initializeData({"status":1,"result":[{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Jan van Schaik, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew; Landscape Supervisors: Katrina Simon, Charles Anderson, Quentin Stevens, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Alice Lewis, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, John Fien, Esther Charlesworth, Leila Irajifar; Interior Design Supervisors: Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Olivia Hamilton, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash","title":"Cities and Environments","description":"Design research in this field can incorporate both generative and applied research modes to propose and produce designed propositions for cities and environments. Such design research investigates how existing environments can be reimagined to offer sustainable, resilient and inclusive urban futures, explores the ways and means of understanding and designing alternative solutions to configuring the urban\/biosphere fabric, and considers how these alternative configurations might benefit a multi-species ecology of inhabitants. In this domain, design research projects can also consider how designers can collaborate with other development and built environment professionals to contribute to improved well-being and resilience in marginalized and displaced communities and in what ways and under what conditions the design of habitation and settlement infrastructure can contribute to wider education, health and livelihood goals for such communities. In addition, research can include the exploration of the intersection between the economic, environmental and cultural dynamics of spatial production and engage with the politics of urban and rural transformation through design practice and modes of advocacy. This may include (but is not limited to): Transitional Economies - collaborations with community and stakeholders; Disrupted Landscapes - temporal \/ dynamic master planning; Landscape driven development models; and the development of evidence-based practice in shelter, infrastructure and settlement design for communities marginalized by the increasing frequency and severity of conflict, poverty, disasters and climate change. This field of enquiry also encompasses an engagement with and the exploration of Indigenous Knowledges and associated vernacular \/ ethno-architectures and place-making practices, as well as the development of sovereign relationships and alternative governance models","sdg":"2,3,6,7,9,11,12,13,14,15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Urban Futures, Social Change, Information Systems","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew Interior Design Supervisors: Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash Landscape Supervisors: Charles Anderson, Katrina Simon, Quentin Stevens, Anton James, Heike Rahmann, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, Alice Lewis","title":"Generative Design Practice Research","description":"The Generative Design Practice Research mode of creative research crosses boundaries between professional and academic\/university-based research practices, and often between disciplines. This practice research approach enables practitioners to generate new kinds of practices - within a discipline, or through establishing new fields of practice - in response to challenges and concerns emerging in a changing world. Candidates might be early career, seeking to enter into a period of deep enquiry that transforms a set of practice-based interests into a more developed practice with a well-articulated emphasis, set of agendas and approaches. They might equally be mid- or later-career practitioners seeking to generate a new practice trajectory through a transformation of their established mastery. They demonstrate their findings publicly in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their practice research, usually through an exhibit, a written dissertation, and a presentation to examiners. This mode offers new knowledge in the form of previously unarticulated approaches to practice, informed by specific issues and challenges that direct their generative action.","sdg":"2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew Interior Design Supervisors:Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash Landscape Supervisors: Charles Anderson, Katrina Simon, Quentin Stevens, Heike Rahmann, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, Alice Lewis","title":"Reflective Industry Design Practice Research","description":"Reflective Industry Design Practice Research involves practitioners operating largely in a professional environment, generally with a peer-reviewed and award-winning body of work developed over 10 years or more. These practitioners have already developed recognised mastery in their field. They are invited to reflect upon the nature of that mastery within a critical framework, engaging them in reviewing the nature of their mastery, defining its enabling structures, its knowledge bases, and the implications of the nexus between these for emerging forms of research-led practice. They conclude by speculating through design on the nature of their future practice. They demonstrate their finding publicly, through an exhibit, a presentation to the examiners, and a written dissertation. Two kinds of knowledge are created by the research. One concerns the ways in which designers marshal their intelligence, to construct the mental space within which they practice design. The other reveals how public behaviours are invented and used to support design practice. This mode of research extends and develops the knowledge base of their profession, and thus its ability to serve society.","sdg":"2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"John Fien, Esther Charlesworth, Leila Irajifar, Harriet Edquist, Christine Phillips, Charles Anderson, Nicholas Boyarsky, Alice Lewis, Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Olivia Hamilton, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash","title":"Cultural and Social Spatial Practices","description":"Research within this field engages with practices from the Arts, Ethnography, Design History and Theory, with a particular exploration of design for social change and cultural production. Major projects can be identified in the areas of design diplomacy, design for democracy, design for diversity and inclusion, design for affordable housing, ecological design, design for community development and cultural production. Design for social change encompasses working with social enterprises, NGOs, foundations, corporations and governments and includes concepts and processes such as social innovation, collaborative systems, co-design, co-production, curatorial practice and systemic change. A range of questions for research can underpin this field. In what ways and under what conditions can design and design thinking contribute to social change most effectively? How can collaboration across the spectrum of design methodologies and genres generate deeper and longer-lasting transformations? How could such collaborations be organized, funded, and implemented? How can the effectiveness of such collaborations be measured? What are the range of quantitative and qualitative metrics available for gauging sustained impact and value? How can programs and solutions be designed at a scale commensurate with the scale of the actual problems being confronted? What discourses within the design professions facilitate and\/or constrain the practice of design for social change? In what ways can design education contribute to positive discourses and discursive practices in design for social change? Research in this area may be undertaken through both thesis and\/or practice-based approaches, with lead supervision offered by staff with expertise in design for post-conflict and post\u2013disaster settings, design with remote and Indigenous communities, sustainability and resliency policy and practices, social transformation processes, public participation and cultural production.","sdg":"1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Urban Futures, Design & Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411, Architectural History, Theory and criticism 330104, Sustainable Architecture 330110"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Kang, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Revolutionizing Healthcare with AI-Driven Personalized Life Expectancy Predictions and Wearable Technologies","description":"Life expectancy (LE) prediction is a critical problem in computational science, requiring the integration of diverse and dynamic variables. Traditional methods rely on generalized population statistics, limiting accuracy and individual relevance. This project proposes a computational framework for Personalized Life Expectancy (PLE) prediction, leveraging wearable technology, mobile health applications, and advanced machine learning. The framework processes real-time health metrics such as calorie expenditure, sleep patterns, and heart rate, collected via wearable devices and processed through cloud computing. Machine learning algorithms analyze this data to provide individuals with dynamic, personalized LE predictions. The project also emphasizes scalability, enabling the aggregation of anonymized health data to uncover population-level trends and inform healthcare resource allocation. This research addresses core challenges in computer science, including real-time data streaming, predictive modeling accuracy, and user-specific customization. Additionally, it explores the integration of edge computing to enhance data processing efficiency and ensure privacy in large-scale applications. The project aligns computational tools with societal needs, supporting preventive healthcare and encouraging healthier behaviors. Its scalable design can reduce healthcare costs and inform public health policies through actionable insights. Collaboration with industry stakeholders ensures practical implementation and real-world impact. By advancing the methodologies for data analytics, wearable integration, and predictive modeling, this project contributes to personalized healthcare, health informatics, and big data applications. It aims to establish a foundation for computational innovations that improve health outcomes and address global healthcare challenges.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2027","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"080702 - Health Informatics (50%)\n080110 - Simulation and Modelling (25%)\n111799 - Public Health and Health Services (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Kang, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Health Data Wrangling for Identification and Privacy Protection","description":"Biometrics, such as retina, voice, and fingerprints, are commonly used for identification and authentication. However, these methods are unsuitable for remote authentication. Health data, often sensitive and containing personal information, poses significant privacy concerns, especially in electronic health (eHealth) and Internet of Health Things (IoHT) technologies. While individual health metrics like heart rate may seem insignificant, their combination with other data can reveal unique patterns for individuals. \n\nThis project explores the feasibility of using health data for secure identification. It will evaluate health data to determine meaningful traits and assess activity recognition for trait verification. Key outcomes include (1) assessing the accuracy of health data traits with measurable and standardized metrics, and (2) creating a structured model of attributes that influence the effectiveness of health data in identification. \n\nThe project will also involve developing an application to collect input data from users with health issues. This application aims to generate identification mechanisms capable of triggering automatic alarm notifications in emergencies. By integrating health data for remote authentication, this research addresses critical privacy concerns while advancing secure, user-centered IoHT solutions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461304"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Hai Dong","title":"Threat Modeling and Impact Assessment for Digital Currency Vulnerabilities Using Agent-Based Simulations","description":"The cryptocurrency ecosystem continues to be plagued by security breaches and exploits, with billions of dollars lost to hackers each year. In 2022, the Ronin Network suffered a $625 million hack, while Binance saw $570 million stolen in a single incident. These attacks highlight critical vulnerabilities in blockchain protocols, smart contracts, and exchange infrastructure. Traditional security approaches have struggled to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape in the cryptocurrency industry. There is an urgent need for more sophisticated threat modeling techniques that can anticipate novel attack vectors and simulate complex adversarial behaviors. Agent-based modeling offers a promising approach to capture the dynamic and decentralized nature of cryptocurrency systems and their potential vulnerabilities. RQs: How can agent-based models effectively simulate the behavior of different types of attackers (e.g. nation-state actors, organized crime groups, individual hackers) in cryptocurrency ecosystems? What are the most critical vulnerabilities in current cryptocurrency architectures as revealed through agent-based threat modeling, and how do these compare to real-world exploits? How can agent-based simulations be used to evaluate the effectiveness of different security measures and protocols in mitigating cryptocurrency vulnerabilities? Impact: The findings have potential to inform the development of more robust protocols and security measures, ultimately contributing to safeguard billions of dollars in digital assets.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460202 Autonomous agents and multiagent systems (50%)\n460402 Data and information privacy (25%)\n461101 Adversarial machine learning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse","title":"Security by Design for Central Bank Digital Currencies ","description":"As central banks worldwide race to develop digital currencies, cybersecurity has emerged as a critical concern. The potential launch of CBDCs represents one of the most significant changes to the global financial system in decades. However, recent high-profile hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance protocols have highlighted the immense security challenges facing digital assets. A report by Chainalysis found that crypto hacks reached an all-time high of $3.8 billion stolen in 2022, with North Korean hackers alone accounting for over $1 billion in theft. These incidents underscore the urgent need for robust security measures to be integrated into CBDC designs from the ground up. However, there are few studies examining the comprehensive security services required for widespread acceptance of digital currencies. Without addressing the risks comprehensively, hasty deployment can undermine public trust and financial stability. The research will employ a mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460407 System and network security (50%)\n460406 Software and application security (25%)\n350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Son Hoang Dau, Huong Ha","title":"Crypto Scams Uncovered: Analyzing the Tactics and Trends of Digital Fraud","description":"The total crypto scam revenue from 2019 to 2023 reached a staggering amount of nearly US $40 billion [Chainalysis]. Immunefi also reported a global loss of $1.2B to hacks and rug pulls in August 2024 alone.\nIn this project, to contribute to the global effort in combating digital fraud, we take a deep dive into the dark land of crypto scammers. The first and most crucial step is to perform a systematic investigation to understand how the scammers of each type of scam operated and laundered their scam money via privacy-protecting services such as mixers and bridges and centralized exchanges. The next step is to develop rule-based and machine learning algorithms including graph neural networks and large language models like GPT to detect and track various scam activities among the vast publicly available on-chain data. We will build various scam datasets for popular chains such as Ethereum, BNB, Arbitrum, and Solana, to address the lack of up-to-date and well-curated datasets in crypto scam and facilitate future research. We will also build visualization tools that will not only assist our research but also potentially help community and law enforcement in tracking crypto scammers in real time.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461106 Semi- and unsupervised learning (50%)\n460404 Digital forensics (25%)\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Minh Dinh, Maria Spichkova","title":"Enhancing Gamified Learning Environments with AI for Personalized Engagement ","description":"This project aims to enhance gamified learning environments by integrating AI technologies. The system will use AI to adapt educational games based on students\u2019 progress, learning styles, and preferences, making the experience more interactive and engaging. The platform will offer personalized challenges, rewards, and feedback, encouraging motivation and deepening understanding. The integration of AI will provide real-time insights into student performance, enabling educators to tailor the gaming experience to improve learning outcomes while making education enjoyable and immersive.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (40%)\n4612 Software engineering (40%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Tuan-Anh Hoang, Maria Spichkova","title":"AI-Driven Adaptive Learning for Personalized Education","description":"This project aims to explore the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in personalizing educational content to address the diverse needs and learning styles of individual students. By leveraging machine learning algorithms to analyze student behavior, performance, and preferences, the research will investigate how AI can dynamically adjust lessons, exercises, and assessments to enhance the learning experience. The objective is to develop a technological-pedagogical combined approach that maximizes student engagement and achievement while accommodating varied learning preferences. \n\nAdditionally, the study will examine methods for providing continuous, real-time feedback, ensuring that students receive targeted support to improve their understanding and retention of the material. This research will contribute to the development of adaptive learning technologies and inform best practices for integrating AI in education.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (40%)\n4612 Software engineering (40%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Cloud, Systems & Security (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Effective And Efficient Situation Awareness In Big Social Media Data","description":"Situation awareness helps understand the elements in the environment, the current situation, and project the future actions. Real applications like crisis management require the real time awareness of the critical situations. However, the services using traditional methods like phone calls can be easily delayed due to busy lines, transfer delays or limited communication ability in the disaster area. Social media-based situation awareness provides another feasible channel for crisis management, since critical events that cause great loss in live are commonly identified in social media.