Doctor of Philosophy

Testamur Title of Degree:	Doctor of Philosophy
Abbreviation:	PhD
UOW Course Code:	201
CRICOS Code:	001244E - Mathematics, Information & Communication Technology 001245D - Physics, Engineering
Total Credit Points:	144
Duration:	3 years full-time or part-time equivalent
Home Faculty:	Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences
Intake Session(s):	Autumn/Spring
Delivery Mode:	Individual supervised research
Delivery Campus:	Wollongong
Additional Information:	Course Finder

Overview

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidates undertake in-depth research in order to make an original contribution to the body of knowledge in a chosen field of study. This qualification can lead to, or enhance, an academic career and is also highly regarded by public and private sector employers.

Entry Requirements

Academic requirements and English requirements are available from the Course Finder.

Course Learning Outcomes

Students graduating from the Doctor of Philosophy will be able to:

Demonstrate expert, specialised cognitive technical and research skills in a discipline area to independently and systematically generate original knowledge and understanding to make a substantial scholarly contribution to a discipline;
Critically reflect on, synthesise and evaluate a substantial and complex body of knowledge at the frontier of a discipline area;
Communicate research findings, explaining and critiquing theoretical propositions, methodologies, results and conclusions to peers and to the community;
Apply detailed knowledge of research, research integrity, ethics and the rights and safety of others, to plan and execute original research with intellectual independence and with full autonomy, authoritative judgement, adaptability and responsibility for personal outputs.

Course Structure

This program is 100% by thesis. Candidates enrol in a 48 credit point thesis subject and repeat the same enrolment for each year of study, usually over three years of full-time study. Students may be required to attend lectures in relevant topics from time to time throughout the program.

Subject Code	subject Name	Credit Points	Session(s)
THES924	Thesis Full Time	24	Autumn, Spring
or
THES912	Thesis Part Time	12	Autumn, Spring

Current Research Areas

Engineering

Computer Engineering

Computer Systems
Embedded Systems
Reconfigurable Hardware
Hardware Acceleration
Computer Architecture
Distributed Computing

Civil Engineering

Steel and concrete structures
Composite steel-concrete structures
Deepwater oil and gas riser design
Bridge engineering
Ecologically sustainable structural design
Solid and rock mechanics
Foundation engineering, including railways
Slope stability and reliability analysis
Soft ground improvement technology
Reinforced earth
Dam and embankment engineering
Finite element and other numerical methods
Structural dynamics
Cementitious and advanced materials for construction
Flood studies, hydraulics and hydrology
Water quality engineering
Geo-environmental studies
Flow and sediment transport in channel junctions

Environmental Engineering

Advanced membrane treatment processes
Agricultural waste treatment and management
Ballast water treatment
Bioenergy production and bioreactors
Electrocoagulation
Environmental geotechnology
Environmental hydraulics and unit processes
Environmental pollution control modelling
Groundwater contaminant transport and modelling
Integrated water recycling and reuse
Recycling and solid waste management
Remote area water treatment with renewable energy
Removal of trace contaminants
Risk assessment of wastewater reuse projects
Soil erosion and sediment transport
Supplementary water supply systems
Treatment and drying of residuals for reuse
Urban water quality process and modelling
Water quality management and modelling of catchments, rivers and lakes.

Materials Engineering

Steel Metallurgy
Peritectic phase transformation: mechanism and kinetics
Development of in-situ observation techniques
Kinetics of phase transformations in zincalume alloy systems
Property/microstructure relationships
Process optimisation in direct reduction of iron
Thermo-mechanical processing, including HSLA steels
Corrosion of steelmaking refractories
Slag properties and behaviour

