Student research programs

Benefits

Summer research at UQ provides a range of benefits, including:

• experience to ‘test-drive’ research before embarking on future research studies, such as Honours or Higher Degree Research projects such as Master’s, MPhil or PhD
• enhance your employability through opportunities to develop new academic and professional skills
• access to research networks and the opportunity to build connections with staff and postgraduate students;
• supervision by world-class UQ researchers
• access to world-class facilities 
• the possibility of obtaining credit towards your degree or the UQ Employability Award
• a scholarship for qualifying students to receive an allowance of $3,000

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate and receive a grant you must meet all of the following criteria:

• You are enrolled in an undergraduate, honours, or postgraduate coursework program at UQ at the time of application (internal or external study options apply); and
• You will maintain ongoing enrolment in a program at UQ for the entirety of the Research Experience Program (graduation will affect this, please check the FAQs for clarification); and
• Your area of study is relevant to the research project you apply for; and
• You have a high level of academic achievement during your degree; and
• You have at least 20 unused days of Unpaid Work Experience if applying for the Winter Research Program and 30 unused days of Unpaid Work Experience if applying for the Summer Research Program**

If you are due to graduate from your current program of study and will be commencing further undergraduate or postgraduate coursework study the following semester, you may be eligible to participate.  This will depend on whether you can demonstrate enrolment in your new program of study prior to the Summer or Winter Research Program commencing.  You may be asked to provide evidence of enrolment by providing an Enrolment Status Report, available through Si-Net

Students may be eligible to participate in the Program and receive a scholarship more than once at the discretion of QBI. However, if the number of applicants exceeds available places and funding, preference will be given to first-time applicants.

Assessment and selection

You will be assessed by QBI staff who will determine your suitability. Placements will be awarded on a competitive basis, taking into account:

•  eligibility
•  availability of projects and supervisors
• quality of the project
• academic merit 
• reasons provided for wanting to participate in the Program
• skills and attributes of applicants to meet project requirements
• available funding.

Scholarship support

All applicants will be automatically considered for a Summer Research Scholarship. If you qualify you'll receive funding of AUD$3000, paid jointly by QBI and the UQ SEC.  

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander applicants are eligible for an additional scholarship. To apply for the additional Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander scholarship, please email collaborators@qbi.uq.edu.au indicating your interest, after following the how to apply instructions. Only some of the projects listed below are eligible for this additional scholarship. Check the details of the project you're interested in to see if the additional scholarship is included.

No scholars are permitted to participate in the program in a voluntary capacity.

If you withdraw from the Program, or your placement is terminated, your scholarship will need to be returned for the equivalent full weeks remaining unworked.

Time commitment and obligations

It is expected that you will be available and make a commitment to work on a full-time basis between 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (up to 36 hours each week) during the Program.

You're expected to actively participate in an ongoing research project or to undertake a substantial piece of supervised research work. Where appropriate to the project, additional discipline-/project-specific obligations may also be required, such as training in research safety and ethics.

The research period is normally offered in two parts to allow for the Christmas/New Year holidays when the University is officially closed.

Summer research project work should not conflict with teaching weeks and should not commence prior to completing assessment or semester examination requirements.

If you're accepted to participate in the Program at QBI, you'll be asked to complete a Student Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Deed (SIPCA) for your research project.

Towards the end of the Program, you may be requested by your supervisor to prepare and provide either a short-written report or oral presentation during a lab group meeting, about their summer project work.

Welcome event and student induction

Scholars accepted for the program at QBI are strongly encouraged to participate in the compulsory UQ SEC Summer Research Welcome event and QBI’s compulsory student induction activities and requirements organised for that day including OHS training.

How to apply

You can only submit only one application but you can specify a second preference in your application.

Step 1 - Choose a project from the list of available projects listed below.

Step 2 – Check your eligibility.
Carefully read through all of the UQ SEC Summer Research Program information on the UQ Careers and Employability website. 

Step 3 – Email the relevant project contact person to express your interest in the project to ask if they will support your application. In this email, attach your detailed academic CV and complete academic transcripts. If they support your EOI you'll need to include their supportive statement in your application.

