publications such as briefing papers or journal articles.
    In joining any of these projects, you will have the opportunity to work as part of a successful research team within the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion, and I will support you in developing your research knowledge and expertise. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like any further information

    Education Futures

    • An exploration of the interconnection between student and teacher wellbeing: preventative approaches to anxiety, stress and mental health minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:This project aims to contribute to knowledge of the interconnection between student/teacher wellbeing and inform preventative wellbeing approaches to address the increasing prevalence of anxiety, stress, and mental health of students and teachers.
      Increasingly young people and teachers are disengaging from education and employment due to reports of increasing wellbeing factors, particularly compounded by the Covid-19 context.
      This is contributing to growing societal social, educational, economic and health costs, both locally and globally.
      This project will inform the field of wellbeing research, with implications for sustained educational engagement and employment retention.
      This project will include a literature review and working on a pilot study and integrate co-design responsive to the scholarship holder’s interest in the project issue.

      Contact person: Dr Deborah Price

       

      Apply now

    • Creative and body-based learning serving communities of poverty and trauma minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project aims to investigate how creative and body-based teaching approaches can respond to the educational needs of students in high poverty communities. The study involves multi-sited action research and ethnography in schools located in areas of high poverty in Adelaide. It brings together teachers, researchers and teaching artists to identify complex challenges, co-create curriculum aimed at improving student engagement and investigate their impact. The vacation scholarship will contribute to this project by reviewing literature and assisting with data analysis using qualitative and visual methods. Outcomes advance understanding of the processes of educational inequity as well as how young people might be supported to engage more powerfully with school.

      Contact person: Dr Robyne Garrett 

       

      Apply now

    • Cultural inclusion in sport minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Establish a set of ‘principles of best practice’ for attracting and retaining culturally and linguistically diverse players in sport. Produce various resources, such as fact sheets, guides and stories of best practice aimed at various stakeholders. Resources will outline ways in which major stakeholders can contribute to more socially inclusive practices for players.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr David Caldwell

       

      Apply now

    • Culturally Responsive Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project will explore issues of inclusion in a global context of increasing diversity in early childhood settings. The scholarship holder will have the opportunity to engage with experienced researchers in the Centre for Research in Education and Social Inclusion and will have opportunity to contribute to a literature review on culturally inclusive pedagogies in early childhood and learn about policy analysis.

      Contact person: Dr Jamie Sisson 

       

      Apply now

    • Developing best practice approaches for teaching and supporting students from refugee backgrounds in higher education minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project seeks to respond to two interrelated challenges for academics and support staff who work with Students from Refugee Backgrounds (SfRBs):

      1) To use best practice approaches for culturally responsive pedagogies and support services built on in-depth understanding of the educational aspirations, strengths, and challenges of SfRBs.
      2) To use best practice approaches for tailored learning resources and technologies supported by effective pedagogies for SfRBs engaged in blended and online learning.

      The proposed project responds to these challenges by investigating the student experience of SfRBs at UniSA College as well as current approaches used by educators and support staff who work with SfRBs at UniSA College through interviews and focus groups.

      This vacation scholarship would suit students in the field of Education or Social Sciences. The scholarship holder would contribute to this project by assisting with a range of activities including reviewing literature and/or data analysis using qualitative methods.

      The scholarship holder will have opportunity to learn about the enabling pedagogies and inclusive teaching approaches used in the pathway programs at UniSA College and will receive research training and mentorship from the project’s Chief Investigators Dr Snjezana Bilic and Dr Heidi Hetz.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact people: Dr Snjezana Bilic & Dr Heidi Hetz 

       

       

      Apply now

    • Developing mathematical thinking in the early years: challenges of multi-age classrooms in inner regional South Australian Schools minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: According to MySchools® (ACARA, n.d) reporting of Australian schools data, 46 South Australian (SA) state schools have enrolments of 50 students or less, with approximately 13% of all SA government primary schools having equivalent student numbers. Approximately a quarter of SA state primary Schools have enrolments of less than 100 students, equating to 83 of all SA government schools have equivalent student numbers. Hence, small schools form a significant part of the SA schooling landscape. Geographically, they are classified as inner regional (n = 30) and outer regional (n = 42) schools. A key feature of small schools, limited by the sizes of their student populations, is the presence of students completing multiple year levels within the one class. In junior primary, this can mean that all children between the ages of five to eight may be in a single class. In smaller schools where the student population is less than 25, this is compounded where all students attending the school are in the one class. This mix of ages and the diverse range of development experienced by young children adds a complexity not seen in classes at schools with larger student populations. Early educational experiences provide the foundation for later achievement, however, there is little research into the first years of schooling in small regional schools and multi-age classrooms.
      The vacation scholarship can be involved in various components of the research, including using MySchool and ABS data to collate, organise, display Australian school population data and produce a summary of findings; a literature review and/or contributing to a future publication.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Kate Quane & Dr Bec Neill 

       

      Apply now

    • Digital Learning and Authentic Assessment minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Our project investigates student perspectives on authentic assessment and digital learning in order to generate recommendations for educators.

      We are looking for a research vacation scholarship student interested in and competent with digital technologies.

      The student will be mentored through the following tasks:
      • Literature review of emerging themes on digital learning and authentic assessment
      • Work on a digital artefact (editing video content and/or simple web authoring).

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Jennifer Stokes & Dr John Pike 

       

      Apply now

    • Every student counts: Investigating impacts of social justice discourses in professional learning in Higher Education minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Building on our prior research into the impact of professional learning informed by social justice discourses in Higher Education in a South Australian university (Hattam & Weiler 2022; Hattam & Weiler 2020), this project seeks to develop a national Community of Practice in inclusive, enabling and critical pedagogies in higher education.

      The adoption of Widening Participation (WP) policy in Australian universities is recognised as offering universities opportunities to balance competing logics of neo-liberal marketisation and a pursuit for more social justice in HE. As reported by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, undergraduate student enrolment from nationally recognised equity categories increased 12.6% nationally between 2013-2018 with low-SES students accounting for 17% of all undergraduates in 2018 (Koshy 2019).

      WP reform challenges historical discourses of elitism and privilege, however a deficit framing persuasively demeans and delegitimises non-traditional students and those who work in the WP space of universities (Ahmed 2006; O’Shea et al. 2016; Burke 2013).

      Our research investigates two central questions:
      1. How can pedagogical spaces in Higher Education be transformed to be more inclusive?
      2. How can critical, enabling and inclusive pedagogies challange discourses of deficit in higher education educators?

      There are two stages to our project:
      1. To build an external website to host existing self-paced academic development resources in developing critical, enabling and inclusive pedagogies and engage international audience in completing the professional learning modules.
      2. Upon completion of the modules, participants will be surveyed to evaluate their attitudes towards critical, enabling and inclusive approaches and how these could be enacted within their teaching.

