Summer and Winter Research Projects

This project will investigate how well e-mobility users understand e-bike safety risks and relevant legislation, including their ability to recognise potentially non-compliant devices.

Using participants from an earlier survey, the research will examine what shapes people’s risk perceptions, information-seeking behaviour, safety practices and attitudes towards insurance, helping inform more targeted safety communication.

• 36 hours per week.
• Hybrid delivery (on campus at St Lucia and remote).
• Normally Monday to Thursday during standard business hours, with flexibility by agreement.
• At least one scheduled supervision meeting each week.

As part of the project, you'll:

• review relevant legislation and research, then help design and test a follow-up questionnaire
• conduct interviews, analyse linked survey responses and translate the findings into practical recommendations.

Undergraduate, honours or coursework master’s students:

• business
• marketing
• tourism
• psychology
• communication
• transport
• or a related discipline.

Who are interested in: 

• risk perception
• micromobility
• safety, or
• applied policy research.

And who:

• have strong attention to detail, clear written communication and confidence working with data
• have experience with surveys, statistics, Qualtrics, SPSS, R or Python (helpful but not required)
• are curious, organised and comfortable working carefully with data.

This project examines how Vietnam’s role in global value chains is changing as firms and governments respond to US–China rivalry and strategies such as “China+1” and friend-shoring.

It will use trade and investment data, policy developments and industry case studies to assess the opportunities and vulnerabilities created for Vietnam’s industrial development.

• 20 hours per week.
• Hybrid delivery (on campus at St Lucia and remote).
• Working days are flexible and can be negotiated.
• Some availability during standard business hours, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, is expected for team meetings.

As part of the project, you'll:

• review research and collect, clean and analyse trade, investment and export data across sectors such as electronics, textiles and footwear
• develop sector or firm-level case studies and help prepare a working paper or policy brief with tables, charts and a literature summary.

Students who:

• are studying:
  • economics
  • international business
  • political science
  • international relations or,
  • a related field.
• and are interested in:
  • trade policy
  • economic geography, or
  • the influence of geopolitics on economic decisions.
• who possess:
  • strong written English
  • attention to detail
  • the enthusiasm for independent research.

Basic experience with Excel, R or Python is useful but not required.

Arts organisations must balance artistic freedom with the commercial need to attract audiences and remain financially viable.

Focusing on the theatre industry, this project will examine how managers, performers, creative directors and playwrights navigate artistic and commercial values in their day-to-day work.

• 36 hours per week.
• Hybrid delivery (on campus at St Lucia and remote).
• A mix of face-to-face and virtual meetings.

As part of the project, you'll:

• conduct a structured literature review and identify themes, research gaps and possible theoretical frameworks
• help develop the research methodology and prepare an ethical clearance application.

Students who:

• are currently studying the Bachelor of Business Management
• have a background in innovation, entrepreneurship, business or a related field.

Preference will be given to students planning to study Honours at UQ Business School.

ReadyIndex is a research-based diagnostic being developed at UQ to help businesses assess their readiness for significant disruption.

This project will analyse survey data to evaluate how well its questions and resilience measures perform and may also test whether a responsible-AI “Readiness Coach” can provide accurate, consistent and safe feedback.

• 30 – 36 hours per week.
• Hybrid delivery, with on-campus and online meetings with the supervisor.

As part of the project, you'll:

• clean and analyse business resilience data
• assess survey-item performance
• produce reproducible analysis files, tables and visualisations
• depending on your skills and project progress, conduct preliminary validation analysis or evaluate AI-generated feedback using synthetic or de-identified profiles.

Students who:

• are in their final-year of undergraduate, honours or postgraduate study
• are studying:
  • business analytics
  • organisational behaviour
  • risk management
  • psychology
  • information systems
  • data science
  • or a related discipline.
• are comfortable working independently with quantitative information
• are curious, detail-oriented and willing to document their work clearly.

The following attributes are desirable but not required:

• strong statistical skills may support involvement in factor analysis but are not essential for all tasks
• coding or generative-AI experience which may support involvement in the optional AI component
• experience with Excel and an analytical environment such as R, Python, SPSS or Stata.

You'll need to:

• maintain confidentiality around the ReadyIndex instrument, scoring architecture and associated intellectual property
• follow approved UQ ethics and data-management arrangements when accessing research data.

Prior experience in resilience or crisis management is not required.

This project examines whether the inclusion and perceived sincerity of Acknowledgement of Country statements in ASX CEO Connect presentations are associated with investor attention and short-term market reactions.

It will also explore whether responses differ according to the presenter’s gender, contributing to research on executive communication, cultural signalling and investor judgement.

• 36 hours per week.
• Hybrid delivery (on campus at St Lucia and remote).
• Working days and hours will be agreed with the successful student.
• The schedule is generally flexible, provided project outcomes are delivered on time.

As part of the project, you'll:

• review public presentation recordings, speaker details and slide decks
• help develop and apply a coding framework for Acknowledgement of Country statements
• record presentation characteristics, verify information, document sources and undertake quality and consistency checks.

Undergraduate or postgraduate students who are studying:

• accounting
• finance
• business
• economics
• communication
• data analytics
• or a related discipline.

Who are:

• interested in capital markets, corporate reporting, executive communication, leadership, culture or Australian workplace practices
• willing to discuss ambiguous material respectfully and thoughtfully
• careful, dependable and comfortable reviewing recorded presentations and structured data.

Who possess:

• strong written English, attention to detail and the ability to follow and refine a coding protocol
• familiarity with Excel or similar software is desirable.

