Available projects for research degrees

Childhood cataract is a rare but devastating disease. In this project you will develop and apply functional assays to assess the biological effects of variants of uncertain significance in cataract genes.

Childhood cataract is a leading cause of visual impairment in children. Many genes are known but more remain to be discovered. You will use genome sequencing in families and gene editing in zebrafish to identify novel genes for childhood cataract.

This Australian Research Council funded project addresses the urgent national and global challenge of tracking Earth’s response to our efforts in the mitigation of climate change.

This project aims to build resilient and productive cattle shipping practices across Tasmania by combining retrospective data analysis and prospective intervention trials to generate the first evidence base to inform industry best practice.

This PhD will investigate how molecular mechanisms shape social behaviour and drive the evolution of family life. Integrating behavioural assays, transcriptomics, and comparative approaches across family-living lizards, the project will uncover gene regulatory pathways underpinning social complexity.

In this field-based project, the successful candidate will investigate how soil biological composition and function interact with the plant community and hydrological patterns to control the processes of soil carbon cycling in Tasmania's highland grasslands.

This PhD will investigate the genetic and ecological mechanisms underpinning the evolution of family life. It will integrate genomic, behavioural, and long-term field data, to examine how genetic variation, social interactions, and environmental change shape social behaviour and population dynamics.

This project investigates the everyday practices and experiences of those who work in biosecurity roles at Australia's ports and airports. In doing so, the project will generate rich insights into how border biosecurity works and how it can be improved.

Catalytic reactions for organic synthesis

Generative AI can be used to assist educators during the scenario creation process. This project will explore different methods of doing this and elicit feedback from stakeholders to measure the performance of the various solutions.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition that leads to oligodendrocyte loss, demyelination, and ultimately neurodegeneration. MS does not have a single cause but results from a complex interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors. Genome wide association studies indicate that genetic...

This project uses machine learning and UTAS telescope data to create Tasmania’s first Dark Sky and Atmospheric Health Index, mapping light pollution, atmospheric change, and ecological vulnerability to protect the island’s night skies and environmental resilience.

Develop multiport power converter topologies and advanced control strategies for renewable energy and energy storage systems. The project focuses on improving efficiency, power density, reliability, and cost-effectiveness through modelling, simulation, hardware prototyping, and experimental validation.

Smart, sustainable, and resilient ports have become a priority in the port industry nowadays. Considering the current turmoil in global trade and supply chain from every aspect of economic, social, environmental, and climatic challenges, a smart, sustainable, and resilient port...

Towers are common in many applications, including electricity distribution and telecommunications. They can take many forms, including concrete monopole (some strengthened with steel jackets), triangular and rectangular steel lattice and guy-wire stayed. Extreme winds are the biggest cause of structural...

Supermassive black hole jets and massive stars both regulate star formation in galaxies through their energy input. This project will study the mutual feedback between these processes using numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations, and make predictions for observations with next generation telescopes.

This research explores digital agents can serve as a human-centred, adaptive feedback interface within higher education. The goal is to move beyond correctness-only automated feedback by enabling conversational, dialogic interactions that help students understand performance and take meaningful next steps.

This project welcomes proposals for investigating issues associated with the commercialisation of biomedical and health-related technologies, including in genomic data sharing, intellectual property law and regulation of innovative health technologies.

Proposals are sought for PhD projects that relate to Australian music performance, creation, and technology. Candidates are expected to have a higher degree in the appropriate specialisation, or equivalent exceptional experience in performance, composition and/or improvisation, music technology or songwriting.

Targeting no-reflow in stroke

Climate resilience of Australian seaweed

Generative AI tools are widely used in learning, yet pose risks including inaccuracies, fabricated citations and privacy issues. This project develops embedded verification checkpoints to help users critically assess and validate AI-generated content within academic workflows.

This PhD investigates the interconnection between pain and mental health in Multiple Sclerosis using pre collected longitudinal survey data and new qualitative insights. Findings may inform interventions, improve self‑management, enhance quality of life, and guide advocacy in MS care.

