Winter Research Projects

Team up with some of the University's leading academics and researchers to participate in research-related activities for a selected project. You'll have the opportunity to progress and apply your degree-specific knowledge, whilst developing valuable research and professional capabilities.

Applications for the 2025 Winter Research Projects are open from 24 March - 13 April 2025.

Further information and how to apply

Projects

Communicating environmental conservation in a global not-for-profit organisation

Supervisor

Dr Kate Power

Project description

This project analyses internal communication practices within a global not-for-profit environmental conservation organisation, with a view to:

better understanding pressure points across the organisation, and
identifying possible areas for improvement in cross-cultural communication and relationship building within the organisation.

The successful applicant will be involved in:

Critically analysing documents supplied by the partner organisation and transcripts of interviews with organisational staff.
Writing a report for organisational leaders.

Scholarships available

Greenwashing at Super Funds?

Supervisors

Dr Kathleen Herbon and Dr Mark Wallis

Project description

Superannuation funds offer a variety of investment products (different investment options). Some of these investment products are marketed as being ‘socially responsible’, ‘ethical’ or ‘sustainable’, or similar (ESG-related super funds).

In this project, we want to investigate the extent to which these investment options truly reflect these descriptions. We will use information on super funds’ portfolio holdings to critically evaluate the public listed investments held by ESG super fund investment products.

Scholarships available

An Umbrella Review of the Application of AI in Marketing

Supervisor

Dr Muhammad Rashid Saeed

Project description

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining popularity in marketing theory and practice. Marketers use AI in various areas of marketing, including marketing research, marketing strategy (e.g., segmentation, targeting, and positioning decisions), and marketing action (e.g., marketing mix decisions) (Huang & Rust, 2021). For example, AI can help adjust product prices in real time (Misra et al., 2019).

It has been estimated that Gen AI could increase marketing productivity by 5-15% of total marketing spend (Harkness et al., 2023). Therefore, the topic of AI in marketing has received substantial research attention.

Scholarships available

Learning from the Public Sector’s Mixed Journey to AI Implementation

Supervisor

Dr Reihaneh Bidar

Project description

This research project aims to develop a comprehensive case study of the tax agency’s AI implementation journey, guided by two key objectives:

Exploring how two AI tools are developed for the tax agency.
Identify social-technical capabilities that can inform responsible and inclusive AI adoption in public sector contexts.

Understanding these objectives helps governments use AI effectively to improve public services while ensuring fairness and adaptability in addressing complex social-technical challenges.

Scholarships available

Risk perceptions and safety communication of e-scooters: Exploring public perceptions and risk reduction strategies of uptake for residents and tourists

Supervisors

Dr Richard Buning and Dr Jie Wang

Project description

Micromobility (e.g. eScooters) is disrupting urban transport networks globally and still little is known about how users understand and comply with related policy.

The purpose of this study is to assess the risk perceptions across the general public of e-scooter use. Risk reduction and safety communication challenges will also be investigated. The current project will collect survey data from with a focus on both users and non-users of micromobility (e.g., e-scooters, e-bikes) along with those in rural and urban areas and tourists. The study entails conducting a literature review, designing a survey instrument, collecting data, conducting quantitative data analysis and reporting.

Scholarships available

Linkages for Enhancing Entrepreneurial Orientation

Supervisor

Dr Russell Manfield

Project description

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a key construct for researching differences across new venture founders as well as the impact of entrepreneurship courses in educational institutions (Clark et al., 2024). The factors impacting the development of EO is not well understood nor how these impacts improve entrepreneurial outcomes.

I have been collecting EO scores across all commencing & finishing students in my entrepreneurship classes – both undergraduate & postgraduate – since 2020 – in a quest to understand the impact of my teaching in relation to EO – to distil how some assessment & learning architectures may enhance EO and how others may detract.

I am seeking to build a nuanced understanding of the dynamics & complexities of entrepreneurial learning in terms of both reducible risk and irreducible uncertainty as such learning encourages critical thinking (Lau, 2024). These data need collation across the 6 dimensions (risk-taking, competitiveness, learning orientation, innovativeness, achievement orientation & pro-activeness) drawn from 32 questions (Gorostianga et al., 2019).

Scholarships available

Traditional Language and Branding of Indigenous Businesses

Supervisors

Dr Samantha Cooms and Dr Ken Tann

Project description

This project is part of a broader study investigating how Indigenous language use in business names influences organisational culture and consumer experiences. Specifically, this Winter Research placement will involve reviewing publicly available data from Aboriginal organisations that incorporate traditional language into their business names.

The research will explore whether these businesses provide explanations of the language choices, their meanings, and their cultural significance in their public-facing materials (e.g., websites, social media, marketing materials, and annual reports).

Scholarships available

Classifying Collaboration Technologies by Perceived Affective Capabilities: A Qualitative Exploration

Supervisor

Dr Maylis Saigot

Project description

Collaboration technologies such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, and workplace AI assistants shape how emotions are expressed, perceived, and managed in digital teamwork. While these platforms differ in their functional features, they also vary in affective capabilities, influencing aspects like emotional presence, social connectedness, and affective feedback mechanisms.

Interested applicants should have taken a Research Methods course.