Summer Research Scholarship Program 2027
Applications open 21 September and close 11 October 2026
https://employability.uq.edu.au/summer-winter-research
Supporting the academic success of diverse students through enhancing intercultural competence
Project Duration:
20 – 36 hrs per week from 11 January to 19 February 2027. The project will be offered remotely or through a hybrid arrangement.
Project Description:
The summer research project will, in a small part, contribute to a successful Teaching Innovation Grant (TIG) seed project. As secure assessments increasingly have oral components, this places demands on students’ intercultural competence (ICC) in a diverse university classroom. The summer research scholar will develop a thorough literature review on intercultural competence within the Australian higher education context.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
Scholars may gain skills in working on a live project with the School of Communication & Arts, and may require learning from other CIs from School of Languages and Cultures, and School of Education. The student will produce a comprehensive literature review and produce a report at the end of their project.
Suitable for:
This project is open to applications from students with a background in intercultural communication or multicultural education or cross-cultural psychology (postgraduate students only).
Supervisor: Dr Aparna Hebbani
Rethinking Literary Assessment: Developing Disciplinary Judgement through AI-Generated Writing
Project Duration:
20 hours per week; Hybrid (St Lucia campus). The project will combine independent research with regular meetings with the project lead and, where appropriate, other members of the project team. Working hours will be flexible by agreement, with students expected to attend occasional on-campus meetings at St Lucia. Research activities may otherwise be undertaken on campus or remotely.
Project Description:
Generative AI can now produce fluent essays that appear convincing, but does recognising the weaknesses in AI-generated writing help students become better writers themselves?
This project investigates a gap identified through a pilot assessment in English Literature: students were often able to recognise problems in an AI-generated essay, such as generic claims, weak use of evidence and superficial analysis, but did not always avoid those same problems in their own writing. The project asks how we can help students move from recognising the qualities of strong analytical writing to putting them into practice.
The broader Teaching Innovation Grant project will develop and evaluate a ‘critique-to-revision’ model in which students critically assess AI-generated writing and then revise it into stronger analytical work. The aim is to develop students’ critical judgement, editing skills and capacity to work thoughtfully with AI,skills increasingly important at university and in professional contexts.
Summer Research Scholarship students will contribute to the project’s research and development phase. They may assist with reviewing relevant scholarship, investigating approaches to AI and writing pedagogy, developing and testing AI-generated materials and annotated exemplars, and preparing teaching and research resources for the project’s 2027 implementation.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
You will participate alongside the project team during the research and development phase of the project. Activities will include reviewing and synthesising scholarship on generative AI, analytical writing, editing and evaluative judgement; investigating current approaches to using AI in university teaching; and helping to develop and test AI-generated texts for use in learning and assessment activities. You will also contribute to the preparation of annotated exemplars and other teaching resources, considering how these might be adapted for students at different stages of study. Depending on the timing of the project and relevant ethics approvals, you may also assist with organising and preparing de-identified research data for analysis. Throughout the placement, you will meet regularly with the project lead and have opportunities to engage with members of the wider interdisciplinary project team).
You will gain practical experience of working on a funded university research project at the intersection of generative AI, education and the humanities. You will develop skills in literature searching, evaluating and synthesising academic research, working critically with generative AI, and translating research findings into practical teaching resources. The project will introduce you to methods used in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research, including research design, ethical approaches to student data and qualitative analysis. You will also develop transferable skills in critical evaluation, editing, collaborative research, project organisation and communicating complex ideas to different audiences. Through working with academics and learning-design specialists, you will gain insight into how university research can inform the design, evaluation and improvement of teaching and assessment.
By the end of the summer research period, the project will have established a strong research and resource base for implementation of the critique-to-revision model in 2027. Expected outputs include a targeted review of scholarship on generative AI, evaluative judgement, editing and writing pedagogy; a collection of tested AI-generated texts and annotated exemplars suitable for teaching activities; and scaffolded resources to support students in moving from critique to revision. Scholarship students will contribute directly to these outputs and to documenting the development process. This work will inform the project’s subsequent implementation and evaluation and contribute to the development of a transferable teaching toolkit for wider dissemination across UQ.
