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 for the UQ Summer Research Program at QBI, you must:

• be currently enrolled in an undergraduate or honours or master’s by coursework degree at UQ at the time of application
• remain an enrolled full-time student at UQ for the entirety of the Summer Program (ie. continuing study in the same degree in Semester 1,  2025 and not completing/graduating in December 2024)
• be studying for a degree relevant to the research discipline
• have a high level of academic achievement during their degree studies
• have the potential to and an interest in undertaking postgraduate study (Master’s, MPhil or PhD); and
• undertake the research program at QBI, located on the UQ St Lucia campus.

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 2024.

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

A/Prof Adam Walker: Studying mechanisms and treatments for motor neurone disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia

Description

Neurodegenerative diseases such as motor neurone disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are inevitably fatal and have no effective therapeutics. MND primarily affects the spinal cord and causes paralysis, whereas FTD primarily affects the brain and causes progressive and debilitating changes to behaviour, language and personality. Despite these many differences in disease symptoms, most people with MND and FTD develop similar characteristic pathology in neurons involving a DNA/RNA-binding protein known as TDP-43. Our lab aims to understand how dysfunction of TDP-43 and related proteins causes neurodegeneration. We use various biochemical and imaging techniques to study neuronal cell cultures, genetically modified mice, and human samples.

Recently, using advanced genetic engineering and proteomics approaches, we have identified genes and proteins that likely control neurotoxicity in MND and FTD. The aim of this project is to define how these potential new therapeutic targets contribute to neurodegeneration, to guide future drug development for people living with these devastating diseases.

Expected outcomes and deliverables

You will work alongside current lab members and may use a range of techniques including CRISPR/Cas9 genetic engineering, human iPSC-derived neuronal cell culture and transfections, lentiviral production and cell transductions, transgenic mouse motor behaviour assessment, mouse brain and spinal cord surgery and dissection, immunoblotting, and advanced microscopy, depending on the final agreed project aims.

Students will be involved in weekly lab meetings and journal clubs, will present their results in a lab meeting, and will produce a final report that may contribute towards research publications. 

Your suitability

This project is open to applications from students with an interest in biochemistry, cell biology and neuroscience, and we welcome lab members with a diversity of past experience. 

We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, LGBTIAQ+ students and others from backgrounds underrepresented in STEMM. 

Applications from students who may be interested in undertaking Honours or Masters research units in our lab in 2025, or future higher degree research (MPhil/PhD), will be viewed favourably.

Duration

6 weeks during the period of Monday, 13 January - Friday, 21 February 2025. 

Extra scholarship support for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students

If you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander applicant, you're eligible for an additional scholarship.

Express your interest

Please send expressions of interest to Dr Adam Walker (adam.walker@uq.edu.au), Dr Rebecca San Gil (r.sangil@uq.edu.au), Dr Leon Luan (w.luan@uq.edu.au), Dr Adekunle Bademosi (a.bademosi@uq.edu.au), or Dr Heledd Brown-Wright (h.brownwright@uq.edu.au). 

So that we can consider your expression of interest, in your initial email you must include:

• your CV, 
• academic transcript, and; 
• a short description of your research interests and future goals. 

If applicable, you are welcome to also provide a brief description of relevant relative-to-opportunity considerations that may have impacted your past record of achievement.

We will invite shortlisted candidates to meet and discuss specific details of available projects prior to final application submission.

 

Prof Thomas Burne: Modelling decision making on a dynamic strategy shifting task in rodents

Description

Cognitive dysfunction is prominent in the elderly and many patients with neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases, yet current treatments have little effect on these symptoms. We need better treatments, but this requires better testing protocols. One of the key reasons we have not been able to develop medications to treat these symptoms is that new ideas are typically first tested in rats and mice. However, using the tests we currently have available has led to expensive clinical trials for drugs that appeared to work in rodents, but then were not effective in people.

This project aims to improve translational research between animal models and people with cognitive symptoms. We have recently designed a novel cognitive flexibility task that allows rodents to dynamically shift between different strategies. Using this task, we can investigate similarities shared with human cognitive tests by looking at performance deficits in rodents that reflect physiological changes that have been observed in patients. In this project we would like to develop computational methods to better understand different aspects of cognitive performance in rats and in mice examining the dynamic behaviour of the brain. Ultimately, we would like to test the biological plausibility of the model by comparing simulations with behavioural data.

Expected outcomes and deliverables

The expected outcomes are to gain a better understanding using computational models of operant behaviour in rodents to better understand learning, cognitive performance and decision making. We anticipate designing models to describe different aspects of the rodent’s performance on instrumental learning, cognitive flexibility, visual signal detection and response inhibition.

Duration

6 weeks during the period of Monday, 13 January - Friday, 21 February 2025. 

Hours of engagement: 20-36 hours per week.

Applicant will be required to be on-site for the duration of the project.

Reminder: the UQ SEC Summer and Winter Research Programs are only open to UQ students - with regard to student eligibility, please note that only those students who are enrolled full-time and who will remain enrolled for the entirety of the Program are able to participate.   

Primary Supervisor 

Prof Thomas Burne

Contact

For further information, please contact Prof Burne: t.burne@uq.edu.au