Research Projects

Postgraduate Research Projects 2012

Listed below are the contact details and titles of research projects offered by research staff within the School for 2012. Interested students should contact potential supervisors directly to discuss in more detail research interests and specific research projects (including additional potential projects not listed on this page).

Men's Health

• Overall theme: The social determinants of Male health - Prof John Macdonald

Multifunctional Landscapes

• Water and irrigation strategy enhancement through regional partnership (WISER)
• Recycled organics in peri-urban agriculture
• Rural development for poverty alleviation and resource use efficiency
• Impact of herbicides on reptilian embryonic development
• Geochemistry and chemical mineralogy in the supergene zone
• Developing New Technologies for the Management of Foxes 
• Aquaculture and Biophysics 
• Gemmology, mineralogy and geochemistry in the superlative zone 

Nanoscale Systems and Surface Science

• Microencapsulation and controlled delivery of bioactives and live micro-organisms and development of novel probiotic and prebiotic food and nutraceuticals
• Bioactive molecules from Streptomyces
  

Science and Health

• Physical activity interventions for health - Prof Gregory Kolt
• Development and applications of next generation NMR and MRI techniques - Prof Bill Price
• Ageing and the sympathetic control of skeletal muscle blood flow - Prof Simon Green
• Muscle perfusion-fatigue interactions during exercise - Prof Simon Green
• Dietary and nutritional effects on skeletal muscle fatigue - Prof Green/Dr Siegler
• Circadian rhythms in cardiovascular control - Prof Green/Dr Chloe Taylor
• Sensorimotor evaluation and treatment of the upper limb - A/Prof Andrea Bialocerkowski
• Brachial plexus birth palsy - A/Prof Andrea Bialocerkowski
• Phsiotherapy education/clinical education - A/Prof Andrea Bialocerkowski
• Signals required for cell cycle re-entry by quiescent cancer cells - A/Prof Qihan Dong
• Intervention of cell cycle re-entry by quiescent cancer cells using nutraceuticals - A/Prof Qihan Dong
• Tactile sensory system and neural mechanisms underpinning hand dexterity in humans - Dr Ingvars Birznieks
• Neuronal code - tapping into human tactile receptor signals (where sensory neuroscience meets biomedical engineering) - Dr Ingvars Birznieks
• Encoding of tactile sensory information by temporal structure of the afferent spike trains - Dr Ingvars Birznieks
• The Synthesis of Diaminodiols and Related Compounds: Potential New Treatments for Malaria? (An organic synthethis project only with NO BIOLOGY) - Dr Robyn Crumbie
• The synthesis of chiral lanthanide complexes for recognition and visualisation of cellular components - Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright
• The design, synthesis and characterisation of platinum(IV) prodrugs - Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright
• Designing and synthesising new sequence selective metallointercalators - Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright
• Synthesising tetradentates for coordination to metal complexes - Prof Janice Aldrich-Wright
• The adaptation to the mainstream in elite sport: An Australian Aboriginal perspective - Dr Andrew Bennie
• Physical activity in Physical Education: The impact of attitudes and teaching styles on physical activity - Dr Andrew Bennie
• Identifying the neuropathological mechanisms of antipsychotic drug-induced parkinsonism and schizophrenia - Dr Irina Dedova
• Characterizing polysaccharides with solid-state NMR spectroscopy - Dr Marion Gaborieau
• Conjugating and characterizing chitosan for nerve repair - Dr Marion Gaborieau
• Branching in smart and biodegradable polymers - Dr Marion Gaborieau
• Exercise and Motivation Therapy to Improve Adherence and Functional Capacity in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients: A Randomised Controlled Trial - Paul Marshall and Chris Lonsdale
• Can a Professional Development Intervention for Teachers Increase Students' Physical Activity during Physical Education Lessons? A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial - Chris Lonsdale and Ric Rosenkranz
• Neuromuscular and hormonal changes following resistance training to failure or not to failure: a randomized controlled study - Dr Paul Marshall
• Influence of functional proteins on acute and chronic adaptations to exercise - Siegler and Marshall
• Role of protein arginine methyaltion - implications for diseases - Dr Sabine Piller
• The utilization of video self modelling techniques in the improvement of fundamental movement skills in sport - Dr Kylie Steel
• Factors influencing decision making in team sports - Dr Kylie Steel
• Factors contributing to the recognition of biological motion in sport - Dr Kylie Steel
• The perception of skill acquisition specialists in the Australian context - Dr Kylie Steel
• Decode nature's way of detoxification - Dr Gang Zheng

Science and Society

• Healthy tourism in the ASEAN region
• Airbourne respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in Queensland in small mines and quaries
• Design principles for effective molecular animations
• Sympatric assemblages of native and exotic mammal populations endemic to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA)
• Health risk assessment of crop irrigation with recycled water
• Improving farmer livelihoods through efficient use of resources in crop-livestock farming systems in western China
• Spectroscopy of organic molecules, including compounds of biological and medical interest
• Livelihood Improvement for Small farmers of the East India Plateau through water harvesting and improved farming systems
• Engaging Communities in Water Management Planning
• Developing OHS policy and procedures for hazardous waste remediation
• Skin conductance responses (SCR) recorded from the sweat gland activity as an index of autonomic (sympathetic) nervous function
• Optimising greenhouse condition for higher crop production and lower energy and water use
• Carbon dioxide affects stomatal behaviour via regulating membrane transport and signalling in Arabidopsis

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture

• Evaluation of complementary medicine for the management of non-cardiac pain in patients with heart disease - A/Prof Dennis Chang
• Acupuncture and its role in relation to reproductive health, women's health, and cancer care using evidence based clinical research - A/Prof Caroline Smith
• Patterns of complementary medicine and therapy use, and decision making, and exploring the therapeutic relationship - A/Prof Caroline Smith