Suitable for:
This project would suit students in English and English Literature, Writing, Education or a related Humanities discipline who are interested in how generative AI is changing university learning, writing and assessment. Applicants from any undergraduate year level are welcome, although some experience of university-level research and analytical writing would be helpful. We are looking for students who enjoy reading critically, investigating ideas and thinking carefully about what makes writing effective. Strong written communication, attention to detail and the ability to work independently are desirable. No specialist technical knowledge of AI is required: curiosity about generative AI, education and the future of academic writing is more important than prior expertise.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Melissa Dickson
Piet Noest (1938-2026): Migration, Landscape and the Dutch Painterly Tradition in Australia
Project Duration:
Approximately 20 hours per week; Hybrid (St Lucia campus). he delivery mode will be hybrid (St Lucia campus, Piet Noest's studio, and off-site research online). Time will be divided between archival and catalogue work, and on-site documentation of artworks and archival materials. Working days and hours will be arranged flexibly between the student and supervisor. The student will receive at least one hour of direct supervision per week through in-person meetings or video calls, in addition to regular mentoring and project support.
Project Description:
Piet Noest (1938-2026) was a Dutch-Australian painter whose career spanned more than five decades. His work forged a distinctive dialogue between European painterly traditions and the Australian landscape, reflecting both his Dutch training and his deep engagement with Australian cultural life. As a lecturer at Queensland College of Art, he mentored many artists who are practicing today. Following his recent death, there is an urgent need to document, preserve, and interpret his artistic legacy through the creation of a comprehensive catalogue and archival record. Working directly with Noest's family and an industry supervisor, this project will establish the first systematic inventory of Noest’s artworks, archives, exhibition history, and related documentation. In doing so, it will create the research infrastructure necessary for future scholarship, exhibitions, estate management, and the long-term preservation of the legacy of this significant Queensland artist.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
The aim is to develop a preliminary catalogue of Piet Noest's artworks and establish an organised archive documenting his artistic practice, professional networks, and exhibition history. Tasks will include:
- Survey and inventory artworks held by the estate
- Photograph and document artworks
- Develop and populate a digital catalogue database
- Organise and record archival materials
- Compile exhibition histories and bibliographic references
- Develop a chronology of the artist's life and career
Investigate works held in public, corporate, and private collection.
Students will gain valuable experience in art-historical research, archival documentation, and catalogue development through direct engagement with an artist's estate. They will learn how to inventory artworks, organise archival materials, document exhibition histories, and create research records that support future scholarship and collection management. Working with original artworks, studio materials, and family archives, students will develop skills in data management, visual analysis, and cultural heritage preservation. The project also provides experience in community-engaged research through collaboration with the artist's family and professional mentors. By the end of the project, students will have gained practical insight into the processes involved in preserving an artist's legacy, as well as transferable research, communication, and project-management skills relevant to careers in museums, galleries, archives, heritage organisations, and academia
Suitable for:
This project would suit a motivated undergraduate or future honours student in Art History. Students with an interest in Australian art, artists’ archives, curation, collections management, or exhibition history are particularly encouraged to apply. Strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and the ability to work independently are essential, as the project involves cataloguing artworks, managing research data, and analysing archival materials. An interest in visual culture and cultural preservation, together with excellent written communication skills, intellectual curiosity, and a willingness to engage collaboratively with the artist's family, will support success in this unique research opportunity.
Primary Supervisor: A/Prof Andrea Bubenik
Sport in the landscape of Australian Literature
Project Duration:
The project runs Monday 11 January to Friday 19 February and involves 20–25 hours per week. Mode of delivery is a hybrid of on campus (St Lucia) and online activity. A typical working day comprises 4-5 hours of reading, analysis and related admin tasks.
