SMP Summer Research Projects

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20-36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description:Sonoluminescence (SL) is an intriguing phenomenon where the collapse of a single bubble emits a picoseconds long pulse of blue light. First observed in the 1930s, there are multiple theories as to why it occurs, all with one common factor: none of them explain all the observed phenomena. As just one example, the blue light appears to be a tail of a blackbody spectrum: if that is the case, then the bubble temperature at collapse is 19,000K, three times hotter than the surface of the sun, and should emit X-rays.

We have built an experiment that reproducibly produces sonoluminscent bubbles: in this project you will improve the apparatus, and develop experimental methods to make observations of the bubble. These may include single-photon measurements to look for X-rays, and quantum correlation measurements to test proposed theories such as the light is Unruh radiation. Those who love open-ended experiments and theory, and a bloody good mystery, are strongly encouraged to apply!

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: You will gain experience in designing and building an open-ended experiment, with the aim of using sophisticated quantum optics equipment, as well as being exposed to classical and quantum field theories you probably have not yet encountered. You will get to work with an enthusiastic and friendly team of researchers, see quantum.technology/people/index.html. Welcome aboard!

Suitable for: Students entering into their third or fourth in 2027, with good experimental skills, and having taken at least second-year fields and quantum.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Andrew White

Co-Supervisor: Dr Laura Serino

Further info: Please contact Professor Andrew White at andrew.white@uq.edu.au  or Dr Laura Serino at l.serino@uq.edu.au for further information. 
Third Academic Supervisor: Dr Markus Rambach, m.rambach@uq.edu.au

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 25 hours per week on St Lucia campus (remotely from 11 January to 31 January)

Description: Stochastic processes describe systems that evolve randomly over time, and their theory is widely used in biology, engineering, finance, insurance, and operations research.

This project focuses on continuous-state branching processes, which are nonnegative stochastic processes possessing a natural branching structure. They can be viewed as continuous-state analogues of classical branching processes, but their applications extend well beyond population modelling. For example, the Feller branching diffusion and its extensions are closely related to square-root and affine processes used in finance to model quantities such as interest rates and asset prices.

A central tool studied in this project is the Lamperti transform, which represents a continuous-state branching process as a time-changed Lévy process. Lévy processes are continuous-time extensions of random walks and include Brownian motion and the Poisson process. This connection allows techniques developed for Lévy processes to be used to analyse continuous-state branching processes.

The main aim of the project is to develop analytical and computational methods for evaluating important characteristics of these processes, such as extinction and first-passage probabilities, hitting times, long-term behaviour, and distributions of accumulated quantities. These characteristics have interpretations in applications ranging from population dynamics to financial risk modelling.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will develop a solid understanding of continuous-time stochastic process models, learn how to formulate and analyse probabilistic models arising from real-world systems, and apply both analytical and computational methods to evaluate key quantities of interest.

Suitable for: 3rd and 4th year Mathematics students, having completed STAT3004 and preferably advanced analysis courses.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Kazutoshi Yamazaki

Further info: Please contact Dr Kazutoshi Yamazaki at k.yamazaki@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Quantum communication uses the unique properties of quantum mechanics to enable highly secure information transfer. This project will explore the design of protocols for establishing and preserving quantum information across noisy communication channels. Using mathematical modelling and computer simulations, students will investigate how quantum states of light are transmitted through realistic optical components and noisy channels. This is a theoretical quantum optics project and will involve modelling quantum systems, communication channels, and sources of noise, and analysing protocol performance.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will gain experience in theoretical quantum optics, mathematical modelling and computer simulation. They will learn to model realistic quantum communication systems and design and assess protocols for preserving quantum information in the presence of noise.

Suitable for: Third or fourth year physics students

Primary Supervisor: Dr Josephine Dias

Further info: Please contact Dr Josephine Dias at j.dias@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Nanodiamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres can be used as nanoscale temperature sensors by measuring changes in their optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra. This project will investigate the use of nanodiamonds for temperature measurements with a wide-field fluorescence microscope and fast optical readout.

