Research project topics
Research projects for Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students are available within the following research areas. Please email our academic staff to discuss potential HDR projects and ask if they are available as an advisor for your proposed HDR program.
Adverse childhood experience and the health risk behaviour, cognitive development and social integration: a socio-ecological approach of child development across the life course
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: Exposure to adverse childhood experiences, including physical or emotional abuse or neglect, deprivation, or exposure to violence is associated with health risk behaviours such as substance use disorders, mental health disorders, school bullying, and suicidal behaviour. Adverse childhood experiences negatively effects on cognitive development and social integration. Less is known about the mediating effect of cognitive development and social integration in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and health risk behaviours in adolescents. The aim of this project is to discover the mechanism of how adverse childhood experiences increase the possibility for substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and school bullying through its adverse consequences on cognitive development and social integration.
This PhD will build on work undertaken through on-going collaborations with partners. The study will employ a longitudinal data from childhood to adolescence and a socio-ecological approach as it generates the opportunity to examine and control the impacts of individual, family, and school factors as well as determine their interactions through the life span. Information from this project will provide a scientific evidence to design effective intervention program to reduce the proportion of substance use disorders, mental health disorders, and school bulling among adolescents.
Supervisor/s: Dr Nam Tran, Associate Professor Abdullah Al Mamun
Bereavement pathways following the death of a baby: A 30 year follow up of parent outcomes
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: The death of a baby around the time of birth or soon after is a devastating outcome of pregnancy that is experienced by more than 3,000 families in Australia each year. The psychosocial consequences may be profound and research shows that the impacts may be felt for many years. Little is known about the very long-term consequences of perinatal death.
This PhD project offers a rare opportunity to follow-up a cohort of families who joined a longitudinal study following the death of a baby 30 years ago. The study will trace the original study participants to investigate their experiences and outcomes following stillbirth, newborn death or sudden infant death. The study will involve collecting data from these families through interviews or other survey techniques and analysing existing data that was collected from families in earlier study phases. Combining these data sources will enable exploration of pathways to resilient or adverse psychosocial outcomes.
The project will contribute to the design of evidence-based interventions for parent-centred approaches to care following pregnancy loss. Through this project the PhD student will gain experience in mixed methods and longitudinal research and detailed knowledge and understanding of research, policy and practice in perinatal bereavement care.
Supervisor/s: Associate Professor Fran Boyle
Developing assets-based, peer-led interventions to improve health and wellbeing among marginalised young people
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: The role of peers and social networks is particularly influential during adolescence and there is much research drawing on peer influence to improve health. Yet many marginalised young people continue to report significant challenges to their health and wellbeing. At the same time, there is growing interest in salutogenic, strengths or asset-based approaches to health improvement, but evidence of their effectiveness is still limited.
This PhD project will first seek to conduct a systematic review of the evidence for peer led, salutogenic health interventions among marginalised young people. Marginalised groups could include those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, refugees, those who have experienced out of home care or homelessness, LGBTIQ+ young people and/or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (the final focus of the PhD will be agreed between the successful student and supervisor). The project will then use a community participative approach with young people, healthcare practitioners, and other stakeholders to develop and refine an asset-based model of health improvement. It will lay the foundation for work to test out the best possible interventions in this area and the student will gain experience in conducting systematic evidence reviews, qualitative research and community participative research methods.
Supervisor/s: Professor Lisa McDaid
Development of health and wellbeing within and across generations
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: Early origins of risk factors such as low birth weight and diseases including asthma, obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes are well characterized. The growing evidence suggests that prevention of these risk factors and diseases should start from pregnancy or even before pregnancy to optimise the benefit over the life course. Various exposures (environmental, social, biological and genetics) in critical stages of life such as pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, early childhood, adolescents and young adulthood, play role to the development of these poor health conditions and wellbeing. Progression and causal pathways to poor health and wellbeing outcomes from multigenerational perspective are relatively unknown. Long follow-up cohort studies like the Mater University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) and its offspring is a multigenerational birth cohort study with the capacity to investigate this scientific query. This research project aims to use the MUSP unique existing data across three generations to investigate the development of health and wellbeing across multiple generations. The information from this project will provide a scientific basis to design effective intervention to reduce population disease risk and improve health. Through this project the PhD student will gain experience in state-of-the-art longitudinal data analyses techniques, as well as theoretical and practical experience in the intersection of health and society from the life course approach.