      The vacation scholarship holder would contribute to this project by assisting with a range of activities including literature review and data analysis.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person:  Sarah Hattam & Tanya Weiler 

       

      Apply now

    • Examining the feedback provision for teams in work-integrated learning contexts using learning analytics minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: Feedback is an important aspect of learning in any environment, as it helps teams to break bad habits, reinforces positive behaviours and enables teams to work more effectively toward their goals. Effective feedback from mentors and clients is crucial for teams working on industry-related projects. Without it, their chances to perform well on particular tasks or develop useful skills remain limited. Given the importance of feedback, this project will help examine the differences in the provision of feedback from clients and mentors using learning analytics approaches.

      The student will be involved in identifying key patterns, relationships, sentiments, or other classifications from text data to understand the differences in how clients and mentors provide feedback to teams. The implications of this research can help improve how instructors provide feedback to teams in collaborative learning contexts to further support teams.

      This project is part of a CRC-P collaboration between the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L) and other major research and industry educational partners.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact people: Mr Andrew Zamecnik & Dr Srecko Joksimovic

      Apply now

    • Hard of Hearing and Deaf student’s attitudes towards and engagement in mathematics minus-thick plus-thick


      Project Summary: “Hearing loss is the most common disability in adulthood” (Deafness Forum of Australia (DFA), 2022) with “1 in 6 Australians affected by hearing loss” (Australian Network on Disability, 2021). In terms of young people, 34 million children worldwide are reported to have a hearing loss (DFA, 2022). In Australia in 2019-2020, 72,000 children aged between 0 and 9 and 68, 000 children aged between 10 – 19 are considered to be Hard of Hearing (Hearing Care Industry Association, (HCIA) 2020). These statistics may be surprising to some; however, these numbers only portray a part of the issue. Children who are Hard of Hearing or Deaf are reported to have “poorer education and employment” (HCIA, 2020), “exclusion from communication”, and economic ramifications (DFA, 2022). Despite these acknowledgments of the impact hearing loss has on individuals, there is little research exploring practices that support, nurture, and foster learning opportunities for children who are Hard of Hearing or Deaf, in particular, in mathematics education.

      This project entails a literature review that examines research on Hard of Hearing and Deaf student’s attitudes towards and engagement in mathematics:

      • What does the current literature tell us about Hard of Hearing and Deaf students’ attitudes towards and engagement in mathematics?
      • What recommendations for practice are presented in the literature?

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Kate Quane

       

      Apply now

      .

    • How Do You Connect? Digitally mediated interactions of children and youth minus-thick plus-thick

      Project Summary: Using an interactive, activity-based approach, participants are invited to create network diagrams representing their digital interactions with family, friends and others. HDYC has already been successfully undertaken with 60 primary school children in SA and QLD and has ethics approval. The Vacation Scholarship program offers a student researcher the opportunity to take HDYC to a new cohort. Depending on the student researcher’s interest, this could be younger children, adolescents, or higher education students. The student researcher will be mentored in the skills of activity-based interviewing and in the multimodal analysis of visual and verbal data. Alternatively, if difficulties arise related to access to participants, the student researcher can undertake a focused analysis of existing data. Again, this focus will be negotiated with the student researcher. There will be also opportunities to participate in research activities with a broader project team, currently undertaking ARC DP 21010226 led by Nichols. 

      Remote/Online participation option is available with this project. 

      Contact person: Professor Sue Nichols 

       

      Apply now

    • Online Lab Learning – Is it practically the same? minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Laboratory and practical-based learning opportunities are highly valued. The move to deliver science-based courses online provides greater accessibility to a wide range of learners, however this also challenges core teaching philosophies that face-to-face laboratory learning is unmatched.

      The aim of this project is to investigate the impact of iterative creation of online resources and online practicals in introductory science courses, where practice-based laboratory skills offer a link between theory and conceptual understanding.

      Using learning analytics, the vacation scholar will analyse completion of online activities and assessment grades. Student reflections and experiences will be examined through text analysis. This project builds upon ongoing research in online practical sessions and online interactive activities for UniSA College science courses.

      Key outcomes will be
      • Identify the link between completion of online labs and grades
      • Describe the emerging themes in student experiences of online resources
      • Determine whether the activities effectively scaffold student learning compared to face-to-face classes

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Alice Betteridge, Anthea FudgeNatasha Wilson 

       

      Apply now

    • Play environments to support mental health and wellbeing in adolescence. minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: 50% of life-long mental health conditions develop before the age of 14. Play has been shown to be fundamental to children’s mental health and wellbeing. Middle years children, however, have been under-researched as a cohort in relation to play. This study investigates play and the impact of play environments on mental health and wellbeing for middle years children. The overarching aim is to develop a framework to support the mental health and wellbeing of this population. The successful student could be involved in various components of the research: literature review, data analysis, and/or contributing to a future publication.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Jane Webb-Williams

      Apply now

    • Putting Tests to the Test minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project aims to evaluate the ways test-based assessments are used in higher education and to identify to what extent they promote/reward higher order learning.

      Research shows that authentic approaches to assessment provide students with a clear purpose of the assessment tasks, increasing engagement. In enabling education there must be a balance between designing assessment tasks with real world applications and preparing students for undergraduate degrees where, in sciences, the most common assessment task is a test or exam. Tests and exams are often criticised for being weighted towards lower order skills such as memorisation. This project seeks to address this criticism and seek opportunities to embed more authentic approaches to test design.

      In this research project, the test questions currently used in three foundation level science courses will be ranked and evaluated using a validated taxonomy to determine what levels of thought are currently assessed. This project will also investigate the relationships between questions that encourage higher order responses and overall course grades The vacation scholar will be involved in the rating and categorising of quiz and test questions against a validated taxonomy and the analysis of findings. This project will form a platform for the ongoing STEM Authentic Assessment project at UniSA College and lead to improved assessment practices that better support student learning outcomes.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact people: Alice Betteridge, Anthea Fudge, Monica Thai, Natasha Wilson 

       

      Apply now

    • Reclaiming Professionalism: Training teachers as curriculum workers minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Curriculum is central to the teaching and learning within the educational field. Within the current Australian context there has been significant initiatives aimed at raising quality of teaching and student academic outcomes including:
      - Advancing a consistent national curriculum in schools/settings with Australian Curriculum version 9 released May 2022 (ACARA)
      - national standards for initial teacher education program (AITSL) with curriculum emphasis on certain discipline/learning areas
      - increased focus on pedagogy of enacted curriculum


      This project specifically addresses the growing concern for changes in curriculum discourse and reduced emphasis being placed in training teachers as curriculum workers. The research questions underpinning this project are:
      - How is curriculum defined, understood and developed in initial teacher education (ITE) programs?
      - What is the nature of how teachers are trained as curriculum workers?

      The scholarship holder will have the opportunity to engage in:
      - Data collection and content analysis: mapping Australian Initial Teacher Education (undergraduate and postgraduate) program and course web pages re curriculum discourse.
      - Potential for conducting interviews with ITE program directors/curriculum leads and transcribing and thematic analysis.
      - Ethics application
      - Disseminate findings – potential to co-author journal article for submission to Curriculum Perspectives.