The main goal is to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and accuracy of temperature measurements while maintaining high temporal resolution. The project will involve optimisation of the optical detection and measurement protocol, analysis of fluorescence and ODMR data, and investigation of the main sources of noise and systematic uncertainty.

The work will provide experience in optical microscopy, nanodiamond-based quantum sensing, experimental optimisation, data analysis, and precision temperature measurement.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: The student will gain practical experience in wide-field fluorescence microscopy, nanodiamond-based quantum sensing, optical measurements, and quantitative data analysis. They will learn how to optimise an experimental measurement, identify sources of noise and systematic error, and improve the signal-to-noise ratio and accuracy of temperature measurements.

Suitable for: The project is suitable for a motivated student with a background in physics. Students who have completed at least second year are welcome to apply.

An interest in experimental optics, imaging, quantum sensing, or precision measurement would be particularly useful. Experience with scientific programming and data analysis, for example using Python or MATLAB, would be an advantage. Previous experience with optical detectors, camera readout, or optimisation of EMCCD measurements would be especially relevant to the project.

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Taras Plakhotnik

Further info: Please contact Associate Professor Taras Plakhotnik at taras@physics.uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 25 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Explore the fundamental groups of knot complements through different presentations and representations, combining theoretical techniques with computational tools. Investigate how algebraic and geometric information about knots can be extracted from and encoded by their associated groups.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will learn how fundamental groups are used to study knots, develop computational and algebraic techniques for analysing knot groups, and complete a theoretical and computational investigations.

Suitable for: Suitable for students with some background in topology and, ideally, basic programming experience.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Daniele Celoria

Further info: Please contact Dr Daniele Celoria at d.celoria@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: This project studies neural networks trained to compute addition modulo a prime number. The central question is: how many hidden units are actually needed for a network to represent this operation exactly? For small primes, the student will combine computational experiments with algebraic methods to study the space of exact solutions and look for patterns that may lead to theoretical bounds.

The project connects to AI interpretability and safety because simple arithmetic tasks provide a controlled setting in which the internal structure of a neural network can be understood mathematically. By characterising which network structures can implement a known algorithm, we gain tools for analysing how learned computations are represented internally — a basic ingredient of mechanistic interpretability.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will gain experience at the interface of algebra, computation and neural networks. They will learn how modular arithmetic can be represented by small neural networks, how algebraic structure can be used to analyse exact solutions, and how computational experiments can guide mathematical conjectures.

Suitable for:  A reproducible computational study for several small primes; a mathematical analysis of the resulting solution spaces or width bounds; and a short written report summarising the methods, results and possible directions for further work.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Masoud Kamgarpour

Further info: Please contact Professor Masoud Kamgarpour at masoud@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 32 hours per week on St Lucia campus

Description: Semiconductor nanocrystals were recognised by the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their unique size-dependent properties and transformative technological potential. The next generation of nanocrystal-based technologies, however, will require not only control over their size and composition, but also a detailed understanding and control of their complex surface chemistry.

This project aims to investigate perovskite nanocrystals, a particularly promising class of semiconductor nanomaterials, using state-of-the-art machine-learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs). The student will explore how recently developed foundation models can describe the diverse atomic environments found in nanocrystals, including facets, edges, corners and surface defects. Particular attention will be given to assessing where these models succeed or fail in describing nanocrystal surfaces and to identifying the configurations required to improve their accuracy.

The project will provide hands-on experience with modern machine-learning potentials, atomistic simulations and high-performance computing, at the interface between computational materials science and artificial intelligence.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: The student will gain experience in generating and analysing atomistic datasets, running machine-learning interatomic potentials, and benchmarking their predictions against first-principles calculations. They will investigate the transferability of foundation models to complex perovskite nanocrystals and identify the structural and chemical environments that require additional training data. Depending on progress, the project may also involve fine-tuning a foundation model and applying it to larger nanocrystal structures beyond the scale accessible to conventional quantum-mechanical calculations.

