Available projects for research degrees

The project will investigate the development and production of novel bioproducts from scallop fishery waste, including tissue and shells, to reduce waste disposal costs and provide a value added product for the Tasmanian scallop fishing industry.

Develop and validate AI computer vision tools to identify, measure and verify shark catches from electronic monitoring video, supporting accurate catch estimates, onboard processing, fisheries compliance and sustainable management of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery.

What is the geological evolution of submarine plateaus off northwest Australia? This project will determine their crustal character, age and tectonic history, providing new insights into Gondwana breakup and the processes that shaped the evolution of the modern Australian continent.

What is the origin and nature of submarine plateaus off northwest Australia? This project will use new geophysical data to look deep into the crust that makes up the seafloor deep beneath the Indian Ocean.

New therapies are needed that slow or reverse the clinical progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). In this project, we will leverage human genetics integrated with state-of-the art in vitro modelling to identify new targets for MS progression.

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 PhD project aims to develop new geophysical approaches to investigate Antarctic ice sheet outlets. With a focus on practical field data acquisition and analysis, the student will advance the understanding of how glaciers move and evolve.

This project investigates geothermal heat flow, lithosphere dynamics, and ice-sheet evolution in East Antarctica. Using geological and geophysical data, plate reconstructions, and mantle flow models, it will constrain heat-flow variability and geodynamic evolution of the Cook Glacier area.

Determining reliable stratigraphies and soil properties play a fundamental role in characterising geotechnical sites. A cost-effective, unified approach is needed to perform these two tasks simultaneously to reduce overall uncertainty in site characterisation.   In Tasmania, slope failure and landslides pose...

Salmon Rickettsial Syndrome (SRS) is an emerging disease in Atlantic salmon aquaculture, present also in Tasmania. Using CRISPR toolkit, project aims to identify genes that influence SRS resistance in salmonid cells, and provide basic understanding of the host-pathogen interaction.

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.

A multidisciplinary study of how forestry and hardwood resource transitions affect timber industries and sustainable construction, with a focus on industry adaptation, and the future of timber in Australia's built environment.

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 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 project involves the development methods for the rapid screening of forestry biomass to develop a phytochemical database to identify opportunities to develop new products from biopolymers, agrichemicals and heath related applications.

Catalytic reactions for organic synthesis

Tasmania’s Central Plateau lakes support endemic biodiversity and valuable services, but climate-driven heat and water-level volatility are increasing ecological risk. This project will combine field monitoring, manipulative tests, and food-web/network modelling to predict responses and guide practical trade-offs.

This project investigates the potential residues from forest and wood supply chains, the value adding opportunities from processing, the transport and logistics requirements, and demand for the new products, to determine the feasibility of developing a bio-hub in Tasmania.

Understanding and adapting to climate extremes in Tasmanian agricultural systems

Climate change and increasing coastal connectivity may alter the spread of harmful algal species and other marine biohazards. This project will investigate HAB ecology, dispersal pathways, biosecurity risks and management options to support resilient coastal ecosystems and sustainable seafood production.

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.

This project will use high‑throughput methods developed in our lab to generate carbonate chemistry fitness landscapes for a diverse range of phytoplankton species. Goal is to provide the mechanistic underpinning for identifying winners and losers in future ocean scenarios.

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.

Flood Risk Modelling and Scenario Sensitivity for Tasmania

PhD project in restoration ecology, soil seedbanks, soil microbial communities, plant-soil interactions, degradation and recovery. Field and experimental research using molecular tools (DNA sequencing) to assess restoration potential, ecosystem resilience, and biodiversity in degraded Australian landscapes, including arid and semi-arid systems.

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...

Mixed species pastures have been promoted to provide resilience to climatic extremes. This project will investigate the characteristics of pasture species roots and their role in persistence and production within established mixed pasture swards.

This PhD will investigate how anthropogenic and natural nitrogen sources influence reef health in marine systems. By examining links between nutrient enrichment and reef condition, the project will improve understanding of resilience, change, and evidence-based management in multi-use coastal ecosystems.