      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Deborah Price

       

      Apply now

    • Scoping review of online exam (Authentic and conventional) in engineering education minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:

      • Review current online exams methods for engineering education.
      • Identify learning technologies used for online exam in engineering
      • Scope of authentic assessment (online exam) in engineering education
      • Propose a robust online exam methodology frame work for engineering education

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Rhoda Abadia & Dr Shekh Rubaiyat

       

      Apply now

    • Systematic literature review on mental health well-being of academics in Australian teacher education minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Recent studies and media reports have indicated the increasing number of academics reporting symptoms of poor mental wellbeing. They include burnout, anxiety and depression. If these symptoms should continue, they will have enormous social and economic impacts on Australian higher education sector including reduced capacity to work, increased cost associated to employee compensation, early retirement, and absenteeism. Yet, little is known the situation amongst academics working in the field of teacher education. This systematic literature review will explore current research on academics (including early/mid-career researchers) working in teacher education:
      1. how is mental wellbeing defined in the current teacher education context?
      2. what do we know about the stresses and issues that teacher educators encounter today (eg. in post-COVID work conditions)?
      3. what recommendations for improving mental health wellbeing of academics (including teacher educators) are found in the literature?
      The vacation research scholar will work closely with the ECR Research Team in a systematic review of the literature and will contribute to the co-publication.

      Contact person: Dr Hannah Soong

       

      Apply now

    • Text-based analysis of written feedback in summative assessments minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Apply text-based analytical techniques to marking rubric and feedback of summative assessments to evaluate the quality of written feedback and identify students’ common misconceptions:
      • To explore the alignment of key concepts extracted from marking rubric and written feedback
      • To model students’ common misconceptions and cluster similar misconceptions into groups

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Rhoda Abadia & Dr Sisi Liu

       

      Apply now

    • The Regional Student Experience: School-University Partnerships minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:  The Project would focus on two interconnected aspects: the first is Motta and Bennett’s (2018) description of pedagogies of care as: recognition, dialogic relationality, and affective and embodied praxis (p, 632); and the second is what Green, Eady and Tindall-Ford (2020) describe [as] school-university partnerships … operating in the ‘third space’ where the domains of school and university intersect; they are intentional, deliberate, collaborative, and non-hierarchical in nature (p, 13).

      Locating the Regional Student Experience within the ‘third space’ of school-university partnerships will support, facilitate, enable and promote care-ful pedagogic relationships with students as individuals, learners and pre-service teachers; and build the professional and collegial connections with and benefits for supervising teachers, school sites and this regional university tutor/professional experience supervisor.

      Opening up the ‘third space’ to enable what Walker and Gleaves (2016) describe as “the active fostering of and maintenance of pedagogic relationships above all else” (p, 1), will not only enhance and strengthen school-university partnerships, it will enable and bring to the forefront pedagogic relationships that will significantly improve the regional student experience for pre-service teachers’ learning, and ultimately final year pre-service teachers’ Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment (2022) outcomes.

      References
      UniSA Education Futures Academic Unit Plan 2022 – 2025 EDC_Academic Unit Plan_approved (1).pdf
      Green, C.A., Eady, M.J., Tindall-Ford, S.K. (2020). “I Think That’s My Job”: What Motivates Teachers to Partner with Teacher Educators in ITE?. In: Fox, J., Alexander, C., Aspland, T. (eds) Teacher Education in Globalised Times. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4124-7_13
      Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment, Preservice Teacher Booklet 2022. Institute for Learning Sciences & Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University.
      Motta, S. C., & Bennett, A. (2018). Pedagogies of care, care-full epistemological practice and ‘other’ caring subjectivities in enabling education. Teaching in Higher Education, 23(5), 631-646.
      Walker, C., & Gleaves, A. (2016). Constructing the caring higher education teacher: A theoretical framework. Teaching and teacher education, 54, 65-76.

      Mode of Study: Ideally, the scholarship recipient[s] would be from a regional location/catchment of UniSA’s Whyalla Campus. There are a number of current undergraduate students that would be strongly encouraged to apply; in addition, two regional students could share the Vacation Research Scholarship and each prepare an annotated bibliography and 4000 – 5000 word Literature Review on each aspect of the Project that could then be collaboratively written with a view to publication.

      As I live and work in the region I would be available both face to face and online throughout the vacation break to support and supervise the Vacation Scholarship Recipient[s]. The Research Vacation Scholarship would be 8 weeks in duration, commencing in the last week of November – break over Christmas/New Year when the University is closed – and recommence the first week in January and conclude at the end of the month.

      The Regional Student Experience and School-University Partnerships are the focus on my current role at the Whyalla Campus and feature in my scholarship work, this project would add depth and value to that.

      Contact person: Sharron Jones 

      Apply now

       

       

    • Understand bystander behaviour online minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: It has long been recognised that bystanders can stop bullying in 50% of cases. This project significantly contributes to what is known about cyberbullying by exploring the online behaviours of young people. This project aimed to:
      • Identify who are the bystanders within the context of cyber bullying
      • Identify the roles that bystanders play in bullying situations in cyber space
      • Highlight the significance of these participant roles
      • Determine the decision making processes used by those involved
      Data has been collected for this project therefore the vacation scholarship holder will contribute as part of a team who will analyse data and disseminate findings.

      The scholarship holder will have the opportunity to engage with experienced researchers in the Centre for Research in Education and Social Inclusion and will receive training and mentoring from the research team.

      Contact person: Dr Deborah Green 

       

      Apply now

  • criminal-mugshot-prisoner Justice & Society minus-thin plus-thin

    In addition to the list of projects below, the following staff are willing to accept vacation students. Please contact them directly to discuss possible project opportunities.

    Prof Siobhan Banks

    The students will help to conduct research in the sleep and chronobiology laboratory, Behaviour Brain Body Research Group (BBB). A range of project possibilities are available from literature reviews, data collection and data analysis. Topics include sleep loss, circadian rhythms, fatigue countermeasures, caffeine, cognitive performance, stress and health. The BBB includes students as part of the team and they will be welcomed to participate in team meetings, development sessions and social activities. Students will learn about working on industry projects as part of a large team, and how to translate the research to real world contexts.

    Prof. Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky

    The Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory performs research on the neurobiological underpinnings of cognition and behaviour. The main techniques in use in the laboratory are electroencephalography (EEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), eye-tracking and various behavioural methods. Major research areas include memory and language, the relation between sleep and cognition, the impact of mental training, cognitive processing across the lifespan and individual differences. As part of the Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE), our work is strongly focused on studying how the human brain processes information in complex and dynamic environments, thus helping to bring cognitive neuroscience out of the lab and into the "real world". There will be diverse opportunities for students to undertake vacation research scholarship projects in the above areas – and potentially in other domains – in the laboratory in 2022/2023. Potential research supervisors are Prof. Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Dr Alex Chatburn, Dr Scott Coussens, Dr Zach Cross and Prof. Matthias Schlesewsky.

    Students completing research projects within our laboratory will participate in a highly vibrant, dynamic and supportive research environment beyond their own project, including weekly lab meetings and mentoring of scholarship recipients by HDR candidates. If you are interested in undertaking a vacation scholarship research project with us or would like more information about potential projects, please contact any of the potential supervisors listed above. Note that, while most projects will be in the cognitive neuroscience area, opportunities for behavioural research are also available.