\nThis project aims to develop advanced techniques to analyse big social media data and more efficiently conduct critical situation awareness over online services. By enhancing the services and capabilities of crisis management users and reducing the loss in disasters, significant economic and social benefits will be brought to government, society, enterprises and social users.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460506 Graph, social and multimedia data (50%)\n460807 Information visualization (25%)\n460902 Decision support and group support systems (25%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Technology (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Ke Deng","title":"Classification for multiple data streams spatiotemporally and\/or logically associated","description":"Coming with 5G networks, it's not just going to be one stream of data but it's a flood of streams from an almost uncountable number of sensors. This enables the continuous information being collected in the finer spatiotemporal granularity such that the physical world change can be captured remarkably more smoothly. However, the scope of these stream data, the complexity of their relationship to describe a system or systems, the diversity of information collected by different sensors, the incorrect or missing readings of numerous sensors, and the higher expectation of data value and quicker responses requires new approaches. We will anticipate exploring the stronger correlation between data instances across streams if spatiotemporally and\/or logically coupled in spaces or in systems.\nThis project investigates the problem of classification on multiple data streams which are spatiotemporally and\/or logically associated in some spaces or systems, e.g., the data streams generated by social media users in a city, by the sensors deployed in different rooms of a smart home or in different stages of a production line. The multiple data streams may be homogenous or heterogenous (i.e., different streams contain different information and labels), static or dynamic (i.e., data sources are moving objects).  Each data stream has its own classification problem, e.g., emotion detection of social media users, condition detection of a room for light on\/off, and the working state detection of a system","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460511 Stream and sensor data (60%)\n460502 Data mining and knowledge discovery (40%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fabio Zambetta","title":"Next-Generation Augmented Training and Assistive Systems","description":"Computer based simulation and virtual reality systems have been used for developing training environments in areas such as emergency evacuation, military training, aircraft pilot training and others [1]. Although virtual reality provides an immersive environment, it has several limitations. The users cannot interact with the physical environment, and the training environment is not easily adapted to different physical spaces. Further, there is a significant cost in developing the physical models that the virtual reality system would require. In this project, we propose the use of augmented and mixed reality [2] to develop the next generation of training systems and present a framework for developing a fire evacuation training system that incorporates augmented reality, techniques for modelling human behaviour in such situations, intelligent virtual characters controlled by various artificial intelligence techniques, and interactive narrative generation to form the training scenarios.\nThe aim of this research project is developing a prototypical implementation of a next-generation training and\/or assistive system posed to solve critical problems in complex learning scenarios requiring physical interaction with the real world [3][6].\n\nThe key issues being addressed are:\n1. Reducing complexity in preparing and delivering real-world training sessions.\n2. Engaging trainees for extended periods of time, hence increasing the overall quantity of their learning experience at a reduced cognitive load [7].\n3. Immersing trainees deeper in their training experience, hence improving the quality and of their learning experience and\/or providing means to assist them in whichever task they might be engaging in.\n\nThe trainees will be wearing mixed reality (holographic) headsets [4], which will allow virtual reality objects not only to be superimposed to real objects, but to interact with them. This means that we would be able to model realistic physical interactions throughout existing rooms once the simulation of the scenario starts. The significance of such a next-generation training system will be enormous as it will apply to any domain or scenario where real-world training is required, but for which virtual reality is too expensive or problematic. Scenarios of interest include for instance evacuations, rescue and emergency situations; military and police operations rehearsals; exploration of dangerous or unknown locations; interplanetary missions [5]. References:\n\n[1. The VR book. J. Jerald, ACM Press (2016).\n[2] Augmented Reality: Principles and Practice. Schmalstieg et al., Addison-Wesley (2016).\n[3] Tangible Holograms: Towards Mobile Physical Augmentation of Virtual Objects. Available online at https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1703.08288.\n[4] Microsoft Hololens device, see https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-au\/hololens.\n[5] NASA\u2019s Destination Mars. See https:\/\/blogs.windows.com\/devices\/2016\/09\/19\/hololens-experiencedestination-mars-now-open-at kennedy-space-center-visitor-complex\/#OVT4Pb4YlVwDtjVb.97.\n[6] Evoking empathy with visually impaired people through an augmented reality embodiment experience. Guarese, et al. Proceedings of the IEEE VR conference (2023).\n[7] The Evolution of Cognitive Load Theory and the Measurement of Its Intrinsic, Extraneous and Germane Loads: A Review. Orru & Longo. International Symposium on Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications (2019).","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708        Virtual and mixed reality (50%)\n460806        Human-computer interaction (25%)\n460202        Autonomous agents and multiagent systems (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fabio Zambetta, John Thamgarajah, Michael Dann","title":"Learning optimal control of games and machines in real-time","description":"Learning to control agents directly from high-dimensional sensory inputs is one of the long-standing challenges of reinforcement learning (RL) and machine learning in general. Most successful RL applications that operate on these domains have relied on hand-crafted features combined with linear value functions or policy representations. \n\nMore recently, several deep neural learning techniques have been proposed to automate feature representation at the cost of increased training times [1]. Video games represent an ideal testbed for (deep) RL techniques due to the high complexity and randomness of the environments and of the interactions presented to a player and their real-time nature. The challenge posed by video games has not been lost on the major ICT companies, such as Google and Microsoft, which have been researching and investing\nin games AI research [2][3]. \n\nIn addition to that, Elon Musk (founder of Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX) had invested in an OpenAI foundation [4] whose mission is to improve state-of-the-art machine learning research using several hundreds of videogames as testbeds. OpenAI has released Gym and Universe, open source software that can be used to benchmark new machine learning algorithms. \n\nThe aim of this project is to investigate novel approaches to reinforcement learning and, specifically, investigate the limitations and the advantages of combining deep learning with RL. Another important line of inquiry will concern whether specific class of games are more suited to deep\nreinforcement learning, and which other classes of algorithms could be combined with RL if deep learning is found to be not suitable.\n\nOur previous work in the area has included investigations of similar algorithms in a variety of different games, including classic arcades Super Mario [5], Pacman [6] and first-person shooters [7]. We intend to apply our work out on optimal control of video games to physical devices and machines including UAVs, drones, selfdriving cars and humanoid robots. In fact, preliminary results on the use of those techniques in auditory implants has led to positive results [8].\n\nReferences\n[1]. Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning. Mnih et al., Nature 518, 529\u2013533 (2015).\n[2]. Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search. Silver et al. 529, 484\u2013489 (2016).\n[3]. Hybrid Reward Architecture for Reinforcement Learning. Van Seijen et al., available online at https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1706.04208 (2017).\n[4]. OpenAI software systems, available online at https:\/\/openai.com\/systems\/.\n[5]. Integrating skills and simulation to solve complex navigation tasks in infinite Mario. Dann et al., IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 1-7 (2017).\n[6]. Learning options from demonstrations: A Pac-Man case study. Tamassia et al., IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 1-7 (2017).\n[7]. Combining Monte Carlo tree search and apprenticeship learning for capture the flag. Ivanovic et al., Proceedings of IEEE CIG (2015).\n[8]. Utilising reinforcement learning to develop strategies for driving auditory neural implants. Lee et al., Journal of Neural Engineering, 13, 1 \u2013 13 (2016).","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461105        Reinforcement learning (70%)\n460703        Entertainment and gaming (15%)\n460205        Intelligent robotics (15%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Fabio Zambetta","title":"Novel Immersive Approaches to Information Seeking","description":"People search through digital information more than ever before. However, current search systems present information through a 2D search engine results page. In addition, opportunities to interact with the search results to understand underlying relationships in the retrieved data, are limited. The proposed approach will allow users to navigate information naturally and immersively, following users\u2019 interests and curiosity rather than being constrained by a search box and a ranked search results list.\n\nThis project aims to explore this unique interaction paradigm for effective and efficient interactive information retrieval through virtual or augmented reality, enabling a novel approach to defining user information needs, presenting results, and facilitating search reformulations.\n\nThe project can answer research questions, including:\n-What is the most effective way to visualise 3D information units (in virtual or augmented reality) to facilitate enhanced search interactions?\n-How do users formulate information needs, manipulate results, and navigate immersive information spaces?\n-How does immersive search versus traditional ranked lists impact users' navigation behaviours within an information space?\n-How do users with different levels of familiarity with immersive applications experience information?\n-How does the proposed approach compare to current search methods for exploring complex information needs?\n\nThe project will contribute to the field of interactive information retrieval by providing a novel approach to exploring information needs. Using virtual or augmented reality together with current advances in conversational interactions for information seeking will allow for more intuitive and natural navigation of information, which could lead to unexplored insights into how people interact with information.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%)\n460806 Human-computer interaction (30%)\n461003 Human information interaction and retrieval (30%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Data Science (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Truong Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Detecting complex emotions from texts","description":"Textual emotion detection is a critical area of study with significant applications in business, education, and healthcare. Despite substantial theoretical advancements over the years, there are notable gaps in the practical implementation of these methods in the aforementioned fields. The techniques currently available do not yet seem ready for real-world application. This study's primary objective is to identify the challenges faced in both current literature and practical applications in this area.  There is also a pressing need for improved models that can accurately categorize a wider range of emotional states distinctly. Finally, there is a demand for techniques capable of dimensionally detecting valence, arousal, and dominance scores from emotional experiences. These challenges stem not only from the models and applications themselves but also from the readiness of current approaches and datasets in the rapidly evolving fields of machine learning and affective computing which required more attention from the research community.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4609, 4611, 4605, 4612, 4613"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Dynamic Disaster Relief Distribution Modelling with AI based Fuzzy Petri Net","description":"Relief distribution during natural or man-made disasters is a collection of support actions that assist people in returning to their everyday lives after it has been disrupted. Its goal is to mitigate the effects of disasters by delivering needed relief goods to the right people at the right time and in the right place. One of the most critical aspects to consider is uncertainties related to changes in the relief distribution system, as minor disruptions could have severe consequences for planning outcomes. The failure of a single essential route, for example, might cause significant disruptions in resource allocation strategy. This project outlines a research project which applies formal methods for modelling the dynamic circumstances of a disaster-affected region based on artificial intelligence based fuzzy Petri nets, fuzzy set theory and stochastic modelling techniques.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460204 Fuzzy Computation (50%)\n460207 Modelling and Simulation (30%)\n460605 Distributed Systems and Algorithms (20%) "},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Secure, Equitable, and Energy Efficient Protocol for Cryptocurrency Networks","description":"Cryptocurrencies are going mainstream and becoming an acceptable form for payments and other financial transactions (US Government\u2019s Republican Policy Committee, 2022; Hougan, Forbes.Com, 2022). However, ever since its introduction via the Satoshi Nakamoto white paper in 2008, it has been plagued with high energy consumption, security risks, scalability issues, slow processing speed, and high transaction costs. Many protocols have been proposed to overcome these issues. Most cryptocurrency networks use Proof-of-Work (PoW) or Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The problem with these two protocols is that PoW gives preference to users who have spent a lot of money to setup their supercomputers, while PoS gives preferences to users that have more coins. Therefore, the rich getting richer paradox. We propose a secure, equitable and energy efficient protocol called Proof-of-Evidence (PoE). Our protocol keeps the users secure by keeping them inside a perimeter network within the DMZ. We ensure that everyone on our proposed network gets a chance to add a block of transactions and get rewarded. Because there is no competition to add transactions, normal computers are used and therefore the energy requirements are low and efficient.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"FinTech Applications and GDPR Privacy Requirements: How Do We Comply?","description":"Blockchain based FinTech applications are transparent, trusted and based on consensus. Nothing is hidden, kept secret or private. Public blockchains emphasize openness as a key characteristic that enables auditability. However, users still value the ability to keep information that is non-relevant to the transaction private, such as their identity. There are two main concerns around privacy for users: identity privacy and transaction privacy. In order to comply with regulations in Fintech industry, for example, Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT), when required, the transactions\u2019 information must be revealed to authorized agencies. What frameworks are needed to maintain privacy and comply with authorities seeking information? In what format do we send, receive, and do transactions so that is satisfies the above?","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Analysing Brainwaves for Prevention and Treatment of Mental Illness using Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things","description":"We propose to design a device that can detect signs of mental illness at initial stages so that the person could start the treatment as soon as possible. Regular analysis of the  brainwaves will be uploaded at a central location and will be compared with previous readings as well as from the standard analysis that will be fed into the system to detect signs for various illnesses. The privacy of the patient and security of the data will be taken into consideration while developing the device and the application. The device would be based on IoT (Internet of Things) along with the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The IoT part would take care of his connection with devices such as mobile, etc. or to a cloud server. Whereas ML and AI would be used for its background functioning that would be training the data and predicting the disease.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Blockchain-based Multi Factor Authentication for Securing Cloud Servers","description":"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been digitally transformed without being aware of it (Prybylski, 2022: Forbes; Stackpole, 2021: MIT). This means Internet traffic has increased by 60% (OECD, 2020), and 30% more people are now working from home (McKinsey, 2021). Cyber threats have increased by 81% (McAfee, 2021). There is a need to enhance cyber security with blockchain technology and multi factor authentication. We aim to enhance cyber security by hashing the public cloud servers. Additionally, we are going to require users to login via blockchain and use a centralised multi factor authentication. These enhancements will be significant because it will keep the users secure from cyber-attacks. It will contribute towards SDG 3, 8, 9, and 11. Blockchain technology provides trust, transparent and immutable transactions. Our expected outcomes would be the design specifications of servers with their conceptual models to protect our digital economy and keep everyone cyber secured.