Step 4 – Submit an online application via UQ Student Hub and upload supporting documentation by 11 October 2026 at the very latest.The application period is from 21 September - 11 October 2026.
You must submit an online application form by 11:59pm, Sunday 11 October 2026 if you wish to be considered for this program.

This should include your:

• complete academic transcripts
• personal statement explaining why you wish to be considered for the project
• resume
• supporting statement from the project supervisor (this may be a copy of any email correspondence)

All applicants will be notified if they will be invited to participate in the Program.

Have questions?

If you have any questions regarding the Summer Research Program at QBI, please email collaborators@qbi.uq.edu.au.

Available projects

The list of available projects may be updated closer to the start day of the application period, 21 September 2026. 
Please see below for a list of current projects:
 

General Anaesthetics In Protein Clumping and aged Neurons

Primary Supervisor: Dr Adekunle Bademosi
a.bademosi@uq.edu.au (Prof Meunier Lab)

Description

Background: general anaesthetics administration has been shown to have worse effects on the elderly; at times increasing their predisposition to the onset of brain-neurological disorders after drug exposure. The mechanism by which this happens is unknown.

Aim: to determine whether the come general anaesthetics – propofol, etomidate and sevoflurane influence the aggregation of disease linked proteins in transgenic Drosophila modelling Parkinson’s disease.

Approach: immunofluorescence and super-resolution microscopy on young and aged fly brain neurons, in the presence and absence of general anaesthetics.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Applicants can expect to gain/learn the following from participating in the project:

1. Drosophila Husbandry,
2. Dissection,
3. Microscopy,

Opportunity to generate data to contribute towards grant application.

Suitable for

This project is suitable for students who are:

• Self-driving
• Curious
• Willing to learn
• have experience with histology or immunofluorescence.

Time commitments and obligations

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (11 January 2027 – 19 February 2027).

How does a female decide? Neural circuits for mating decisions and post-mating behaviour in Drosophila

Primary Supervisor: Dr Leandro A. Scholz
leandroaluisio.scholz@uq.edu.au (Prof Dickson Lab)

Description

Background. How does a brain weigh up competing information and commit to a decision? Female mating decisions in the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, offer a uniquely tractable window onto this question. A female evaluates a courting male using vision, smell, taste, hearing and touch, weighs those signals against her own internal state, and produces one of several clear-cut behavioural outputs: she may accept the male, actively reject him, and after mating she switches to a completely different behavioural programme - becoming largely unreceptive to new males, ejecting the sperm and seminal fluid of her previous partner some hours later, and beginning to lay eggs. Remarkably, many of the individual neurons that carry out these decisions have now been identified, and in flies we can switch defined neurons on or off with light while the animal behaves freely. This makes it possible to move beyond correlation and directly test what a given handful of neurons actually does.
Two of these post-mating behaviours remain poorly understood: the decision to remate with a new male, and the timing of sperm ejection. Both are important, because together they determine which male's sperm ultimately fertilises the eggs. We know that a female typically holds the ejaculate for a period of hours before expelling it, that this timing is under neural control, and that social cues such as the presence of males can shift it. What we largely lack is a systematic map of which neurons set these decisions, and when during the post-mating period they act.

Aim. This project contributes to a laboratory effort to identify and characterise the neurons controlling female remating and sperm ejection. We are building a behavioural platform that combines high-resolution video of many flies in parallel with optogenetic activation of genetically defined neurons, and using it to screen a panel of fly lines, each of which gives experimental access to a small, specific set of neurons.

Approach. Flies behave in custom multi-chamber arenas imaged from above under infrared light, which is invisible to the fly and so does not disturb behaviour. A separate red light channel activates neurons expressing the light-gated ion channel CsChrimson, allowing us to stimulate chosen neurons at chosen moments while recording. Video is analysed using automated computer-vision methods (deep-learning based animal detection and pose estimation) to score mating, rejection and ejection events, and the resulting data are analysed in Python.

Scope for the student. The project is deliberately modular, and can be shaped around the student's interests and background. Depending on the applicant, the emphasis can fall on any of the following (these are not mutually exclusive):

Stream A - behavioural experiments and fly genetics. Setting up fly crosses, running optogenetic behavioural experiments, dissecting, staining and imaging fly brains and generating a dataset on remating and/or sperm ejection.