Investigate how digital capability develops through educational transitions, using generative AI as a contemporary context. Working with Tasmanian education partners, this project explores how capability can be understood, measured and strengthened to support equitable participation in further study and work.

This PhD project aims to develop a new method for analysis of trace element and halogen contents in fluid inclusions in various minerals and explore ways to utilise the data for provenance reconstructions in sediment-hosted Cu and other ore systems

Targeting no-reflow in stroke

From the lab to the field, this PhD will develop novel imaging frameworks to quantify sea-ice biogeochemical properties, resolving presence and abundance of ice-algal pigments and geochemical constituents, thereby improving understanding of sea-ice ecological interconnections in a changing Antarctic icescape.

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...

Tectonic and climatic controls on sediment-hosted Cu-Co mineralisation in the Central African Copperbelt

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 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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

Multimodal Deep Learning for Phishing Detection

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...

This project will use a unique 50-year network of East Antarctic automatic weather station observations to improve understanding of precipitation variability, evaluate reanalysis and satellite products, and strengthen estimates of Antarctic surface mass balance and future climate change.

This project examines whether trust in AI can be jointly calibrated by training people to rely well and assessing how AI systems recognise and communicate their own reliability.

This project will implement a thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling model into a hybrid finite-discrete element method developed by the supervision team to investigate glacier-bed interactions for the development of improved slip laws for next-generation ice-sheet models.

Validate serious game measures that track Parkinson's symptoms during natural gameplay and test whether they detect medication response, symptom fluctuation and progression in longitudinal community use.

This project aims to prepare and develop photoactive transition metal complexes as next generation photo-therapeutics in cancer treatment. Photo-therapeutic metallodrugs that will be explored include metal-based photo-carbon monoxide release molecules and metal-based photoswitches.

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.

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...

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.

This PhD will develop and validate a Parkinson’s disease-specific measure of work difficulties through lived experience and expert consultation, psychometric validation, and prediction of employment outcomes, ultimately informing targeted interventions to support people with Parkinson’s to remain employed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The project will develop and evaluate a smart sensing platform for monitoring red meat quality and predicting shelf-life using sensory and microbiological data and data-driven modelling.

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.

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

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.

This project will use newly acquired ocean observations, through recent Southern Ocean voyages and Deep Argo profiling floats, to quantify and understand the drivers of variability and change in Antarctic Bottom Water.

This project will characterise genetic diversity in the major histocompatibility complex and develop new alignment and variant calling pipelines. You will assemble long-read sequencing data and build MHC pangenome graphs, and use these to examine variation in MS cohorts.

This project seeks to understand factors that influence women’s access to cancer screening services in Tasmania. Identifying enablers and barriers to screening will inform the co-design of a contextually relevant and consumer-informed cancer screening strategy for Tasmanian women.

What are the sources and control on the supply of biologically essential trace metals on the East Antarctic margin? Using newly collected, co-located water-column, porewater and DNA samples from multiple regions in East Antarctica, this project will quantify the source of metal fluxes to test how seafloor sediments, glaciogenic inputs, water masses and microbial communities regulate dissolved iron and other trace metals.

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...

Discover how life on the seafloor is organised across the Macquarie Island Marine Park. Using imagery, habitat mapping and functional ecology, this project will investigate biodiversity patterns and contribute to understanding climate vulnerability and refugia in sub-Antarctic ecosystems.

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...

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.

Sustainable Detection of PFAS

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 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 is an exciting opportunity to contribute to understanding of the links between large-scale ocean circulation and coastal waters along southeastern Australia that support valuable natural ecosystems, recreation, and commercial aquaculture and fisheries.

This research explores attraction, recruitment, retention, wellbeing, job satisfaction, and workforce development within Tasmania’s public mental health workforce. Conducted with key stakeholders, findings will inform workforce planning, policy, service improvement, and sustainable workforce development amid growing demand and reform.

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 explores how Industry 5.0 technologies can support resource-led, performance-based architectural design by integrating reclaimed, recycled and upcycled materials into human-in-the-loop digital and physical design workflows, advancing material circularity, reducing waste and enabling low-carbon built environment outcomes.