Depression is a common neuropsychiatric symptom in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), often emerging in the early to middle stages of the condition. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed to manage depressive symptoms due to their favourable safety profile and tolerability in older adults. Emerging evidence suggests that SSRIs may influence AD pathology and progression, yet their precise role remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the effects of SSRIs on pathological and functional outcomes in AD, integrating clinical and preclinical approaches to enhance translational relevance.

Pericyte-associated microglia functions

Digital forensic investigations are increasingly requiring collaboration across multiple organisations, jurisdictions, and agencies to combat sophisticated cybercrimes effectively. Traditional centralised forensic analysis approaches face critical limitations when sensitive evidence cannot be shared due to stringent privacy regulations, legal constraints, and...

This PhD project will advance understanding of seagrass restoration opportunities in Tasmanian ecosystems, with an emphasis on improving habitat for Critically Endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus). The research will explore key aspects of seagrass biology and physiology – particularly flowering,...

This PhD project will investigate whether participation in the highly successful Understanding Dementia Massive Open Online Course (UDMOOC) leads to measurable changes in attitudes toward dementia. The UDMOOC, developed by the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, has reached over...

This project will use human brain organoid models, live-cell imaging and single-cell multiomics to investigate how chromatin remodelling dysfunction drives medulloblastoma development and progression, and test whether epigenetic therapies can redirect tumour cell fate toward differentiated, non-tumourigenic states.

This study investigates how environmental exposures in early life affect children's health outcomes. It focuses on air pollution—both from extreme events like the Hazelwood mine fire and from ongoing ambient sources—as well as the potential protective effects of green (vegetation)...

PhD research on CFD modelling of viscoplastic free-surface flows interacting with engineering structures. The project will quantify impact forces, pressure distribution, and flow arrest mechanisms using CFD, and develop physics-based design guidelines for protective structures under extreme non-Newtonian flow conditions.

Understanding how to analyse patient-reported data in cancer trials is essential for making trials patient-centred and for evaluating outcomes that are meaningful to patients. This project will evaluate statistical methods to achieve this.

This project integrates climate, soil, crop, and management data from national field sites to model landscape-scale drought risk and evaluate adaptation strategies for resilient mixed farming systems.

An increasing number of autistic and ADHD adults come to recognise their neurodivergence in late adolescence or adulthood (whether through a formal diagnosis or self identification), often after years of feeling "out of step" with peers, workplaces, and health-care systems...

This project explores Structural Health Monitoring techniques on various types of towers using simple instrumentation and environmental loads, exploiting modern computer-based decision-making tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

This project will reconstruct past climate and environmental change in alpine Tasmania using a multi-proxy approach to understand ecosystem resilience, assess rates of change, and contribute to the ongoing management of vulnerable ecosystems.

This PhD research will develop intelligent and resilient control systems for floating renewable energy platforms that operate in moving ocean environment. These platforms experience continuous motion that affects both energy generation and power quality. The research creates intelligent control systems...

The project will determine the requirements for digital decision support tools to improve both hospital bed managers' effectiveness and the lived experience of patients receiving emergency care through a combination of interviews and software prototype development and evaluation

Implementing mindfulness training to support brain health and quality of life for people at risk of, or living with neurodegenerative disease

Unsteady turbulent and cavitating flows interacting with compliant structures generate complex fluid-structure dynamics. This project investigates vibration, unsteady loading and noise mechanisms in lifting surfaces, improving understanding, flow control strategies and performance prediction for turbomachinery and marine propulsion systems.

Power systems are transitioning rapidly to being based on renewable energy sources supported by energy storage. This is introducing challenges in terms of power system security and stability, and will require large capacity of flexible storage capable of rapid response....

The health and aged care workforce is under pressure to support clients with increasingly complex health conditions and multiple comorbidities, particularly dementia, a global public health issue. People living with dementia have high needs for care to support daily living...