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Resolving the Current Skills Gaps in Cyber Security Education \u2013 A Vietnam Survey","description":"The recent escalation in the number of cyber-attacks and online crime has made cybersecurity an increasingly urgent challenge at a time when digital technologies are transforming national economies and the daily lives of citizens. It is important that national and regional strategies which address these risks to digital security are supported by tertiary education and training programmes that provide graduates and trainees with the necessary knowledge and expertise about cyber security. As society is becoming increasingly dependent on digital technology, cybersecurity is an issue of great concern to governments, industry, and organisations of all types. This project aims to better understand the gaps that exist between the knowledge and skills of the young graduates entering the cybersecurity workforce and the cyber security needs of the industry.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Blockchain Smart Contracts for Autonomous Supply Chain Management and Operation","description":"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a disruption in the global and local supply chain as the supply chain was managed with humans in charge of the supply chain system. Although almost all supply chains are controlled with Supply Chain Management systems, it still requires human intervention and participation. With the lockdown, the humans couldn\u2019t participate or intervene to manage the supply chain and therefore the lock down disrupted the supply chain and, in some cases, it came to complete shutdown. This project proposes to develop a fully automated supply chain management system running on blockchains and self-managed and monitored with smart contracts as a solution to prevent any future disruptions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Transparent, Distributed, and Secure Platform for Crowdfunding based on Blockchain","description":"Online crowdfunding platform powered through blockchain brings transparency and accountability. This could possibly improve the scale of business since more and more people would now like to fund the ventures as each individual is aware of the utilization of the funds. The blockchain technology builds upon the Industrial Internet (Industry 4.0), a transparent and secure environment for the people and the transactions. This project intends to develop an application based on blockchain that has the potential to improve the security and reliability of the transactions. Since the control in blockchain based technology is decentralized, it will effectively address the monopoly over the funds and improve accountability.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Modified Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (MPBFT) Algorithm - A Novel Protocol for Achieving Consensus in Blockchain Networks","description":"This project proposes to develop a novel protocol for achieving consensus in blockchain networks. The proposed protocol intends to overcome the disadvantages of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism by overcoming issues like high usage of computing resources and delay in confirmation of new blocks over the blockchain. Simulations will be run, and our proposed algorithm modified until we come up with the modified algorithm that reduces the CPU utilization by a defined percentage and confirms the twice number of blocks when compared with the original Proof-of-Work algorithm. The Modified Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (MPBFT) Algorithm will then be suitable for consortium based blockchain networks.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Zero-Day Threat Detection and Prevention of Cyber Attacks in Data Centre Power Grids using AI","description":"The main objective of the project is to protect the power grid and UPS of digital data warehouses and data centres from cyber-attacks by framing an AI based multi-level cyber shield. The system design is collaborative of multi-agents to monitor various activities, an agent for network infrastructure surveillance, a software agent to detect malicious viruses, agent to filter the network traffic, agent to secure data backup monitoring, agent to update security policies etc. Multi-agent based algorithm is designed to handle data regression, clustering of similar data items, classification of untrusted data, vulnerable management, Thread hunting, internal temperature monitoring, backup power monitoring, and analysing massive quantities of risk data.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Secure Framework to Mitigate IoT Environment against Security Vulnerabilities","description":"This project proposes implementing IoT ecosystem and then performing hardware and firmware attacks to determine security holes. Middleware interactions from the IoT hardware to cloud would also be reviewed for cloud-network specific vulnerabilities for further attacks. Finally, an audit methodology would be proposed with relevant and exhaustive reports on vulnerabilities identified. IoT is a growing market and will be the future of our daily lives. Because of its emergence, there is no standard to guide the development process, there are many protocols and custom solutions to connect a hardware device to the cloud. The project outcomes can be used to help IoT device makers to develop secure IoT devices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"AI-based Smart IoT Processing of Images & Videos during Surveillance","description":"Smart IoT devices and Surveillance cameras capture images and videos, sending them directly to the Cloud-based servers for analysis. Globally, visual data generated from IoT Surveillance cameras are overwhelming and there is a drastic need for re-designing the devices for the video and image data gets converted automatically into relevant, timely, actionable intelligence and more importantly redefine the device health and life of that device to operate with the highest efficiency, optimum processing, consume low power. Artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms can be adopted to work on the data captured, power consumed, computing performed, storage used to provide efficient processing and performance, and low data transmission.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Using blockchain to control and monitor shared information.","description":"Protecting privacy is a big concern in today's digital world. When a person visits a website or uses a software application, she must accept its privacy policy either explicitly or implicitly. In addition to agreeing with the stated policy, users also trust that the data collectors only do what they wrote. However, more often than not, this trust has no grounds and is based on personal perception only. To mitigate that problem, this project proposes blockchain-based protocols and techniques users can apply to control and monitor their individual and private information without the need of cooperation from the data collectors.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460402 Data and information privacy (50%)\n460504 Data quality (25%)\n460605 Distributed systems and algorithms (25%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh","title":"Machine-Learning Based Reverse Engineering Technique for Binary Analysis","description":"Reverse engineering (RE) of binaries has useful applications in improving and debugging legacy programs, in refactoring code, and in analyzing and classifying malware. Binary analysis using machine learning-based frameworks, such as Gaussian-based process or support vector machine, has shown the power to automate feature extraction tasks while significantly reduced manual analysis efforts required for large-scale programs. Furthermore, if one views a binary as a collection of bit patterns then it is possible to employ a computer vision framework such as Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs) to recognize known features in a binary. This project aims to develop a binary reserve engineering framework that explores the power of deep neural architectures such as CNN and RNN to identify local features and assemble them to develop a global understanding of the inspected executable.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh","title":"Swarm Learning with Blockchain network to facilitate scalable distributed machine learning on the edge","description":"Traditional distributed machine learning (ML) makes use of a decentralized data pipeline but a central server to host the trained model. Consequently, raw data created on the edge must be sent to and from the central server for processing, thus limits scalability. This project investigates the Swarm Learning approach in which blockchain technology is leveraged to facilitates the exchanging of model training attributes such as weights and biases, that are explored by the individual nodes in the network, without sharing the raw data itself. The project will focus on data exchanging protocols to ensure privacy preservation and to improve the accuracy of the ML model being built independently at each edge node.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Cyber Security (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jonathan Crellin, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Fake-news Alerts: Developing Personalized News Recommendation for Fake News Mitigation","description":"This PhD research aims to tackle the widespread issue of fake news by developing a tool that helps users identify false information more effectively. Existing methods, like automated detectors and fact-checkers, often don\u2019t provide personalized support for individual users. To address this, the research will create a system that offers customized, accurate news recommendations to help users spot and correct fake news. The plan includes improving the Rec4Mit [9] model with human feedback using techniques like Reinforcement Learning (RL) or generative AI, and designing a user-friendly browser plug-in called \u201cFake News Alerts.\u201d This plug-in will assist users in evaluating news accuracy and alert them to potential risks. By applying usability and explainable AI principles, the tool will be both practical and easy to understand. The effectiveness of the \u201cFake News Alerts\u201d tool will be tested through user studies to see how well it helps users differentiate between fake and real news.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460499, 460208, 460299"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216 PhD (Mech & Manu Eng)\/ DR219 PhD (Environmental Eng)","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"HCMC Traffic Simuation for Improved Air Quality: A Novel Approach","description":"Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) faces severe air quality challenges due to rapid urbanisation and a growing vehicle fleet. Vehicle emissions significantly contribute to pollution, posing health risks to the population. While policies aim to improve air quality, the city's complex urban layout complicates traffic management.\n\nThis project will leverage data from over 600 live-feed traffic cameras to develop Al computer vision algorithms that extract insights such as traffic density, vehicle types, and driver behaviour. These insights will parameterise urban traffic simulations (using tools like VISSIM or SUMO), integrated with vehicle emission models, to assess emission reduction strategies.\n\nFocusing on key intersections, the project will simulate road layouts, signage, and vehicle types to facilitate generation of realistic drive cycles. Emission models will evaluate the impact of various changes in infrastructure and vehicle composition, providing actionable insights into mitigation strategies. This research aims to support sustainable urban planning and enhance public health through data-driven policy recommendations\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n373701 Atmospheric Sciences (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (30%)\n464601 Applied Computing (30%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"Digital twin model development for fleet management of automated guided vehicles in indoor applications","description":"Digital twin technology is recognised as a groundbreaking and indispensable tool for smart manufacturing, which utilises the advanced technology from emerging domains of robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things. In the context of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) used widely used in indoor applications such as manufacturing or farming, a digital twin is a virtual replica that leverages data and simulation to enable real-time prediction, optimization, monitoring, control, and enhanced decision-making processes.\n\nThe aim of this PhD project is to develop and optimise a digital twin to enhance the performance of the fleet of AGVs in operation, which ultimately increases the safety and quality of automation process. The project's core focus is on developing a digital twin\u2014a dynamic and real-time simulation that accurately represents the vehicle's physical characteristics and operational processes of multiple vehicles. This advanced model incorporates real-time data on system performance resulting in helpful insights to facilitate data-drive decisions on AGV management. The impact of the project includes cost efficiency, energy efficiency, safety, and advancement in digital twin technology. This research project has potential applications in smart manufacturing and smart farming, where automated guided vehicle or ground mobile robots are widely\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (30%)\n404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics (50%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu","title":"Electric Motorbike Battery-Swap System Optimisation for Sustainability and the Creation of a Circular Economy 20241031","description":"With 8.5 million motorcycles (89% of the vehicle fleet), electrification in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) offers significant potential to improve air quality and public health. However, deploying charging infrastructure presents challenges, particularly given the city's limited space and electrical infrastructure. Battery-swap systems-where users exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones-offer a promising solution. This project focuses on designing and optimising such a system tailored to HCMC's unique needs, ensuring battery longevity and exploring circular economy opportunities for repurposing or recycling used batteries.\n\nThe first phase of the project will use digital-twin simulations and battery-aging models to optimise deployment strategies, balancing battery use across diverse duty cycles to maximise their lifespan. The second phase will explore technologies to enable a circular economy, using synthetic data to predict recycling and redeployment yields specific to HCMC's conditions. A new battery design will be proposed to align with local capabilities and future recycling requirements, fostering sustainable urban electrification.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404017 Mechanical Engineering (40%)\n464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (20%)\n404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"Model predictive control for improving electric vehicle thermal regulation and efficiency","description":"This project will investigate the opportunities for the use of nonlinear model predictive control in battery electric vehicle thermal management to improve system efficiency. The research challenge is the system level coordination of local controllers (battery, electric machine, cabin) to maximise overall vehicle energy efficiency. An added constraint is the distributed computational architecture on the vehicle. The main research question to be investigated is how the local controllers can be coordinated without compromising the advantages that predictive control provides at subsystem level. A stretch target is the incorporation of model adaption at the local level to further improve performance. The project will be simulation based making use of plant models from a vehicle OEM. Time-allowing the resulting controller will be validated on SPACE rapid control prototyping hardware, made available by the OEM.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nhat-Quang Tran, Minh Dinh, Huong Ha","title":"FaRMIT \u2013 A Vietnamese Foundation Model for Agricultural Forecasting","description":"The research aims to develop a foundation model to predict the prices of Vietnam's key agricultural products, such as coffee, rice, durian, rubber, cashew, and pepper. \n\nThe main objectives include:\n\u2022        Building a zero-shot forecasting framework by distilling pretrained models (Moirai, Chronos, \u2026). \n\u2022        Exploring cost-effective foundation model development through evolutionary merging (CME-ES, TIES-Merging with DARE algorithms, \u2026).\n\u2022        Exploring the contribution of price forecasting in crop planning, as reliable forecasts help farmers and policymakers make informed decisions about which crops to plant and how to allocate resources. \n\nBy improving forecast accuracy and reliability, this research aims to support better crop planning and may benefit 15.4 million farmers in Vietnam, contributing to an agricultural sector that generated over $53 billion in export revenue in 2023.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"300210        Sustainable agricultural development (20%)\n461103        Deep learning (40%)\n461199        Machine learning not elsewhere classified (45%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Huong Ha","title":"Further Advance Bayesian Optimization","description":"Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a powerful sample-efficient strategy for finding the global optimum of an expensive black-box functions [1]. The main idea is to fit a surrogate model on the previous function evaluations, construct an acquisition function based on the surrogate model, and then use the acquisition function to select the next data point to be evaluated. Its applications include but not limited to automated machine learning, experimental design, environmental monitoring, and robotics. Whilst being effective and efficient in solving many optimization problems, BO is still a relatively new research field and suffers various limitations [1]. For example,\r\n+ Existing BO algorithms do not work well with high-dimensional optimization problems\r\n+ Limited BO methods can be applied to solve optimization problems with discrete, categorical, and mixed variables.\r\n+ Limited BO methods can solve the multi-objective optimization problems.\r\n+ etc.