    Dr Larissa McLoughlin

    The students will help to conduct research in the Behaviour Brain Body (BBB) Research Centre. A range of project possibilities are available from literature reviews, data collection and data analysis and interpretation. Topics include cyberbullying, youth mental health, social connectedness, eye tracking, cyberbystander behaviour, sleep quality and duration. Students can participate in team meetings, development sessions and social activities, and gain valuable skills in conducting research and being part of a team.

    Justice & Society

    • AI Futures and Social Analysis: EU and Australasian perspectives minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: The UniSA Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, based within the UniSA Justice & Society Academic Unit, has become an important contributor of international debates surrounding the future of AI and its social dimensions. Works by Centre Director, Professor Anthony Elliott and other Centre staff have developed new perspectives about how advanced automation and the robotics revolution all have social drivers and consequences.

      The present project seeks to build on these works by developing new sociological theories on issues such as the emergence of AI-driven smart borders, the future of the passport, and social implications of chatbots. Successful applicants will get the opportunity to produce a scholarly work for publication. Also as part of their scholarship, they will get the chance to contribute to the operation of a Centre funded by the European Commission, which is charged to engage in public diplomacy to deepen the EU/Australia relationship. Additionally successful applicants will get the opportunity to make contributions to ongoing sociological research projects at the UniSA Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence.

      Contact person: Dr Eric Hsu

       

      Apply now

    • Cognitive and wellbeing ageing projects minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: There are several projects that students can be involved with. They are detailed below, but please do get in touch for further details. Students will work on multiple projects, all of which are underway. Activities include participant testing, learning how to collect cognitive and psychophysiological measurements, study logistics, data entry, literature reviews, and pilot testing. Along with the project-based work, students will be immersed in a research environment, participating in laboratory meetings (CAIN Lab and BBB Research Centre), training events, and attending seminars.


      1. Identifying how social cognition changes in adulthood.
      2. Evaluating an intergenerational playgroup.
      3. Evaluating a wellbeing educational intervention for older adults.
      4. Investigating the auditory oddball in very late-life.

      Contact person: A/Prof Hannah Keage

       

      Apply now

    • Consent Laws and Sexual Offences in South Australia minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Nearly all Australian jurisdictions have either enacted elements of an affirmative consent model in some form or are otherwise currently undertaking reviews of their consent laws. These reforms recognise that critical barriers to access to justice lead to around 90% of women who experience sexual assault choosing not to report their abuse to police. Whilst there are some welcome legislative amendments currently awaiting passage in the SA House of Assembly, these proposed amendments do not reflect the emerging consensus that law reform and community education frameworks should recognise the need for active consent. This highlights the urgent need to explore further reforms to South Australia’s judicial system’s approach to sexual violence to better support the experiences and autonomy of victim-survivors. This project aims to identify options to supplement current and proposed SA consent provisions and jury directions including through the inclusion of a comprehensive definition of consent that explicitly reflects this conception of active consent. Outputs will include a law reform Options Paper, as well as a short presentation at an online community forum hosted by the Rights Resource Network SA.
      The project will also include liaison with the Victims Support Service SA and Embolden SA – two community organisations actively engaged in advocacy in this area.

      Contact person: Dr Sarah Moulds

       

      Apply now

    • Developing a data literacy scale minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary:Data literacy refers to the ability to derive meaningful information from data. It’s a relatively new concept. We know some people are highly data literate and some people have poor data literacy, however, we don’t have an appropriate, reliable, and valid scale on which to index data literacy. This project aims to (start to) develop a data literacy scale. This is a fun and collaborative project, with two data scientists from the University of Adelaide - Professor Lewis Mitchell and Dr Melissa Humphries - and Dr Owen Churches from the SA Government, along with A/Prof Tobias Loetscher (UniSA Psychology). We are at the early stages of this project and need assistance to (i) undertake a literature review on data literacy, (ii) communicate with key researchers in the field to operationalise the term data literacy in the context of related concepts, (iii) begin to develop a question bank, and (iv), design a study to formally develop this new scale.

      Contact person: A/Prof. Hannah Keage

       

      Apply now

    • Identifying common challenges experienced by researchers lodging ethics applications minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Dr McLinton is writing a paper on the common pitfalls encountered by researchers in their applications to Human Research Ethics Committees. It is a qualitative study looking to answer the question "What are the trends in the comments, requests, and advice given by Research Ethics Advisors (REA) in the process of reviewing moderate-risk-level research proposals?"

      Our team has commenced searching the literature for background information, but we’re looking for a bright scholar who can help us. Tasks would include; 1) running queries on the body of knowledge; 2) reporting back on key papers; and 3) synthesising these in part of our literature review under the guidance of Dr McLinton.
      For example, some queries we have include:
      - has there been research in the past evaluating Human Research Ethics Committee protocols?
      - if so, what types of trends arise? Are there common pitfalls encountered by applicants submitting a proposal? Where do the typical issues lie in applications (e.g. risks to researchers, risks to participants, issues with bias, repercussions for organisations, and so on...)

      Reporting back could include verbal summaries, notes, collated abstracts of key papers, or even paraphrased written content. Should the student be interested, if they write sections to be included in the paper itself then they will be invited on directly as an author of the paper (according to APA authorship guidelines).

      Therefore, this placement would suit a student with a strong mastery of report writing, is interested in academic writing for peer review, as well as research ethics in general. It is located as UniSA JUS Magill, but can also be conducted remotely, with meetings via Zoom.

      Contact person: Dr Sarven McLinton

       

      Apply now

    • Maximising authenticity in learning and assessment in a Bachelor of Arts placement program minus-thick plus-thick

      Project summary: This research seeks to explore authenticity in learning and assessment in a non-vocational Bachelor of Arts degree (MBAA), to enable meaningful and relevant connections between students and community/industry partners. In the MBAA, the Professional Directions Program (PDP) provides students with experiential learning and placement opportunities to enable them to explore and develop potential career narratives. The unique double major plus minor structure means that MBAA students bring diverse disciplinary knowledge, different linguistic and cultural repertoires, and unique experiences and aspirations, equipping them with an epistemic agility and research capabilities that are crucial for creating innovative solutions in a rapidly transforming society. The aim of the research is to capture student and community/industry perspectives on authenticity in learning and assessment, so that these voices can (1) be drawn on to co-design innovative, authentic learning and assessment options, and (2) be integrated into the course narrative to support future PDP students. The successful Vacation Research Scholar will work with experienced applied linguistic researchers to collect and analyse data in the form of reflective journal entries and semi-structured interviews with PDP students, teachers and community/industry partners. They will be invited to co-present findings at an RCLC seminar, and contribute to a paper with the researchers.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Dr Fiona O'Neill

       

      Apply now

       

    • Psychologist theoretical orientation and applied techniques in clinical practice and academic training/Workforce survey regarding practicing psychologists minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary:Summary of private practice psychologists regarding their applied work (nature) and focus relating to theoretical orientation and techniques used.