Suitable for: This project is suitable for students with a background in physics, chemistry, materials science, computational science, or related disciplines. Some knowledge of Python is desirable; prior experience with machine learning or atomistic simulations is useful but not essential.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Carla Verdi

Further info: Please contact Dr Carla Verdi at c.verdi@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 21 hours per week on St Lucia campus

Description: Hausdorff dimension provides a way of measuring sizes of sets whose dimension is not an integer. For example, the Cantor set has dimension log 2/ log 3, because for any n the number of intervals (balls) of length (1/3)^n required to cover the Cantor set is about 2^n. If we have a fractal set in R^2 or R^3, orthogonal projection in some direction may reduce its dimension, but the Marstrand projection theorem tells us that for "most" orthogonal projections the dimension does not decrease. This project aims to understand whether or not this remains true if "dimension" is defined through the non-Euclidean parabolic distance, so that the number of balls required to cover the set is with respect to the parabolic metric.  

The question is solved in R^2 and R^3, and we believe that the proof should generalise to all dimensions, but there is still some work to be done. The project would involve learning a little about Grassmannians, the orthogonal group and its Haar measure, spherical coordinates in n-dimensions, basic Fourier analysis such as Plancherel's theorem, and some basic geometric measure theory such as Kaufman's (short) proof of the Marstrand projection theorem.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: The student would get an introduction to current topics in geometric measure theory and Fourier analysis. If successful the project may result in a paper that is publishable, which would be sole-authored by them, but the main goal is to gain an understanding of these topics.  The student would be expected to write a report, at most 10 pages, explaining results they obtain (or explaining key obstructions if the generalisation turns out to be too difficult).

Suitable for: The most directly useful background would be Math4408 (measure theory). Other analysis courses such as 2400/2401, 3402/7432, 3401/3901, would be useful too. Students would not be expected to have prior knowledge of geometric measure theory.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Terry Harris

Further info: Please contact Dr Terry Harris at terry.harris@uq.edu.au for further information.
Either zoom meeting or in-person is OK.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20-36 hours per week, by negotiation; on St Lucia campus.

Description: Quantum thermodynamics is a field of research that examines how thermodynamics applies at the nanoscale. Quantum thermal machines are an emerging branch of quantum technology that utilise quantum effects to convert heat into useful work. From the perspective of information theory, this is equivalent to transforming disordered information from a reservoir into ordered information, and hence is intimately linked to quantum information theory and quantum computing. 

Quantum thermal machines could offer quantum advantages in work extraction, such as going beyond the Carnot limit and extracting work from a single heat bath. Furthermore, a major obstacle to quantum computing is that they thermalize with the environment, introducing errors into the computation. A greater understanding of quantum thermal machines offers a possibility to circumvent, or even utilise, interactions with an environment in quantum computers.

A review article on quantum thermodynamics can be found here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.06099

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: The goal of this project is to derive an analytic model, and implement a simple numerical model, of a heat engine that exchanges particles and heat with reservoirs.  It will examine the regimes of operation as a function of the two reservoir properties.

Following the successful completion of the first part of the project, the next step will be to implement the concepts in the analytical model to a interacting quantum degenerate gas at nanokelvin temperatures using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.

Suitable for: Self-motivated students interested in physics and/or mathematics who are interested in gaining experience in research in theoretical and computational quantum physics.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Matthew Davis

Further info: Please contact Professor Matthew Davis at mdavis@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20-30 hours per week, by negotiation; on St Lucia campus.

Description: Superfluidity arises when an atomic gas is cooled using laser cooling and evaporative cooling to nanokelvin temperatures.  Below a critical velocity they flow without viscosity.  The UQ Bose-Einstein condensation laboratory works with these superfluids, and are interested how their nonequilibrium dynamics lead to persistent currents that never decay.

The aim of this project is to make a connection between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics - looking for the signatures of classical trajectories in the quantum wave functions.  This is potentially interesting for superfluids, as to some extent they behave as classical fluids.  This would require adding the effects of particle interactions - an additional nonlinear term in the Schrodinger equation.

A brief introduction to the field can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5468603/

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will learn how to solve the linear and nonlinear Schrodinger equation computationally with sources and sinks.  The results will influence the UQ experimental program on Bose-Einstein condensates. 

