Projects

To support a green energy transition and the achievement of net zero carbon emission goals, a plurality of technologies are required, including lithium ion-batteries and hydrogen as a fuel source. However these technologies come with significant risks, including fire safety risks to structures and infrastructure, which are not effectively captured in existing guidance or certification standards. While the current focus of standardisation is on prevention, there is a need for further research to consider the consequences of fires involving these energy sources. This gap is the focus of this project.

This project investigates how political polarization shapes financial and organizational responses to climate change risk. Polarization distorts how risks are perceived, introduces policy uncertainty, and undermines coordinated responses at both national and local levels. Prior studies show that polarization affects belief formation, resource allocation, and market stability, but its broader impact on climate-related finance and corporate behaviour remains relatively less explored. This project will examine how polarization transmits uncertainty into financial markets, alters investment patterns, and influences corporate strategies in the face of climate risk. The findings will offer new insights into how political divides constrain climate action.

The mining industry generates large volumes of waste rock, most of which contains silicate and oxide minerals capable of reacting with carbon dioxide. This project aims to investigate mineral carbonation of mining waste as a pathway for permanent carbon dioxide sequestration. In this project, our objective is to develop process technology to handle mineral waste available on the ground for carbonation.

This project investigates how migrant communities in Australia use social media to negotiate belonging, identity, and community, and how digital platforms’ algorithmically-curated flows of content shape their cultural experience. The study will also draw on archival and ethnographic sources to trace longer histories of migration. Combining online ethnography, data donation, and archival research, the study offers an interdisciplinary approach to understanding migration in both digital and historical contexts. The suggested focus is on Indian and Anglo-Indian migrants. However, applicants are encouraged to suggest case studies that relate to other migrant groups.

The spatio-temporal distribution of heavy metals at contaminated sites and their implications on microbial activities may enrich metal resistance and AMR genes. A better understanding of metal resistance and antimicrobial resistance genes (AMR) at contaminated sites can offer suitable remedial solutions to decontaminate soil and groundwater systems. This project will utilize nanotechnologies to understand the resistome dynamics and will offer sustainable remediation strategies to reduce contamination without promoting AMR spread.

Australia leads promising innovation in space launch systems such as scramjet-powered reusable vehicles. Such vehicles need to overcome major challenges of sustained hypersonic flight, for example managing the heating of the vehicle. Physics-based simulation is routinely used to analyse the hot structures of hypersonic vehicles and assess thermal management at the design stage. This inter-disciplinary PhD project combines expertise in Aerospace Engineering and Computer Graphics to apply recent algorithmic innovations in computer graphics to the computational engineering analysis and design of hypersonic vehicles.

Flexible batteries offer transformative potential for wearable medical applications by enabling lightweight, wireless power. However, mechanical and electrochemical instability under deformation limits performance. This project develops printed, flexible batteries advancing technology and building on innovations developed within our groups.

The quest for replacing fossil fuel and finding alternative cost-effective, and sustainable resources for energy is of paramount importance for all nations. Energy serves as a linchpin for both societal and emphatical advancement for overall economic development, which leads to elevated standards of human life and humanity. In the realm of scientific development, it is inevitable that advance materials and nanotechnology will have a pivotal role. Therefore, many researchers are working to solve this problem; however, the section on particularly transition metal oxide-based nanowires has been relatively unexplored in this field, especially as a catalyst material. There has been excellent research conducted in this field, but there is a huge area where we as researchers need to focus. In nanowires, some research papers suggest that there are dominant quantum phenomena, but some groups have also suggested that there would be enhancement of the properties due to core shell structure. The mathematical relationship between the length of the nanowire and its quantum confinement properties is underexplored. But we can’t deny the fact that the length scale of oxide nanowires significantly influences their performance in energy storage, harvesting, and multifunctional applications, since most of these properties are surface driven and nanowires tend to increase the surface area to volume ratio drastically. Recent research highlights how nanoscale dimensions enhance electron transport, ion diffusion, and material stability Hence, in this research we would like to explore the unique relation of length scale and catalytic/multi-functional properties of metal oxide nanowires and their application in energy harvest/storage.

The project integrates microfluidic based high content screening of 3D hydrogel cell cultures with computational modeling and machine learning. Mechanistic and hybrid models, combined with process systems engineering tools such as surrogate modeling, monitoring, and optimization, will be used to study cell proliferation, improve efficiency, and reduce experimental costs.

The Taj Mahal, the 17th century architectural wonder is known worldwide for its visual appeal in white marble with beautiful inlay works in the style of ‘Pietra Dura’ (pietra means stone and dura means hard) from Florence, Italy. This project will explore spectroscopy and imaging in the terahertz (THz) spectral range using technologies that rely on the extremely high sensitivity that can be achieved in the THz spectrum for non-contact, non-invasive detection of water and fungal damage, as well as the detection and imaging of the surface and sub-surface mechanical strain and crack formation.