      Contact person: Dr Nadine Pelling

      Apply now

    • What does “successful ageing” in the workplace mean? minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: This study examines what successful ageing in the workplace means to people. The average life expectancy continues to rise, and with this extraordinary feat of human innovation comes new challenges. One of which is that traditional retirement ages are no longer suitable for many of us. As we age into advanced years we may wish – or need – to continue working. Survey data asking individuals what successful ageing in the workplace means has been collected through qualitative responses from over 200 participants.
      The student will be involved in the project by analysing these results through either content or thematic analysis with an aim of contributing to a manuscript. The student will be guided on ethical handling of the data, enacting appropriate analytic methods, and conduct effective literature searches. Along with this, the student will be involved in any meetings, seminars, or related BBB Research Centre activities.
      This project would suit any students interested in ageing, work and organisational psychology, and/or qualitative methods. Involvement in the BBB Research Centre provides additional insights into the various aspects and opportunities in the Behaviour-Brain-Body research areas. 

      Contact person: Dr Michelle Oppert

       

      Apply now

       

  • buildings-city STEM minus-thin plus-thin

    In addition to the list of projects below, the following staff are willing to accept vacation students. Please contact them directly to discuss possible project opportunities.

    Dr Mohammad Uddin: Mechanical design, surface engineering, advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing 

    STEM

    • Accelerating mass transport in nanochannels for engineering nano-scale sensors and actuators minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: Many industrial processes are rate-limited by diffusion in micro and nano-scale environments. Ultrasonic energy is known to accelerate diffusion in these systems, saving time and money. In this project, you will prepare metal-filled nanochannels in ANFF-SA's (https://www.anff-sa.com/) world-class clean rooms and conduct experiments that will visualise the rate of metal dissolution and mass transport in a < 500 nm channel. You will be trained in advanced manufacturing techniques, including photolithography, chemical etching, chip bonding, and microscopy. Microscopy will enable a quantitative analysis of the impact of ultrasonic energy on the dissolution rate, which will assist in advanced manufacturing of nanodevices, such as advanced sensors, optical cuvettes, and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). If time allows, you will explore the physical properties and new applications of these nanoscale environments.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Associate Professor Craig Priest

      Apply now

    • Adversarial Machine Learning minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: In recent years, machine learning, especially deep learning has achieved great success in many application areas, such as image classification and speech recognition. However, research has shown that deep learning models can be “cheated” or “attacked” with adversarial examples (which are generated by intended perturbations) to draw wrong conclusions. For example, a slightly perturbed image of a stop sign might be misclassified as a speed limit sign by a machine learning model, which can lead to catastrophic result if, say, such a model was used in an autonomous car for road sign identification.

      This project aims to investigate the vulnerabilities of the commonly used deep learning models, evaluate and identify the strength and weakness of existing defense algorithms developed in the field of adversarial machine learning. The research will lay a foundation for the development of novel and strong defense methods to safeguard machine learning systems.

      Students participating the project need to have strong programming skills and preferably have studied machine learning/data mining related course(s).

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Associate Professor Lin Liu 

       

      Apply now

    • Automated Event Extraction from Text Documents minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Students would conduct experiments to assess the effectiveness of machine-learning based methods for extracting key information and events from documents written in plain English text. Much of today’s information is still contained in written documents such as emails and Word documents (as opposed to structured data stored in databases). To leverage such information for visualisation and decision-making, this information must be automatically extracted so that machines can processes and link it with data from other sources. Recent successes in A.I. and machine learning have resulted in powerful text processing systems that can automatically process, transform, and summarise English text. In this project, students will test some of these systems to assess how well they can extract key events, actors, and their relationships in textual descriptions of the events. Documents and systems used in this study will be supplied by the academic supervisor.
      Students will gain knowledge about using state of the art Artificial Intelligence technologies for natural language processing. Students should possess skills in programming in Python.
      The duration of this project would ideally be 8 weeks but could be adjusted based on student preferences.

      I am also open to receiving project proposals by students interested in the broader area of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and Software Engineering

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Associate Professor Wolfgang Mayer 

       

      Apply now

    • Design and fabrication of low-cost optical filters for cube stats minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary:Bandpass filters (BFs), are crucial optical elements in a number of different applications, including space optics. The simplest optical filter is based on the Fabry-Perot concept, in which a dielectric layer is sandwiched between two metallic layers that act as mirrors. Unfortunately, the cost of such filters is relatively expensive, and they must be acquired from overseas. The aim of this project is to contribute to the optimization and characterization of a low-cost BF fabricated by magnetron sputtering. The student will vary the sputtering deposition parameters of the metallic and dielectric layers in order to obtain a high performance BF as demonstrated by optical measurements.

      Proejct Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Marta Llusca Jane & Dr Jebum Choi 

       

      Apply now

    • Detecting fire smoke from PRISMA hyperspectral satellite imagery minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: This project aims to explore the potential of PRISMA, a new hyperspectral satellite sensor, for (AI-based) fire smoke detection. During the summer vacation scholarship, the scholar will learn how to download PRISMA imagery over historical fire events and how to apply image masking as well as AI model for fire smoke detection using Python notebooks.
      Hence, this research contributes to improving early fire detection.
      Required are an interest (and ideally pre-skills) in Remote Sensing and/or Scripting (Python Notebooks). 

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Dr Stefan Peters 

       

      Apply now

    • Development of marine ecotoxicology tests for metals minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Industrial developments have contaminated parts of the Upper Spencer Gulf with high levels of metals, particularly areas around ports. Dredging is needed to keep ports working but re-liberates metals sequestered in sediments, potentially impacting across wide areas. This project will develop ecotoxicology assays to assess the likely impacts of dredging on marine invertebrates and algae. Most assays we use in our lab at UniSA focus on reproduction and early development in broadcast spawning marine invertebrates and algae (e.g. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety,172:547-555), but we are also developing survival assays for other benthic bryozoans and ascidians. This project would suit someone interested in marine ecology and monitoring pollution. 

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Associate Professor Craig Styan 

      Apply now

       

    • Development of marine ecotoxicology tests for PFAS minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:Worldwide, there is growing concern about the potential effects that manmade ‘forever chemicals’ like Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) might be having on the marine environment. Some data exist, but only for a limited number of test species and with methods that might underestimate the impacts because test exposures are often very brief. This project will help develop new ecotoxicology assays to better assess the impacts of PFAS on marine invertebrates and algae, running a (new) suite of laboratory-based assays that include longer exposures to toxicants. This project would suit someone interested in marine ecology and monitoring pollution.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Associate Professor Craig Styan 

       

      Apply now

       

    • Development of new standard materials and analysis and imaging of biogenic and geological carbonates minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: This project will develop new biogenic carbonate reference materials for use with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). This will fill a current gap in the world supply of these materials and allow for UniSA to develop new capabilities in the environmental analysis of marine organisms that possess shells or teeth and bone material. The project will take advantage of UniSA’s newly installed, world-leading LA-ICP-Time of Flight-MS facility that is capable of producing extremely detailed isotopic images of the life history of marine animals’ changing habitats.