Superconducting and Electronic Materials

Theory and mechanism of superconductors
Phase relation, phase evolution and chemistry of superconductors
Single crystal growth and study of intrinsic properties
Fabrication of bulk, wires and tapes superconductors
Critical current density, transport mechanism and flux pinning
Studies on structure, microstructure and stability
Colossal magnetoresistance materials
Spintronic materials
High energy batteries for electric vehicles
Solid-state rechargeable lithium batteries for telecommunication and portable electronic devices
Developing new cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries using Australian mineral resources
Investigation of nano-materials for use in lithium rechargeable batteries
Composite cathode materials for lithium ion batteries using chemical coating technique
Hydrogen storage materials
Nickel-metal hydride batteries
Processing of thin films
Investigation of superconductor thin films
Nanofabrication of novel multilayer materials
Coated conductors
Nanostructure of electronic materials
Ceramic and Refractory Materials:
Sintering kinetics
High temperature degradation
Extrusion of resin-bonded ceramics
Processing of refractories
Intelligent Polymers:
Artificial muscles
Chemical and physical sensors
Electronic textiles
Electronic structures by first principle calculations
Transport properties of nano-scale materials and devices by simulation
Optical, electronic properties of Scanning probe microscopes
Wettabilty, superhydrophobicity, superphydrophilicity
Thermoelectric materials
Topological instulators and physical properties
Multiferroic materials
Ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, dielectricity
Fe-based superconductors,
MgB2 superconductors
Cu-based superconductors
Graphene
Silicene
Innovative design of novel materials and physics

Polymer Materials

Polymer coating adhesion
Mechanical properties of polymer coatings
Surface properties of polymers

Nano-materials

Synthesis and characterisation of carbon nanotubes
High energy ball milling
Structure and properties of nanocrystalline materials
Welding and Joining/Surface Engineering:
Structure and properties of welded metals
Weld metal cracking
Post weld heat treatment
Weldability of creep resistant steels
Brazing and diffusion bonding
Fusion welding of coated steels
Surface engineering of materials
Wear and surface property testing
Physical vapour deposition processing of metals
Ion implantation
Microwave processing of materials
Solidification
Welding automation
Welding process control
Welding fume dispersion and control
In process monitoring
Laser hybrid welding
Magnetically impelled arc butt welding

Special Materials Research and Technology

Nanostructural and high surface area materials produced by mechano-chemical methods
Plasma assisted mechano-synthesis and processing
Solid/solid, solid/liquid and solid/gas reaction chemistry
Super-hard materials, glassy metals and metal matrix composites
Synthesis of MEMS materials by advanced processing techniques
Electric discharge assisted, rapid reduction processes
Plasma assisted synthesis of metal hydrides
Iron-based shape memory alloys
Copper based shape memory alloys
Crystallography of martensitic transformations
Microwave synthesis of non-oxide functional ceramics
High temperature materials processing
Rapid solidification processing

Mechanical Engineering (includes Mechatronics)

Applied Mechanics
Bio-mechanics
Solid mechanics
Computational fluid mechanics
Jet cooling in industrial applications
Finite element analysis
Natural and hybrid ventilation of buildings
Industrial ventilation systems
Renewable energy systems
Wave energy conversion
Offshore structures
Small wind energy systems
Mechanical engineering design
Heavy vehicle and rail dynamics
Railway engineering
Rolling mill technology
Solar thermal system analysis and design
Solid mechanics of elastic and magneto- elastic bodies
System identification and control
Tribology-bearing friction and wear
Alternative fuels
Novel IC engines

Manufacturing and Mechatronics

Sensors and actuators
Smart materials and structures
MEMS and Nanotechnology
Laser welding and surfacing
Automated pipe welding
Robotic repair technology
Novel control of arc processes
Virtual reality weld simulator
Magnetic impelled arc butt-welding
Automated QC and reliability engineering
Chip control in automated manufacture
Expert/knowledge system in automated machining
Intelligent manufacturing systems
Monitoring/diagnosis of manufacturing processes and machinery conditions
Integrated CAD/CAM
Maintenance management

Bulk Materials Handling

Prediction of bin wall loads and flow rates
Feeding and discharging systems including pressurised systems
Dust and fume control
Pneumatic conveying
Computer simulation of discrete particles
Biomass handling and feeding systems
Fluidisation and degeneration

Mining Engineering

Rock mechanics
Mine simulation, planning and design
Mine safety and mine ventilation
Geostatistics
Computer applications in mining engineering

Intelligent Mechatronics

Advanced control systems
Control networks
Cyber physical systems
Haptic rendering
Precision position and speed control
Robotics and sensors
Telerobotics
Virtual manipulation
Precision instrumentation and measurement using semiconductor lasers

Signal Processing

Adaptive filtering
Blind signal processing
Computational auditory scene analysis
Filter banks and wavelets
Image and video segmentation, compression and retrieval
Low-rate speech coding
Multirate signal processing
Wideband speech/audio coding
3D Audio objects and environments
Interferometry
Opto-electronic signal processing
Human Computer Interaction
Computer Vision
Medical Image Processing
Diagnostic Decision Support