This project involves implementation of a workplace sustainability and planetary health training program for mental health clinicians within a Tasmanian health service.

Pacific oyster spat are frequently transferred from hatcheries to sea-based environments for grow-out. Insufficient physiological and environmental conditioning prior can result in elevated mortality and suboptimal performance. Yet, nuances in hatchery techniques for producing optimally performing spat and its effect...

This PhD project will investigate the real-world impact of the Diploma of Dementia Care, developed by the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, a global leader in dementia education. Delivered fully online by a multidisciplinary team of dementia educators and...

Sustainable Detection of PFAS

This PhD project develops machine learning to connect gravitational-wave, LSST, and high-energy alerts with robotic telescopes (UTAS, Tahiti, TAROT, national facilities), advancing Southern Hemisphere multimessenger coordination, transient discovery, and contributing to Australia’s space domain awareness strategy.

This project explores how knowledge, power, and space are co-produced through spatial imaginaries and situated practices. Drawing on STS, human geography, and governmentality, it examines sustainability and/or climate change to inform more just, place-responsive futures.

Using behavioural paradigms, brain stimulation and imaging this project aims to understand the brain processes involved in cancelling upper limb and stepping actions, when multiple sources of distracting information may impact our ability to perceive and process critical sensory cues.

This project will investigate a novel compound library to identify NRF2 activators. Building on promising preliminary findings, a systematic drug-discovery approach integrating biological activity, structure–activity relationships, toxicity and stability will guide optimisation and identify lead compounds for preclinical development.

Develop, validate and translate heart–brain phenotypes in heart failure (HF) by integrating Australia-wide linked administrative health data with an RCT, thereby identifying patients most likely to benefit from multidisciplinary disease-management programs and informing national implementation of precision HF care.

Cultural acceptance of geoengineered mine closure landforms in Australia, integrating geomorphology, geoscience, and geoengineering with Aboriginal and community landscape values to inform socially credible, environmentally credible post‑mining landform design.

Addressing developing urban stream syndrome in mountain‑derived rivulets: integrating geomorphology, geospatial analysis, sediment budgets, and hydrodynamic modelling to assess opportunities for channel sinuosity restoration, improved flood attenuation, and nature‑based stream rehabilitation in constrained urban and peri‑urban catchments.

Solar powered medical oxygen generation

Exploring the health literacy needs of children & families and the Health Literacy Responsiveness of community based integrated care “Kids Care Clinics” delivered by the Tasmanian Community Paediatric Service.

An early aspect of CLN3 disease is increased inflammation within the brain. The major inflammatory cell within the brain are microglia, cells that have various functions associated with maintaining the health and proper functioning of other cells. However, we do...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex diseases associated with immune cell infiltration of the central nervous system (CNS), myelin loss and neurodegeneration. The exact cause of MS is not known. Understanding the order of cellular and molecular events...

Project Outline Background and Rationale: Marine aquaculture operations require reliable, resilient power systems to support small but varied offshore energy demands such as feed-barge platforms, pumping systems for artificial upwelling, and environmental monitoring equipment. Current renewable energy solutions typically rely...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative condition. MS-related impacts can prompt changes across people's personal and professional lives, which in-turn can result in poor mental health and wellbeing. Understanding the experiences of living with MS, including the unique challenges...

The Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry – Tasmania has collected data on prostate cancer outcomes and treatments, since 2015. This project will use epidemiological and survey methods to address key questions about prostate cancer outcomes and impacts in the real world.

Electric catamarans provide the path to zero emissions but are limited in range due to installed battery capacity. This project seeks to reduce hull resistance by way of using CFD coupled with AI to optimise hull geometry.

Investigate second‑order soil responses to wildfire and prescribed burning using pre-and post-burn in situ study, laboratory fire simulations, and soil micromorphology to understand post‑fire soil structure, function, and long‑term recovery in fire‑prone and sensitive conservation landscapes.

