Summer and Winter Research Programs
The UQ Summer Research Program provides UQ students with an opportunity to gain research experience working alongside some of the University’s leading academics and researchers. Participating students will receive a grant for their engagement in the program.
Each year the School of Social Science offers research placement opportunities for students through the UQ Summer Research Program.
Details of the 2027 Summer Research Program can be found below.
Program dates: 11 January - 19 February 2027
Application period: 21 September - 11 October 2026
| Dying without a home: how do Australian news media report on the deaths of people experiencing homelessness | |
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| Project duration: | Weekly hours: 36 hours Delivery mode: Hybrid Campus: St Lucia |
| About the project: | People experiencing homelessness live significantly shorter lives. The association of homelessness with higher mortality is based in public health evidence, but less is known about how this association is made sense of in social and cultural context. Positioning exposure to premature dying as an expected part of the homelessness experience risks normalising preventable deaths or even shifting responsibility to people without a stable home. This project asks, how the Australian news media report on the deaths of people who died while they were experiencing homelessness using a narrative analysis approach. That means, the study will analyse the storying of homelessness mortality in our society. The summer scholar will contribute to operationalising the research question and all stages of the research cycle. If interested, they will be invited to contribute to outputs such as presentations or articles from this research. |
| Expected outcomes and deliverables: | The student will assist with: (i) scoping the project, (ii) identifying relevant Australian news media sources; (iii) compiling articles for analysis; (iv) analysis of the data corpus; (v) reporting findings. Summer scholars will gain insights into qualitative study design, research process (including data collection, data management and analysis), as well as the communication of findings. They will learn how to use NVivo for qualitative data analysis and develop their critical and conceptual thinking. These are fundamental skills and experiences to prepare for Honours or PhD studies in the social sciences. The project aims to communicate findings through an academic conference presentation and a journal article. |
| Suitable for: | Students in their final year of undergraduate degree, BA(Hons) or MA degree in the social sciences are invited to apply. A strong interest in sociology, cultural studies and media presentations is highly encouraged. They should also be open to learning about how to apply key concepts from social theory in empirical research |
| Team and Supervision: | Summer scholars will be supervised by Dr Stefanie Plage, ARC DECRA Fellow in the School of Social Science. |
| Further information: | Please contact Dr Stefanie Plage (s.plage@uq.edu.au) for further information. More details on the application process can be found on through UQ Employability. |
| Norfolk Island First British Settlement (1788-1814) Archaeological Project: excavated materials analysis | |
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| Project duration: | TBA |
| About the project: | TBA |
| Expected outcomes and deliverables: | TBA |
| Suitable for: | TBA |
| Team and Supervision: | Dr Caitlin D'Gluyas |
| Further information: | TBA |
The UQ Winter Research Program provides UQ students with an opportunity to gain research experience working alongside some of the University's leading academics and researchers. Participating students will receive a grant for their engagement in the program.
Each year the School of Social Science offers research placement opportunities for students through the UQ Winter Research Program.