Project Description:
Sport seems integral to Australian identity, a way for us to speak to the world. However, with little exception, the 1972 view that our sport has received “negligible expression in Australian Literature” (Caldwell) appears as widely held today. The broader range of sports and their related literary works have undergone very little academic scrutiny. A survey of a limited range of studies suggests Australian Literature may in fact have a rich and textured relationship with the nation’s sporting past-times. The project’s central aims are to identify and examine key texts and their authors to extend our understanding of sport in the landscape of Australian Literature. This work is the first step in a larger project that seeks to better understanding our sporting cultures as they are presented in our creative arts. We aim to explore the sporting stories we most commonly tell ourselves; what can we learn about culture and identity from the presentation of sport in our literature; and what these stories tell us about who we are. These questions and others are among the many the project seeks to address.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
Key activities include: engaging with sports-related Australian literature – focusing on novels, short forms of fiction, and plays; identification of additional works and authors in the field; preparation and presentation of notation and textual analyses; reporting to and attending scheduled weekly meetings; working with the Austlit. database; and undertaking administrative and desktop research tasks associated with delivery of relevant academic research outcomes. You will gain and hone research skills in data gathering, analysis and evaluation, in drafting reviews and in communicating findings, through preparation for delivery of academic papers. You will be mentored in and expected to deliver independent scholarly research. Through these activities you gain insight and experience in academic research project development.
Suitable for:
This project would be a good fit for students with a background in creative writing, publishing, or journalism. Though students with a background in social sciences (e.g., sociology, ethnography) or humanities (e.g., cultural studies, history, geography) and a keen interest in the themes of and relationship between sports writing and cultures, and or an interest in the practice and processes of academic publication would likely find the project of great interest. Honours and/or Postgraduate students and motivated 2nd/3rd year students will be considered. Some knowledge of Australian Literature – historic or contemporary; skills in textual analysis and or experience in fields related to Literary Studies; and engagement or familiarity with the AustLit. or any other database would be useful, though not essential.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Lee McGowan
Research in Australian literary studies using AustLit
Project Duration:
This project is based at the St Lucia campus for 6 weeks, in hybrid mode. The project will involve between 20-36 hours/week.
Project Description:
AustLit functions as Australia’s central, authoritative research infrastructure for bibliographic data on Australian literature, writers, and storytelling, and has become a foundational tool for researchers in Australian literary studies. It supports discovery, analysis, and large-scale data-driven research across universities, libraries, cultural institutions, and the broader community. It is Australia’s oldest and most successful digital humanities project and the only national bibliography on this scale in the world. AustLit is not a physical archive of works, nor is it a full text database. Rather, AustLit hold data about literature – that is, metadata.With over one million work records and 200,000 agent records curated and manually entered by discipline experts, AustLit underpins contemporary research on Australian literature and related fields.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
The student will be working across a range of research projects and strategic priorities within AustLit. This includes undertaking research to check the accuracy of and enhance AustLit data. Much of this work will be related to the cultural heritage fields in AustLit’s agent records and enhance subject and settings data in AustLit’s work records. The student will also entered previously collected data into AustLit, ensuring the data is in alignment with AustLit’s data model.
In addition to learning about Australian literary culture, the student will learn about the complexities of bibliographical work and the theoretical models that underpin this work. Students will also learn and to research, collect, enter and curate data into AustLit. In so doing, students will also learn about AustLit’s data model – Functional Requirements of Bibliographical Records (FRBR) - and how to undertake data-driven analyses of the literary field. Students will also deepen their understanding of digital humanities approaches to literary studies.
Suitable for:
Suitable for someone with a broad interest in Australian literature and literary culture who also shares an openness to data-driven and large-scale analysis of the literary field and what it makes possible. Students will an interest in how knowledge is organised and retrieved would also find this placement valuable. Students who have successfully completed the Australian Literature course in the School of Communications and Arts would be particularly welcome.