Electrical

Energy Systems
Sustainable Energy
Renewable Energy
AC and DC Power Transmission System
Power Distribution System
Solar PV
Wind Energy
Fuel Cells
Electric Vehicles
Energy Storage
Rural Electrification
Remote Area Power Supply

Power Electronics and Drives

Power Electronics
AC and DC Motor Drives
Energy Efficiency
Electric Machines
Industrial Electronics
Motion Control
Flexible AC transmission System (FACTS)

Power Systems

Power System Analysis
Power Quality
Harmonics
Harmonic Management
Power quality monitoring and data analysis
Power quality indices and reporting
Standardisation
Voltage fluctuations and flicker
Electromagnetic Compatibility
Conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI)
Power System Protection
Reliability
Power System Control
Power System Planning
Power System Operation
Power System Transient Stability
Power System Dynamic Stability
Power System Voltage Stability

Telecommunications

Multimedia coding and communications
Immersive multimedia
Delay/Disruption/Challenged Networks
Optical chaotic communications
Next generation Internet
Peer-to-peer networks
Coding theory
Microwave propagation and channel modelling
Wireless multi-hop/sensor/mesh/actor networks
Smart antennas or MIMO systems
Cognitive radio networks
Software defined radios
Radio Frequency ID (RFID) systems
Green networking technologies
Wireless networks
Network optimization or resource allocation
Mobile networks

Information & Communication Technology

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Computer and Information Security

Computer Security
Cryptography
Network Security
Information Security

Intelligent Systems

Machine Learning
Distributed Systems
Agent and Multi-agent Techniques
Data Mining and Modelling
Agent Programming
Constraint Programming
Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
Robotics

Information Systems and Technology

e-Business and e-Commerce Applications
Information Management, Retrieval and Visualisation
Collaborative Systems
Supply Chain Management
e-Learning
Semantic Web and Cloud Computing
Agent-based Systems and Service Oriented Computing
IS Methodologies and Implementation
Radio Frequency Identification
Customer Relationship Management
Health Informatics
Human Computer Interaction
Social Informatics and Social Network Analysis
Social Media
Electronic Health Records
IT Strategy
Disaster Response Management
Simulation and Scheduling
Location-based Services
Aged Care Training and Computer Support
e-Government and e-Democracy
e-Governance or IT Governance
Privacy, Surveillance and Cybercrime
Workflow Management
Data analytics and big data
Decision support system
Cognitive computing
Business innovation
IS theories
MOOC and group learning
Bio-inspired business services

Mathematics and Applied Statistics

Please refer to the School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics website for current research areas.

Physics

Laser spectroscopy
Scattering of light by solids
Solid state spectroscopy of impurities in semiconductors
Studies of electronic wave functions in solids
Terahertz optoelectronics
Terahertz applications ADD
Terahertz imaging ADD
Spintronics
Frustrated spin systems
Thermionics
Quantum transport in nanostructures
Resonant tunnelling
Far-infrared spectroscopy
Thermal transport in layered structures
Many body theory
Zeeman spectroscopy
Piezo spectroscopy

Medical Radiation Physics

Development and characterisation of Semiconductor radiation detectors for radiotherapy Quality Assurance (brachytherapy, IMRT, MRT, protontherapy, Heavy Ion Therapy)
Development of silicon and diamond microdosimeters for aviation radiation protection and radiotherapy Quality Assurance
Radiation transport and dosimetry
Radiation therapy
Medical imaging and radiology
PET and SPECT instrumentation
High Energy Physics Detectors for neutron radiation monitoring
Characterisation of nanoparticles to improve clinical outcome of external X-ray radiotherapy, proton therapy and Heavy Ion Therapy
Characterisation of neutron detectors used at the OPAL facility, ANSTO.
Development of detectors for counterterrorism

Credit Arrangements

Credit and articulation arrangements are available from the Course Finder. Refer to UOW's credit arrangements for information on how to apply for credit.

Other Information

It is possible to downgrade enrolment from a PhD to a Master of Philosophy, with the permission of the Head of School.

Further information is available at:
UOW Course Finder
Email: eis@uow.edu.au

Last reviewed: 28 November, 2014