Educational and labour market trajectories of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
ISSR Impact Area: Education
Project description: Even in a highly developed country like Australia, a young person’s chances in life are still largely determined by the characteristics of family they are born into and raised in. There is a wealth of international evidence showing that family background affects a range of educational and labour market outcomes in young people, which in turn have knock-on effects on a range of other outcomes later in life.
This project will feed into a broader program of work exploring Australia’s educational and labour market disadvantage in young people associated with low-socioeconomic background. Key themes include the inter-relationships between disadvantaged background and educational outcomes, participation in Higher Education, and post-school and post-university destinations, including employment.
Much of the work in the program is based on quantitative analysis of large-scale secondary datasets, such as the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia, the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), or large-scale linked administrative data. The work feeds into research programme of the Australian Research Council-funded Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course.
Supervisor/s: Associate Professor Wojtek Tomaszewski
Environmental exposures in pregnancy and birth outcomes in Queensland: A study for better policy and health outcomes
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: Water disinfection by chlorination is one of the most effective measures to safeguard public health. However, emerging global evidence on disinfection by-products, mainly Trihalomethanes (THMs), associated adverse birth outcomes, demands evidence-based policies and practices for supplying safe water. The overarching aim of this project is to investigate the nature and extent of the association between THMs and adverse birth outcomes including low birth weight, small-for-gestational age, preterm births and peri-viable births by linking the Queensland Health water data and Queensland Perinatal Data Collection (QPDC) data; and explore whether the association between THMs levels and birth outcomes is robust to adjustment for potential confounders. This PhD will build on work undertaken through on-going collaborations with partners. Findings of this project will be a major contributor to the advocacy for revising the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines for THMs.
Gender, Family Dynamics and Social Disadvantage
ISSR Impact Area: Policy and Practice
Project description: This project will examine issues relating to gender inequality and family dynamics to understand the mechanisms underlying the transmission of social disadvantage over the life course and across generations. The specific topic to be investigated may include divisions of labour, childcare, family relationships, gender inequality in paid and unpaid work and work-family balance. Projects focusing on life course events and changes in attitudes and outcomes for women and men are welcome.
The successful candidate will be affiliated with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (see www.lifecoursecentre.org.au) and will be provided opportunities for a range of other professional development activities and experiences, including the possibility of visits to international partners and internships with government and non-government partners in Australia. The successful candidate will also be part of a cohort of students affiliated with the Life Course Centre across 4 universities (The universities of Queensland, Sydney, Melbourne and Western Australia) and will have opportunities to participate in student-led activities and events. Through this project the student will gain experience in literature reviews and theoretical development, data analyses, communication and writing skills, policy impacts.
Health trajectories of gender and sexually diverse young people in Australia
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: Increasing numbers of young people are identifying as gender and sexually diverse, positioning themselves as trans, non-binary, genderqueer, gender fluid and or questioning. They are affected by socio-cultural and structural discriminations and often bypassed by traditional health education efforts. Yet the evidence base for how to support their health and wellbeing remains limited.
The PhD project will contribute to and build on the Sexual Health with Young Queer Queenslanders (SHYQQ) Study currently being conducted by the supervisors. The SHYQQ Study includes repeat qualitative interview data from 40 gender and sexually diverse young people living in Queensland. The successful student will lead on analysis of a SHYQQ topic area to be agreed between the student and supervisors. They will then build on this with primary data collection to better understand the contexts and pathways through which gender and sexually diverse young people negotiate and protect their health, particularly in terms of the support provided by parents/caregivers and healthcare providers. The findings will be a starting point for intervention development and the student will gain experience in qualitative data collection and advanced longitudinal data analysis techniques.