Stream B - computational analysis and computer vision. Contributing to the automated video analysis pipeline, training and evaluating pose-estimation or object-detection models, and writing Python code to quantify behaviour from video.

Either stream may also involve helping to validate and characterise a newly built multi-arena imaging and stimulation system, including calibration and pilot experiments to establish optimal experimental conditions.

The specific question tackled will be agreed with the student at the start of the project, so that it is achievable within six weeks while still forming a genuine, self-contained contribution to an ongoing research programme.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

What the student will gain. Participants will be embedded in an active neuroscience laboratory and trained in a set of transferable research skills. Depending on the stream chosen, these may include:

- Drosophila husbandry and the logic of fly genetics, including setting up and managing crosses that target specific neurons;

- design and execution of quantitative animal behaviour experiments, including appropriate controls and blinding;

- optogenetics: using light to activate defined neurons in a freely behaving animal;

- video acquisition, and the practical optics and electronics of a behavioural imaging rig;

- programming in Python for scientific data analysis, and applied computer vision using deep-learning tools for animal tracking and pose estimation;

- data visualisation, basic statistics, and reproducible analysis practices (version control, documented code);

- scientific communication, through lab meetings and journal club within the group.
 

Deliverables. By the end of the placement the student will be expected to produce:

1. A documented dataset and/or analysis code, organised so that it can be used by the laboratory after the placement ends;

2. A short written report in the style of a scientific paper (covering introduction, methods, results and discussion) and/or an oral presentation of their findings to the research group at the conclusion of the project, as agreed with the supervisor.

Students who make a substantial contribution may be included as co-authors on resulting publications, and the work may provide a foundation for an Honours or postgraduate project in the laboratory. Please note that, as with any research project, the scientific outcome cannot be guaranteed in advance - a well-executed negative or inconclusive result is a legitimate and valuable outcome.

Suitable for

Essential (all applicants). Applicants must:

- be studying in a discipline relevant to the project - for example neuroscience, biomedical science, biology, psychology, bioengineering, computer science, physics, engineering, or a related field;

- have a strong academic record;

- be available on-site, full-time, for the entire six-week program;

- be willing to work with invertebrate animals (Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies). No vertebrate animal work is involved in this project;

- be able to work carefully and independently once trained, follow written protocols precisely, and keep clear records. Much of the work is repetitive and detail-critical, and consistency matters more than speed.

Applicants should indicate in their application which of the two streams below they wish to be considered for. Applicants may nominate both.

Stream A - behavioural experiments and fly genetics.

Essential: patience and manual care when handling very small live animals; comfort with repetitive, protocol-driven bench work; attention to detail in record keeping.

Advantageous: previous laboratory experience with small model organisms (for example Drosophila, C. elegans, zebrafish) or other hands-on wet-lab experience.

Stream B - computational analysis and computer vision.

Essential: demonstrated working knowledge of Python. This is a firm requirement for the computational stream - six weeks is not long enough to learn to program from scratch and also produce a result. Programming ability gained through coursework, personal projects, or prior research is all acceptable, and applicants should briefly describe their experience in their application.

Advantageous: experience with computer vision or image analysis; experience handling and analysing large time-series datasets; familiarity with the scientific Python stack (NumPy, pandas, matplotlib) or deep-learning frameworks (PyTorch); use of version control (git).

Applicants should be curious about how brains generate behaviour and willing to ask questions. Students who are considering Honours or a PhD in neuroscience are particularly encouraged to apply.

Further info:

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the project supervisor before applying, to discuss the project and how it could be tailored to their interests and background.
Dr Leandro A. Scholz – leandroaluisio.scholz@uq.edu.au
Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia
Please include a brief statement of your interests, which stream (A or B) you are applying for, and a copy of your academic transcript in any initial enquiry.

Time commitments and obligations

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (11 January 2027 – 19 February 2027).

Does the chemokine Lymphotactin regulate adult neurogenesis

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Tara Walker
t.walker1@uq.edu.au

Description

Physical activity strongly increases neural precursor proliferation in the adult hippocampus, an area important for learning and memory. However, the underlying regulatory mechanisms of exercise-induced adult hippocampal neurogenesis are still unknown. Using proteomic screening, we found increased plasma levels of the chemokine lymphotactin (XCL1) in running mice. Our data show that XCL1 has proliferation-enhancing and pro-neurogenic effects on adult neural precursor cells in vitro, and a reduction in proliferation was observed in dentate gyrus primary cells isolated from XCL1 KO mice (Leiter et al., 2019, Sci Rep). It has been shown that XCL1 switches between two distinct protein folds that exert different functions in the immune system; however, it is unclear which of these affects neural precursor cells or microglia, both of which express XCL1 receptors.