A successful project will potentially lead to publishing a paper describing the model and its results.

Suitable for: Self-motivated students interested in physics and/or mathematics who are interested in gaining experience in research in theoretical and computational quantum physics..

Primary Supervisor: Professor Matthew Davis

Further info: Please contact Professor Matthew Davis at mdavis@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 30 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: This project aims to use optical tweezers to study the physical properties of protein condensates. These condensates have been implicated in motor neuron disorders, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Understanding the physical properties of these condensates under different conditions should provide much-needed insight into their role in these diseases. This project will involve optical tweezers and structured light to trap and stretch individual condensates to measure their stiffness. Similarly, several condensates can be isolated with multiple traps and forced to coalesce and provide information on their relative stiffnesses. Part of this project will be optimising the methodology to provide robust results that we can draw biological conclusions from.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will be expected to learn how to use optical systems, perform experiments, and collect and analyse data. At the end of the project, students will need to prepare a short report and present their findings to our research group.

Suitable for: Physics students entering their third or fourth year of studies who are interested in gaining experimental skills in optics while working on a cross-disciplinary project.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Mark Watson

Co-Supervisor: Professor Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop

Further info: Please contact Dr Mark Watson at mark.watson@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 35 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: OLEDs are a class of organic electronics, which is extensively being investigated because of its potential for flat---panel display and lighting. It’s an attractive area of research particularly because they are lightweight, flexible, have wider viewing angles and a faster response time. Currently, they are also used in displays of smart phones.
The performance of an OLED depends on various parameters such as thickness of the light emitting layer (organic semiconductor), buffer layer between electrode and emitting layers etc. In this project, you will gain an in-depth knowledge about the working of mechanism of OLEDs, and measurement technique and/or device modelling and simulation. This project can be either purely experimental or theoretical. See more details of OLEDs and optoelectronics: https://amio.net.au/

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: The student will gain an in-depth understanding of the operating mechanisms of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), as well as hands-on experience with device characterization techniques and, where applicable, device modelling and simulation. This is an experimental research project.

Suitable for: The project is suitable for 3rd year students with a background in Physics, Chemistry, or Engineering.

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Ebinazar Namdas

Co-Supervisor: Dr Atul Shukla

Further info: Please contact Associate Professor Ebinazar Namdas at e.namdas@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: The project aims to develop theoretical tools to model and understand out-of-equilibrium behaviour of quantum fluids. Such fluids are formed in interacting many-particle systems at ultra-low temperatures, and understanding how these complex systems evolve dynamically when driven out of equilibrium remains a grand-challenge of modern quantum physics. The project intends to study the intriguing dynamical properties of quantum fluids formed by ultra-cold atomic gases, in particular, by atomic Bose and Fermi gases in one-dimensional (1D) waveguides. In such 1D wave guides, and more generally in systems of reduced dimensionality, the effects of quantum and thermal fluctuations are enhanced, comparedto three-dimensional systems. As such, theoretical modelling of these systems confronts the challenges of quantum many-body physics heads on. Systems of reduced dimensionality are expected to play an increasingly important role in future quantum technologies, with its ever evolving trend in miniaturisation of electronic devices and precision measurement instruments.

The expected outcomes of the project are the knowledge and theoretical tools required to underpin advances in quantum engineering applications, such as the design of quantum heat engines, the controlof heat conduction in quantum nanowires and carbon nanotubes, and the fabrication of new energy-efficient materials. Specific sub-projects include:

• Development of new hydrodynamic theories of 1D quantum fluids at Euler and Navier-Stokes scales
• Whitlam modulation theory for propagation of 1D quantum shock waves
• Collective modes of 1D quantum fluids from the theory of Generalised Hydrodynamics (GHD)
• Quantum transport in 1D quantum fluids
• Quantum heat engines with ultra-cold atomic gases

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will learn advanced theoretical and computational techniques of quantum many-body physics, including second quantisation, hydrodynamics, and utilising supercomputing cluster facilities. They will have an opportunity to generate results that may lead to publications from their research. Students may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of their project.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with background in 2nd and 3rd year physics and maths.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Karen Kheruntsyan

Further info: Please contact Professor Karen Kheruntsyan at karen.kheruntsyan@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Optimising the layout of parking lots is an important and difficult optimisation problem.  In this project the student will build upon previous work to implement a Benders Decomposition based approach to parking lot design, including generating a draft of a paper.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will become familiar with the process of taking a working idea, completing and documenting it to the level of a draft paper.