This project will develop climate-smart approaches to marine habitat restoration for threatened species by identifying environmental drivers of recruitment, testing multi-habitat restoration and ecological facilitation, and mapping climate refugia to prioritise restoration actions that maximise resilience, biodiversity and ecosystem recovery.

Coronary plaque phenotyping and precision prevention

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.

This project will develop and evaluate a low-cost automated oxygen control device for integration with neonatal respiratory support systems used in resource-constrained healthcare settings.

Building on Cyrene/water-enhanced wood plasticisation in European species, this project evaluates Cyrene/water systems in Australian wood species for uniform plasticisation, efficient preservative delivery, Cyrene's intrinsic preservative potential, and polymer dissolution for improved wood–polymer composite impregnation and performance.

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 project will explore Australian political narrative building during the twentieth century with particular emphasis on the historical legacy building efforts of particular politicians among their constituents and its interactions with key events in Australian history.

Understanding mechanisms and cultivating resilience in plants facing rapid environmental change

Develop efficient mathematical models of remnant black-hole jet bubbles using spectral methods, capturing turbulence, mixing, heating and repeated outbursts. The existing RAiSE analytical model will provide initial conditions, enabling predictions of energy transport across parameter space for cosmological simulations.

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 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.

Coastal oceans are increasingly polluted with unsustainable amounts of phosphorous from human activity. This project investigates if the addition of calcium minerals for the primary purpose of atmospheric CO2 removal can permanently bind phosphorus through calcium-phosphorus mineral formation.

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.

This project combines animal movement information with epidemiology to understand how wildlife can connect disease outbreaks across ocean basins and identify high-risk transmission pathways relevant to Southern Ocean conservation.

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.

This project looks at the ideas which informed the practices of ancient Greek and / or Roman religion, and particular at the roles of religions in their societies, how they were contested, and the long-term influence of ancient religious thought.

This project investigates innovative approaches to the teaching and learning of spelling across primary school years in Australian schools to provide more evidence-based research in this area to inform English pedagogies, curriculum and policies.

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.

This project combines Antarctic ice-sheet and subglacial hydrology modelling, observations, ISMIP7 projections and TIPMIP experiments to determine how uncertain hydrology affects ice loss, sea-level rise, tipping thresholds and recovery.

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.

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.

This study examines reproductive biology, spawning phenology and productivity of southern calamari. By integrating reproductive and growth data into population models, it will develop biological reference points and evaluate spawning closures to support recruitment and sustainable fisheries.

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.

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 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...

Climate resilience of Australian seaweed

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.

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

This project will investigate how training, skills, and competency development can build Green Human Capital for maritime decarbonization. It will identify emerging workforce requirements, assess competency and training gaps, and develop a framework to support workforce transformation for sustainable shipping.

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....

Solar powered medical oxygen generation

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.

To advance our understanding of the impact of extreme heat on First Nations people by exploring both historical and climate change projections of extreme heat.

Understanding multiple sclerosis development through rare variant identification.

This mixed-methods PhD project will examine and refine a dual-purpose dementia risk profiling tool to meaningfully estimate dementia risk and equitably and effectively promote risk reduction. This may include health messaging individualisation, co-design with a priority population, and/or software development.

You will identify and study unusual supernovae and other extreme transients using Rubin/Fink alerts, develop new selection tools, and carry out rapid optical and near-infrared observations with UTAS, the ANU 2.3-m telescope and international networks to investigate their physical origins.

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.

A PhD study of pre-service teachers' experience in Change2Teaching, an employment-based partnership and pathway to a teaching career in regional communities in Tasmania.

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 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 develop an AI-powered augmented reality platform that assesses built environments for people living with dementia. It will identify accessibility issues and provide real-time, evidence-based design guidance to create safer, more inclusive, and supportive spaces for everyday living.

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.

This project investigates the social-ecological drivers of seagrass restoration success through Australia-Chile fisheries comparisons, community engagement before and after restoration activities, and laboratory experiments on seagrass sprigs. Outcomes will inform more effective, socially supported seagrass conservation and restoration strategies.

