UQ Summer/Winter Research Scholarships

Winter Research Scholarship Program 2024 

Applications open 25 March and close 21 April 2024

https://employability.uq.edu.au/summer-winter-research


Digital transaction platform analysis – ecosystem mapping of Gojek in Indonesia

Project Duration: The project will be for 4 weeks with an average of 32 working hours per week (four days). The candidate will be required on campus for at least two days per week but some of the work can be done remotely.

Project Description: The DTP-A project seeks to provide a comprehensive and authoritative account of the rapid shift towards digital payments in Asian economies. The project examines the technical and commercial organisation of the leading Asian transaction platforms in culturally diverse Asian markets through detailed studies of everyday norms and practices in India, Indonesia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.

One of the project’s objectives is to undertake a systematic analysis of digital transaction platforms in the leading countries and economies of Asia. This winter research assignment contributes to this objective by supporting the analysis of the Gojek platform in Indonesia, which in turn will inform the ethnographic study done in rural areas in Indonesia in 2024-25.

The winter research assignment consists of:

  • Desk-top research: Conduct a literature review about the emergence, application and impacts of the Gojek platform in Indonesia and map the Gojek ecosystem.
  • Report writing: Write a report capturing the findings from the literature review.
  • Presentation: Prepare and present the research to the UQ DTP-A team and interested HDR students

Expected outcomes and deliverables: The expected outcomes for the student are (1) enhanced academic research, writing and presentation skills, (2) an understanding of how digital transaction platforms operate and impact society, with a focus on Indonesia, and (3) experience working in a UQ school-based research centre. Deliverables include a written report and oral presentation.

Suitable for:  The assignment is suitable for students in one of the following degrees: Communication, Data Science, Information Technology, although others may be considered. Both undergraduate and postgraduate students can apply, but some knowledge about digital platforms would be an advantage. Applicants should have a strong interest in the digitalisation of transactions in society and their impacts on diverse users and non-users. The successful applicant will have good analytical, writing and visual presentation skills, and the ability to think across disciplinary boundaries. Ability to read literature in Bahasa Indonesia would be an advantage but is not a prerequisite.

Supervisors: A/Prof Elske van de Fliert, Director, Centre for Communication and Social Change and A/Prof. Adrian Athique, Project Leader, Digital Transaction Platforms – Asia. Please reach out to Elske if you have any questions. An interview may be required prior to final selection of the successful candidate


Media and Epidemics

Project Duration: Work on this project will be 20 hours a week during the winter break (from 24th June to 21st July 2024). Applicant is not required on site for the project but they do need to have reliable internet access. 

Project Description:  Epidemics provide significant opportunities to reflect on the ways in which media, technology and society are co-constituted. As medical and social phenomena, they tend to be highly mediatized events, although the limits and local inflections of that mediatization are yet to be subjected to sustained critical attention in both historical and contemporary settings. Moreover, as the Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us, outbreaks of infectious diseases represent a veritable test for a country’s underlying socio-economic and political structures. This includes the ability to harness technologies and infrastructures of communication to overcome public health crises, by implementing population surveillance measures, communicating with broader publics, coordinating epidemic responses or devising strategies of preparedness against future outbreaks. 

Students completing a UQ Winter Project as part of Media and Epidemics will work to analyse responses to the covid-19 pandemic in Britain in major digital newspapers and online platforms, and consider the forms of language deployed in negotiating social contracts between governments, medical professionals, and the public. Focus will be on the experiences and challenges of medical professionals during the pandemic. Students will have the opportunity to produce one or more blog posts on their findings.   

Expected outcomes and deliverables: Students will gain skills in online research and data collection, as well as critical analysis. They will be given the opportunity to produce one or more blog posts on their experiences on the project or on some of their findings, which will be published on the project website. 

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in literature, journalism, communication, digital cultures, or writing.