Coursework in research methods, statistics, accounting or finance is useful but not essential.

You'll need to:

• have reliable access to a computer, headphones and spreadsheet software
• complete project-specific training and a pilot calibration exercise before independent coding
• follow UQ research-integrity, data-management and culturally respectful research practices.

No fieldwork, licence or external safety certification is anticipated.

This project examines why family businesses in the Granite Belt and Lockyer Valley respond differently to technological, regulatory, sustainability and market changes.

It will explore how experience, resources, family objectives and attitudes to risk interact with regional networks, institutions and relationships to shape innovation.

• 20 hours per week (4 days per week, 5 hours per day).
• Hybrid delivery, combining online meetings and interviews at UQ St Lucia with regional fieldwork.

As part of the project, you'll:

• review research
• map regional contexts and family firms
• gather and organise information about participating businesses and regions
• help prepare case profiles
• where appropriate, support interviews, transcription and qualitative coding using NVivo.

Undergraduate or postgraduate students who are: 

• specialising in innovation and entrepreneurship, or 
• studying, or have previously studied the Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

And are:

• interested in family business and regional development
• able to read critically, organise information, identify patterns and communicate ideas clearly.

• Practical experience in a family business would be an advantage.

• Follow the project’s ethics protocols and complete relevant training if participating in interviews or primary data collection.
• Some activities may require travel to regional Queensland.
• A driver’s licence and access to a vehicle would be advantageous.
• Fieldwork requirements will be discussed in advance.

This project investigates how backpackers learn sustainable and unsustainable behaviours through social groups, shared routines and peer influence.

It will draw on social learning, social identity and practice theories to explain how group conformity can coexist with backpackers’ desire to see themselves as independent travellers.

• 35 hours per week, totalling 210 hours.
• Monday – Friday, 7 hours per day.
• Hybrid delivery, combining on-site and online participation.
• On-campus work will be based in Room 39A-447A.
• Online work will be conducted through Zoom or Teams where appropriate.

As part of the project, you'll:

• search for and review literature
• create a thematic dictionary
• extract information about study objectives, contexts, findings and theoretical approaches
• synthesise the findings and develop a visual model showing the relationships between key concepts.

Students who are:

• in their fourth year of undergraduate study, or
• in their first or second year of master’s study.

in the field of:

• tourism, hospitality and events
• sustainability, or
• a business-related program.

who demonstrate diligence, critical thinking, ethical conduct and good time management, and are interested in:

• systematic literature reviews
• theory development
• qualitative research
• content analysis.

This project will systematically review how business students use artificial intelligence in higher education, focusing on their motivations, challenges and learning outcomes.

It will update earlier research, analyse relevant studies and support the development of a conceptual framework and initial sections of a systematic review paper.

• 35 hours per week, 7 hours per day.
• Primarily remote delivery.
• One or 2 initial meetings will be held in the supervisor’s office during the first week.

As part of the project, you'll:

• run a revised search strategy
• screen studies
• extract relevant information and analyse findings from new and previously identified articles
• draft sections covering methodology, descriptive analysis, key findings and future research directions.

Students enrolled in a UQ Business School program, who have completed at least:

• 1.5 years of undergraduate study, or
• one year of postgraduate study.

And have:

• a GPA of 6.0 or above
• strong critical reading and writing skills

Knowledge of systematic-review methods, research processes or data extraction is advantageous but not essential.

This project is part of a mixed-methods study examining the adoption of AI scribes across several departments at Metro South Health.

It will explore what supports or prevents clinician uptake, how AI scribes affect clinical work and how patients respond to their use, helping inform responsible implementation in healthcare.

• 20 – 36 hours per week, negotiable within this range.
• Hybrid delivery (on campus at St Lucia and remote).
• Typical working days are weekdays during business hours.

As part of the project, you'll:

• support literature reviews and the collection, organisation, cleaning, coding or preliminary analysis of research data
• help prepare summaries, briefing notes, presentation materials or documentation for project, ethics and governance activities.

Students who:

• are studying:
  • business information systems
  • health informatics
  • psychology, or
  • a related discipline (applicants from other fields are welcome to apply).
• and are interested in:
  • healthcare technology
  • organisational behaviour, or
  • information systems research.
• are able to work respectfully and confidentially with sensitive information, and
• possess:
  • strong attention to detail
  • good written communication
  • confidence working with data.

Previous study in research methods or information systems is helpful but not essential.

You'll need to:

• complete any relevant confidentiality or data-handling training
• comply with UQ and Metro South Health ethics approval conditions
• handle sensitive, de-identified clinical data with appropriate care.

This project will investigate the institutional, regulatory, market and investment conditions needed to position Queensland as a leading hub for sustainable aviation fuel production and export.

It will examine government policy, infrastructure, emerging fuel technologies and the sustainable fuels business ecosystem to identify Queensland’s comparative advantages and the barriers to industry collaboration and investment.

As part of the project, you'll:

• review industry reports, market forecasts and government policies
• map the stakeholders, relationships and dependencies across the sustainable fuels value chain
• assess the barriers to collaboration and investment
• identify how Queensland’s resources, infrastructure, industrial capabilities and export position could support a competitive sustainable fuel industry.

Students who are interested in:

• mapping and industry value-chain analysis
• sustainable aviation fuel and alternative fuels for long-distance transport
• developing qualitative research, policy analysis and industry evaluation skills.

Students intending to pursue an Honours degree or research-focused master’s program are particularly encouraged to apply.