Primary Supervisor: A/Prof Maggie Nolan
Newsworthy futures
Project Duration:
Six weeks: 11 January to 19 February 2027. 25 to 30 hours per week, typically hybrid: weekly in-person meetings and self-directed work. I am flexible regarding which days the researcher works, but regular updates will be expected.
Project Description:
You will be examining news stories to find out what they say about the future and how. Each day, news reports tell us of a future that is hotter, poorer and more unstable. This project is looking for concrete examples of these, and alternative futures as told through daily news. You’ll be identifying news reports in the Australian media and logging data about them in a way that means we can analyse what it tells us about popular accounts of proximate and longer-term futures.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
In the first instance you will use news databases to collate a set of news reports that report future trajectories or possible outcomes. You will then start analysing the stories in terms content and form. We’ll work together to set initial parameters and adapt them as we see patterns and opportunities. The aim is to create a dataset that can be used as the basis for a research article and later, design work.
You will gain experience searching news and research databases, building a data set, making judgements about what to include and why, analysing artefacts and synthesising findings. You will gain insight into journalism practice and how it engages audiences in current issues. Beyond this, you will have the opportunity to develop academic writing skills.
This is intended as the first phase of a design-led project to reframe narratives and propose alternative scenarios. If there is time and interest, we can introduce generative methods.
Suitable for:
I’m looking for an Honours or postgraduate student, or highly motivated second or third-year undergraduate. Some research experience is ideal. Disciplinary background is less important than an interest in the topic and the ability to work iteratively and think laterally.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Skye Doherty
Romance Studies in Public: Conference Engagement and Publication Strategy for 11th International Association for the Study of Popular Romance Conference
Project Duration:
Summer program, 6 weeks: 20–36 hours per week. Hybrid delivery: based at UQ St Lucia, with off-site work options available. Working days and hours can be negotiated with the supervisor.
Project Description:
This project supports the next stage of digital engagement and research communication planning for the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR), with a focus on the IASPR conference in Spain in the second half of 2027.
Building on previous UQ Summer Research Project work, the student will help develop a strategy for making the most of having romance scholars, authors, publishers, editors, and creators gathered together in person. The project asks how an international scholarly association can extend the impact of a conference beyond the event itself through interviews, short-form digital content, public humanities writing, and publication pathways.
The student will research best practice in conference-based digital engagement, academic outreach, interview planning, and knowledge translation. They will consider how scholarly associations, literary organisations, festivals, and cultural conferences use social media, recorded conversations, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and post-event publications to reach wider audiences.
The student’s work will contribute to IASPR’s planning for the Spain conference and to broader research questions about how romance studies can build international networks, amplify diverse voices, and communicate scholarly work beyond the university.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
The student will review examples of conference engagement, interview series, social media campaigns, and public-facing publication strategies used by academic, literary, and cultural organisations. They will build on an existing TikTok and digital engagement strategy developed for IASPR, extending it into a conference-specific plan.
Key activities may include identifying possible interview formats, developing sample interview questions, proposing content themes, mapping suitable publication opportunities, and designing workflows for capturing and using conference material.
The student will also consider ethical and practical issues, including consent, accessibility, captioning, participant availability, platform suitability, and sustainable processes for a volunteer-run organisation.
The project will involve independent research, planning, writing, and regular supervisory meetings. The student may also help develop sample materials such as interview invitations, social media prompts, blog structures, or publication briefs.
The student will gain experience in research communication, digital engagement strategy, and public humanities planning. They will develop skills in analysing audience, platform, and organisational needs, and in translating research aims into practical communication outputs.
The project will strengthen the student’s research, writing, project planning, and critical thinking skills. It will also provide insight into how academic associations operate, how conferences can generate public-facing and scholarly outputs, and how research communities can use digital platforms to extend their reach.
Suitable for:
By the end of the project, the student will produce a conference engagement and publication strategy for IASPR’s Spain conference. This may include recommended content formats, timelines, platforms, workflows, interview themes, sample questions, and ethical considerations.
