Areas of Research Expertise

Addictive Studies - Consumption

Promoting healthy diets and lifestyles to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases requires a multi-disciplinary approach. A leading research team from CQUniversity, University of Queensland, and Griffith University are investigating psychological factors contributing to health and well-being.  Strong candidates whose interests align with exploring individual differences that explain potentially addictive consumption of food, substances, gambling, shopping, internet use etc., are particularly encouraged to apply.

PhD students become part of a team that undertakes theoretical and applied research on the psychological mechanisms underlying consumption driven behaviour. There are two specific PhD projects (appropriate to different backgrounds) available to interested applicants:

Role 1. Explore and develop research outcomes on the psychological, psychopharmacological and dietary-related mechanisms that might underpin consumptive and addictive behaviour. This project aims to establish self-report and behavioural data, through quantitative psychometric testing and experimental methodologies, related to behaviours and attitudes towards addictive consumption. There is a role for a PhD candidate with a background and interest in psychology, health, or social sciences to work on theoretical development and application in psychology, neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience.

Role 2.  Development of feature extraction and statistical pattern recognition methods for the analysis of psychophysiological data. In order to further the broader objective of understanding individual differences in consumption, the research program requires the discrimination of clinical versus non-clinical groups, as well as differential responses in terms of both event-related potentials (ERPs) and resting potentials (EEG) measured during experimental manipulations. Thus, the project aims to establish neurocognitive basis of addiction/consumption using behavioural and non-invasive physiological measures. This requires signal processing of the EEG records, discriminant feature extraction (eg using PCA, ICA, wavelets or related techniques) and classification (eg using Random Forests, SVMs. There is a role for a PhD candidate with a background and interest in high-dimensional data / signal processing / machine learning / pattern recognition to work on developing and validating novel analysis methodologies for this task.

For more information contact Dr Matthew Browne at:  m.browne@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4150 7002 or  Dr Talitha Best at : t.best@cqu.edu.au or phone: 07 4150 7172

Addictive Studies - Gambling

The Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory (EGRL).  The mission of the EGRL is to support an understanding of games of chance.  Through experiment, simulation and observation, the EGRL will generate new knowledge to help protect, preserve and promote the well being of players while contributing to the sustainability of the gambling industry.  To date, gambling studies have attracted close to $1 million in external funding to the University.  The lab is currently investigating the impact of jackpots of EGM gambling behaviour for Gambling Research Australia.

Description of EGRL activities:The laboratory does theoretical and applied research on the psychological mechanisms underlying addictive behaviour including:

• The psychological mechanisms and personality dimensions underlying consumptive, compulsive and addictive gambling behaviour
• Quantitative and psychometric testing and validation of instruments related to gambling and attitudes to gambling
• Evaluation of the functional and audio-visual characteristics (e.g. jackpots) of electronic gambling machines
• The neurocognitive basis of gambling addiction using behavioural measures and non-invasive physiological measures.

Please feel free to contact one of members for more information.

For more information contact Professor Matthew Rockloff at:  m.rockloff@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4150 7138

Ageing

Population Health Gerontologist Professor Lynne Parkinson is seeking high quality PhD candidates interested in pursuing research into ageing. A series of PhD projects are available including within the following areas:

Chronic mental illness in ageing rural adults: Understanding the impact on active ageing.

As our rural communities age, we need to understand the experience of all groups. An often overlooked group is those ageing with chronic mental illness. This project will explore how people who have lived with chronic mental illness age in the rural setting and how they continue to lead active and meaningful lives.

Supervisors: Prof Lynne Parkinson, CQUniversity, Prof Laurie Buys, QUT

Nutrition and mental health in older community living people.

There is evidence that older users of mental health services have a high rate of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, yet very few lifestyle interventions have been undertaken with this group. This project will explore the impact of mental health on nutrition in people ageing in the community, and develop and test lifestyle interventions in this group.

Supervisors: Prof Lynne Parkinson, CQUniversity, A/Prof Liz Isenring, UQ

Incident Osteoarthritis in a cohort of “baby boomer” women: Management in the community.

Osteoarthritis is a common and enduring chronic disease which is a leading contributor to disability in Australia. As demographic ageing, largely due to ageing of the “baby boomer” cohort, is expected to substantially increase the number of Australian women with osteoarthritis by 2020, there is a need to understand the factors that will enable women with osteoarthritis to remain active and independent in the community as they age.

Other suggested research questions are welcome.

