Develop your analytical, critical thinking, and communication skills through research.

The UQ Summer Research Program provides UQ students with an opportunity to gain research experience working alongside some of the University’s leading academics and researchers.

Participation is open to undergraduate (including honours) and masters by coursework students who are currently enrolled at UQ.

Each of the Schools within the Faculty offers its own Summer Research Projects. Visit UQ's Employability website to find information on applying, explore the projects available through your School, and register your interest.

Explore Summer Research Projects

2020 Projects | Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences

Project details:

Supervisor: Dr Norman Ng
Duration: 2 student x 10 weeks
Title: What is this term ‘IPE’ that you speak of?

Project overview:

This project is open to students from any discipline with a keen sense of curiosity and reliable work ethic.

The World Health Organisation recognises interprofessional collaboration in education and practice as an important strategy to mitigate increasing health care costs, chronic diseases and a health workforce crisis. Interprofessional education (IPE) will enable students from different disciplines to better understand the values, skills, knowledge and contribution of each health professional on an interprofessional team. Interprofessional learning occurs when students learn with, from and about each other.  It enables shared learning experiences influence students’ perceptions and attitudes to interprofessional learning that help prepare for future collaborative practice.

There are various interprofessional learning opportunities at the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences. For example, HLTH1000 Professional, People and Healthcare is a first year course for all allied health professional students. Some students participate in interprofessional learning at the UQ Healthy Living clinic. Students participating in this project will help to investigate and describe the expectations and learning experiences of student cohorts who participate in such interprofessional learning activities. Outcomes such as professional identities, attitudes towards IPE competencies and readiness to participate in future interprofessional activities will be explored.

2020 Projects | Southern Queensland Rural Health (SQRH)

A Systematic Review of Help-Seeking Interventions, Focusing on Rural and Remote Communities

Supervisor: Dr Caitlin Vayro
Duration: 1 student, up to 10 weeks
Location: Toowoomba (accommodation included)

Suitability:

This project is open to UQ students currently enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of their degree with a background in any health-related field of study.

This would particularly suit an individual with a strong interest in rural health.

Project overview:

One research priority of SQRH is to examine health issues directly impacting on rural people, with a focus on benefiting communities within SQRH’s catchment area through the delivery of better health services.

The research project is a systematic review examining help-seeking interventions. There is evidence that help-seeking is poorer in rural areas, compared to metropolitan areas. Thus, this research aims to synthesise and analyse the evidence relating to interventions that are designed to change help-seeking behaviours, particularly in rural and remote communities. The focus is how to best improve help-seeking using evidence-based approaches.

For more information please contact Dr Caitlin Vayro (c.vayro@uq.edu.au) prior to submitting your application.


Analysing nursing student experiences of clinical placements in rural Queensland and rural employment intention

Supervisor: Clara Walker
Duration: 1 student, up to 10 weeks
Location: Toowoomba (accommodation included)

Suitability:

This project is open to UQ students currently enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of their degree with a background in any health-related field of study.

This would particularly suit an individual with a strong interest in rural health.

Project overview:

Southern Queensland Rural Health (SQRH) is a University Department of Rural Health. A key priority of SQRH is supporting effective rural training experiences for nursing, midwifery and allied health students.

Since July 2020, SQRH has been collecting survey data on nursing student experiences of rural placements and their future intentions to work rurally.

The research activity will involve:

  • Review literature associated with the topic
  • Conduct an initial analysis of the first six months of the data, and
  • Identify factors that are significantly associated with nursing students’ future practice intentions.

For more information please contact Clara Walker (Clara.Walker@uq.edu.au) prior to submitting your application.


Evaluation of an Assessment Tool for Conversation Health Literacy

Supervisor: Kate Beyer & Dayle Osborn
Duration: 1 student, 8 weeks
Location: Toowoomba (accommodation included)

Suitability:

This project is open to UQ students currently enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of their degree with a background in any health-related field of study.

This would particularly suit an individual with a strong interest in rural health.

Project overview:

The Health and Wellness Clinic (HaWC) provides a free service to the community while also providing a setting for students undertaking a rural placement at Southern Queensland Rural Health to gain supervised inter-professional practice experience in out-of-hospital settings.

The research activity will involve contribution to the evaluation of the Conversation Health Literacy Assessment Tool (CHAT). The CHAT is a tool that has been used to help health professionals in the identification of patients with health literacy issues such as understanding treatment and medications.

The aim of the project is to assess the effectiveness of CHAT as a health literacy measure, and determine if clinician interventions are effective in increasing participants’ health literacy.

For more information please contact Kate Beyer (k.beyer@uq.edu.au) prior to submitting your application.


Analysis of participant physiological outcome measures of an interprofessional student-led health and wellness clinic program.

Supervisor: Steve Woodruffe
Duration: 1 student, up to 8 weeks
Location: Toowoomba (accommodation included)

Suitability:

This project is open to UQ students currently enrolled in the 3rd or 4th year of their degree with a background in any health-related field of study. Students from Nursing, Dietetics, Exercise Physiology and Physiotherapy may find the project most interesting.

This would particularly suit an individual with a strong interest in rural health.

Project overview:

The Health and Wellness Clinic (HaWC) provides a free service to the community while also providing a setting for students undertaking a rural placement at Southern Queensland Rural Health to gain supervised inter-professional practice experience in out-of-hospital settings.

Since July 2019, the HaWC has been collecting physiological measures (e.g. anthropometric body measures, blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose levels) and exercise tolerance test data (e.g. Six Minute Walk Test, Grip Strength Test). The HAWC program was recently re-launched with participant recruitment currently underway.

The aim of this project is to conduct an initial analysis of data gathered during the program to assess client improvement as a result of program participation. The research activity will involve:

  • Review literature associated with the physiological measures used in the study
  • Conduct an initial analysis of the first six months of the data, and
  • Identify the physiological factors that improve as a result of participation in the HaWC program.

For more information please contact Steve Woodruffe (s.woodruffe@uq.edu.au) prior to submitting your application.