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.

Maternal Deterioration Recognition and Escalation in Tasmania

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.

This project investigates the vulnerability of dams to waves generated by landslides entering reservoirs. Numerical modelling will examine wave generation, propagation and interaction, assessing how landslide characteristics, reservoir geometry and water depth influence wave heights, overtopping and associated hazards.

This project will build the first self-consistent models describing the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black hole jets deep within them. Predictions for jet and galaxy populations will confront data from leading telescopes including SKA pathfinders and JWST.

This project will build climate resilience into red handfish recovery by identifying and testing climate-resilient restoration material, mapping genetic diversity, prioritising restoration under future conditions, and developing an evidence-based emergency preparedness framework to safeguard populations during extreme environmental events.

Pericyte-associated microglia functions

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.

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.

With rapid electrification and digitalisation, effective thermal management is increasingly important across many sectors. This project aims to develop advanced and sustainable thermal management technologies that improve thermal performance, enhance energy efficiency, and reduce environmental impacts across diverse applications.

This project examines the changing relationship between sport, social connection, and loneliness in contemporary Australia. Candidates will investigate sport as a community-based solution to loneliness for at-risk groups in the context of wider sporting and social changes.

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.

There is tremendous potential and excitement for the future of functional genetics to broaden our understanding of human haematopoiesis. We aim to understand the contribution of genetic variation in driving haematopoietic cell development, through dissecting the genetic drivers of haematopoiesis.

This project advances understanding of trauma-informed design for young people in the context of community support settings. Founded in interdisciplinary inquiry at the intersection of architecture and neuroscience, it prioritises the lived experience of young people and translational research.

This project invites explorations of how theatre might embrace wilderness and the wild, informed by a Tasmanian context. Through unruly stories, risky methods, and/or ecological encounters, it encourages research that hosts uncertainty and imagines new ways of doing performance.

Developing a predictive framework using AIS, operational and environmental data to anticipate vessel access and infrastructure availability in Australian ports, reducing vessel waiting, improving throughput and supporting maritime decarbonisation.

This PhD project call proposes recovering Aboriginal women's ecological knowledge in early Van Diemen's Land through fragmentary oral, linguistic, forensic and archaeological evidence, complementing and refining dominant dispossession-focused historiography.

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.

The development of a lightweight microclimate sensing platform for an agrivoltaic system including predictive environmental modelling with local precision, and electrical design and field deployment.

This project investigates how water flow and debris accumulation influence vibrations in hydropower intake screens. Using advanced simulations, it aims to improve understanding of fluid-structure interactions, supporting more resilient, reliable, and cost-effective designs for hydropower and pumped-storage infrastructure.

Using state-of-the-art coupled ice-ocean modelling capabilities, this project will investigate one of the key uncertainties in future sea-level rise: how feedbacks between the Southern Ocean and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet control long-term ice loss.

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.

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.

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...

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)...

Cavitation onset is currently an unsurmountable barrier limiting the maximum speed of high-speed sailing crafts. Novel hydrofoil concepts, optimising the transition from sub- to super-cavitating flow regime either naturally or via air ventilation, will be investigated.

This project focuses on new methods of polymer synthesis that enable a move away from traditional, hazardous organic solvents and the creation of circular, low-waste technologies for a variety of applications.

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...

Investigating how pilots, shipmasters, VTS operators and port operators experience advanced navigation technologies in port waters, to develop and validate a people-centric socio-technical framework guiding future technology adoption decisions in port operations.

Investigates how regional organisations can build workforce AI capability to support productivity, responsible AI adoption and regional economic growth.

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...

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

This PhD project investigates the risk and reliability of hybrid methanol–battery marine propulsion systems for maritime decarbonisation. Using engine room simulation, risk assessment, and probabilistic reliability modelling, it will evaluate failure scenarios, system interactions, operational resilience, and propulsion safety.

Develop and pilot regulatory-ready environmental risk and impact assessment frameworks tailored to ocean alkalinity enhancement trials, integrating operational elements (metrics, thresholds and quantification of uncertainty, scoring, and monitoring design) suitable for climate-impacted multi-use marine systems.

