Promotion an der
UNSW Sydney

Ants are remarkable creatures that support their colonies by retrieving items of food in an often complex landscape. There is an extensive amount of research on how various species of ant navigate their surrounding environment, but very little has been done on the common meat ant and virtually no study has investigated the cognitive abilities of problem solving as it relates to efficient foraging behaviour in any ant species.The impacts of temperature on ant activity is well established, but the impact of temperature and climate change on the cognitive ability (and subsequent foraging efficiency) of ants is unknown.

This project offers numerous opportunities to fill this knowledge gap and provide a broad assessment of the likely consequence of climate change on an ecologically important and dominant Australian invertebrate.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

The aim of this project is to provide a robust smoke transport model to simulate wildfire smoke dispersion in Urban environment.

This smoke transport model will help in predicting air quality in case of a wildfire that assists in evacuation planning and other risk management acts.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

Smoke is composed of airborne liquid and solid particulates and gases that are emitted when fuels undergo combustion or burning. This project focuses on developing integrated and interactive coupled models of smoke, fire, atmosphere, and canopy; smoke operational and decision support systems; and plume-rise models for wildland fires. The end goal is to improve our understanding of smoke processes and mechanisms, such as factors determining plume evolution, feedbacks to ambient conditions, impacts of multiple updrafts on fire energy and plume rise, and formation of superfog.

International and domestic applicants are invited to apply. The position is open until filled.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

This research project aims to meticulously investigate the efficacy of a singular or multiple fuelbreaks within a uniform grassland setting situated on both flat and sloped terrains.

The comprehensive analysis hinges upon the utilization of advanced 3D numerical simulations, wherein intricate simulations will be conducted employing a sophisticated physical-fire-model, specifically employing the FireFOAM software.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a haematological cancer with dismal survival rates in children. A major limitation of AML treatment is the off-target toxicity of current chemotherapeutic therapies. Consequently, there is a need to identify molecular targets which are specific to AML and absent in healthy cells, allowing for a precision medicine approach to treat the disease. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of RNAs which have unique expression profiles in multiple cancers, including AML. Targeting lncRNAs therapeutically is a rapidly emerging field and presents an opportunity to specifically eradicate AML cells. Therefore, the aims of this project are to identify lncRNAs that are both specific and vital for AML cells and explore their potential as therapeutic targets.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

While deep learning has achieved highly accurate performance for many different applications, such as image analysis and natural language processing, there is still significant limitation in its generalisability and robustness. In particular, deep learning models often perform well on the dataset that the models are developed for, but then perform poorly when applied to a different dataset, even when the datasets are for the same tasks.

Various approaches have been developed recently to address these issues. In this project, we will further investigate this problem and the potential solutions will be based on domain adaptation, domain generalisation, out-of-distribution learning, meta-learning, etc.

This PhD study will involve a comprehensive literature review of the state-of-the-art, selection of a certain type of methodology and application domain (i.e., general computer vision, biomedical imaging, autonomous driving, robotics, etc.), method development and extensive experimental studies.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

Australia has a large culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population. There is limited evidence of alcohol and other drugs (AoD) use, harms and access to culturally sensitive and inclusive treatment options. Potential work for the PhD program, undertaken in collaboration with community partners, could include:

1. Systematic review of strategies to increase cultural responsiveness of AOD treatment services;
2. Secondary analysis of existing AOD survey and administrative data that captures information on CALD communities;
3. Quantitative survey of CALD communities assessing substance use, harms, treatment and help-seeking;
4. Qualitative study of barriers and enablers to prevention and treatment uptake among CALD communities; and
5. Co-design work on recommendations for the inclusion of CALD specific approaches in AoD treatment, and any cost implications.

Primary supervisor: Associate Professor Amy Peacock
Joint Supervisor: Winifred Asare-Doku
Secondary Supervisor: Stella Settumba Stolk

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

Candidate requirements:

Masters or Honours in public health, psychology, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, biostatistics or a related field
Strong skills in qualitative and quantitative analysis, with experience using linked administrative data highly regarded
Track record of publication of peer-reviewed scientific articles
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
People who identify as CALD or have experience working with CALD communities are highly encouraged to apply.

The project involves the study of nanoscale optical, electronic, and chemical properties of halide perovskite solar cell materials using scanning probe microscopy techniques such as AFM, KPFM, NSOM and nano-IR microscopy.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and is forecasted to cause over 8 million deaths per year by 2030, if smoking habits remain unchanged. The recent plateau in the rate of decline in Australian smoking rates, combined with a continuing social gradient in smoking cessation, outlines the unprecedented need for innovative and targeted smoking cessation strategies tailored to the most disadvantaged. This project will address this need by evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a tailored and widely scalable text messaging program, in achieving smoking abstinence for low-socioeconomic status smokers in Australia, compared to standard Quitline care.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

Candidate requirements:

1. Masters or Honours in public health, psychology, epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, biostatistics or a related field
2. Strong skills in quantitative analysis
3. Track record of publication of peer-reviewed scientific articles
4. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
5. Strong interpersonal skills
6. Demonstrated capacity to work independently, as well as collaboratively, to meet team and project deadlines and milestones
7. Strong organisational skills

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in the elderly population. The molecular mechanisms driving AMD pathogenesis are yet to be fully elucidated. This PhD project is focused on characterising the metabolic and mitochondrial dysfunctions driving AMD pathogenesis.

This project will leverage established AMD patient biobanks of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells and retinal endothelial cells.

This project will use cutting-edge molecular biology techniques including examining the bioenergetic profiles of retinal cells, evaluating the role of oxidative stress and assessing mitochondrial ultrastructural morphology. Novel drugs that enhance mitochondrial function will be tested in iPS-RPE derived from AMD patients to restore normal function.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.

The field of asteroseismology -- the study of sound waves inside stars -- is being revolutionized by current NASA and ESA space missions. The data reveal frequencies of sound waves, which in turn provide unprecedented measurements on stellar properties like , size, mass, and age. Projects in the asteroseismology group aims to use these information-rich data sets to:

1. better understand how stars evolve
2. study how planets form and evolve around stars, and
3. use the detailed knowledge of thousands of stars as tracers of the Milky Way's evolution to map how our Galaxy came to be what it is today.

The complexity of the data often involves development of AI-based analysis methods, pioneered by the group's students.

UNSW awards exlusive Scholarships for applicants applying thorugh the GOstralia! Reseach Centre. Find more information here.