Winter Research Program - projects and supervisors
Applications for the 2024 Winter Research Program are now open.
Applications open - Monday 25th March, and close Sunday 21st April.
General information on the program, including how to apply, is available from the UQ Student Employability Centre’s program website.
Explore the available winter research projects:
Family Life Skills Triple P trial: Supporting families’ mental health and wellbeing with a new parenting and life skills intervention.
Supervisor: Dr Carys Chainey - c.chainey@uq.edu.au
This project aims to provide families with targeted support to meaningfully reduce the intergenerational impacts of adversity on mental health and wellbeing. We propose to conduct the first randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a new intervention, Family Life Skills Triple P (FLSTP). This innovative program has been designed to enhance a range of parenting and life skills using a trauma-informed perspective. It aims to support parents to develop knowledge and skills to enhance self-regulation, communication, self-compassion, habit formation, and dealing with the past, in addition to positive parenting. By assisting parents in this integrated manner, FLSTP aims to strengthen parents’ mental health, parenting skills and social support; and concurrently improve children’s mental health and social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing.
Tell me your stories: Exploring the links between narratives of everyday experiences and psychological well-being in racial-ethnic minorities.
Psychological research on racial-ethnic minority groups have traditionally taken a deficit approach, focusing on questions such as: What are the stressors and challenges that this population faces in their everyday lives? And what are the consequences of these experiences on mental illnessrelated outcomes? More recent research, however, has begun to unveil positive everyday experiences that pertain specifically to racial-ethnic minorities, and that they play a crucial role in promoting well-being in this population.
How does accent affect our people perception?
Supervisor: Dr Kana Imuta - k.imuta@uq.edu.au
In modern day multicultural societies, accent is one of the most meaningful cues to one’s background. We readily use accent to evaluate others and interact accordingly, but how this manifests in prejudice and discrimination is hardly recognised by society and largely unexplored by researchers. As a Winter Scholar, you will contribute to a research programme that seeks to understand how and why accent comes to be a powerful cue in our everyday social interactions. Your main role in this project will be recruitment and data collection involving primary schoolaged children and their caregivers.
Social connection and depression in children and adolescents
Supervisor: Dr Kana Imuta - k.imuta@uq.edu.au
Social connection is indispensable for our well-being. This project investigates the link between social connection and depression in children and adolescents by bringing together the existing literature on this topic to conduct a meta-analysis. We explore how the varying forms of social connection (e.g., isolation, loneliness) relate to measures of depression, and how other factors (e.g., age, gender, who is giving the social support) contribute to the strength of this association. As a Winter Research Scholar on this project, you will be involved in the process of screening literature identified in database searches, extracting data from relevant studies, and assisting in other aspects of preparing the manuscript for publication.
Attention Restoration using Nature Connection
Supervisor: Dr Leah Sharman - l.sharman1@uq.edu.au
Attention restoration theory proposes that contact with nature can assist with restoring our attention and focus. However, there are key differences between ‘contact’ and ‘connection’ with nature. This key difference is in the noticing: slowing down to absorb multisensory detail, finding beauty, feeling emotions, and reflecting on symbolism and meaning. What matters is the quality of meaningful moments rather than just the quantity of the minutes.
Seeing fearful expressions: how expectations interact with awareness
Supervisor: Associate Professor Alan Pegna - a.pegna@uq.edu.au
A great deal of electrophysiological and brain imaging studies have investigated the interactions between awareness and emotion processing. A consensus has emerged indicating that some degree of unconscious processing of emotional faces can occur. However, an important aspect has been overlooked: that of is expectation. Indeed, an unexpected threatening stimulus may break into awareness more readily than an expected stimulus. This occurs because hypotheses are continuously generated about the environment, and top-down signals that are inconsistent with predictions may enhance perceptual processes. The current project addresses this issue using electrophysiology (EEG/ERP). In this study will examine whether the awareness of emotionally expressive faces is modulated by expectations.
Literature Review & Infographic
Supervisor: Professor Winnifred Louis - w.louis@psy.uq.edu.au
The project will focus on a specific topic relevant to the research areas covered by researchers in the Social Change Lab. You will be asked to explore and engage previous research on the topic. This project involves looking at the psychological research as well as interdisciplinary research in other areas. The specific research topics for the projects will be advised closer to the time.