Supervisors: Prof Lynne Parkinson, CQUniversity, Dr Geeske Peeters, UQ

For more information contact Professor Lynne Parkinson at: l.parkinson@cqu.edu.au or Phone: 07 4930 6448

Exercise Science

Associate Professor in Sport Science, Peter Reaburn, is seeking a high-quality PhD candidate to join his growing Masters Athlete Research Team at CQUniversity in Rockhampton, Central Queensland. Peter is a highly-applied sport scientist, high performance masters athlete, and successful postgraduate supervisor of many years standing. He has written the definitive text in the area of masters sport titled The Masters Athlete. Recently he has been invited by CRC Press/Taylor and Francis to edit a scholarly book titled Nutrition and Performance in Masters Athletes. He is the Chair of the Organising Committee for a Masters Athlete Conference being held in conjunction with the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast in late 2014.

Peter has attracted four new PhD students in 2013 all focused on masters athlete research. One of his postgraduates recently won the highly prestigious 2013 ACSM International Clinical Scholar Award for a paper being presented at the ACSM Conference in Indianapolis, USA in May, 2013. Each of Peter’s postgraduates is receiving an income through tutoring and/or marking with most having used Peter’s connections within the health, recreation, fitness and sport industries to take on part-time work in industry if they want it.

A series of PhD projects are available focused on the following areas:

• Masters athletes as models of successful ageing
• Short and long-term recovery rates from high intensity exercise in masters athletes
• Recovery practices and interventions in masters athletes
• Dietary practices and interventions in masters athletes
• Musculoskeletal health in masters athletes
• Body composition and energy balance in masters athletes
• Motivation and performance in masters athletes

Peter is very well connected with academics from both The University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology to ensure co-supervision of the project. Moreover he has great networks within masters sport at a local, state and national level to ensure the success of the project.

For more information contact Associate Professor Peter Reaburn at p.reaburn@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4923 2621

Medical and Applied Science

Candidates with a strong background in medical sciences, particularly with research interests in the focus areas of infectious disease immunology, metabolic and renal disorders, and healthy ageing and disease prevention are invited to apply.  Potential projects include, but are not limited to:

Immunology (Professor Andrew Taylor-Robinson)

• Regulation of immunity to middle ear bacterial infections in susceptible children.
• Surveying prevalence of upper respiratory tract infections in Central Queensland populations.
• Immuno-epidemiology of mosquito-borne infectious diseases, e.g. dengue fever
• Prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial colonisation in emergency service personnel
• Antimicrobial properties, e.g. against malaria, of plant extracts derived from Central Queensland.

Metabolic and renal disorders (Dr Andrew Fenning)

• The impact of ageing and obese diets on cardiac and blood vessel function.
• Cardiovascular responses to air pollution.
• Secondary cardiovascular complications of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and heart failure.
• Pharmacological interventions to prevent oxidate stress and inflammation following diabetes, hypertension, obesity and heart failure.

Disease prevention (Dr Vincent Dalbo)

• Physiological adaptations to pharmacological, nutritional, and exercise interventions
• Inflammation and oxidative stress responses as they apply to skeletal muscle wasting in older adults
• Mechanisms of testosterone-induced anabolic effects for treating sarcopenia

Why study with the Biomedical Laboratory Science Group?

• We have recently relocated to a new research facility valued at $6 million with access to state of the art equipment through the Health CRN
• Our research is published in top ranked scientific journals including: The Lancet, Vaccine, Journal of Gerontology, Medicine Science Sports and Exercise, British Journal of Sports Medicine
• We have worldwide collaborations including: Auburn University, Wichita State University, Texas Tech University, University of Oklahoma, University of Leeds, University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Massey University
• We foster an open, friendly and mutually supportive environment in which to undertake a postgraduate research project

For more information contact Professor Andrew Taylor-Robinson at:  a.taylor-robinson@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4923 2008; Dr Andrew Fenning at:  a.fenning@cqu.edu.au or phone: 07 4923 2568 or Dr Vincent Dalbo at:  v.dalbo@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4923 2289

Mental Health Nursing

The Centre for Mental Health Nursing Innovation includes one of the strongest mental health nursing teams in Australia and internationally. The team includes Brenda Happell (Professor of Mental Health Nursing), Margaret McAllister (Professor of Nursing) and Tony Welch (Associate Professor Mental Health Nursing). The team has considerable experience in the supervision and completion of PhD candidates undertaking research in a broad range of methods, including: phenomenology, grounded theory, narrative analysis, exploratory and ethnography.

The expertise and interests of team members extends across a broad range of topics including: consumer perspective and participation, physical health of people with mental illness, men’s health, the use of coercive practices, suicide and self-harm and mental health nursing education.

The Centre has a particular interest in projects related to:

• Physical health care of people diagnosed with a mental illness, including the implementation and impact of specialist nursing roles and other intervention-based strategies
• The work of lived experience (consumer) practitioners in mental health, including peer workers, consumer consultants, lived experience academics. Areas of particular concern include capacity building, employment structures and development and availability of training. Preference would be given to applicants with experience as lived experience practitioners
• Mental health education: sustaining models of world’s best practice, particularly in the area of promoting recovery-based care
• Effective, change based therapies, including: digital, creative, narrative and solution focused
• Resilience in people living with mental health challenges from an international perspective
• Men’s mental health and mental health promotion: exploring sustainable frameworks for gender specific mental health promotion.