The student will also develop a publication opportunities map identifying possible scholarly, professional, and public-facing outputs arising from the conference, such as blog posts, newsletter features, edited interviews, teaching resources, short-form videos, or academic publications.
There may also be an opportunity for the student to be listed as a co-author on a conference paper presented at IASPR.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Melanie Saward
Confronting Dark Legacy: Mapping Media Reparative Projects in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Project Duration:
Hours: 30 hours per week for the duration of the 2027 Summer Research Program (11 January to 19 February 2027).
Delivery mode: Hybrid.
Location: School of Communication and Arts, the University of Queensland, St Lucia campus (Joyce Ackroyd Building (37), Level 3).
Typical pattern: Two to three days on campus with the remainder worked remotely. A standing one-hour supervision meeting each Tuesday morning and a short mid-week check-in. Hours are flexible if there is a week that a break is preferred.
Project Description:
When news organisations around the world, including in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, have apologised for their role in slavery, colonisation and persistent racism in the news, set diversity hire targets, rewritten editorial policies, and redirected funding towards Indigenous and minority-led journalism, researchers call this emerging agenda media reparations: an attempt by news institutions to repair harms caused by their own practices, policies and business. Yet we know little about how prevalent these projects/initiatives are, their goals, what they commit to, who drives them, and whether anything changes once reforms are announced.
For example, in Australia in 2023, the Sydney Morning Herald apologised for its 1838 coverage of the Myall Creek massacre, while Guardian Australia's "The Killing Times" series has exposed Australian media's complicity in the frontier wars. In 2020, Stuff newspaper became the first Aotearoa New Zealand news organisation to issue a national apology for its historical discrimination against Māori. These cases reveal a range of approaches to media reckoning, showing how media attempt to rebuild public trust by confronting their own past.
This project builds the first systematic map of reparative media initiatives across both countries. Working from public documents, online records and archives, we will inventories reparative initiatives in the two countries and code what each promises and what accountability form it takes, comparing how "repair" is defined across legacy media, peripheral media outlets (e.g. community radio), among media reform watchdogs or even civil society groups. Your work will build that evidence base: locating documents, identifying the relevant organisations and their projects, coding them against a framework we will develop, and helping surface the patterns that emerge.
Expected outcomes and deliverables:
You will build and code the project’s document corpus. Specifically, you will: search legacy or peripheral media archives, media accountability agencies and
funder websites, annual reports and news coverage to locate reparative media initiatives in both countries; log each item in a shared database with consistent metadata: organisation, date, form of repair, who initiated it, and what accountability model is attached (and any other criteria to be determined before the project’s start); apply an agreed codebook to each document, flagging ambiguous cases for discussion rather than guessing; assemble a comparative timeline of key events and turning points; draft short descriptive profiles of several landmark reparative projects or cases in which communities or organisations mobilise to document media harms/injustices; take part in weekly supervision meetings where we review coding decisions together and refine the framework as evidence accumulates.
You will leave with research skills that transfer beyond this project: systematic document searching and source verification; building and maintaining a structured research database; qualitative coding from a codebook, including how to handle ambiguity and disagreement defensibly; and concise academic writing. You will also gain substantive expertise in media accountability, community/Indigenous media policy, reparative/social justice and reparative journalism. For anyone weighing up Honours or postgraduate study, this is a realistic preview of that work.
Suitable for:
This project suits students in journalism and communication, media and cultural studies, politics, sociology, history, Indigenous studies or law. Second year and above is ideal, though very strong first-year applicants are welcome. What matters most is care with detail: the value of this research lies in evidence that is
accurate, consistent and patiently assembled. Comfort with spreadsheets or reference management software helps, as does any archival or database experience, but both can be taught. We are especially interested in students drawn to Indigenous/community media, media accountability or legal/justice and policy studies. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Māori students are strongly encouraged to apply.
Primary Supervisor: Dr David Cheruiyot
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