Collaborative project for journalism/communications students (or those with journalism/communication experience) to develop a podcast/vodcast and blog translating research findings for a community audience
Supervisor: Professor Winnifred Louis - w.louis@psy.uq.edu.au
We will accept up to 6 journalism/communications students (or those with journalism/communication experience). The task will be to work with others to create a podcast/vodcast and a blog based on research conducted by researchers within the Social Change Lab. They will be for the purpose of translating research findings for a community audience.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Online Dating
Supervisor: Professor Eric Vanman - e.vanman@psy.uq.edu.au
The integration of AI in daily life has become increasingly prevalent, extending its reach into personal and intimate areas such as online dating. Previous research has shown that interpersonal attraction in online settings can be influenced by various factors, including self-presentation, algorithmic matchmaking, and user interactions. With the emergence of AI-driven platforms and services aimed at enhancing matchmaking processes and improving user experiences, understanding individuals' attitudes towards the use of AI in dating contexts becomes crucial. This study aims to bridge the gap in literature by focusing on psychological perspectives towards AI in dating, drawing from theories of interpersonal attraction, technology acceptance models, and the psychology of online dating.
Forecasting the long-term impact of working hours on mental health and well-being.
Supervisor: Dr Tim Ballard - t.ballard@uq.edu.au
This project examines how the amount of time people spend at work affects their mental health and wellbeing. More than half the world’s population currently work. At the same time, 15% of working aged adults live with a mental health condition. We know that mental health has far-reaching consequences on an individual’s ability to work, as well as their families, communities, and society at large. For example, 12 billion working days are lost every year to depression and anxiety predominantly from reduced productivity. Consistently long working hours is thought to lead to poorer mental health and wellbeing outcomes for many people across different jobs and countries. Therefore, the workplace and in particular the hours people work, is a critical means through which mental health can be protected and improved.
Social cognitive development in children with developmental language disorder: A systematic review
Supervisor: Dr Aisling Mulvihill - a.mulvihill@uq.edu.au
Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by persistent difficulty developing language that is not better explained by another biomedical diagnosis such as autism (Bishop et al., 2017). The population prevalence of DLD is 7.58%, which translates to approximately two children in every classroom (Norbury et al., 2016). Children with DLD experience ongoing difficulties understanding and/or expressing themselves using words. The far-reaching academic and occupational consequences of DLD are well established (Conti-Ramsden et al., 2018; Young et al., 2002; Ziegenfusz et al., 2022). Additional to these barriers, children with DLD also demonstrate challenges with social skills, friendship building, bullying victimisation, and are at greater risk for longer-term internalisation disorders such as anxiety and depression (Fujiki et al., 1996; Knox & Conti-Ramsden, 2003; St Clair et al., 2011; Van den Bedem et al., 2018; Whitehouse et al., 2009). Despite this knowledge, the cognitive processes that underpin these social difficulties remain uncertain (Norbury, 2018). Although language processing impairment that is inherent to DLD may partly explain social difficulties, recent studies have found that social cognitive functioning in children with DLD is an important predictor of peer relationships independent of a child’s language abilities (Andrés-Roqueta et al., 2016; Bakopoulou & Dockrell, 2016). This highlights the need to understand and treat social cognitive difficulties in children with DLD, additional to language-based interventions.
What is consent? an evaluation of community awareness material targeting multicultural communities
Supervisor: Dr Faiza El-Higzi - f.elhigzi@uq.edu.au
This project is part of a wider program of research in domestic and family violence in multicultural communities, focusing on coercive control. This project seeks to understand how “consent” is understood across multicultural communities and how material developed by community organisations to raise awareness about consent is received, used and if it is achieving the intended behavioural change. The project has implications for policymakers and community organisations
Imitation Learning in Infancy
Supervisor: Dr Sumeet Farwaha - s.farwaha@uq.edu.au
Human life is characterised by imitation. We copy those around us constantly, both consciously and unconsciously, to connect with others and to learn from them. Imitation is so prevalent in human behaviour that some have labelled us “Homo Imitans”. That said, what factors may play an important role in the emergence and development of this social capacity during infancy? Many have argued that manual self-observation (i.e., an infant observing their own actions) and caregiver imitation (i.e., caregiver imitating their child’s gestures) are crucial mechanisms for the development of infants’ own imitative capacity. However, there has been limited observational data to address this question until now.
Exhaustion and burnout in intergroup interactions
Supervisor: Professor Fiona Barlow - f.barlow@psy.uq.edu.au
Interracial contact is perhaps the most prominent social psychological approach to reducing racism. This project aims to test the novel proposition that there may be hidden costs to relying on contact, however. Generating new knowledge in the field of social psychology, this project plans to examine whether minority group members feel pressured to 'perform' during interracial contact, engaging in emotional labour, and experiencing psychological burnout as a result. Expected outcomes include substantive collaboration, theory development, and scientific progress leading to social change. Ultimately, the project aspires to benefit those who suffer most from discrimination and prejudice by improving techniques for targeting racism.
International Gaming Study 2024
Supervisor: Dr Daniel Stjepanovic - d.stjepanovic@uq.edu.au
In this project the winter scholar will assist in the running and data collection of the International Gaming Study 2024. This study seeks to understand the positive and negative impact that video game play has on people. Data collection will be online and in person.