      Contact person: Associate Professor Justin Payne 

       

      Apply now

    • Effects of prescribed burns on bird community composition minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Native bird populations have been declining in the Adelaide Hills, with serious implications for ecosystem functions. Birds control environmental pests, pollinate plants, and prey on, and are preyed upon by, some vertebrate groups. The project aims to determine the effects of prescribed burns and different fire histories on bird community composition and abundance, using a BACI (before-after-control-impact) design. The project will have a significant role in guiding fire management in our region. Partners include the Mid-Torrens Catchment Group, the Department for Environment and Water, and Zoos SA. Experience and strong competence in bird identification in the field are essential.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Topa Petit 

       

      Apply now

       

    • Enabling the future of additively manufactured structural components minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Additive manufacturing is a disruptive technology that dramatically reduced the development time for prototypes and small production runs when it was first introduced. The lower material wastage and ability to produce products with increased complexity in one operation made it especially attractive to produce high value products. As additive manufacturing has developed and become ubiquitous in the manufacturing sector, the scope of production has evolved and critical, structural components, that were once produced through conventional subtractive manufacturing, are now being produced additively.
      Once key challenge for additively manufactured structural components is calculating how long they will last. This project aims to investigate how additively manufactured parts compare to their equivalent, conventionally produced parts when subjected to cyclic fatigue. On this project, you will be responsible for testing the fatigue life of both additively manufacturing and conventionally manufacturing materials and comparing the failure mechanisms each suffers.
      This project will expose you to advanced instrumented mechanical testing, optical and electron microscopy and microstructural evaluation. Please email Anthony to discuss this further.

      Contact person: Dr Anthony Roccisano 

       

      Apply now

    • Enhancing the efficiency of electrochemical reactions in microgravity with micro/nanostructured electrodes minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Electrochemical reactions play an important role in energy production, chemical analysis, additive manufacturing etc. Gas bubbles formed on the electrode surfaces during electrochemical reactions such as water electrolysis are blocking entities, as they reduce the active surface area and increase the ohmic resistance. Especially in space with no or weak gravity, bubbles tend to adhere strongly to the surface due to the dominance of interfacial tension and reduce the efficiency of the electrochemical reactions. The adverse effect of bubbles on electrode surfaces in microgravity environments has been reported in an onsite test at the International Space Station. A ca. 70% current density decrease for ammonia oxidation reaction was observed.
      This project aims to minimize the adverse effect of gas bubbles and increase the efficiency of the electrochemical reactions in microgravity by introducing micro/nanostructures onto the electrode surfaces. The outcome is expected to be advantageous for future space activities.
      Reference:
      Carlos Cabrera, Camila Morales-Navas, Roberto Rodriguez Martinez et al. Autonomous Electrochemical System for Ammonia Oxidation Reaction Measurements at the International Space Station, 13 July 2022, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1638507/v1]

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Associate Professor Craig Priest & Dr Bin Guan 

       

      Apply now

    • Extending service life of additively manufactured metallic components minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: In recent decades, additive manufacturing (AM) has attracted significant attentions and greatly been employed in aerospace, defense, mining, medical industries. Due to the nature of process mechanics, AMed components have rough surface, cracks, porosity, internal tensile stress, which made them not readily usable and, as a result, requires postprocessing to meet the functional requirements.

      This project will propose a plasticity burnishing surface modification technique to alter surface/sub-surface properties of AMed components made of e.g. stainless steel (316L), nickel based alloys. Influence of different burnishing strategies and parameters such as force, feedrate, and stepping distance on the degree of modification will be investigated. Surface roughness, strength, microstructure, hardness and wear resistance of the modified surface will be examined and compared with that of the as-fabricated surface. The project will compare the findings with existing postprocessing approach (e.g. milling or turning).

      The project is an extension of the supervisor’s recent project with industry (Laserbond), and will develop further fundamental knowledge and capacity on the application of plastic burnishing technique to new AM materials e.g. super alloys for space applications.

      In this project, the candidate will closely work in a research team and collaborate with HDRs, researchers and academics, and will develop skills on the use and operation of machining process, ball burnishing tool, along with advanced characterization skills using microscopy, material testing equipment available at FII and STEM.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Mohammad Uddin & Associate Professor Colin Hall 

       

      Apply now

    • Fabrication and characterization of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors for energy applications minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:The ongoing advance in the energy sector requires the novel energy sources that can generate power for extreme duration without need to refill. This is even more important for remote and harsh environment, where power supply replacement is very inconvenient such as space, ocean, or far away forest.
      Wide-band-gap semiconductors are of scientific and technological interest and have gained popularity as a key material for different applications such as high- performance energy devices. Hence, in this study a thin film of wide band semiconductor will be fabricated via Physical Vapour Deposition Method (PVD) and its structural and electronic properties will be investigated and tested.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Roya Rudd

       

      Apply now

    • Human-AI interactive evaluation on accountability of AI predictions minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:Artificial intelligence (AI) methods have been used in the decision-making processes in various applications because of their accurate predictions in the historical data set. However, most AI models are not reliable, i.e. they fail in data collected in a new environment or for real predictions, and lack accountability, i.e. they do not provide transparent and justifiable reasons for predictions. In high-stakes decision-making applications, there needs human in the loop for reliable and accountable decision-making. People wish to understand and evaluate a prediction by an AI model to quantify the level of trust in the prediction via an evaluation module.
      This project review methods in prediction evaluation for Human-AI interaction in high-stakes decision-making processes.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Contact person: Professor Jiuyong Li

       

      Apply now

    • Innovative surface modification for marine antifouling minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: Marine biofouling is an undwanted deposition of marine microrganisms, animals and plants on the surfaces immersed in seawater, causing detrimental effects on marine industries by slowing the speed, and increasing fuel consumption and generation of greenhouse gases. Marine biofouling also cause deterioration of offshore oil/gas mining rigs and wind turbine structures. Removing biofouling from the surfaces cause billions of dollars incurring a significant burden to marine industries. For example, US navy spends $1b annually to address marine biofouling.
      Toxic chemical based painting or coating are often to prevent marine biofouling. However, they kill indigenous marine species, destroying the marine ecology. International regulations on the use of antifouling chemicals have enforced. Environment friendly safe antifouling treatment is thus of great importance and being investigated by researchers.
      This project will focus on innovative chemical free innovative surface modification technique to create antifouling surface of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). High strength and corrosion metal-UHMWPE surface is growly used in hulls of boats and harbor structures. In this project, plastically burnishing will be applied to UHMWPE surface to alter its surface properties including surface texture, strength, elastic modulus, surface activation energy that will prevent marine biofouling.
      The project is an extension of the supervisor’s recent project on treating metal-plastic laminate with industry St Vens Pty Ltd and will develop further fundamental knowledge and capacity on the application of plastic burnishing technique for mitigating antifouling effect in marine and related applications.
      In this project, the candidate will closely work in a research team and collaborate with HDRs, researchers and academics, and will develop skills on the use and operation of ball burnishing tool, along with advanced surface characterization skills using microscopy, material testing equipment available at FII and STEM.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Mohammad Uddin & Associate Professor Colin Hall 

       