Project aim

Using histological approaches, this project will investigate the effects of the two stable isoforms of XCL1 on adult hippocampal neurogenesis.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Scholars will gain skills in histology and microscopy. This project may generate data that will be included in an associated manuscript on which the scholar will be an author. Students will be asked to present their work as an oral presentation to the research group at the completion of the project.

Suitable for

This project is open to applications from 2^nd-4^th year students with a background in molecular biology, neuroscience, biotechnology or other related fields.

Further info

For further information or to discuss the project, please contact Associate Professor Walker (t.walker1@uq.edu.au).

Time commitments and obligations

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (11 January 2027 – 19 February 2027).

Phenotyping animal models of depression

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Susannah Tye
s.tye@uq.edu.au

Description

Over 40% of people with depression do not respond to traditional antidepressants. The mechanisms underlying treatment-resistant depression (TRD) are not well understood, limiting research into effective therapeutics. Translational preclinical modelling is essential for testing novel therapeutics and improving our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying mood disorders.

Our lab aims to understand the brain states contributing to TRD and how novel treatments such as ketamine or neuromodulation help reduce depression-like behaviours using rat models.

This project will involve measuring and analysing brain and behavioural metrics in rodent models of depression, as well as exploring the biological mechanisms through which novel therapeutics act.

The results are expected to inform therapeutic strategies for patients with TRD and elucidate the mechanisms underpinning treatment resistance.
 

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Scholars will gain skills in preclinical animal modelling, animal handling, behavioural assays, behavioural analysis, statistical analysis, and immunohistochemistry.

Suitable for

This project is open to applications from students in 2^nd year or above with a background in biology, neuroscience, biomedical science, molecular science, or psychology. Students may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of their project.

Further info

Contact Associate Professor Susannah Tye if you have questions or require further information: s.tye@uq.edu.au

Time commitments and obligations

This project requires a full-time commitment for six weeks (11^th of January – 19^th of February 2027) in person at the St Lucia campus (Queensland Brain Institute).

Investigating gene therapeutic approaches for the treatment of motor neurone disease

Primary Supervisor: Dr Margreet Ridder
m.ridder@uq.edu.au (Prof Sah Lab)

Description

Motor neurone disease (MND), is a fatal adult-onset neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of motor neurons. One in every 300 Australians will develop MND, with 59 being the average age of onset. In Australia there are currently around 2000 people living with MND, and most will die from respiratory failure within 3 years of diagnosis. The cause for MND is unknown for the majority of patients. There is currently no cure or effective treatment to stop MND from progressing. The mainstay treatment since 1995 has been the drug riluzole (sold as Rilutek), which increases survival by only 6-19 months, emphasising the need for more effective treatments. For this project, the scholar work on our gene therapeutic approach to reduces motor neuron death in a mouse model for MND.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Scholars will be involved in neuronal labelling, tissue dissection and fluorescence microscopy. They will obtain skills in neuroanatomy and anatomical data analysis.

Suitable for

This project is open to all life sciences students with an interest in neurodegenerative disease and who are keen to acquire some laboratory skills (histology). Most suitable for third-year students considering honours in the field of neuroscience.

Further info
For further information, please contact Dr. Margreet Ridder m.ridder@uq.edu.au.

Time commitments and obligations

For the Summer program, students will be engaged for 6 weeks only.

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (Summer = 11 Jan – 19 Feb 2027).

The project will be offered on site at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI, Building #79, St Lucia campus).

Dissecting mechanisms of neuronal quality control

Primary Supervisor: Prof Steven Zuryn 
s.zuryn@uq.edu.au

Description

Efficient mitochondrial networks are essential for the complex and energy-demanding functions of neurons and glia in the nervous system. To sustain these networks and support neurotransmission, neurons must continuously identify, repair, or remove damaged mitochondria throughout the cell. When these quality control mechanisms fail, neuronal function is compromised, contributing to the onset and progression of many neurological and neurodegenerative disorders.