Supervisor/s: Professor Lisa McDaid, Dr Lisa Fitzgerald, Dr Allyson Mutch, Dr Judith Dean
Higher Education Equity in Australia
ISSR Impact Area: Education
Project description: Since 1990s, successive Australian governments have assisted six identified equity groups to access Higher Education: (1) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians; (2) People from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds; (3) People from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB); (4) People from regional and remote areas; (4) People with disability; and (6) Women in non-traditional subject areas (WINTA). These groups had been historically under-represented in Higher Education and the pattern largely persists to this day.
This project feeds into a broader program of work aimed at developing robust evidence to inform equity policy development and practice in Australia. It aims to establish a robust evidence base about access, participation, retention, and success in higher education for disadvantaged groups, including the officially recognised equity groups, and emergent categories. The focus is on rigorous evidence-based and evaluative research, drawing on cross-disciplinary methodologies and expertise from fields including education, sociology, economics, econometrics, demography, and statistics.
Improving the experiences of, and outcomes for, Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Out-of-Home Care (OOHC)
ISSR Impact Area: Policy and Practice / Health
Project description: Children placed in out-of-home care (OOHC) are a highly vulnerable group who face enormous challenges over their life course. The experiences of children prior to, and during, their journey though OOHC may have life-long effects on their emotional, social and cultural well-being. Despite government initiatives to reduce the number of children entering and remaining in OOHC, the number is increasing. Further, the number of Indigenous children in OOHC continues to grow with Indigenous children 11 times more likely to be in OOHC than non-Indigenous children. Moreover, many of these children are not placed in accordance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child placement principles.
Researchers at The University of Queensland have been awarded ARC Linkage funding to conduct a qualitative longitudinal study to examine the association between characteristics of, and changes in, care arrangements, on children’s social and emotional well-being and connection to their cultural communities. The project aims to provide evidence to improve service agencies’ understanding of children’s experiences in OOHC and how agencies can best support families, carers and communities to promote the emotional, social and cultural well-being of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in OOHC.
Supervisor/s: Associate Professor Jenny Povey, Professor Janeen Baxter, Dr Peter Walsh and Professor Karen Healy
Life course transitions in later-life and their implications
ISSR Impact Area: Policy and Practice
Project description: Individuals and families may experience a number of important life transitions in later life, such as retirement, widowhood, divorce, illness onset, and grandparenthood. Given increases in life expectancy in Australia and other countries around the world, the contexts in which older adults make these transitions may have significant implications for their social and economic wellbeing. This project aims to build on and extend existing knowledge on these topics, and will contribute to build an evidence base to inform policies and programs to support older adults and family members as they make these transitions.
The study will involve review of existing literatures and analyses of longitudinal data through primary data collection or using existing datasets. Through this project the PhD student will also build capacity in analysing longitudinal data, and knowledge drawing on a longitudinal and life-course studies perspective.
Life events and trajectories of later-life loneliness
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: The PhD project will be part of an ARC DECRA, which examines loneliness from a longitudinal and life course perspective. The DECRA project will investigate whether the experiences of different life events may render older Australians more susceptible to a sustained path to increased loneliness and isolation. It will also innovate by moving the analysis beyond the individual level, incorporating characteristics across households and neighbourhoods. The student will work closely with the advisory team to discuss the details of the PhD project, which will sit within the scope of the DECRA.
There's an earmarked scholarship attached to this project, as part of an ARC DECRA project, which provides a living stipend of $28,597 per annum (2021 rate, indexed annually), tuition fees, and Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). Please contact Dr Lam directly if interested. An additional top-up scholarship of $5,000/year is available to the successful applicant.
Reducing maternal and child dual burden of malnutrition through social protection
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: Dual burden of malnutrition, co-existence of both under and overweight, continues as a vital public health challenge in the globe, predominantly in low- and middle- income countries. The global health agenda highlighted in SDGs of eradicating all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Given the trends, current progress and inequalities in the prevalence of maternal and child malnutrition, it is unlikely SDGs goal by 2030 will be achieved for most LMICs. A holistic approach, such as social protection that consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty, food insecurity, and vulnerability is warranted to overcome situations that adversely affect people's wellbeing. The aim of this project is to monitor, forecast and quantify inequalities of malnutrition and determine how to reduce this malnutrition through social protection within and across LMICs.