Primary Supervisor: Dr. Melissa Dickson


Social Media Collecting: From content to object

Project Duration: This research project will take place over 6- weeks from 24 June to 21 July 2024. It will involve a commitment of 30 hours per week. The work can be competed remotely and there is no requirement to be on site

Project Description: Despite the reality that over half the world's population use social media there is surprisingly little guidance for museums on how to collect such content in perpetuity. Currently, most social media content is housed and owned by third party platforms that continue to change and may not exist in the future as new platforms and technologies emerge. This research will support museum professionals to build a sustainable practice of collecting historically significant social media before it is lost. Within this overarching framework and theoretical context, in this research project we explore three key research questions which are framed around: (1) what can museums learn from social media, (2) how to collect and exhibit it, and (3) the practices, tools, policies and infrastructures needed to collect it  

Expected outcomes and deliverables: In this project we will be seeking to identify the different types of social media content that a museum might collect in terms of their different visions and mission statements. Scholars working on this project will develop greater understanding about museum practice as well as skills in seeking out suitable case studies. At the end of the project scholars will be asked to present a written and oral report.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in digital media, communications, journalism, museum studies or marketing.  Ideally the candidate will be postgraduate or a 3rd – 4th year student. We are looking for people with strong interest and experience with social media.

Primary Supervisor: Dr. Caroline Wilson-Barnao


Digital Street: A digital cultural history of Brisbane's music street press

Project Duration: This research project will take place over 6 weeks from 24 June to 21 July 2024. It will involve a commitment of 30 hours per week. The work can be competed remotely and there is no requirement to be on site

Project Description: 

This project engages with an important but understudied area of Brisbane's cultural history: the music street press. These free tabloid magazines were distributed weekly or fortnightly in record stores, pubs, nightclubs, and coffee shops from the 1980s until early 2000s. Printed on low quality paper stock, these free newspapers were an important means through which local information was relayed to generations of young people who sought recommendations about places to visit connecting like-minded people to each other, music, and particular places. 

As digital media became the foremost way that people gained information about entertainment, street press operations moved to new digital formats or ceased to operate altogether, dramatically changing the music and arts industry forever.  

In this research project we explore three key research questions:

(1) what role did Brisbane Street press play in local counter culture?

(2) how did these publications shape Brisbane’s cultural geography?

(3) what did they mean to the people involved?   

Expected outcomes and deliverables: In this project we will be seeking to map the cultural geography of Brisbane music street press over the last three or so decades and identify its role in shaping counter cultures. Scholars working on this project will develop greater understanding of the topic, as well as skills in seeking out suitable case studies and scholarly literature. At the end of the project scholars will be asked to present a written and oral report.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in communications, journalism, cultural studies or media studies.  Ideally the candidate will be postgraduate or a 3rd – 4th year student. We are looking for people with a  strong interest in alternative music and sub-cultures.

Primary Supervisor: Dr. Richard Murray


50 Years of the Institute of Modern Art

Project Duration: 24 June – 21 July 2024 20 hours per week..

Project Description: This project involves archival research in support of publishing a book documenting and celebrating Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art’s fifty-year history, for their fifty-year anniversary in 2025. The IMA is the oldest surviving space of its kind in Australia, and has intersected with all manner of players, ideas, and debates across its life. The book requires a key text by Associate Professor Sally Butler of around 20,000 words—providing the central narrative or account.

Students will be specifically involved in:  

  • Archival re-ordering of existing archive room to improve access and update exhibitions and publications lists.
  • Archival analysis of photographic records of exhibitions including video and audiotapes
  • Developing catalogue of IMA staff and stakeholders.   

Expected outcomes and deliverables: Scholars will gain skills in the operations of contemporary art spaces and be part of a research team that includes art history academics and industry staff. This opportunity will provide first hand insight into the history of contemporary art in Queensland, Australia and internationally and provide archival skills required across the arts industry.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with a background in art history at 2nd or 3rd year level.

Primary Supervisor: Please contact A/Prof Sally Butler for further details


How to Apply?

Summer and Winter Research Scholarship Programs -  https://employability.uq.edu.au/summer-winter-research

If you require further assistance, please contact the School of Communication and Arts Research research.commarts@uq.edu.au