Student learning spaces
UQ invests heavily in the provision of world-class learning environments and houses the largest grouping of science-based teaching and research spaces in Queensland.
Our wide-ranging and collaborative spaces for formal and informal learning at UQ St Lucia, UQ Gatton and UQ Herston encourage active learning and interaction. UQ Science students and researchers also have access to more than 2,300 fully-equipped laboratories, including general, specialist, computing and virtual laboratories.
See a selection of our student learning spaces, below.
Environmental Laboratories
School of the Environment laboratories offer high-tech learning tools, allowing students and researchers to explore the depths of our planet.
With state-of-the-art Zeiss microscopes, featuring interactive and flexible visual displays, advanced geological analysis software and collaborative lab-to-learning spaces, the labs help students learn about the systems of the Earth and its atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The design allows students to see how these interconnected systems evolve through time.
These labs also feature geologically inspired interior design and artworks, and are located next to UQ’s stunning Geology Museum, which showcases geological treasures from around the world.
Goddard laboratories
School of the Environment laboratories, based in UQ’s Goddard Building, help students explore all scales of biological organisation, from molecules and cells to organisms, species, communities and populations.
Select spaces allow students to operate in small, flexible groups. With access to specialist IT and audiovisual equipment, these labs are designed to maximise the student learning experience.
The Goddard 305 Lab is one of the largest teaching facilities sealed for physical contaminants in Australia, where undergraduates can work with otherwise-restricted subjects, such as genetically modified organisms. It also features a dedicated microscopy facility, which includes fluorescence microscopy technology.
Heron Island Research Station
Heron Island Research Station is internationally renowned for coral reef and ecological student training and research.
Situated on the southern Great Barrier Reef, it is the oldest and largest island marine station on the reef. With crystal clear water and near pristine conditions, the station provides easy and direct access to the marine environment.
The island station offers modern wet and dry laboratories, indoor and outdoor aquaria, a large animal holding tank, separate research and teaching laboratories, seminar facilities, a library, computer room and extensive boating and diving facilities.
Immersive 3D Visualisation Laboratory
The Immersive 3D Visualisation Laboratory offers students a semi-immersive virtual environment in which several mining-related scenarios can be simulated.
The facility boasts a 180-degree curved screen, powered by three full high-definition 3D projectors, each run by its own workstation. The system can run highly detailed virtual reality simulations, in both 3D and 2D.
The integration of gesture recognition through the use of the Leap Motion controller in newly developed simulations allows students to interact with objects in virtual environments using their hands.
The laboratory allows students to build an understanding of mining, simulating locations that would be difficult to gain safe access to in real life.
Lecture theatres and learning centres
Our formal and informal learning spaces are technology-rich and enable flexible and collaborative learning and study.
Our learning spaces include:
- the Science Learning Centre, which caters for private and group study, and features study pods, large tables, bean bags and sofas, as well as two group study rooms and a kitchenette
- the Interactive Learning Centre, a computing facility comprising three integrated digital learning spaces
- the Chemistry Podium (pictured), a semi-open terrace where students can study, relax or socialise
- traditional large-capacity lecture theatres equipped with tiered seating and modern audiovisual equipment.
Moreton Bay Research Station
Moreton Bay Research Station is located on North Stradbroke Island, providing direct access to the waters of Moreton Bay and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the island’s unique terrestrial environments.
Lying on the convergence of the eastern Australian sub-tropical and temperate zones, North Stradbroke Island and the surrounding waters support an incredibly diverse range of terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems on which to base educational and research activities.
The station offers modern wet and dry research laboratories, aquarium systems, teaching space and lecture theatres, boating and diving facilities, a range of accommodation, and an exceptional location attracting school and university students, scientists and academics from around the world.
Planning Studio
The School of the Environment's Planning Studio is designed to foster collaboration between students from all fields of planning, including urban design, transport, infrastructure, information technology and environmental planning.
Workstations are designed to invite discussion and teamwork between students, with automatic, retractable screens offering students the ability to showcase and visualise their ideas in an instant. The studio incorporates a large, subdividable space with internet-connected pods for group work, several small, soundproofed meeting rooms with presentation facilities, and a casual meeting place for students.
These innovations are consistent with the industry’s reliance on big data and increasing digitalisation, helping students develop innovative designs and concepts.
Senior-Year Forensics Laboratory
The School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences’s Senior-Year Forensics Laboratory is a cutting-edge teaching lab, helping students develop in-depth knowledge of new forensic analysis methods and innovations.
Students can run samples with modern instruments used in forensic and analytical laboratories, including a gas chromatograph with headspace sampling (HS-GC), a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrument and a fluorescence plate reader.
Real-world scenarios, such as presumptive drug testing, blood alcohol analysis, drug separation and quantification, quinine analysis using fluorescence spectroscopy, and DNA analysis, can all be executed within the space, ensuring students are job-ready when they leave UQ.
Veterinary Science Student Clinical Skills Hub
The School of Veterinary Science's Student Clinical Skills Hub (the Hub) is a purpose-built, self-directed learning facility.
It houses a manual skills lab where students can practice their clinical skills using standard veterinary equipment, on simulators and/or models in conjunction with supporting audio-visual resources. The Hub also hosts a smaller communications suite with two working consult rooms, a viewing room and debriefing space.
The space provides students opportunities to augment and refine skills acquisition, investigate and understand the principles on which clinical skills are based, helping them to develop skills at a pace suited to their needs.