Suitable for: Students should have completed MATH3205/7202

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Michael Forbes 

Further info: Please contact Associate Professor Michael Forbes at m.forbes@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 35 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Solid-state photon detectors serve as the fundamental elements of cutting-edge quantum technologies, offering immense potential for future computers, data storage, communications, spectroscopy, and sensing. Photon detector is a light sensitive device that generates a current when photons of the relevant energy are incident on the device The performance of photodetectors depends on various parameters such as active semiconductor layer (in this case made of organic semiconductor), buffer layer between electrode and emitting layer, etc. In this project, you will gain an in-depth knowledge about the working of photon detector and measurement technique. In addition, you will work towards determining dark current and noise current measurements at room. This project is supported by Queensland government quantum Infrastructure grant. More details are in the link below: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z_fd7s-gIQ
https://amio.net.au/news/queensland-photon-detector-characterisation-facility/

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: The student will gain an in-depth understanding of the operating mechanisms of photon detector as well as hands-on experience with device characterization techniques and, where applicable, device modelling and simulation. This is an experimental research project.

Suitable for: The project is suitable for 3rd year student with background in Physics, Chemistry or Engineering

Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Ebinazar Namdas

Co-Supervisor: Dr Atul Shukla

Further info: Please contact Associate Professor Ebinazar Namdas at e.namdas@uq.edu.au or Dr Atul Shukla at a.shukla@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: The aim of this project is to develop a quantitative theory for Fermi-Bose gas collisions in mixtures of metastable helium, quantifying the strength and spatial structure of Fermi-Bose, Fermi-Fermi, and Bose-Bose atom-atom correlations generated through the s-wave scattering process and mediated by the other species. The project is directly linked to the ongoing dual-species collision experiments with metastable helium (⁴He* and ³He*) at the ANU, in the laboratory of Andrew Truscott and Sean Hodgman. The quantitative theory developed through this project will enable the characterisation of mass-dependent entanglement in dual-species collisions for potential tests of the weak equivalence principle in the quantum regime and Bell-inequality violations for entangled atoms of different masses (⁴He* and ³He*). Both tests represent experimental frontiers in quantum foundations and may provide insights into future theoretical constructs of quantum gravity.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will learn advanced theoretical and computational techniques of quantum many-body physics, including second quantisation, hydrodynamics, and utilising supercomputing cluster facilities. They will have an opportunity to generate results that may lead to publications from their research. Students may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of their project.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with background in 2nd and 3rd year physics and maths.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Karen Kheruntsyan

Further info: Please contact Professor Karen Kheruntsyan at karen.kheruntsyan@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: The Second Quantum Revolution is currently underway, and represents the merging of thermodynamic concepts of heat and work, born during the Industrial Revolution, with quantum concepts of information processing and entanglement. But how do the classical ideas on the nature of heat and work translate to quantum devices? Do the laws of classical thermodynamics also dictate the behavior of processes at a quantum level, or whether new laws are needed? The project intends to shed light on these fundamental questions by developing state-of-the-art computational models of quantum-scale machines and heat engines using the platform of ultracold atomic gases. Such gases represent archehtypical examples of interacting many-body systems, however, characterising their equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties is a challenging problem. The knowledge arising from the project is expected to underpin experimental breakthroughs in this emerging field and aid the development of new quantum technologies.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will learn advanced theoretical and computational techniques of quantum many-body physics, including second quantisation, hydrodynamics, and utilising supercomputing cluster facilities. They will have an opportunity to generate results that may lead to publications from their research. Students may also be asked to produce a report or oral presentation at the end of their project.