      Apply now

    • Insect pollinators as indicators of bushfire ecological impacts minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:Invertebrates are crucial elements of ecosystem health, providing multiple ecosystem services, including pollination. The aim of the project is to compare the communities of invertebrate pollinators before and after prescribed burns and at sites with different fire histories in the Adelaide Hills. The influence of different environmental variables on recovery will also be examined. The BACI design (before-after-control-impact) will highlight changes in composition and abundance of pollinators, including native bees and other insect pollinators. The project has important fire management implications for ecosystem health. Experience and high competence with field work and insect identification are essential. The project partners include the Mid-Torrens Catchment Group, the Department for Environment and Water, and Zoos SA.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Topa Petit 

       

      Apply now

    • Laboratory automation with collaborative robotics and machine learning minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The excessive pathological tests required for pandemic control has raised the demand for laboratory automation over the last two years. SA Pathology, the industrial partner of this project, has expressed great interests in utilising collaborative robotics to improve the workflow. This project aims to develop a laboratory automation solution based on collaborative robotics and computer vision, using ABB YuMi Cobot and Jetson Nano Development Board. Students undertaking the vacation scholarship will extend the prior work developed in this project, including Robot Operating System (ROS) for robotics control and deep learning algorithms for object-detection. Students will learn the basics of robotics control, work on GPU server and/or high-performance computing for training machine learning algorithms, and develop efficient machine learning inference software on embedded systems. Other extensions, such as pathological image analysis using machine learning, or custom-designed robot grippers using 3D-printing, may be considered. Students who are interested in machine learning, embedded software engineering, robotics, or 3D printing, are encouraged to contact the project supervisor Dr. Ivan Lee to fine-tune the project direction and scope.

      Contact person: Dr. Ivan Lee

       

      Apply now

    • Mathematical Modelling of Biological Cells minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:Mathematical modelling is an increasingly important tool in biology. This project involves applying mathematics to investigate an aspect of cell biology. One possible application is mathematical modelling of biofilms. Biofilms are collections of microbial cells and fluid that adhere to surfaces, and are responsible for 80% of hospital-acquired infections. We might use mathematical modelling to better understand the factors that affect the speed of biofilm expansion. Another possible application is the simulation of protein networks in the cytoskeleton. These protein networks govern fundamental cellular processes including movement and division.
      This project would be suitable for a second-year or third-year mathematics student. Some background on modelling with differential equations (e.g. Differential Equations 1, Mathematical Modelling), and coding (e.g. Matlab) would be helpful, but the exact nature of the project can be tailored to the student’s interests and background.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Project Duration: 6 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Alex Tam

       

      Apply now

       

    • Monitoring (newly arrived) marine invasive species around Adelaide minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Marine invasive species frequently arrive in port areas on the bottom of vessels and then sometimes (but not always) spread rapidly. If they survive and spread, such species can come to dominate but many species appear to boom and then bust (i.e. die out) or diminish to a low background number. What determines whether a new species establishes and dominates or busts is not well understood, but likely has to do with the match between life history characteristics of the invader and the new environment into which it arrives. This project will measure fundamental life history parameters (growth, reproduction, settlement, recruitment) in one of two new species we have recently detected around Adelaide: in the Eastern Australian Scallop (Scaeochlamys livida) or the Light Bulb Seasquirt (Clavelina lepadiformis). This project would suit someone with an interest in marine invertebrates and/or invasive species.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Associate Professor Craig Styan 

       

      Apply now

       

    • Programming a robotic quadruped for augmented reality minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary:UniSA’s STEM and IVE have a robotic quadruped called Clive that we are seeking students to develop capabilities for. The project would involve students learning how to use the Robot Operating System (ROS), incorporate the libraries relating to our specific robot, and then build basic sample programs with it. If that is successful, we aim to integrate Clive with Unity using their ROS framework to turn Clive into a mobile augmented reality device capable of capturing environments using its 3D LiDAR scanner.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: James Walsh

       

      Apply now

    • Reinforcement learning for optimisation of resilient satellite networks. minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary:Artificial Intelligence-inspired resource optimisation management is critical in space research. This project will survey and identification of challenges in reinforcement learning and multi-agent systems for satellite control and communication in complex network settings. By deploying effective load balancing and optical control coordination approaches and experiments, this project will demonstrate a growing autonomous and resilient satellite prototype and establish new research opportunities.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Dr Jimmy Cao

      Apply now

    • Spatial distribution of toxic elements in road dust minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Road dust is an environmental medium that is found everywhere in urban, suburban and rural locations. Its composition varies significantly depending on vehicle emissions, industrial activities and background soil composition but may contain potentially toxic constituents including metals, diesel particulates and tyre wear particles. This project will utilize state-of-the-art equipment to assess the concentration and distribution of toxic elements in Adelaide road dust.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Prof. Albert Juhasz

       

       

      Apply now

    • Stochastic Calculus and Option Pricing minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: Students need to pick up stochastic calculus as part of this project. They will do a comparison as well as alternative pricing derivation of some option pricing models. Students need to have a D/HD grade in MATH 2030 Applied Probability.

      Project Duration: 6 weeks (2 places available)

      Mode of Study: Partial but not completely online participation is possible subject to negotiation with supervisor.

      Contact person: Dr Gerald Cheang

       

      Apply now

    • Surface enhanced bioinspired energy absorbing structures for impact injury prevention minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary:High speed vehicle collision with roadside fixed objects causes injuries and fatalities to occupants and pedestrians. In addition to built-in airbag, energy absorbing materials and structures are used to minimize the impact. Passive energy absorbing structures could significantly reduce the severity of impact. Nature contains abundance of designs and patterns that are not often harnessed to capitalize for energy absorbing applications.
      This project will design and develop innovative surface enhanced bioinspired energy absorbing structures to increase the ability of absorbing more impact. Both numerical modelling and experimental tests will be conducted to validate the crashworthiness performance of the designs.
      The project is an extension of the supervisor’s recent IMCRC funded research on energy absorbing traffic lights. In this project, the candidate will work within a research team and closely collaborate with HDRs, researchers and academics along with an industry partner - IAS Pty Ltd, a leading manufacturer of impact absorbing systems, and gain a significant experience in research and real world engineering design practice, leading to future career opportunities.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Dr Mohammad Uddin 

       

      Apply now

    • The behaviour of reinforced pavement under cyclic loading minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: The design of roads and airfield pavements and similar structures are, to date, based on simple elastic mechanical analyses empirical correlations, or entirely based on empirical correlations. This is partly due to a lack of understanding of the behaviour of construction materials under cyclic loading at the element level and contributed by a lack of comprehensive analytical or numerical methodology.
      This project, using a comprehensive numerical methodology, aims at a better understanding of geomaterial behaviour subjected to cyclic loading and its correlation with the performance of geotechnical structures such as airfield and road pavements and thus facilitate better and more economic design leading to more sustainable and greener engineering practice.

      Mode of Study: This project has the option for remote/online participation

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact person: Dr Khoi Nguyen 

      Apply now

    • Thermally conductive polymer composites for heat exchangers minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: Heat exchangers are conventionally made of metals due to their excellent thermal conductivity and stability, but they are limited by corrosion and high cost. Hence, polymers have been developed owing to their chemical stability, corrosion resistance, flexibility, high specific strength and ease of manufacturing. This project will process polycarbonate by twin-screw extrusion with cost-effective, safe nanomaterials, such as graphene nanoplatelets, carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers. Interface improvement will be made by modifying the filler surface to improve compatibility. The processing conditions and composite structures will also be investigated to establish a thermally conducting network of nanomaterials in polycarbonate.

