The 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 oral and poster presentations by undergraduate research students (including Honours research students). 2025 will be the 22nd year of running UQ SURC, and all UQ students are invited to attend the conference. Prizes are awarded for the best presentations and posters.
The 2025 conference will take place in Semester 2, 2025. Expressions of interest will be announced in late May 2025.
2024 UQ SURC Winners
Undergraduate research projects
Winner
Cell-free DNA to detect actionable mutations in advanced non-small cell lung cancer
Chantelle Jackson (Supervisor: Dr Katia Nones)
Runners-up
Improving diagnostic processes for non-coding variants in the human genome
Marissa Chow (Supervisor: Dr Rehan Villani)
Understanding prawn behaviour for animal welfare in aquaculture
Emily Flanagan (Supervisors: Dr Sarah Berry and Dr Ben Mos)
Honours research projects
Winner
The effect of environmental and social factors on humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) surface-active behaviours
Madison Lacy (Supervisor: Associate Professor Rebecca Dunlop)
Runner-up
A phenomenological model for Wolf-Rayet binary dust plumes
Ryan White (Supervisor: Dr Benjamin Pope)
Posters
Runners-up*
Trends and diversity in the geography of South Asian communities in Australia
Sergei Kondrashov (Supervisor: Associate Professor Thomas Sigler)
A heat stress exposure forecast for Queensland: decomposing population growth and climate change effects
Holly Weston (Supervisor: Dr Aude Bernard)
What can I see? Visual acuity of coral reef fish species
Jiani Lai (Supervisor: Associate Professor Karen Cheney)
*No winners were awarded.
View the 2024 program
2023 UQ SURC Winners
Undergraduate research projects
Winners
Does Nannizziopsis barbatae exhibit density-dependent transmission in Intellegama lesueurii?
Emma Prewett (Supervisor: Associate Professor Celine Frere)
The emergence of basal progenitor cells is not coupled to the maturation of ventricular zone cells in marsupial mammals
Laura Huelshoff (Supervisor: Dr Laura Fenlon)
Runners-up
The influence of the 2022 eastern seaboard floods on individual voting decisions in the 2022 Federal Election in Queensland
Edmund Goebel (Supervisor: Dr Scott Lieske)
The effect of steroids on biological membrane properties
Morgan Larder (Supervisor: Dr Evelyne Deplazes)
Honours research projects
Winners
Designing quantum materials: metal organic frameworks (MOFs)
Jared Heymann (Supervisor: Professor Ben Powell)
Identification of novel immunosuppressive genes in ovarian cancer through integrative bioinformatics analysis
Sarah Wilkey (Supervisor: Dr Sherry Wu)