This PhD project investigates how large, multimodal AI systems can be developed and adapted to support automated interpretation of geological materials. The project aims to produce new computational methods and theoretical insights that advance both AI research and its applications.

This project develops mineral chemistry-based tools to improve exploration of sediment-hosted Cu-Co deposits. Resistate mineral signatures will be characterised and integrated into predictive models, enabling deposit-scale vectoring and global basin fertility assessment for critical mineral supply.

This project will develop new electrokinetic methods for the extraction, concentration and separation of nanoplastics

This PhD explores how climate change shapes freshwater systems and benefits they provide to society. Using an interdisciplinary perspective, the project aims to generate evidence that supports climate adaptation, sustainable water management and informed environmental policy across diverse freshwater contexts.

Cavitation about a propulsor or control surface on maritime platforms contributes to the vessel’s bubbly wake, with dissolved gases rapidly diffusing into vapour cavities which linger. The physics of the bubble formation remain to be fully understood.

The project will develop new sub ppb methods for the capillary electrophoresis separation of heavy metals

This research will partner with marine-linked communities in south-east Tasmania to examine socio-ecological and socio-cultural values, trial innovative frameworks such as social accounting and wellbeing, and propose an integrated assessment methodology for ecological monitoring and the analysis of community values.

Develop a gluten‑free, nutritious, low‑energy sorghum product suitable for commercialisation. Research will investigate the functional and nutritional components, including resistant starch, dietary fibre, and antioxidant properties. The study will evaluate the grain’s chemical, physical, and sensory characteristics.

Our simulation platform can be used to train healthcare professionals across a range of disciplines, but the existing evidence focuses on its use in pharmacy education. This project will develop scenarios for a range of professions and elicit stakeholder feedback.

Climate literacy is essential to impelling climate action. This study will establish a robust, contemporary understanding of what it means to be 'climate literate' today, using insights from climate change communication, psychology, and the affordances of extended media technologies.

This project investigates the contribution of mobile DNA to neurodevelopment and schizophrenia-relevant dysfunction. Leveraging CRISPR modulation and long-read sequencing, we will explore the regulation and activity of mobile DNA in a prenatal immune-challenge model of schizophrenia.

The Hamilton Literary Society, founded in 1889 by Lady Teresa Hamilton, is the oldest continuously operating women's literary society in Australia. Based in Tasmania, the Society has provided generations of women with a space for intellectual exchange, literary engagement, and...

Global change is often spoken about in terms of propelling us towards an apocalyptic future. Yet, intersections of capitalism and colonialism speak to collapse as already here. By undertaking empirical and/or theoretical research, you will advance socio-ecological justice in collapse.

Cardiovascular disease risk begins developing in childhood, yet early vascular ageing remains under-recognised and poorly studied. This project investigates which paediatric populations and vascular biomarkers are most informative for identifying early cardiovascular risk.

Exploring mental health nurses’ role in managing inpatient suicidality through therapeutic milieu and emerging technologies, this action research engages stakeholders to inform safer, recovery-oriented mental health care.

Despite expanding role GLP-1 agonist and SGLT2i in management of cardiometabolic health, little is known about how they are used in routine clinical practice in Australia. This project will use health data to examine their use and clinical outcomes.

Generative AI is a subfield of AI that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, and program source code. These models can learn the underlying patterns and structures of their training data and use them to produce new data...

Driving Change: road safety

The project will investigate how Alzheimer’s disease-relevant protein deposits change the physiology of microglia. Using advanced proteomics, molecular biology, cell and animal models, it will investigate new mechanisms of Alzheimer’s progression and inform therapeutic strategies for intervention.

This project explores how artificial intelligence can enhance workforce efficiency and reduce operational costs in shipping companies. It examines AI-driven solutions for workforce planning, task automation, resource allocation, and decision-making to improve productivity, streamline operations, and strengthen organisational competitiveness.

This PhD project investigates how pericytes and microglia interact to drive neurovascular dysfunction and neuroinflammation after traumatic brain injury, using advanced experimental models to uncover mechanisms that may reveal new therapeutic targets and improve long‑term neurological outcomes.

