The 2025 Science Undergraduate Research Conference (UQ SURC) provides a professional platform for undergraduate scientists to present their research with the UQ Science community.
UQ SURC features 3MT-style oral and poster presentations by undergraduate and honours research students.
2025 is the 22nd year of UQ SURC, and all UQ students are invited to attend the conference. Prizes (up to $200) are awarded for the best presentations and posters.
Event details
Wednesday 27 August (Semester 2, Week 5)
1pm–3pm
St Lucia campus (venue TBC)
Key dates
- EOI closes 1 August
- Conference program published 3 August
- Registration for friends and family to attend opens 1 August and closes 27 August.
Expressions of interest
Before submitting your EOI, we recommend you read the eligibility details and watch the information videos below.
Videos
Eligibility
To be eligible to present at UQ SURC (3MT-style oral or poster):
- You must be a currently enrolled student or recent graduate at UQ (international or domestic).
- You can be from any program or plan (within or outside of the Faculty of Science) as long as your research project aligns sufficiently with scientific research.
- You must meet one of the following conditions:
- have completed your research project as part of an undergraduate course (e.g. SCIE3121 Research Project I), Winter or Summer Research Program within May 2024 to July 2025
- have completed your Honours Research Project within May 2024 to July 2025
- will be completing your Honours Research Project by the end of 2025.
- You should consult with your academic supervisor(s) on the appropriateness of presenting your research at UQ SURC, particularly if your research involves intellectual property, has an embargo, or includes sensitive information.
Presentation format
- You may choose one of 2 presentation formats:
- (1) 3MT-style (Three Minute Thesis) oral presentation
- (2) poster presentation.
- For the 3MT-style presentation you will have strictly 3 minutes to present.
- Talks that exceed 3 minutes 20 seconds will be excluded from any awards.
- You may only have one slide (with no animations), that must be uploaded by 10am on the day of the conference.
- Further instructions will be provided to you by the conference convenor after you have been shortlisted.
- For the poster presentation you must prepare a poster (minimum A2 size).
- You are responsible for the printing of the poster.
- You may use posters previously prepared for a research course (e.g. SCIE3121 Research Project I), or a course with an authentic research component embedded within (e.g. BIOL3207 Animal Behaviour).
- You must bring along and put up your poster in the viewing gallery by 12:30pm on the day of the conference.
- Further instructions will be provided to you by the conference convenor after you have been shortlisted.
Past UQ SURC presentations
2024
Undergraduate research projects
Winner
- Chantelle Jackson — Cell-free DNA to detect actionable mutations in advanced non-small cell lung cancer
Runners-up
- Marissa Chow — Improving diagnostic processes for non-coding variants in the human genome
- Emily Flanagan — Understanding prawn behaviour for animal welfare in aquaculture
Honours research projects
Winner
- Madison Lacy — The effect of environmental and social factors on humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) surface-active behaviours
Runner-up
- Ryan White — A phenomenological model for Wolf-Rayet binary dust plumes
Posters
Runners-up*
- Sergei Kondrashov — Trends and diversity in the geography of South Asian communities in Australia
- Holly Weston — A heat stress exposure forecast for Queensland: decomposing population growth and climate change effects
- Jiani Lai — What can I see? Visual acuity of coral reef fish species
*No winners were awarded.
2023
Undergraduate research projects
Winners
- Emma Prewett — Does Nannizziopsis barbatae exhibit density-dependent transmission in Intellegama lesueurii?
- Laura Huelshoff — The emergence of basal progenitor cells is not coupled to the maturation of ventricular zone cells in marsupial mammals
Runners-up
- Edmund Goebel — The influence of the 2022 eastern seaboard floods on individual voting decisions in the 2022 Federal Election in Queensland
- Morgan Larder — The effect of steroids on biological membrane properties
Honours research projects
Winners
- Jared Heymann — Designing quantum materials: metal organic frameworks (MOFs)
- Sarah Wilkey — Identification of novel immunosuppressive genes in ovarian cancer through integrative bioinformatics analysis