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to advance the efficacy of BO algorithms by various techniques such as evolutionary methods (e.g., covariance matrix adaptation, particle swarm, multi-objective decomposition) [2], deep surrogate models (e.g., deep kernel, Bayesian deep learning) [3]. \r\n\r\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\r\n460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Huong Ha","title":"Towards the Trustworthiness of Machine Learning Systems After Deployment","description":"Machine learning (ML) systems are employed across sectors to assist humans in making important decisions. However, it is well-known that ML systems can be unreliable. ML systems work based on the assumption that the system's training data come from the same distribution with the data encountered in the deployment. But this assumption does not always hold in real life [1]. Thus, there is no guarantee that an ML system, which had an impressive performance during the development process, still performs well after deployment. It is therefore crucial that the trustworthiness of the ML systems need to be ensured after deployment, so as to prevent potential failures that may have severe unintended consequences.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to develop various techniques to ensure the trustworthiness of ML systems after deployment. Some directions that we're aiming towards:\r\n+ active testing of ML systems so that only a minimal number of ground-truth need to be used to evaluate the correctness of ML systems [2]\r\n+ monitoring ML systems performance so as to detect any issues with the ML systems' performance\r\n+ automatic retraining ML systems so as to ensure their performance always satisfying users' requirements\r\n+ etc.\r\n\r\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\n461103 Deep learning (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Leveraging IoT, AI, and Satellites for Precision Agriculture in Vietnamese Tea Plantations","description":"This research project is at optimizing tea cultivation practices in Vietnam through the integration of IoT, AI, and Satellites. By deploying IoT devices, analysing satellite imagery, and developing AI models, the project seeks to enhance productivity and sustainability in tea plantations. Collaboration with local farmers will ensure the practical implementation of technological solutions, ultimately improving the efficiency and profitability of tea cultivation in Vietnam. The proposed IoT infrastructure will consist of a network of sensors deployed across tea fields to monitor soil moisture, nutrient levels, temperature, humidity, and pest activity. This data will be transmitted to a centralized platform where AI algorithms will analyze the information, providing actionable insights and predictive models for optimal crop management. Additionally, satellite imagery will be utilized to assess large-scale environmental conditions, detect crop health anomalies, and guide resource allocation with high spatial and temporal resolution. The contribution of this project lies in its holistic approach to precision agriculture, tailored specifically for the unique climatic and geographical conditions of Vietnamese tea plantations. By leveraging these cutting-edge technologies, the research will enable farmers to make data-driven decisions, reduce resource waste, and improve crop yield and quality. Furthermore, this project will provide a scalable model that can be adapted to other regions and crops, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural practices on a broader scale. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, this study aspires to set a new standard for agricultural productivity and environmental stewardship in Vietnam's tea industry.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"100507 Smart Technologies - Internet of Things (35%)\n080602 Computational Intelligence (40%)\n090905 Agricultural Remote Sensing (25%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Data-Driven Machine Learning Framework for Blockchain Security","description":"The intersection of Artificial intelligence and blockchain technology has the potential to enhance the security of blockchain systems. As blockchain networks become increasingly integrated into various sectors, there is a need for robust security measures to counteract potential vulnerabilities. This research aims to develop a machine learning data-driven framework to analyze and enhance blockchain security. By deriving a comprehensive approach to detect anomalies and assess risks within blockchain environments, this study seeks to address existing limitations in data analysis for security purposes. Objectives: This research aims to: Derive a data-driven modelling approach to security in blockchain networks, Apply machine learning techniques to detect blockchain system anomalies, And create a comprehensive framework for blockchain security analysis and enhancement. Impact: This research will provide practitioners and researchers with basis for enhancing the security of blockchain systems, contributing to the integrity and reliability of decentralized technologies which can reduce risk and harm to end users.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460406 Software and application security (50%)\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)\n461106 Semi- and unsupervised learning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Arthur Tang","title":"Development of Immersive AR\/VR Environments Utilizing LLMs and Voice Processing","description":"This project aims to develop an advanced immersive virtual environment that integrates Large Language Models (LLMs), voice processing, and Augmented\/Virtual Reality (AR\/VR) to create a dynamic, interactive learning and training platform. By combining these cutting-edge technologies, the project will offer users realistic, voice-based interactions with both AI-driven Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and other participants in a virtual world designed to simulate real-life scenarios. This immersive environment will provide hands-on experiences that can be applied to various fields, including nursing, mental health treatment, and beyond. \n\nResearch areas include but are not limited to: (1) Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Investigate how users interact with AI-driven NPCs and how the system can enhance the realism and natural flow of conversation; (2) Emotion and Sentiment Analysis: Explore integrating emotion recognition to make NPC interactions more dynamic and responsive to user emotions; (3) Immersion and Engagement: Study the impact of AR\/VR immersion on learning effectiveness, user retention, and engagement compared to traditional learning methods; (4) AI Personalization: Research how to make NPCs more adaptive and responsive based on user behaviour and learning progression.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (30%)\n4612 Software engineering (30%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)\n4607 Graphics, Augmented Reality and Games (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Khuong Nguyen, Yunus Khatri","title":"Deep Learning in the Measurement of Microplastics in Fish","description":"The presence of microplastics in marine ecosystems is an escalating global concern, especially as they infiltrate the food chain, with fish\u2014a significant source of human nutrition\u2014being particularly affected. Recent reports, such as those from CNN and DW [1, 2], emphasize the potential health risks that microplastics pose to both aquatic life and humans. However, the accurate detection and measurement of microplastics in fish remains a complex and time-consuming process, primarily due to the varied sizes, shapes, and compositions of these particles. Traditional methods like manual microscopy and spectroscopy are labor-intensive and prone to error, limiting their practical application in large-scale monitoring.\nThe integration of deep learning offers an innovative solution to these challenges, enabling automation and improving accuracy in detecting microplastic contamination in fish. This PhD project aims to develop a deep learning model that will not only automate but also enhance the precision of identifying microplastics in fish tissues, addressing current limitations and offering a scalable solution for food safety monitoring.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"(300607) Food Technology - 30% \n(300606) Food sustainablity - 30%\n(461103) Deep learning - 20%\n(461104) Neural networks - 20%"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR231 \/ DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truong, Hoang Phan, Yunus Khatri","title":"Gene Expression for Biosensor Development in Food Quality Control","description":"Ability to detect food spoilage helps food producers comply with stringent safety regulations. This project aims to develop a biosensor using the gene expression approach to enhance food quality control of perishable food. By researching the response to contaminants and quality indicators, the project will create a biosensor capable of real-time, accurate detection. The biosensor will be optimized for sensitivity and specificity, providing a cost-effective and rapid solution for monitoring food safety. The novelty lies in integrating advanced genetic expression techniques(s) with practical applications, offering a groundbreaking approach to monitor food quality and ensure higher standards for consumers.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300607 Food technology (30%)\n300605 Food safety, traceability, certification and authenticity (30%)\n310505 Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches) (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Biotechnology & Biological Sciences (Science)","programcode":"DR231\/ DR232\/ DR219 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Popovich, Hoang Phan, Nathan Bott","title":"Evaluating Bioactive Accumulation and Agroeconomic Benefits of Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Microalgae, and Probiotics in Organic Byproduct and Waste Management","description":"This interdisciplinary project investigates the bioactive accumulation capabilities of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), microalgae, and probiotics as a mutual supportive model in converting organic byproducts and waste into valuable resources. By analyzing the bioactive compounds accumulated for pharmaceutical\/cosmetic applications, the study aims to optimize waste management practices and enhance the economic viability of organic recycling. The project employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess efficiency and profitability, providing insights into sustainable agricultural practices and contributing to a circular economy. This novel approach promises to set new standards and insights in organic transformation and emission mitigation.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified\n401106 Waste management, reduction, reuse and recycling\n410199 Climate change impacts and adaptation not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221\/DR232\/DR231","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh, Hoang Phan","title":"Addressing potential conflicts in collaborative human-AI agent environments for agri-food sustainability","description":"The research aims to enhance the synergy between human and AI agents in the agri-food sector. By identifying and addressing potential conflicts, the project seeks to improve decision-making processes, optimize resource use, and promote sustainable practices. A significant technical challenge in this field is the integration of diverse data sources and ensuring unstructured data interoperability. Key objectives include developing a conflict resolution algorithm\/framework, integrating and balancing AI-driven insights with human expertise, and fostering a collaborative environment that supports a harmonious human-AI partnership that drives efficiency and sustainability in agri-food systems. Additionally, it emphasizes the inclusion of disadvantaged groups to ensure equitable benefits and participation in sustainable practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460202 Autonomous agents and multiagent systems\n300606 Food Sustainability\n460299 Artificial Intelligence not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Maria Spichkova","title":"Employability Perspectives on Entry-Level Software Testing Skills","description":"Quality assurance (QA) is one of the major concerns in software development. There are many reasons for it, including a significant gap between industry needs and academic preparation. This PhD research project will focus on identification of essential QA competencies - testing, soft, and technical skills - expected from novice software testers and assesses their importance. Focusing on the Vietnamese and Australian software industries, this research project aims are (1) to outline the currently critical skill set for entry-level testers, to provide guidelines for integrating these competencies into university-level software testing curricula and (2) to analyze students\u2019 perceptions regarding QA to better prepare them for entry-level positions and ensure they meet industry standards and expectations.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (60%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Tuan-Anh Hoang, Vinh Dang","title":"Testing and Verification of Smart Contracts","description":"This research focuses on ensuring the reliability, security, and correctness of smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements with terms encoded directly in code, commonly used in blockchain technology. Given the irreversible nature of smart contracts, any bugs or vulnerabilities can lead to significant financial and security risks. The study explores software testing techniques to detect bugs and errors in smart contract code, including functional, security, and performance testing. Software verification methods, such as formal verification, are used to mathematically prove that the contract behaves as intended. Incorporating AI into this process can enhance testing and verification by automating bug detection, generating test cases, and predicting potential vulnerabilities. AI-driven tools can improve both the efficiency and accuracy of testing smart contracts, ultimately contributing to more secure and robust blockchain ecosystems.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461208 Software testing, verification and validation (50%)\n461104 Neural networks (25%)\n460406 Software and application security (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Maria Spichkova","title":"Cultural and Organizational Influences on Vietnam's Software Testing Practices","description":"Software testing constitutes a critical facet within the software development life cycle, especially in light of emerging AI-driven tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. On the other hand, software testing activities might be influenced by organizational culture and the nature of software development projects. This PhD research project endeavors to explore the intricacies of software testing practices within the Vietnamese context, seeking to elucidate insights of significant import to professionals globally. Employing a comparative approach, we endeavor to juxtapose our findings with analogous studies, notably those conducted in Australia, thereby aiming to present a comprehensive understanding. The ramifications of this investigation transcend the geographical confines of Vietnam, offering insights into overarching global testing trends. Moreover, this study serves as a conduit for researchers to discern the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the industry, thereby fostering enhanced industry-academia collaborations.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (60%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Automated generation of test oracles","description":"During software testing, a test oracle is commonly used to verify whether the behaviour of the system under test is correct. It enables the determination of whether the system is functioning as expected. With the increasing use of machine learning solutions in areas such as software testing, there is a possibility of developing an automated test oracle for many applications. However, machine learning-based test oracles' reliability is questionable, as software failure misclassification may occur. This could lead to inaccurate labelling of a class, which undermines the usefulness of the machine learning-based test oracle. Despite this concern, the behaviour of machine learning-based test oracles depends on the dataset and algorithms used for training. It is important to note that the challenge of identifying correct and incorrect behaviour in software testing is known as the \"Test Oracle Problem\", which exists beyond machine learning applications. This implies that machine learning methods can be used to develop a robust and reliable automated test oracle. Furthermore, the application of automated test oracles can also improve the efficiency of industry-specific workflows related to validation and verification.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (40%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)\r\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Improving Software Fault Prediction for Imbalanced Data","description":"Allocating a sufficient budget for software testing is crucial to ensure that the software is defect-free. However, as software grows in size and complexity, testing becomes more expensive, and some companies may not have enough resources to allocate toward it. To address this issue, many researchers have turned to machine learning methods to create software fault prediction models that can detect defect-prone modules, allowing for more efficient resource allocation during testing. While this is a viable solution, the effectiveness of machine learning models depends on various factors, such as data imbalance. There are several techniques in class imbalance research that can potentially enhance the performance of prediction models by processing the dataset before inputting it. However, not all methods are compatible with each other.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (40%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)\r\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Sensor Fusion and Active Vision for mobile robots","description":"Many smart mobility and industrial automation applications rely on object detection and tracking. Examples include mobile robots, autonomous vehicles, smart traffic infrastructure, security & surveillance. Sensor fusion is essential for safety-critical systems, both to ensure robustness (through considering redundant information) and accuracy (through considering complementary information).