Therefore, understanding how mitochondrial quality is maintained is critical for supporting nervous system health. Our laboratory has discovered that neurons employ distinct mitochondrial quality control mechanisms in different cellular regions. In this project, you will investigate how neurons selectively maintain mitochondrial health in a compartment-specific manner and identify the molecular factors that regulate this process. Through this work, you will contribute to advancing our understanding of neuronal mitochondrial quality control and its relevance to neurological disease.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Through this research project, you will gain firsthand experience in how experimental research is conducted to address fundamental questions in neuroscience and mitochondrial biology.

You will receive training in contemporary molecular biology and neuroscience techniques, including confocal microscopy, molecular cloning, and quantitative data analysis. You will also develop practical skills in classical genetics using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. By applying these approaches, you will design and perform experiments, analyse and interpret data, and contribute to ongoing research within the laboratory.

In addition to laboratory-based research, you will participate in regular group meetings and scientific discussions, where you will present your work, critically evaluate research findings, and develop confidence in communicating complex scientific concepts to diverse audiences.

By the completion of the project, you will have:

• Developed practical experience in experimental design, data collection, and data analysis.
• Gained proficiency in key molecular biology, genetics, and microscopy techniques.
• Strengthened your scientific communication skills through verbal presentations and data discussion.
• Contributed to the generation of new knowledge in the field of neuronal mitochondrial quality control.

Depending on project progress, outstanding findings may contribute to conference presentations or peer-reviewed publications. The project may also provide a strong foundation for a future Honours research project.

Suitable for

This project is most suitable to applicants with a background in biological or biomedical sciences who are interested in pursuing further studies in research (e.g., Honours, Masters, PhD).

Further info
Please contact Prof. Steven Zuryn if you are interested or require more information (s.zuryn@uq.edu.au). The supervisor wishes to be contacted by students prior to their submission of an application.

Time commitments and obligations

For the Summer program, students will be engaged for 6 weeks only.

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (Summer = 11 Jan – 19 Feb 2027).

The project will be offered on site at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI, Building #79, St Lucia campus).

Circular RNA localisation in the brain

Description

Recently, we discovered a fundamental role for circular RNA in memory and found evidence for local translation of certain circRNAs. This study aims to confirm the trafficking and localisation of a candidate circRNA in the prefrontal cortex of mice.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Target circRNA imaging using BASEscope, confocal, expansion, and STED microscopy.

Suitable for

2nd year and above neuroscience, psychology or biology students interested in potentially pursuing research higher degree.

Further info

Please email t.bredy@uq.edu.au for more information.

Time commitments and obligations

For the Summer program, students will be engaged for 6 weeks only.

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (Summer = 11 Jan – 19 Feb 2027).

The project will be offered on site at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI, Building #79, St Lucia campus).

Investigating sleep behaviour and electrophysiology in different wild Drosophila strains

Description

This project is a collaboration with colleagues in the USA who are studying sleep in different Drosophila species. These species seem to have adapted their sleep behaviour to the different environments where they are found, e.g., deserts. Some flies seem to sleep 20hrs a day, while phylogenetically related species in another niche sleep much less. Why this is adaptive and what kind of sleep these flies are experiencing is unclear. The project will compare species pairs with different very sleep regimes to answer this question, which has relevance for understanding the evolution of sleep.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

The student will learn electrophysiological approaches to studying sleep in flies, as well as AI-assisted approaches for categorising sleep micro-behaviours in flies. The student will also perform behavioural assays on flies to determine their sleep and arousal architecture. The project is self-contained such that the student should be able to acquire a complete dataset within the timeframe of the summer research project.

Suitable for

The project is suitable for year 2 or year 3 science undergrads. Preference will be given to students interested in potentially following the summer research with an Honours project in the lab, ideally framed around the area of understanding the various functions of sleep using the fly model.

Further info

Please contact Bruno at: b.vanswinderen@uq.edu.au. 

Time commitments and obligations

For the Summer program, students will be engaged for 6 weeks only.

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (Summer = 11 Jan – 19 Feb 2027).

The project will be offered on site at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI, Building #79, St Lucia campus).