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.

As the impacts of climate change become more pronounced, a range of novel interventions is being investigated. These include carbon dioxide removal technologies, which remove and sequester atmospheric carbon, and solar radiation management technologies, which temporarily cool the planet by...

Petrels without borders

This project will generate a continuous methane record from the Million Year Ice Core to improve ice-core dating, investigate past methane-cycle variability, and examine firn processes that smooth atmospheric signals preserved in ice.

Cardiovascular health is established in childhood, yet little is known about how teachers are prepared to promote it. This project will examine how cardiovascular health is embedded in teacher education and identify opportunities to strengthen school-based health promotion.

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.

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 project is interested in exploring mechanisms of power in the ancient world, including how rulers, elites or political communities constructed and communicated authority. It is especially interested in investigating these aspects during periods of instability, transition or change.

This project investigates how medium-sized Australian ports can prepare for green shipping corridors by assessing technical, energy, investment, regulatory and stakeholder readiness, their interdependencies, and alternative transition pathways to support practical port decarbonisation and sustainable maritime transport.

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...

The scarcity of iron limits biological productivity in the Southern Ocean. This project will use isotopes of the naturally-occurring radionuclide thorium, to quantify the input of iron to the Southern Ocean from sources such as dust, bottom sediments, and glaciers

Project will take a fresh look at how rain and snow affects circulation in Antarctic marginal seas. The goal is to understand the dynamical role of atmospheric water in the ocean and differentiate its effects from glacial melt.

Develop advanced control strategies for power converters to enable secure integration of renewable energy and battery storage in future power grids. The project focuses on grid-forming control, stability enhancement, weak-grid operation, and experimental validation for high-renewable, low-carbon electricity systems.

This project explores how ancient societies understood health, illness, ageing, and the good life as both lived realities and powerful metaphors for moral character, political order, and civic decline. It brings ancient thought into conversation with contemporary wellbeing challenges.

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.

This project aims to understand the distribution and ecology of Tasmania’s elusive burrowing crayfish. It will identify the factors shaping species distributions and develop eDNA methods to improve detection. It will also assess habitat requirements and trophic ecology.

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

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.

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.

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.

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,...

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 uses phenomenology and interdisciplinary research to examine how AI and emerging technologies shape human experience, agency, and society. Focusing on technology, feminism, and ethics, it aims to promote human flourishing, social justice, and genuinely human-centred technological development.

Development of sustainable hybrid microchannel heat sinks for next-generation electronics, enabling high-efficiency thermal management, reduced energy consumption, and improved reliability in high-power electronic systems aligned with climate-conscious engineering solutions.

This project develops an applied framework for sustainable urban logistics in regional Australia, examining current and emerging challenges, technologies, policy developments, and operational trends to support context-specific planning, evaluation, and adoption of urban freight initiatives across different planning horizons.

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.

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...

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

This project assesses how climate change may affect giant crab and southern rock lobster populations by combining vulnerability assessment, larval connectivity modelling, climate-driven recruitment projections, and population modelling to inform management of potting crustacean resources under changing environmental conditions.

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.

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.

Develop new models of black-hole jets in realistic galaxy environments, connecting their dynamics, radio emission and interactions with gas to observations of distant galaxies and providing improved prescriptions for AGN feedback in cosmological simulations.

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.

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.

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.

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...

AOD Health Promotion for Tasmanians

Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is an emerging method that aims to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store additional CO2 as bicarbonate in the ocean. This project will address how OAE affects commercially important Australian fish species.

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

How sensitive is the Wilkes Subglacial Basin in East Antarctica to climate change? Using newly collected marine sediment cores, this project will reconstruct ocean, ice-sheet and ecosystem changes during major climate reorganization of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.

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.

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...

Driving Change: road safety

Plants form symbioses with microbes, but the benefit plants derive can vary widely. This project will identify the genes that enable plants to gain the most benefit from symbioses for ecological processes and future crop improvement.

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.

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.

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.