\r\nTo really empower machine vision both in terms of accuracy and efficiency, sensor fusion and scene analytics must go beyond passive interpretation of the scene. Sensing and computing power must be directed to where it is most essential for task performance (called active sensing), based on cues from earlier observations or from different sensors. This may be achieved by analytics feeding back information to the sensors, which can then, for example, adjust their sensitivity, field of view, resolution or power setting to this information. This feedback will require the development of novel, flexible AI architectures that combine the power of deep learning with a high degree of reconfigurability and adaptability to changing sensor dynamics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4002"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Engineering","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR216P23","campus":"RMIT VIetnam","teamleader":"Thanh Tran, Vi Nguyen","title":"Topology optimization for metal 3D manufacturing technology","description":"Metal 3D printing technology plays an important role in advanced manufacturing technology, especially in the strategy of sustainable manufacturing. In this project, modeling of structure-property characterization and structural design optimization are centered. The utilization of topology optimization is investigated for structural design in metal additive manufacturing. The goal is to answer the question if there is a relationship between topology optimization and metal 3D printing technology in medical, dental, or aerospace. From the expectedly achieved model and structure design, a multiple objective optimization problem will be solved for finding effectiveness of the process parameters on strengthen of mechanical properties and optimal weight of finished parts. Simulation and experimental studies are implemented to validate the proposed research.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"401707 Solid mechanics (40%)\r\n401401 Additive manufacturing (40%)\r\n401408 Manufacturing processes and technologies (excl. textiles) (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ehsan Asadi, Thanh T Tran","title":"A robust control design method for web transport system in flexible printed solar panel manufacturing technology","description":"Dynamic analysis, system design, and control synthesis play an important role in machine design with high-performance and reliability. The research starts with solving an optimization problem for selecting optimally the system parameters via dynamic analysis, and then several assumptions on roll-to-roll (R2R) web dynamics are analyzed to provide a physically closer model for the nonlinear R2R web dynamic system. The achieved model may not be a good candidate for applying a new control method, Thus, some assumptions are proposed to transform the achieved model into a standard strict-feedback form of the R2R web dynamics. Then, robust control analysis and synthesis methods are proposed to for the strict-feedback form to improve the performance and stability in the presence of disturbance. Finally, control software development for R2R web system is provided for simulation and experimental studies. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"400799 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics not elsewhere classified\n400705 Control engineering"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215P23\/ DR216P23\/DR220\/DR221 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hai-Nguyen (Hann) Nguyen","title":"Towards Physically Capable Aerial Robots for Environmental and Infrastructure Applications","description":"The demand for aerial robots is rapidly growing in fields such as ecological monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and disaster response. While current aerial robots excel at reaching and observing hard-to-access locations, their capabilities are limited by short endurance and a lack of meaningful physical interaction (i.e., restricted to passive observation). Equipping these robots with new manipulation capabilities, such as precise sensor placement for environmental monitoring, structural contact inspections over time, and complex physical interventions (e.g., firefighting, object manipulation), would greatly broaden their range of applications.\n\nDespite recent progress, current aerial robots typically manage only basic interactions\u2014such as single-point contacts or predefined action sequences\u2014due to the complexities of floating-base dynamics, aerodynamics, and the absence of accurate proprioceptive sensing. These limitations make aerial robots vulnerable to disturbances and uncertainties in unstructured environments. This research will address these challenges by focusing on the interconnected design and control aspects, which should be tackled holistically. The objective is to design innovative aerial platforms along with efficient control and planning algorithms that leverage the design, inspired by real-world applications in environmental monitoring, infrastructure assessment, and disaster response.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400702 Automation engineering (50%)\n400706 Field robotics (50%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215P23\/ DR216P23\/ DR220\/ DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hai-Nguyen (Hann) Nguyen, ","title":"Autonomy for Aerial Robots in Complex Ecological and Agricultural Environments","description":"Aerial robots, or simply drones, hold great potential for gathering important data in challenging environments, such as under dense forest canopies, in ecologically sensitive areas with limited ground access, or in dynamic settings like greenhouses. With their ability to fly and hover, aerial robots can efficiently collect data distributed across space and time. However, navigating such complex and dynamic environments requires high levels of autonomy and adaptability. Dense vegetation, varying light conditions, changing features, and moving obstacles present significant challenges to maintaining safe and efficient navigation for data collection, underscoring the need for advanced autonomous navigation capabilities.\n\nCurrent literature highlights the limitations of aerial robots\u2019 ability to navigate complex, unstructured environments without human intervention. This research lies at the intersection of control and perception, focusing on the use of new sensing modalities and developing tighter integration between the two, such as an end-to-end approach with differentiable control and perception elements. The work will contribute essential advancements to autonomous navigation in aerial robotics for ecological and agricultural applications.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400702 Automation engineering (50%)\n400706 Field robotics (50%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215\/DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thanh Tran, Ehsan Asadi","title":"A new robust control design method for a nonlinear flight dynamics","description":"This project investigates a nonlinear robust control algorithm for flight dynamics of aircraft. The project focuses on two points: i) A new idea is proposed to formulate a robust control law of the nonlinear flight dynamics System. This process of control design is implemented by using the Lyapunov-function based design. ii) Flight-path angle control of longitudinal dynamics of F-16 aircraft model is applied in a form of nonlinear dynamic system under a series of less restrictive assumptions. A direct applicability of the proposed control theoretic framework is used to derive robust control laws for the achieved model. To show advancement, improvement, and validation of the proposed control method, In-door experimental studies are implemented, where numerical data or flight path angle control of longitudinal motion of F-16 aircraft model is investigated finally to validate the proposed control approach.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"4001 Aerospace engineering (40%)\r\n4007 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics (40%)\r\n4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware (20%)\r\n\r\n\r"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Real-time monitoring of the remaining useful life of an industrial\/electronic system with a data-based approach","description":"The aim of this PhD track is to develop an AI methodology, using machine learning (ML) approaches, to predict the remaining useful lifetime of electronic systems by fusing data obtained from both sensors and simulations. The idea is to use the ML-based approach to compensate for the limitations of an approach that relies solely on simulations (uncertainty on the material parameters etc.). Experimental validation of the methodology will also be carried out.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nalin Arachchilage, Matthew Warren","title":"Enhancing privacy awareness of individuals in social media: an internal social marketing approach","description":"Understanding the behavioural change process of social media users to adopt safe privacy practices is vital to protect them from data breaches. This research project explores how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. This understanding could inform the design of social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to promote and maintain online privacy compliance. This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with social media users in Vietnam. Responses are then categorized under the 7Ps marketing mix framework. Discussions are centred on social media users' experiences, their perceptions of privacy behaviour and awareness initiatives, and the impact of initiatives on compliance behaviour. \nThe key objectives of the project are:\n1.        Background and literature study on how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. \n2.        Developing a framework, based on the 7Ps marketing mix, to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. \n3.        Evaluate the users' understanding and enhancement of privacy awareness of their social media usage through the developed framework. \n4.    Develop informed design guidelines for social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to promote and maintain online privacy compliance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460904 Information security management (50%)\n460402 Data and information privacy (25%)\n460910 Information systems user experience design and development (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Golnoush Abaei","title":"Improving Software Fault Prediction for Imbalanced Data","description":"Allocating a sufficient budget for software testing is crucial to ensure that the software is defect-free. However, as software grows in size and complexity, testing becomes more expensive, and some companies may not have enough resources to allocate toward it. To address this issue, many researchers have turned to machine learning methods to create software fault prediction models that can detect defect-prone modules, allowing for more efficient resource allocation during testing. While this is a viable solution, the effectiveness of machine learning models depends on various factors, such as data imbalance. There are several techniques in class imbalance research that can potentially enhance the performance of prediction models by processing the dataset before inputting it. However, not all methods are compatible with each other.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461208 Software testing, verification and validation (30%)\n461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (30%)\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (10%)\n461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (10%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232\/DR231","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yunus Khatri, Hoang Phan, Tuyen Truong","title":"Transcriptomic profiling of Pseudomonas fluorescens in pasteurized milk for further developing a rapid and portable detection method ","description":"Psychrotrophic bacteria are a major concern in the milk industry due to their ability to grow well at low temperatures and produce heat-stable enzymes which subsequently alter milk quality and safety. Pseudomonas fluorescens (P. fluorescens) is the most prevalent species of Pseudomonas detected in High Temperature Short Time pasteurized milk. Milk spoilage can be significantly exacerbated by heat-stable extracellular proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes synthesized by P. fluorescens. Dufour et al (2008) demonstrated that P. fluorescens produced AprX \u2013 a thermal-resistant alkaline metallopeptidase, is responsible for casein deterioration in milk.\nSeveral methods have been applied to detect contamination levels post-pasteurization. However, these traditional methods have some limitations, specifically labour intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a rapid, accurate method to detect microbes in a timely manner to cope with contamination in the pasteurization and filling units.\nIMPACT - The outcomes of this research will inform the design for a rapid, accurate and portable method to detect P. fluorescens in milk. Thus, the knowledge created will assist in resolving milk spoilage and assist in preventing significant losses in the dairy industry","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300607 Food technology (30%)\n300605 Food safety, traceability, certification and authenticity (30%)\n310505 Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches) (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truon, Rajaraman Eri","title":"The Impact of Nutritional Intervention on Gestational Diabetes in Vietnamese Patients","description":"Gestational diabetes has emerged as a significant public health concern in Vietnam, impacting both the healthcare sector and the general population. Notably, clinical studies conducted in Vietnam reveal varying prevalence rates, ranging from 8% to 32%, depending upon geographic regions and diagnostic criteria. Complications associated with gestational diabetes include preeclampsia, miscarriage, stillbirth, and an increased likelihood of cesarean sections.\r\nIn the current healthcare landscape of Vietnam, pregnant women undergo gestational diabetes screening between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. However, once diagnosed, patients often receive rudimentary instructions from obstetricians and gynecologists, typically centered on reducing sugar and starch consumption. Furthermore, there is a lack of coordination with dietitians for comprehensive nutritional assessments and interventions. Concurrently, existing studies and clinical guidelines underscore the pivotal role of dietary therapy in managing blood sugar levels during pregnancy, potentially reducing the need for insulin.\r\nCompounding these challenges is the nascent state of the nutrition industry in Vietnam, particularly within the realm of clinical nutrition. This infancy translates to a dearth of recommendations and guidelines tailored to nutritional interventions for the Vietnamese populace.\r\nGiven this landscape, this research project seeks to address these pressing issues by evaluating the efficacy of nutritional interventions for Vietnamese patients with gestational diabetes through randomized controlled trials and metabolomics studies. The ultimate aim is to bridge the gap in nutritional guidance and recommendations, offering targeted nutrition programs that hold immense promise for improving the management of gestational diabetes in Vietnamese patients, with far-reaching implications for maternal and fetal health.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300603: Food Nutritional Balance (65%)\r\n321001: Clinical Nutrition (20%)\r\n310205: Proteomics and Metabolics (15%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Cloud, Systems & Security","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fengling Han, Huo Chong Ling (RMIT Vietnam)","title":"CSIRO Data61 Next Generation Emerging Technologies: Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning","description":"To address the increasingly striking discordance between its rapid growth and renewed awareness of privacy protection in this era of intelligence, this project focuses on the security of private and protection of sensitive information carried by the data with machine learning methods.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460403 Data security and protection\r\n330204 Building information modelling and management\r\n330206 Building science, technologies and systems"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeffery Chan","title":"Social Network Analysis Research for Studying Technology Adoption in Organisations and Society","description":"Technology adoption in companies and society is a complex process, but involves peer influences and other co-founding factors. In this project\/co-supervisor, we would like to extend upon initial work in using social network analysis and diffusion models to study technology adoption in companies and research advanced models that combines node information, background influences and other information. This will be combined with user studies to gather further datasets about technology adoption in a company based in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460502"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Xiuzhen Jenny Zhang","title":"summarization of opinions on social media","description":"This project will explore generative language technologies for generating unbiased opinion summaries. The project is related to sentiment analysis of conversations on social media and is related to topics such as deep learning, NLP and text mining. It also relates to bias for machine learning for social media \u2013 a way to address bias in summarization is to include a diverse set of contrastive viewpoints in the summary of social media posts.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460502 Data Mining and Knowledge discovery"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Xiuzhen Jenny Zhang","title":"Trust of misinformation on social media","description":"Misinformation is a recognised as a grand challenge in the 21st century. Contrary to our belief, recent research published in Science shows that humans plays significant roles in the propagation of misinformation. This project aims to study the human behaviour towards misinformation generated by human or machine. Research questions include understand user behaviour (trust\/distrust) for misinformation, classification of user behaviour for misinformation behaviour; characterise mistrust communities. We will use a data analytics approach, combined with qualitative methods.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460506"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Digital Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ben Byrne, Jonathan Duckworth, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Laurene Vaughan, Darrin Verhagen, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski","title":"Digital Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Digital Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to games, animation, interaction design and user experience design. Specific areas of digital design research include cinematic Virtual Reality, Esports, embodied interaction, creative coding, audio essays, computational culture and performance. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in digital design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120303 Digital and Interaction Design\n  190202 Computer Gaming and Animation\n  190203 Electronic Media Art\n  190504 Performance and Installation Art\n  200102 Communication Technology and Digital Media Studies\n  200212 Screen and Media Culture"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brad Haylock, Stephen Banham, Jenny Grigg, Neal Haslem, Andy Simionato, Laurene Vaughan, Noel Waite","title":"Typography and Design for Publishing","description":"The School of Design at RMIT welcomes candidates seeking to undertake research in Typography and Design for Publishing. Research in this area spans practice-based and theoretical approaches, and applied and speculative approaches. Studies broadly address matters of book typography, editorial design, type design and lettering, and commercial, independent or speculative publishing. Topics might include but are not limited to: the future of the book; book design methodology; innovations in publishing processes or modes of publishing; typography in the public sphere; and publishing as a critical practice. Researchers in this area might also take a design-led approach to questions relating to the sociology of books, publishing and reading, or to small-press and artist-book publishing. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"4,11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Auger, Olivier Cotsaftis, Liam Fennessy, Pirjo Haikola, Brad Haylock, Scott Mitchell, Andy Simionato, Laurene Vaughan, Oliver Vodeb, Jaz Choi, Toni Roberts, Sarah Teasley","title":"Speculative and Critical Design","description":"Speculative Design and Critical Design projects and practices interrogate the status quo in various ways, or propose variously unorthodox future scenarios. These modes of practice often explicitly challenge the current state of design itself: its narrowing pathways, prevailing assumptions, and corporate agendas. In this area of focus, RMIT School of Design welcomes researchers who deploy the principles, methods or ethics of critical and speculative design to interrogate received assumptions and practices in domains ranging from governance, politics, technological development, human interactions, and design practice itself. Research candidates in this area demonstrate their findings in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their research. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Auger, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Simon Lockrey, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Juan Sanin, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Malte Wagenfeld","title":"Industrial Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Industrial Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to product design, furniture design, ergonomics and product-service systems. Research in this area might extend from an industrial design perspective into topics and domains such as service design, design for social innovation, design for social change, safeness by design, human-centred design, sustainable design, and inclusive design. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in industrial design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120305 Industrial Design, \n  120302 Design Innovation"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jaz Choi, Jonathan Duckworth, Troy Innocent, Rohit Khot, Gina Moore, Matthew Riley","title":"Design for Playful Interaction","description":"Play is a methodology for creative practice that traverses diverse disciplines, materials, spaces and modes of interaction. Knowledge and techniques from games and interaction design inform research on innovative cyber-physical systems that are captivating, transformative and productive. Application areas at RMIT School of Design include Human-Food Interaction (HFI), playable cities and care-full design. Contemporary concerns with food include technological, environmental, and social disruptions, ranging from food security to agricultural sustainability to rising obesity and diminishing commensality. Playable cities use creative technologies to situate citizens within experiences that allow them to re-imagine, reconnect and reinvent their world. Care-fully designing playful engagement embodies care as a matter of concern; its ethics and logic guides conceptual, methodological, and translational undertakings. We seek research candidates in this area who are passionate about exploring design for playful engagement through transdisciplinary research and practice in\/across different fields of design \u2013 including but not limited to interaction \/ experience \/ service. Interests and experience in co-creative, trans-disciplinary, practice-based methods are highly valued.","sdg":"2,3,11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Digital and Interaction Design\n  190203 Electronic Media Art"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lawrence Harvey, Darrin Verhagen, Ben Byrne, Jordan Lacey, Scott Mitchell, Joshua Batty, Frank Feltham, Jeffrey Hannam","title":"Sound, Music and Acoustics","description":"Developments in spatial sound technology from the mid- to late-20th century enabled the creation, delivery and research of complex acoustic environments. Whereas music and concert halls were once the privileged location of advanced human auditory experience, digital technology has greatly expanded the potential for new types of spatial sound and soundscapes. Applicants are invited to consider contributions to research areas that include: urban soundscape designs for multi-channel systems; evaluating urban soundscape designs and urban soundscape planning models; software projects for spatialised performance, installations or gesture control; spatialised performance\/electroacoustic performance practise; analysis of contemporary spatial compositions and installation practice; integrating 3D design softwares within spatial sound designs; and experimental acoustic design. Applicants must have intermediate to advanced skills in studio production to realise their research.","sdg":"3,9,11,12,13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Urban Futures, Information and Systems","forcodes":"120104 Architectural Science and Technology\n  120302 Design innovation\n  190203 Electronic Media Art\n  190504 Performance and Installation Art"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Teasley, Brad Haylock, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite, Jenny Grigg","title":"Critical, Historical and Theoretical Studies in Design","description":"This area of focus supports researchers undertaking studies in design history, theory and criticism. Topics might include: new modes of design criticism, new regional design histories, critical design historiography, and new theories of design. Critical design studies might take regional, feminist, decolonising, Indigenous, LGBTIQA+, or other, or variously intersectional standpoints to contribute to emergent discourses in design. New design histories may focus on people, places, themes or modes of practice that have been overlooked or under-recognised by research to date. Research in this area might also examine the modes by which design histories or theories are produced and reproduced, for example in education or publishing. Candidates in this area will typically present a thesis for examination, but may also undertake practice-based research, for example through curatorial practice. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,16,17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120301 Design History and Theory"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stephen Banham, Marius Foley, Jenny Grigg, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, James Oliver, Toni Roberts, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Laurene Vaughan, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite","title":"Communication Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Communication Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to graphic design, interpretation design, branding, packaging and data visualisation. Research in this area might extend from a communication design standpoint into topics and domains such as design strategy, service design, design for social innovation, design for social change, design for community building, human-centred design, and inclusive design. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in communication design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design), \n  120302 Design Innovation, \n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Stephen Banham, Chris Barker, Joshua Batty, Ben Byrne, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Jonathan Duckworth, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Jenny Grigg, Pirjo Haikola, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Leah Heiss, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen, Oliver Vodeb, Malte Wagenfeld, Noel Waite, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Sarah Teasley, Deb Polson","title":"Reflective Industry Practice Research in Design","description":"Reflective Industry Practice Research in Design involves practitioner-researchers operating largely in a professional environment, generally with a peer-reviewed and award-winning body of work developed over 10 years or more. These practitioners-researchers have already developed recognised mastery in their field. In this area of research focus in RMIT School of Design, experienced practitioners become practitioner-ressearchers who interrogate their own practices in order to explicate and disseminate their disciplinary knowledge, defining its enabling structures, its knowledge bases, and the implications of the nexus between these for emerging forms of research-led practice. They conclude by speculating through design on the nature of their future practice. They demonstrate their findings publicly, through an exhibit, a presentation to examiners, and a written dissertation. This mode of research extends and develops the knowledge base of the design professions, and thus their ability to serve society.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Areli Avendano Franco, Stephen Banham, Chris Barker, Joshua Batty, Ben Byrne, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Mick Douglas, Jonathan Duckworth, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Jenny Grigg, Pirjo Haikola, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Leah Heiss, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen, Oliver Vodeb, Malte Wagenfeld, Noel Waite, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Ian de Vere","title":"Generative Practice Research in Design","description":"The Generative Practice Research mode of practice research in design crosses boundaries between professional and academic research. This practice-based research approach enables practitioner-researchers to generate new kinds of practices \u2014 within a discipline or across disciplines \u2014 in response to challenges and concerns emerging in a changing world and amidst transformations across practice domains. Candidates in this area might be early-career practitioners seeking to enter into a period of deep inquiry that transforms a set of practice-based interests into a more developed practice with well-articulated emphases, agendas and approaches. They might equally be mid- or later-career practitioners seeking to generate a new practice trajectory through a transformation of their established mastery. Research candidates in this area demonstrate their findings publicly in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their practice research, usually through an exhibit, a written dissertation and a presentation to examiners. This area of research focusses on the generation of new knowledge in the form of previously unarticulated approaches to practice, informed by specific issues and challenges that direct researchers' generative inquiries.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Toni Roberts, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite, Juan Sanin, Sarah Teasley, Deb Polson","title":"Ben Byrne, Jonathan Duckworth, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Laurene Vaughan, Darrin Verhagen, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Deb Polson","description":"Social impact relates to the capacity to create positive social change for communities, individuals and ecologies. In recent years, designers have been moving beyond engaging with consumer culture, instead exploring new forms of practice, including design for social innovation. In response to these informed narratives, designers must realise the potential of design as an agent of change to make a broader contribution to society, rather than to enhance marketability by influencing consumer behaviour. This area of research focus also responds to pressing concerns surrounding sustainability, arising from current rapid extinction of species, habitat loss and displacement of more-than-human communities, and recognises the moral and practical crises in design that have contributed to such conditions. Established research in the School of Design in this area of focus includes fighting food waste, design to support natural ecologies in the face of climate change, and designing against crime. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Jaz Choi, Simon Curlis, Jonathan Duckworth, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Neal Haslem, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Scott Mitchell, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen","title":"Design for Health, Wellbeing and Aging","description":"Design research has an active role to play in how society changes the ways people access and experience services and engagements, from the organisational through to the socio-political level. This area of research focus emphasises the importance of design in relation to health, wellbeing and aging. Researchers in this area explore the deployment of design to reimagine health, resilience and care. Candidates might draw on generative or applied practice research approaches in human-centred design, or upon product design, ethnographic approaches, co-creatives processes and iterative and reflective practices. Specific themes and areas of inquiry might include but are not limited to: serious games for health; interaction design for health applications; design innovation for sexual health; design for dementia treatment; and interaction design for mindful eating. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"1,2,3,4,5,8,11,16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Health and Physical Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Amanda Telford, Toni Hilland, Melanie Nash, Carl Ridgeway","title":"Health, Physical Education and Wellbeing","description":"We invite proposals for candidates interested in Health and Physical Education un Primary, Secondary and \/or Higher Education (PSTs) to explore ways in which Health and Physical educators can enhance health and physical activity opportunities in learning environments. This project recognises the multi-faceted nature of the influences on the health, wellbeing and learning. Therefore, there is a necessity to support teacher education and professional development to enhance students\u2019 health, well- being and learning within a school context. Candidates may be interested in exploring the use of creative student-centred pedagogies, curricular initiatives, assessment tools and other 21st Century learning skills to understand and promote health, well-being, physical activity opportunities and learning within school Health and Physical Education. The primary research designs of the project may employ a combination of descriptive research (namely Survey, Developmental research, Case Study, Focus group, Observational and Correlational), quasi-experimental, mixed methods and quantitative research. The project will draw from a wide range of sociocultural, behavioural and educational theoretical perspectives to explore the potential of Health and Physical Educators\u2019 capacity to positively influence students\u2019 health, well-being, physical activity and learning within a school context. International comparisons of PISA data for student outcomes relating to a range of academic performance indicators ranked Australia among the lowest in the world. Research has shown the direct links between school leadership and student achievements (Barber, Whelan & Clark, 2010). In addition, the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance report in 38 countries across 6 continents found that overall physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Australia are low\/poor (graded D-). This project recognises that school Health and Physical Education programs, co-curricular initiatives and environments play vital roles in shaping young people\u2019s experiences, health, well-being, learning and development which impacts on these achievements. Overall, the project will use this empirical base to contribute to scholarship on the impact of student-centred pedagogies, school-based health and well-being programs on teacher capabilities to positively influence students\u2019 health, well-being and achievements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"3 Good Health and Wellbieng, 4 Quality Education","forcodes":"130103 Higher Education, 130104 Primary Education, 130106 Secondary Education, 130210 Physical Education and Development Curriculum and Pedagogy, 130303 Education Assessment and Evaluation,130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators, 111712 Health Promotion"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Creativity Education; STEAM; Teacher Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Daniel Harris, David Rousell, Patricia McLaughlin, Linda Knight, Aleksandra Acker","title":"Creativity Education","description":"We invite proposals for candidates interested in diverse engagements with creativity and creative ecologies, including but not limited to: gallery and museum spaces, community and activist spaces, higher education spaces, urban and regional public spaces, art, architecture, design spaces, creative industries spaces, in addition to more formal compulsory schooling spaces. We are interested in all forms of transdisciplinary (e.g STEAM) creative ecologies, including those that potentially contribute to the re-imagining of formal schooling in synergistic ways. Additionally, we invite engagement from those in the cultural and creative industries whose work doesn't necessarily focus on K-12 schooling. There is a large body of evidence-based research supporting creativity as an economic and educational imperative, not only in workplace preparation, but for addressing global and local inequities, the climate crisis, and for crafting fulfilling lives and communities. This need for creative change is addressed in the Australian Government\u2019s Inquiry into Innovation and Creativity (Commonwealth of Australia 2017), Recommendation 10 (2.94), which \u201crecommends that the National Innovation and Science Agenda explicitly recognise the importance of STEAM, creative digital skills, the creative industries and the arts more generally\u201d (p. 40). We believe, as does the Victorian Department of Education and other governing bodies, that 21st century sociality demands the development of a highly flexible skill set, critical for navigating the complexities of digital life and an evolving economy. 