Suitable for: This project is open to applications from students with background in 2nd and 3rd year physics and maths.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Karen Kheruntsyan

Further info: Please contact Professor Karen Kheruntsyan at karen.kheruntsyan@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Experimentally evaluate the electron-phonon coupling strength in emerging inorganic solution-processed perovskite thin films. The work will develop temperature-dependent optical probes (0-500 K) using a helium cryostat to probe the T-dependent Raman scattering and steady-state photoluminescence spectra of clean and doped thin films, to quantify lattice-carrier interaction and directly link them to observed carrier transport measurements (low temperature Hall effect measurements).

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Technical skills:
-    Laser and free-space optical instrument design and development. 
-    Low temperature cryostat operations, using liquid nitrogen and liquid helium. 
-    Materials modelling of experimental data to extract quantitative values for physical properties of materials.
-    The physical parameter related to electron-lattice interactions will be measured in new perovskite semiconductors for the first time. 

A written report, in the style of a research article, is expected upon completion.

Suitable for: Condensed matter and solid state physics students. 2nd or 3rd year level is preferred.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Julian Steele

Further info: Please contact Dr Julian Steele at julian.steele@uq.edu.au for further information.
High quality results and reports will be further developed for submission in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Epidemic outbreaks can have severe social and economic consequences, particularly when they result in unusually large numbers of infections or deaths.

The WHO has declared the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, 2026. 

Outbreak of Ebola is an extreme event and it can have lasting and outsized impacts. Studying the associated model can help predicting the extent of number of infections and deaths even in the peak outbreaks and when do they occur. It is therefore important to correctly estimate their likelihood. This project aims at simulating the data sets available for different values of parameters and analysing the possibility of Ebola outbreaks in near future using the techniques that have been developed in Extreme value theory(EVT), a branch of statistics concerned with rare and high-impact events.

Using the data for Ebola available with the Mathematical ecology group at SMP, the student will do simulations for a given range of parameters to understand the outcomes, and then implement the extreme value theory on these data sets to understand the future outbreaks and their frequencies. Possible tasks include:

1. Understanding the associated SEIRD model and its interpretation;
2. Simulating trajectories for different parameter regimes;
3. Identifying and analysing extreme outbreak events from simulated data;
4. Implementing the Extreme value theory to quantify the frequency and severity of outbreaks.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: 

1.  Understanding the real-world data and its associated Mathematical model;
2.  Produce and analyse simulations using R/Python (or another programming language of choice);
3. Learn basic techniques for analysing rare and extreme events in data;
4. Prepare a brief report and possibly an oral presentation at the end.

Suitable for: Student requirements:

1. Undergraduate-level knowledge of analysis and calculus;
2. Working-level proficiency in R/Python or any programming language;
3. Knowledge of probability theory advantageous but not required.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Sakshi Jain 

Co-Supervisor: Dr Luz Pascal

Further info: Please contact Dr Sakshi Jain at sakshi.jain@uq.edu.au or Dr Luz Pascal at l.pascal@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Superconducting qubits are among the leading platforms for building scalable quantum computers, but their performance is fundamentally limited by gate errors arising from decoherence, crosstalk, and imperfect control pulses. This project will experimentally investigate methods for optimising the control pulses used to drive single- and two-qubit gates on a superconducting multi-qubit device in our lab, with the overall aim of improving gate fidelity.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: This project is suitable for students who are eager to gain lab experience working with superconducting qubits. Gain experience in the working principles and measurement of superconducting qubits, in particular on control and readout of multi-qubit devices. Students will be expected to perform experiments concerning optimal qubit control, analyse experimental data, and work towards improving the fidelity of single- and two-qubit gate operations through the optimisation of control pulses.

Suitable for: Applicants should be comfortable working in python, have third year lab experience, and have studied at least second year quantum.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Zachary Degnan

Further info: Please contact Dr Zachary Degnan at z.degnan@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Superconducting circuits are one of the most mature platforms for quantum computing, with qubits realised from Josephson junctions embedded in microwave circuits. This project offers an introduction to the design, fabrication considerations, and simulation of superconducting qubits, from the underlying circuit QED theory to the development of circuits for quantum computing hardware. In this project, students will help to design and simulate circuit components for superconducting multi-qubit devices.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will gain understanding in the physics of superconducting microwave circuits, and experience in circuit design, Hamiltonian design, and electromagnetic simulation of superconducting qubits. Students will be expected to contribute towards the design of superconducting multi-qubit devices.

