Research Projects
Air nanobubbles enhance nitrifying bacteria activity in marine RAS
This publication stems from the findings in two special topic projects within the JCU Science Aquaculture major degree, on use of nanobubbles in marine recirculating aquaculture systems stocked with tilapia, red snapper and barramundi.
The two students have since graduated from JCUS, and completed or currently pursuing an MSc. Afifah Sean (1st author) carried out the microbiological assessment of the marine RAS during the 6 week experimental trial, using a flow cytometer on loan from Sysmex Asia Pacific PL. Tzer Shyun Lim (2nd author) managed the marine RAS injected with nanobubbles and the control system without nanobubbles, and determined the growth performance of fish stocked in these systems. The nanobubble delivery system was on loan from AquaPro Solutions PL.
Afifah's project was supervised by Susan Gibson-Kueh, and Tzer Chyun's was supervised by Jose Domingos. Xueyan Shen provided expertise to analyse and interprete the microbiome profile in the marine RAS based on 16S rRNA gene analysis.
These student projects are a fantastic showcase of our research impacting undergraduate teaching and learning, multidisciplinary collegial collaborations, and industry participation in higher education.
Implementation and evaluation of CONNECT: a framework to build social presence and connectedness to content, peers and staff in a 100% online postgraduate course.
A systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the CONNECT framework in guiding teaching staff to use evidence-based strategies to promote a sense of belonging, social interaction, and community in online postgraduate students.
The effects of a simplified rubric design on marker experience: A pilot study
The aim of this pilot study is to examine the effect of reducing the number of performance levels and narrowing the grade range for each performance level within an assessment rubric compared to a standard assessment rubric on experience, efficiency, and inter-rater reliability among markers assessing student assessments in a postgraduate course.
Strengthening the resilience of ICU nurses: Co-designing an online education intervention
Focus groups were conducted to explore the psychosocial challenges experienced by ICU nurses, as well as their perspectives on the types of content that would be most valuable in an online educational intervention aimed at strengthening resilience and wellbeing in ICU nurses. This project was funded by a JCU CHS Seed Grant.
Development of a Virtual Wellness Hub: A student well-being initiative for online learners.
The aim of this project is to design a Virtual Wellness Hub intervention specifically for online Master of Nursing students at James Cook University (JCU). This initiative will be developed with input from literature on student wellbeing needs, mental health professionals, faculty and feedback from students, focusing on student-centred, user-friendly, accessible resources designed to enhance student well-being for online learners.
Understanding population growth time lags in invasive species: Chital deer as a model system. (Old ID 26559)
Lags in population growth of introduced species are common, but poorly understood. Chital deer (Axis axis) are an invasive species introduced to Australia over 130 years ago, but their numbers have only increased dramatically in the past 30-40 years. We will use data collected from wild animals, landholder surveys, and computer simulation models to clarify causes of sudden population expansion in more detail. Understanding lags will allow us to understand their causes, and better control populations of invasive species. By predicting drivers of rapid population growth, we can better mitigate the associated economic and environmental costs of invasive species.
Harnessing animal genomes to understand East Antarctic Ice Sheet melt history
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) holds enough water to raise global sea levels by 19m, yet its sensitivity to warming is
deeply uncertain. This project aims to understand whether the EAIS experienced significant melting during the unusually
warm periods in the last one million years, when average temperatures reached ~0.5-5°C warmer than today, with global sea
levels up to 20m higher. It does so by investigating marine animal evolutionary history restricted along the EAIS margin,
which can reveal the sizes of the available seafloor habitat in the last one million years, to reconstruct the EAIS extent
through time. Understanding whether the EAIS experienced mass loss during past warm periods, the sensitivity of the ice
sheet to warming can be established. By providing empirical evidence pinpointing the thresholds of EAIS instability, this
project will benefit the ability of policymakers to plan and mitigate against impending global sea level rise.
Understanding Attitudes and Perceptions of Mental Health amongst Middle-Aged Women in Singapore
This is a joint project with the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), who we are signing an MOU with. SCWO has agreed to fund research assistants for this project, which involves data collection, analyses, and the write-up of a White Paper as well as scientific journal articles.
The aims of the project are:
1. to examine the awareness and utilization of mental health services among middle-aged women in Singapore.
2. To examine the determinants of mental health attitudes and support seeking, such as mental health stigma and male allyship.
The outcomes of the project are aimed to be published as part of a White Paper that will be presented to various ministries in Singapore on topics such as gender equality and mental health, and we also target the publication of scientific journal articles.
Any data arising from this project will be owned by both JCU and SCWO, and both parties are responsible for the storage of the data.
The roles of JCUS members in the research team are as follows:
1. Sherry Aw - Main liaison, overseeing the project from conceptualization, survey drafting, data collection, data analysis, and eventual write-up of the white paper and subsequent publications.
2. Ng Da Xuan - aid in data collection, conceptualization, write-up of the white paper and subsequent publications
3. Ai Ni Teoh - aid in write-up of the white paper and subsequent publications
4. Research assistants - to aid in data collection and write-up of the white paper.