The Antarctic marginal ice zone (MIZ) is a dynamic, wave-influenced boundary which can influence sea-ice extent. This PhD develops machine-learning and satellite methods to map MIZ variability, link storms and waves to retreat, reveal ice properties, and improve validation.

Advanced mathematical models and algorithms for prediction and decision making in complex environments

This project is a child-led project that empowers young people to co-design cardiovascular health resources. By creating and evaluating these resources, the project aims to improve children's health literacy, helping them build the knowledge, skills and confidence to make heart-healthy choices throughout life.

How might artistic research methodologies address the urgent and emergent social questions of our time? This project examines the potential for creative, reflexive and dialogic engagement to capture lived experiences and to envision and enact change at multiple scales.

Understanding multiple sclerosis development through rare variant identification.

This project develops integrated safety systems for ammonia-powered vessels, including leak detection, risk assessment, and inherent, passive and active protection measures. It can enable safe adoption of ammonia as a zero-carbon marine fuel, supporting decarbonisation goal.

Nitrogen (N) fertilisers are essential for crop productivity but are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, and inefficiencies in agricultural systems. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is critical for achieving productive, climate-resilient horticultural systems with lower...

This project aims to develop light-driven catalytic systems for selective hydrocarbon functionalisation using visible light as a clean energy source. The resulting methods will establish new principles for reactivity, leading to efficient synthesis of high-value molecules, including pharmaceuticals.

Consumer and community engagement are increasingly essential in research, including in trials. Developing tools to improve consumer and community engagement in trial design is essential for encouraging representative, diverse engagement. This project will co-design tools that are accessible for people from a broad range of backgrounds.

This project seeks to document unhealthy food and beverage advertising and identify strategies to support local and state governments to reduce unhealthy food and beverage advertising, particularly on and in government-owned and/or operated assets.

Settler colonialism has historically relied upon the extraction of minerals, non-human animals, land-based and marine resources, and Indigenous knowledge, labour, and land. In recent years, scholars of environmental history have been paying closer attention to the complex interactions between extraction...

To explore the factors that facilitate or hinder the timely recognition of sepsis and the subsequent response to clinical deterioration among residents in aged care facilities in Tasmania.

The project addresses the critical vulnerability in modern digital investigations where interconnected cyber-physical systems—including autonomous vehicles, drone swarms, smart city infrastructure, industrial IoT networks, and wearable devices—continuously evolve based on real-time data streams. The core challenge lies in maintaining forensic...

This project will integrate observations with fast numerical modelling to reconstruct daily, depth-resolved ocean fields in the Southern Ocean, enabling improved estimates of heat transport across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and revealing how meander and eddy hotspots regulate cross-frontal exchange.

Over 166 million people experience concussion annually, and nearly half suffer persistent symptoms without resolution or targeted care. This project will identify blood biomarkers predicting ongoing symptoms, addressing the urgent need for diagnostic tools and improved outcomes.

In order to monitor and prevent Devil Facial Tumour Disease, we need to build an AI capable smart trap, suitable to be deployed in the remote Tasmanian bush.

Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence or family violence, including femicide, is an entrenched social problem across the Globe. In Australia, one in four women have been impacted by physical and/or sexual violence from their intimate partner (Australia's...

This project aims to evaluate the impact of an evidence-informed grief literacy program, titled 'Learning through Loss', to address the urgent need for a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to grief, loss, and bereavement support within the Aged Care sector.

Global food systems face rising climate, market and geopolitical pressures that threaten production and access. The project aims to examine the global drivers of food supply and demand by systematically analysing the key factors shaping food production, accessibility and security.

This research project is about studying the current situation of frequency allocations coordinated in international treaties by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and develop strategies for improved protection for VLBI.

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune condition that disproportionately affects women. Less attention in research has been given to challenges faced by women, with reproductive health, menstruation, sexual dysfunction, and their potential roles in symptom management and disease progression.