For more information contact Professor Brenda Happell at:  b.happell@cqu.edu.au or phone: 07 4923 2164 or Professor Margaret McAllister at: m.mcallister@cqu.edu.au

Nursing

My name is Professor Margaret McAllister, and together with colleagues, Professors Kerry Reid-Searl and Trudy Dwyer, we are pursuing a program of research around patient safety through learning and teaching innovations. We believe that nurses who develop competence in psychomotor techniques without human relating skills are not practising professional nursing. A robot can perform disembodied, and highly technical tasks. Rather, professional nursing practice is knowing how to work to advance physical, psychological and cultural safety for clients and communities.

Through our work we are aiming to trial educational innovations that contribute to the worldwide movement in patient safety, prevention of deterioration in clients, and the promotion of wellbeing.

Joining our program of research will put you at the leading edge in simulation in health care, serious games, and health education revolutions.

For more information contact Professor Kerry Searl-Reid at:  k.reid-searl@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4930 9741 or Professor Margaret McAllister at:  m.mcallister@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 5440 7082

Physical Activity

The Centre for Physical Activity Studies (CPAS), in collaboration with the Health Collaborative Research Network is offering well-funded three year PhD-scholarships.

At CPAS we have a strong focus on population health and health behaviour change. Increasing population levels of physical activity and decreasing sitting time are the two behaviours of main interest. To change behaviour we first need to know what influences this behaviour and investigate its correlates, then we can develop and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. At CPAS we do both correlate and intervention research in healthy and unhealthy populations (e.g. diabetes or people with a mental health condition). We also have a focus on using innovative communication technology (e.g. smartphones and websites) to improve health behaviours.

CPAS has a strong track record in publishing research outcomes in top ranked peer-reviewed journals, as well as obtaining nationally competitive research funding, as such we have several NHMRC and ARC projects underway. We collaborate with colleagues nationally and internationally and are well recognized within our field of research. We are a young and dynamic team consisting of mid-career (Dr Corneel Vandelanotte, Dr Mitch Duncan) and early-career (Dr Camille Short, Dr Amanda Hyde, Dr Aaron Scanlan) research academics who have won several prestigious research excellence awards. CPAS has several talented PhD-students who are recipients of NHMRC and APAi Scholarships. Previous students have easily obtained academic positions elsewhere, such as the University of Alberta (Canada) and the University of Western Sydney. 

PhD students receive laptops and spacious offices, and operate in a very collegial, supportive and friendly environment, with excellent administrative support. We also have a high quality Population Research Laboratory available to conduct population surveys. Students are supervised by a team of experienced and supportive researchers who meet regularly with students and provide timely feedback, and who work collaboratively in a vibrant research culture.

Here are some broad examples of potential topics PhD-topics:

• Effectiveness of new types of web-delivered, computer-tailored or smartphone-based physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour interventions
• Interaction of physical activity and sedentary behaviour with other health behaviours such as sleep, diet, alcohol and smoking
• Influence of physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour on mental health or other health conditions
• Monitoring physical and physiological responses to physical activity and exercise

Please go to www.cqu.edu.au/cpas for more information on some of our current projects. We also have a page that is dedicated to our research students.

For more information contact Dr Corneel Vandelanotte at: c.vandelanotte@cqu.edu.au or phone: 07 4923 2183

Regional Health

The issues of regional health service provision, regionally-specific health risks, and the health impacts of regional development are all of vital interest to the growing a sustainable regional Australia. CQUniversity has been recognised as a national leader in regional development research, being only one of three universities to be placed in the ‘top ten’ research providers.

PhD students joining our team will have the opportunity to extend work that has already been undertaken on growth of the resource sector, social impacts, climate change, skills development, regional policy, and regional business growth.  Possible topics for study include:

• Regional climate change & health
• The social health impacts of regional development (mobility, mining and liveability)
• Regional transport and population health (active transport systems and physical activity)
• Regional demographics, infrastructure and health trends (such as aging, access to specialist services, regional health plans)
• Regional housing stress and population health
• Methods for health impact assessment in regional Australia
• Issues for regional health workforce development, including labour attraction and retention

Additionally, we welcome enquiries from applicants considering any research projects relevant to health in the regional Australia context.  Our focus is on applied research that has clear influence on best-practice and/or policy development. We have strong networks with our local community, industry and government stakeholders, so your research will be focussed on real-world problems with the opportunity to make a real difference to Australia’s regional centres.

For more information contact Dr Susan Kinnear at:  s.kinnear@cqu.edu.au or phone:  07 4930 9336