Suitable for: Suitable for students comfortable working in python, and who have done third year quantum.

Primary Supervisor: Dr Zachary Degnan

Further info: Please contact Dr Zachary Degnan at z.degnan@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 20 hours per week, for 6 weeks (11 January – 19 February) on St Lucia campus.

Description: Extreme events can have impacts that are far greater than their frequency would suggest. Whether volcanic eruptions, long periods of drought, or sudden flooding, such events can have lasting and outsized
impacts. It is therefore important to correctly estimate their likelihood. This project aims to investigate a new approach for analysing data sets and estimating indicators for extreme events.

Using computer simulations, the student will implement a new approach under development at UQ and QUEX on toy models and analyse the re-
sults. Depending on the progress of the project, real-world data may also be analysed. Possible tasks include:

• Comparison with classical approaches
• Fine-tuning parameters to improve accuracy
• Iterating on the algorithm to obtain more robust results

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: •

• Understand the role of extreme events and likelihood estimates
• Produce and analyse simulations using Python (or another programming language of choice) 
• Prepare a brief report and possibly an oral presentation at the end

Suitable for: 

• Working-level proficiency with Python or another programming language of choice
• Undergraduate-level skills in analysis (at least 1st year)
• Knowledge of statistics & probability theory advantageous but not required

Primary Supervisor: Dr Max Auer

Co-Supervisor: Dr Meagan Carney

Further info: Please contact Dr Max Auer at m.auer@uq.edu.au or Dr Meagan Carney at m.carney@uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 25 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Usually we describe the cause of photons being redshifted as a sum of infinitesimal Doppler shifts along the line of sight.  In this scenario energy is not lost, the light is just being observed by galaxies that are receding from it, so the redshifting is only an apparent loss of energy.  This project will explore whether a coordinate change can reveal a different interpretation is also valid.  Namely, we will explore whether a change in the definition of the time coordinate can result in a change in the interpretation of the source of the redshift.  This is similar in concept to the explanation of the Pound-Rebka experiment showing the equivalence principle works for light falling in a gravitational field.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: A write-up of the mathematics of cosmology in different coordinate systems.

Suitable for: Upper level physics or mathematics students. Ideally have already taken PHYS3080 (extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology).

Primary Supervisor: Professor Tamara Davis

Further info: Please contact Professor Tamara Davis at tamarad@physics.uq.edu.au for further information.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode: 36 hours per week on St Lucia campus.

Description: Neural networks trained on addition modulo an integer n can internally organise their computations using Fourier representations of the cyclic group n. In this project, the student will study a very small network with only two neurons and investigate which representations the neurons learn, how this depends on initialisation, and which outcomes are stable under training. This is an open problem in the mathematical underpinning of neural networks, see:
https://github.com/lionellevine/MAIS/blob/main/open-problems/MAIS-O59.md

The problem has a direct connection to mechanistic interpretability and AI safety. If we want to understand or audit the internal computations of larger AI systems, we need to know whether interpretable features arise reliably and predictably during training. This project studies that question in a mathematically transparent model where the representations are known exactly.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables: Students will learn how ideas from Fourier analysis, representation theory and dynamical systems can be used to understand the internal representations learned by neural networks. They will investigate how training and initialisation affect which mathematical structures emerge inside a small network and how stable these structures are.

Suitable for: Strong linear algebra and multivariable calculus, together with some programming experience. Familiarity with differential equations, Fourier analysis, group theory or machine learning would be helpful but is not required.

Primary Supervisor: Professor Masoud Kamgarpour 

Further info: Please contact Professor Masoud Kamgarpour  at masoud@uq.edu.au for further information.
Full time commitment. Student should be independent and driven.