Sleep and circadian function after brain injury
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: Poor sleep is often reported after brain injury (including mild traumatic brain injury and concussion). Poor sleep is often associated with worse overall outcomes, and may contribute to worse mood, increased pain, increased fatigue, and decreased social and work participation. The exact nature of sleep disturbance after brain injury isn’t yet clear, nor are the consequences of poor sleep for recovery after injury. We are interested in the opportunity to better define the nature, impact, and severity of an injury through a study of sleep and circadian function. We are particularly interested in the possibility that improving sleep, sleep health, and circadian function might improve outcomes after injury and improve overall quality of life. Our group works with a range of populations, uses a wide range of research measures (including overnight sleep studies, actigraphy, hormone analysis, scales and questionnaires, and observations) and a number of methodologies (including naturalistic studies, experimental designs, and formal trials). We can support a range of study types within that framework.
This PhD will build on work undertaken by our team and our on-going collaborations with partners. The study will involve both critical reviews of literatures and the generation and analysis of new data. The information from this project will provide the scientific basis to design effective interventions to improve outcomes after injury. Through this project the PhD student will gain experience in state-of-the-art measurement and analyses techniques.
Sleep and circadian health in non-standard workers and communities
ISSR Impact Area: Health / Education / Policy and Practice
Project description: From a societal perspective, the availability of workforce outside the 9 am –5 pm working day is necessary in some sectors (e.g. health care, and the trucking, and airline). In addition, the work patterns of parents, school timings or digital technologies are causing sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions in school children. The Sleep and circadian health in non-standard workers and community project could be address these issues through multiple PhD programs, including but not limited to 1) the role of sleep, activity rhythms in performance and behaviour in non-standard workers, 2) effects of non-standard work on household wellbeing and 3) role of school timing, parents work or digital media on young children sleep, circadian health and learning outcomes.
These PhD programs will build on ARC linkage Projects, on-going collaborations with partners or domestic and international scholarships. These projects will provide scientific basis to design effective interventions to mitigate consequences of non-standard work, or sleep loss in young children. Through this project the PhD student will gain experience in literature review, data analyses techniques, as well as theoretical and practical experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Social neuroscience of sleep, risk and reward in young people
ISSR Impact Area: Health / Policy and Practice
Project description: Poor sleep is both a predictor and a consequence of emotional and/or behavioural dysregulation in young people, and can precipitate increased engagement with various health-risk behaviours (e.g. substance use, poor food choices). The underlying mechanisms contributing to this relationship are as yet unclear, though changes in reward related neuro-circuitry as a consequence of sleep loss may be a factor. This research program would seek to explore the relationship between sleep and circadian health and reward related functions through a series of studies incorporating a range of methodologies (including, but not limited to prospective naturalistic designs, and controlled experimental manipulations).
This PhD program will build on existing NHMRC project grants, and on-going collaborations with industry partners. The study will involve both critical review of literatures and provide scientific basis to design effective interventions aimed at improving sleep health and/or mitigating the harms associated with increased risk taking. Through this project the PhD student will gain experience in literature review, as well as theoretical and practical experience in applied quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Supervisor/s: Dr Kalina Rossa, Professor Simon Smith, Dr Cassandra Pattinson, Dr Caroline Salom
Understanding syndemics among marginalised communities in Australia
ISSR Impact Area: Health
Project description: There is growing recognition of the need to understand the clustering of health conditions affecting the most marginalised groups in society. “Syndemics” theory has been proposed as a means of doing so, while also accounting for the social contexts in which people live. However, evidence is limited and methodologically underdeveloped, particularly within Australia.
This mixed methods PhD project will first seek to evidence syndemics in marginalised communities and at the population level through multiple data sources, including administrative, general population survey data (e.g., Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, Australian Census of Population and Housing), and specialised surveys of marginalised groups, which could include those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, refugees, LGBTIQ+ and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (the final focus will be agreed between the successful student and the advisory team). The analyses will be complemented by qualitative research to explore the contexts and pathways through which people experience, negotiate and resist syndemic ill health. The findings will be a starting point for intervention development and the student will gain experience in advanced quantitative data analysis and qualitative research methods, as well as innovative methods for integrating the two.