      Project Duration: 8 weeks

      Contact person: Prof. Jun Ma

       

      Apply now

    • Towards practical and robust quantum key distribution for satellite-based Internet of Things minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project summary: Quantum key distribution (QKD), as defined by ETSI, is a procedure or method for generating and distributing symmetric cryptographic keys with information-theoretical security based on quantum information theory. In simpler terms, QKD enables two parties to share a secret key of any length using the principles of quantum mechanics and thereby establish a perfectly secret communication channel.
      The allure of QKD for mission-critical space operations is immense. In fact, “quantum-enabled communications” is one of six focus segments in the Australian Space Agency’s “Advancing Space” Roadmap (2021-2030) for Communications Technologies and Services; it is also aligned with the DST STaR Shot strategies of “Resilient Multi-Mission Space” and “Quantum-Assured PNT”.
      QKD has been several decades in the making. Overseas, several space missions have been launched to evaluate the feasibility of satellite-based quantum key distribution (SatQKD) within a constellation of CubeSats. For example, the UK launched the Quantum Research CubeSat (QUARC) mission (Mazzarella et al., 2020), and Canada launched the Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission (Podmore et al., 2021). Australia will not be far behind.
      This project brings together two teams of researchers — one team working on securing satellite constellations, and one team working on photonics and space domain awareness — to work with the vacation research scholar on investigating the state of the art in QKD implementations in terms of their practicality and in terms of their robustness to attacks (Sajeed et al., 2021).
      Entry barrier to the field is high but expectations of the vacation research scholar are no more than a proactive approach, a positive attitude and an inquisitive mind. Provided enough progress is made, the vacation research scholar will have opportunities to work with a relevant quantum technology provider in the space sector.
      For more background, see:
      Mazzarella, L., et al., “QUARC: Quantum Research CubeSat—A Constellation for Quantum Communication,” Cryptography 2020, 4, 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography4010007
      Podmore, H., et al., “QKD terminal for Canada’s Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat),” Proc. SPIE 11852, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020, 118520H (11 June 2021). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2599162
      Sajeed, S., et al., “An approach for security evaluation and certification of a complete quantum communication system,” Scientific Reports 11.1 (2021): 1-16. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84139-3

      Project Duration: 8 weeks 

      Contact people: Yee Wei Law, Ronald Mulinde, Jill Slay, David Lancaster 

       

      Apply now

       

    • Virtual reality firefighting simulator minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: UniSA’s STEM and IVE are looking to work with the SA Country Fire Service (CFS) to develop a basic firefighter training toolkit. The project will use develop a VR training experience for country firefighters using the Oculus Quest 2 along with a real, physical hose controller that will have the controllers mounted to it. The successful applicant will be working to develop the project, potentially including meeting the CFS digital training team at the end of the project to get their feedback.

      Contact person: Dr James Walsh

       

      Apply now

    • Visual analytics for improved understanding of child healthcare minus-thick plus-thick

       

      Project Summary: Childcare and child protection is a highly sensitive area and it is important to better understand how childcare processes look like and how they have an impact on the care outcomes for a child. The goal of this project is to analyse anonymous data of childcare cases and investigate new interactive visualisation techniques in combination with process mining to provide new insights into childcare processes and their outcomes in the past. Results of this project will feed into predictive analytics techniques to improve the decision making in childcare and provide early warnings for potential unwanted outcomes overall leading to better outcomes of affected children. The project is with the ACPreH at SAHMRI.
      The duration of the project is 6 weeks.

      Contact person: Dr Georg Grossmann & Dr Jan Stanek 

       

      Apply now

How to apply

  • Important information minus-thick plus-thick
    • The Vacation Research Scholarships are open to enrolled undergraduate students who, in the current year, are completing the second, third, fourth or Honours year of their program at the time the scholarship commences and those enrolled in a coursework masters program.
    • The scholarship will be paid at the rate of $375 per week for the agreed tenure, from a minimum of 4 weeks and up to a maximum of eight weeks, between November and February each year.
    • To accommodate the Christmas/New Year closure of 1.5 weeks, the period of tenure may be taken in two blocks of time, subject to approval from supervisory staff.
    • The scholarship is expected to be undertaken on a full-time basis (38 hours per week) for the period of the scholarship. Hours/duration of work are to be agreed upon with your supervisor prior to the acceptance and commencement of your project.
    • Students are eligible for the centrally funded Vacation Research Scholarship once. However, as additional scholarships may be funded from another source, applications from previous recipients will be accepted for consideration. Advice should be sought directly from the relevant discipline. Please refer to the project information links for contact details.
    • Your application will require the support of your proposed project supervisor. If you were previously unknown to the researcher, you are encouraged to submit an additional supporting statement from an academic staff member who can comment on your academic abilities.
    • This scholarship is highly competitive based on academic merit and the availability of researchers and projects in your area of interest and unfortunately not all applicants or projects will be funded.
    • Successful applicants cannot defer the scholarship and must take it up during the time nominated.
    • Only one application per student is permitted each year and scholarships are only awarded to undertake research at UniSA (Note: UniSA students will have an opportunity to select a ‘second preference’ project in their online application, in the event that their chosen project is no longer available after the assessment and allocation process)
  • How to apply (UniSA students) minus-thick plus-thick

    Open to domestic and international students enrolled at UniSA.

    1. Think about areas in which you would like to research and build your knowledge
    2. Look at the research projects/project supervisors available in the list above
    3. Contact the project supervisor to find out more about the project/field of research you're interested in and see if the project would be a good fit for you
    4. Complete the application support form including a supporting statement from the project supervisor
    5. Apply through myScholarships, accessed via your myUniSA student portal and upload the application support form (including project supervisor approval) and a copy of your CV to your online application. 
    6. For more detailed information about the application and selection process please refer to the Application Guidelines

    Application closing date: 18 September 2022

    For further information or assistance, please contact the Research Student Services team, SAS at research.students@unisa.edu.au

     

  • How to apply (non-UniSA students) minus-thick plus-thick

    Open to domestic students (Australian citizens or permanent residents, or New Zealand citizens) enrolled at an Australian University.

    1. Think about areas in which you would like to research and build your knowledge
    2. Look at the research projects/project supervisors available in the list above
    3. Contact the project supervisor to find out more about the project/field of research you're interested in and see if the project would be a good fit for you
    4. Complete the application form including a supporting statement from the project supervisor
    5. Submit completed application form and supporting documentation (CV and Academic Transcripts) to research.students@unisa.edu.au
    6. For more detailed information about the application and selection process please refer to the Application Guidelines

    Application closing date: 18 September 2022

    For further information or assistance, please contact the Research Student Services team, SAS at research.students@unisa.edu.au

  • Successful applicants minus-thick plus-thick

    As a condition of the scholarship, you are required to write a short Final Report (1 or 2 pages) on the research project undertaken and submit it within 2 weeks of completing your scholarship to your project supervisor(s), with a copy to the Research Student Services Team, Student and Academic Services: research.students@unisa.edu.au

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