21st century skills involve ways of thinking, working and living under rapidly changing conditions, including but not limited to critical and creative thinking. While these skills align with current national and international agendas for education policy reform, we also invite proposals interested in skills of creative subversion and insurrection with respect to neo-liberal governance and control. Recent turns toward \u2018hacktivism\u2019, \u2018undercommons study\u2019 (Harney & Moten, 2013), the \u2018hashtag syllabus\u2019 (Graziano et al, 2019), Strikes4ClimateAction, and Extinction Rebellion are just a few examples of creative activism in the educational sphere. We do not see these varied applications of creativity studies as mutually-exclusive. We invite proposals that address governmental \u2018creative skills\u2019 economic agendas, but may also critically challenge and reroute these creative skills toward alternative political and ethical imaginaries. Our \u2018creative ecologies\u2019 approach draws on critical theoretical frameworks, including new materialisms, affect studies and posthumanism. We encourage creative\/experimental methods, including research-creation and arts-based approaches, and design-based research. We celebrate the real-world ways in which people learn and apply their learning through socially just, project-based and collaborative means.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality education; 8 Decent wprk and economic growth, 17 Partnerships for the goals","forcodes":"390101 - Creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy; 390303 - higher education; 390406 - gender, sexuality and education; 39201 - Education Policy; 390307"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Education Studies; Sociology of Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Seth Brown, Emily Gray, Annette Gough","title":"Education and Skills for Sustainable Development","description":"UNEVOC@RMIT is located in the School of Education, RMIT University. \n \n UNEVOC@RMIT is part of a global network, co-ordinated from UNESCO\u2010UNEVOC headquarters in Bonn, Germany. \n Positioning RMIT and Australia as a leader and enabler in the region (Asia Pacific, North Asia and South Asia) in applied research, network building and evidenced\u2010based interventions and policy\u2010making in VET. Leveraging the work being conducted at other UNEVOC Centres around the world for the benefit of Australia and Australian future workforces and industry. \n \n Contributing, through concrete, applied, and research-based activities, to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The research focus for UNEVOC @ RMIT is multidisciplinary, and is framed, in part, by the UNESCO UNEVOC priorities for VET: 1. Fostering youth employment and entrepreneurship; 2. Promoting equality and gender equality; 3. Facilitating the transition to green economies and sustainable societies. In this framework our work is initially focused on three key areas: 1. Young people, 21st Century capabilities, wellbeing, pathways and the future of work; 2. Building a networked approach to enabling and capturing social value in learning and training; 3. Exploring educational ecologies of well-being, resilience, and enterprise in times of crisis and disruption. \n This work is informed by the sense that at the start of the 21st century \u2018we are currently situated in a posthuman convergence between the Fourth industrial Age and the Sixth Extinction, between an advanced knowledge economy, which perpetuates patterns of discrimination and exclusion, and the threat of climate change devastation for both human and non-human entities\u2019.\n \n We welcome expressions of interest for PhD and Masters by research projects that align with this program.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality Education; 5 Gender Equality; 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth","forcodes":"390203 Sociology of education; 390201 Education policy; 390114 Vocational education and training curriculum and pedagogy;390308 Technical, further and workplace education"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Educational Studies; Mathematics Education; Science Education; STEM","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tasos Barkatsas, Di Siemon, Rebecca Seah, Angela Rogers, Dan Jazby, Marj Horne, Daniel Harris, Tricia McLaughlin","title":"STEM and STEAM Education","description":"1. Refining disciplinary models of STEM education: There are debates that argue that the term STEM is too diffuse and ill-defined and that there should be a return to the individual disciplines (Siekmann, 2017); debates that current conceptualisations of STEM should be expanded to include a wider range of disciplines, such as Art (Spoehr, Barnett, Molly, Dev & Hordacre, 2010); and debates that STEM education should reflect a more integrated, problem-based learning approach geared towards solving societal problems.\n 2. Research on the development, teaching and learning of reasoning, problem solving, creativity and collaboration in the domains of science, technology, engineering and mathematics considered separately or in combination as appropriate.\n 3. Participation and equity - considerations related to access and participation in STEM education by under-represented groups, including indigenous students, students from socio-economically disadvantaged groups, women\/girls.\n 4. How STEM education is enacted at different levels of education, including: how education institutions engage with industry and community to develop STEM education to contribute to how society grapples with 21st century problems and trends; and how STEM education is positioned as a vehicle for curriculum and pedagogical renewal (inquiry, problem-based learning and 21stcentury skills) and student re-engagement.\n \n 5. How teacher education institutions are preparing new graduate teachers to engage with the STEM education agenda in their practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality education","forcodes":"390113 Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy; 390302 Curriculum and Pedagogy Theory and Development; 390303 Higher Education; 390304 Primary education; 390306 Secondary education; 390307 Teacher education and professional development of educators; 390308 Learning Analytics; 390309 Learning Sciences; 390109 Mathematics and Numeracy curriculum and development; 390405 Educational Assessment and Evaluation; 390405 Educational Technology and Computers"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Engineering","discipline":"Civil and Infrastructure Engineering","programcode":"DR218","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sara Moridpour, Minh Dinh","title":"Tourist bus route planning in Urban Areas","description":"Finding the shortest route in urban space for tourist buses is a complicated problem in the temporary world. Therefore, the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a problem that is essential that I need to research and apply the existing optimal solution. In my study, I investigate one solution, the Genetic Algorithm (GA), to solve the problem. Moreover, when this algorithm is implemented in Python language programming and combined with Google APIs to calculate the optimal distance between multiple locations, and then I consider the real-time traffic condition to solve TSP effectively and efficiently via Google Maps.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"400512 (100%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise; Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lijing Wang, Rajiv Padhye, Scott Mayson, Ricarda Bigolin, Jenny Underwood, Sean Ryan, Angela Finn, Rebecca van Amber, Peter Boyd, Andrea Eckersley, Tarryn Handcock, Pia Interlandi, Georgia McCorkill, Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Alex Sherlock, Denise Sprynskyj","title":"Wearable Body Space","description":"Textile materials and fashion garments occupy a liminal space connecting and separating the body to and from its physical, technological, social and cultural environments. The investigation of the role of textiles and fashion in this relationship is multidisciplinary and covers several fields, including textile engineering and technologies, materials sciences, electrical and software engineering, design theory and practice, visual communication, and the sociology and phenomenology of dress.\n \n Research in this field crosses the disciplines of technology, enterprise and design, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Smart textiles systems and wearable electronics connecting technologies and textiles, in order to harvest and store energy, embed batteries, sensors and actuators, monitor health, monitor the environment, provide communication, etc, including, for example, the development of fibre-based RFID tags, nanocellulose aerogel for energy generation, and stretchable conducting polymer-coated textile electrodes for supercapacitors;\n Garment technology and smart wearables that monitor health and well-being, provide communication or entertainment, enhance user experience, and connect with the Internet of Things and industry 4.0, without compromising clothing performance and functionality;\n Physiological and\/or psychological responses to textile materials in the context of health, comfort and well-being;\n The personal, social and cultural role of fashion and clothing, and of its communicative and performative potential, in the context of an increasingly urbanised and\/or technologized environment;\n The personal, social and cultural place of fashion in the context of an increasingly fluid political, cultural and gender-diverse world.","sdg":"3; 9; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication; BHI","forcodes":"0906, 0910, 0912, 1203,1608, 1701, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation; Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Scott Mayson, Jenny Underwood, Stephen Wigley, Rebecca van Amber, Angela Finn, Pia Interlandi, Saniyat Islam, Georgia McCorkill, Kate Sala","title":"Sustainable Fashion and Textile Systems","description":"The fashion and textile industry is currently undergoing a green revolution, driven by a concern for the environmental and social impact of fashion and textile materials, products, processes and systems.\n \n Research in this field crosses the disciplines of technology, enterprise and design, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Performance and properties of sustainable materials including natural fibre biomaterials, natural dye colouration, and\/or the development of alternatives to traditional, polluting materials;\n Fibre recycling technologies, textile waste technologies, life-cycle analysis of materials, and\/or environmental management frameworks;\n Sustainable fashion and textile business models, including textile manufacturing practices, circular economy development models, and\/or sustainable industry supply chains;\n Sustainable fashion retail and consumption models, including the future of retail spaces and\/or the impact of technological innovations;\n The role of consumer psychology, social movements (e.g. veganism), changing social values and social policy frameworks;\n The marketing of sustainability in the context of so-called greenwashing;\n Sustainable fashion and textile design practice models, from commercial large-scale to independent micro-practices.","sdg":"3; 5; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation; Design and Creative Practice; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"0910, 0912, 1203, 1503, 1505, 1608"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Steve Michielsen, Xin Wang","title":"Nanotextiles and Scalability","description":"The use of nanoparticles has been a promising way to develop performance textiles, although durability and comfort remain issues in the potential application of the technology. Similarly, the scaling up of nanofibres continues to present a challenge to their application. This project has a number of aims, including the growing of nanoparticles on textiles and the development of novel methods of synthesis, and the theory and method of electrospinning in the fabrication of nanofibres.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n The development of carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites;\n The development of spacer fabric with CNT-reinforced nanofibres for impact protection;\n Novel electrospinning systems for the scalable production of nanofibres;\n Nanomaterials\/fibrous nanocomposite systems for multiple applications;\n The use of nanodiamond\/selenium within fibrous systems for the development of medical textiles;\n The design, modelling and engineering of compression garments;\n Braided 3D pre-form structures for fibre-reinforced composites;\n Modelling of the protection and thermal comfort of semi-permeable PPE.","sdg":"3; 9","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication: BHI","forcodes":"0910, 1007"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Steve Michielsen, Xin Wang, Scott Mayson, Rebecca van Amber, Pia Interlandi, Saniyat Islam","title":"Materials for Extreme Conditions","description":"Innovations in advanced materials and performance textiles are required to confront a range of extreme environments, from the heat encountered in firefighting, to chemical, biological and other hazardous materials, to the stresses involved in space travel, to protective garments for law enforcement officers.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n The development of compression garments and gloves for astronauts;\n The design and evaluation, including through the use of the school\u2019s new flame mannikin, of functional firefighting garments;\n The development of CBRN protective textiles;\n The design of body armour for stab and ballistic protection;\n Ergonomic performance evaluation of garments;\n The improvement of UV-blocking and antibacterial properties of protective materials;\n The coating of textiles with nanomaterials for multiple applications\n The development of nanodiamond\/textile composites.","sdg":"3; 9; 13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials","forcodes":"0910, 0912"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robyn Healy, Scott Mayson, Ricarda Bigolin, Jenny Underwood, Stephen Wigley, Sean Ryan, Peter Boyd, Andrea Eckersley, Angela Finn, Laura Gardner, Tarryn Handcock, Georgia McCorkill, Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Tarun Panwar, Alex Sherlock, Denise Sprynskyj, Carol Tan","title":"Fashion and Textiles Communication, Enterprise and Pedagogy","description":"Research in this field lies at the intersection of the disciplines of design and enterprise, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics\n \n Practice-based and practice-led investigations of diverse forms of fashion and textile practice;\n Innovations in the communication of fashion though image, writing and performance, including its recent adoption of innovative technologies such as VR and AR and\/or its increasingly diverse forms of dissemination through publication;\n Contemporary self-critical reflection upon and engagement with fashion by practitioners and writers both within and outside the academy;\n New models for the teaching and communication of fashion and textile design practice, including the foregrounding of practice-based thinking and\/or the social and environmental responsibility of fashion and textile practices;\n Recent developments in the relationship between local and global systems of fashion, in its cultural, political and economic aspects;\n New forms of collaborative and cross-disciplinary relationships between practitioners in fashion and textiles and practitioners in fields such as industrial and product design, architecture and urban design, performance, photography, film and the visual arts, and\/or actors and critics working in fields such as public policy or social activism.","sdg":"3; 4; 5; 9; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice; Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"1203, 1302, 1901, 1904, 1905, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Steve Michielsen, Lijing Wang, Rajiv Padhye, Xin Wang, Rebecca van Amber","title":"Textile Identification and Analysis","description":"The identification and analysis of textile composition and behaviour has important applications in a range of areas including defence and forensics and as protection against fraud and counterfeiting.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Hyperspectral analysis of fibre material and textile digital signal processing, with applications for the development and detection of camouflage and counterfeit materials;\n Bloodstain pattern analysis, with applications in the field of forensic science;\n Analysis of fabric wetting and the wicking of liquids, in the development of innovative materials for comfort and\/or for forensic fibre identification;\n Artificial intelligence tools and developing technologies to provide forensic evidence and to identify the origin of textiles, including, for example, the identification of Australian wool, the origin of animal furs and skins, the DNA analysis of textile fibres, and\/or the integration of fibre-based RFID technology for individual textile identification, life cycle studies, and supply chain tracking.","sdg":"9; 11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials; ISE","forcodes":"0303, 0801, 0906, 0910"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"Melbourne City","teamleader":"Chris Ziguras, Kerry Mullan, Alexis Bergantz, Chantal Crozet, Ana Maria Ducasse, Lynne Li, Glenda Mejia, Jindan Li, Jing Qi, Maki Yoshida, Miranda Lai, Caroline Norma, Erika Gonzalez, Georgina Heydon","title":"Language, Culture & International Education ","description":"We invite proposals that investigate language processes and apply knowledge of language and culture to issues such as multilingualism, culture and identity, intercultural communication, language and culture education (particularly international education), language policy and planning, applied linguistics, forensic linguistics, and interpreting and translating. Projects should engage systematically with language data using a range of established theories, including discourse analysis, to provide a critical perspective that problematises linguistic, historical, social, political and educational questions in a global context.\nSupervisors come from diverse disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Cultural History, Gender, Migration, Film and Literary Studies, Education and Psychology.                                                                         \n Priority areas:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             - Language in applied settings (e.g. classroom,forensic, health, security)\n- Language, culture and humour\n- Intercultural communication\n- International Education ","sdg":"4, 10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"130103, 130207, 2002, 2003, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Butt, Lucy Gunn","title":"Evidence and Impact for health determinants of the urban environment","description":"The development of a health determinants of the urban environment research agenda has led to a wide ranging reassessment of the production of urban places in Australian cities, including in relation to walkability, open space provision, urban shade and access to quality food at the local level. While this literature has informed policy agenda, such as Melbourne's \"20-minute Neighbourhood\u201d policy objective, and similar approaches elsewhere, the distinct changes in urban form, urban design and infrastructure or service delivery that are required to deliver the evidence-based indicators is not apparent in the growth areas of Australia's largest cities. This project will use the example of recent and proposed development and settlement patterns in an Australian context to investigate urban development pathways and points in those processes where divergence from identified objectives of health determinants occur. The research will utilise case studies and engage with policy makers and the producers of urban\/suburban development (public and private sector). \n Various project directions may be possible depending on the project proposal and the skills and interests of a successful candidate. The project may include a focus in areas such as (but not limited to); Spatial Analysis, Design Evaluation or Policy and Practitioner Focused Research, or elements of each of these, with appropriate methods used, including mixed methodologies.","sdg":"44868","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"UF 1 Urban and spatial economics; UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":""},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Belen Zapata-Diomedi","title":"Health and environmental impacts of urban liveability","description":"Cities now house the majority of the world\u2019s population, with city planning shown to influence population health and wellbeing and environmental sustainability. For example, transport systems may support the use of the car as opposed to sustainable modes such as walking, cycling and public transport. Such approaches to city planning are detrimental to human health and the environment because they encourage people to drive leading to sedentary behaviour and transport related air pollution issues. In Australia, significant progress has been made in measuring domains of city planning that impact on health and wellbeing framed according to the concept of liveability.5 Given the significant health and environmental consequences of city planning, a priori health and environmental impact assessment of city planning policies and initiatives are fundamental to support sustainable city planning that protects human health.\n This PhD forms part of an NHMRC\/UK RI project called JIBE. It will involve a qualitative and quantitative Health Impact Assessment (HIAs) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs) of liveability in Australia and\/or the UK. This study will investigate how HIAs and EIAs are used in decision making processes; develop case studies quantifying the health and environmental impacts of liveability. The PhD candidate will join the international research team but will be in Australia working with a team with expertise in studying the health benefits of urban liveability. The PhD candidate will greatly benefit from working the Australian and UK JIBE team of experts in transport, planning, and public health.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"111706 Epidemiology (20%)\n 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified (30%)\n 129999 Built Environment and Design not elsewhere classified (30%)\n 059999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Billie Giles-Corti, Lucy Gunn, Bel\u00e9n Zapata-Diomedi, Gavin Turrell, Tayebeh Saghapour, Alan Both","title":"Healthy Liveable Cities","description":"Creating healthy, liveable and sustainable cities is a major challenge in the face of population growth, social inequalities, traffic congestion, peak oil and increases in non-communicable diseases. Planning and delivering better cities is a local, national and global priority.\n \n Healthy and liveable communities provide the basis for social equity, harmony, economic resilience and environmental and social sustainability. Our work contributes to academic scholarship and aims to inform policies and practices to create healthy liveable communities.\n \n Bringing together a multidisciplinary research team, this program examines the influence of city design and planning on health and wellbeing.\n \n The research is developed in partnership with stakeholders to inform best practice policy and planning through the creation of evidence-based liveability indicators.\n \n The team draws from experience in epidemiology, behavioural science, geography, geomatics, psychology and public health. They use a variety of quantitative and qualitative analyses including geospatial analyses, policy analysis and economic evaluation.\n \n Our priority areas are to:\n \n 1)Explore the nexus between place, health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on locational disadvantage.\n 2)Examine the extent to which local and state planning policies, including transport, land use and health impact on the social determinants of health.\n 3)Influence future policies to improve population outcomes.\n 4)We have a strong focus on research translation and engagement, collaborating with communities, government, non-government organisations and the private sector in health, planning, housing and transport.","sdg":"1, 3, 10, 11, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"11117, 12508"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"C Maller, B Cooke, L Mumaw","title":"People, nature and place","description":"The People, Nature, Place (PNP) research program focuses on urban human-nature relationships, how these are understood, and their impacts on people and sustainability. In particular it seeks to develop, sustain and promote impactful research on the complexities of achieving the tri-fold goals of sustainability, nature protection and human flourishing in cities. This interest encapsulates urban greening, placemaking, edible cities, and other enhancements. PNP takes a broad definition of what nature(s) and associated representations encompass, including plants, animals, ecosystems, air, soil, water and fire. PNP will seek to strengthen the research capacity for exploring these topics from an environmentally-engaged social science perspective. \n Aims:\n 1) Connect PNP with a growing national and international research agenda on human-environmental relations in a range of disciplines including planning, geography and environmental studies\n 2) Develop theoretically informed yet empirically grounded applied research, with a key objective to translate new theoretical insights on changing urban human-nature relations into practical solutions, and think through the governance and policy implications for urban and urbanising environments\n 3) Provide an opportunity to connect current and emerging activity into a coherent form that would enable interdisciplinary cross-fertilisation, mutually beneficial sharing and growing of resources and knowledge across research, community, industry and government\n 4) Bring both people and nature into shared focus through use of a range of methods and approaches, including: critical social science, urban political ecology, environmental justice, equity and mapping\/digital technologies","sdg":"3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"160404, 160510, 160403"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Chris Ziguras, Kerry Mullan, Alexis Bergantz, Chantal Crozet, Ana Maria Ducasse, Lynne Li, Glenda Mejia, Jindan Li, Jing Qi, Maki Yoshida, Miranda Lai, Caroline Norma, Erika Gonzalez, Georgina Heydon","title":"Language, Culture & International Education","description":"We invite proposals that investigate language processes and apply knowledge of language and culture to issues such as multilingualism, culture and identity, intercultural communication, language and culture education (particularly international education), language policy and planning, applied linguistics, forensic linguistics, and interpreting and translating. Projects should engage systematically with language data using a range of established theories, including discourse analysis, to provide a critical perspective that problematises linguistic, historical, social, political and educational questions in a global context.\n Supervisors come from diverse disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Cultural History, Gender, Migration, Film and Literary Studies, Education and Psychology. \n  Priority areas: - Language in applied settings (e.g. classroom,forensic, health, security)\n - Language, culture and humour\n - Intercultural communication\n - International Education","sdg":"43012","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"130103, 130207, 2002, 2003, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"I McShane, J Boyd, B Middha,","title":"Urban Cultures and Technologies","description":"Researchers in this program focus on cultural heritage, cultural policy and cultural institutions (especially museums and libraries and their collections, urban digital networks , 'smart' cities, and the uses of digital platforms in local governance, and local-level community infrastructure, including schools and community hubs, as well as more informal public spaces and 'bottom-up' infrastructure. Our work is multi-disciplinary and informed by critical theorists working in historical and heritage studies, public policy and infrastructure studies, cultural diversity and gender.","sdg":"3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1205, 1605, 2103"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jago Dodson, Ralph Horne, Libby Porter, Megan Nethercote, Sarah Foster, Louise Dorignon, David Kelly, Wendy Steele, Todd Denham","title":"Housing and Urban Economies","description":"The Housing and Urban Economics research program encompasses projects and initiatives which seek to understand:\n \n 1) Political and sociological theories of social and environmental justice and their application to housing systems and policies 2) How housing operates as aninstitutional system through mechanisms of markets, policy and behaviour 3) Emerging and innovative institutional arrangements for the supply of affordable housing 4) The role of housing as a site of environmental consumption and approaches to improve the supply and uptake of environmnetally efficient housing 5) Housing systems as spatial configurations of differentiated populations and the dynamics that underpin these patterns 6) The sociology of housing, including demography, age, class, race, and gender 7) Housing and health, including relationships between dwelling structures and individual and community outcomes. The housing and urban economies group is open to a diversity of methodological approaches to housing recognising the cross-disciplinary nature of the program and the Centre, as well as the long tradition of critical and theoretical housing inquiry at RMIT including comparative approaches. CUR is also a major contributor to the RMIT AHURI Centre, which links with the national AHURI network and provides wide opportunities for HDRs to participate in collaborative projects including eligibility for AHURI top-up scholarships.","sdg":"1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1205"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jago Dodson, Robin Goodman, Chris de Gruyter, Terry Li, Andrew Butt, Anthony Kent, Marco Amati","title":"Planning and Transport in City Regions","description":"The Planning and Transport in City Regions Program seeks to understand processes of urban development and patterns of mobility at the metro-regional scale, and the policy measures needed to improve the productivity, livability and sustainability of city-regions. While the program has a focus on Australian cities (including Melbourne for its local context) the problems and challenges faced by planners in grappling with urban transformation have international resonance and the program\u2019s work is positioned within a national and international context and experience in metropolitan scale land-use and transport planning to inform its research agenda. Building and maintain partnerships with communities, industry and givernement in areas of policy, evidence-based decision making and regulatory systems is a core focus on the program.","sdg":"8, 9 11, 13, 15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"120504, 120506"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Judith Bessant, Katherine Johnson, Robyn Martin, Kat Daley, Bawa Kuyini, Belinda Johnson, Chris Maylea, Christina David, Sharlene Nipperess, Ronnie Egan, Sonia Martin, Paul Ramcharan, Angelika Papadopolous, John Whyte, Guy Johnson, Juliet Watson, Renata Kokanovic, Kate Johnston-Ataata, Jacinthe Flore, Anna Urbanowicz, Crystal MacKinnon, Kim Humphrey, Paul Scriven, Suellen Murray","title":"Citizenship, Care & Health","description":"Giving and receiving support and care is intensely personal yet its provision is entrenched in systemic and structural processes. Through a focus on \u2018voice\u2019, lived experience and end-user participation, researchers in Citizenship, Care & Health aim to influence policy, practice and education that benefits citizens and communities in situations of vulnerability and precarity by reducing social inequalities, promoting health and mental health, and improving participation in society.\n We welcome proposals that work with gender, sexuality, cultural and generational communities in the contexts of mental and physical health, housing and homelessness, disability and the NDIS, social and community service provision and design, and their intersections. We offer the potential to collaboration with our partners in health, housing and community service organisations and consumer advocacy groups, and a supervisory team from a range of disciplinary areas, including social work, social policy, youth work, medical and health sociology, community psychology and disability studies. We are particularly interested in projects with the potential to address intersectional disadvantage and vulnerability using innovative and participatory research methods. \n  Priority area: - Homelessness and housing\n - Lived experience of health and mental health\n - Disability\n - Youth work\n - Aged Care\n - Critical perspectives on trauma","sdg":"1, 3, 10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change; Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"160512, 160702, 170103"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"L Porter, W Steele, B Coffey, P Mayfield, D Kelly, L Dorignon","title":"Critical Urban Governance","description":"The Critical Urban Governance program brings together urban researchers and educators at RMIT to focus critical attention on how cities are governed, and for whom. Through our research and engagement we aim to shape public debate, create new knowledge and provide an inclusive space for discussion and the development of new governance practices to address the challenges facing contemporary cities. \n The Critical Urban Governance program seeks to work with PhD candidates who bring critical attention to how cities are governed, how, why, to what ends and for whom. Questions of urban equity, justice, fairness and inclusion lie at the heart of our research program agenda.\n In particular we acknowledge the unceded sovereignty of the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung \/ Bunurong speaking peoples on the land where we are located and respectfully acknowledge Ancestors and Elders in all of the places where we conduct our work.\n We acknowledge that systems of governance and law have always been present in the country now called Australia. Both the scholarship and practice of urban governance have historically worked to obscure and deny Indigenous sovereignties. We commit to learning how to practice our scholarship and education on Country in relationship with Indigenous sovereignty, for a more just and sustainable urban future.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1604, 160510, 160403, 120502,160514"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"L Rickards, M Vahanvati, E Kuligowski","title":"Climate Change Transformations","description":"The CCT research group works to understand and address the far-reaching challenges that climate change poses in the context of other complex societal and environmental changes and issues. Committed to social, environmental and climate justice, our work aims to foster positive transformational change towards more genuine sustainable development at multiple scales and in cities and regions. It facilitates critically reflexive, trans-disciplinary exchange between theory and practice by coproducing research with practitioners, policymakers and communities. We work across four broad themes. 1. Adaptation governance and practice: Climate change adaptation requires adaptation of governance, institutions and policies across all sectors and levels of government. CCT researchers work at the research-policy interface to help policy-makers, organisations, businesses and communities make sense of and act effectively on the adaptation challenge. \n 2. Sustainable and just transitions: CCT researchers are working with stakeholders to transition energy systems onto a lower carbon basis and reconfigure production systems using circular economy principles in a way that improves social justice, climate adaptation and other sustainable development outcomes. 3. Disasters, development, and resilience: Focused on the social drivers of disasters, CCT researchers use qualitative and quantitative analytical tools and insights to position Disaster Risk Reduction within climate change adaptation, foster socio-ecological resilience, justice and the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals. 4. Regenerative social-ecological systems: CCT researchers are working with stakeholders to help rethink, reboot and redesign agriculture and natural resource management in ambitious ways that celebrate the turn to catchment and landscape scale interventions, soil health, resilience thinking, strengthened rural-urban relations and transformational climate change adaptation.","sdg":"1,2,3,5,6,7, 8,11,12,13,15,16,17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"160404, 160510, 160403"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lauren Rickards","title":"Assembling a biosolids value chain","description":"Transforming biosolids from waste to resource achieves multiple goals, but actually transforming biosolids into usable innovations is realised is not straight forward. The overall project that this PhD is part of aims to better understand and synthesise the socioeconomic dimensions of biosolids uptake in agriculture in order to provide a conceptual framework of potential barriers and enablers. It will leverage scientific and technical work in the Centre to help scale biosolids innovation where appropriate and ensure it provides genuine value for all involved. Academically, it will bring together: innovation studies; socioeconomic research on recycled water and biosolids use, particularly public perceptions of and cultural attitudes towards sewerage and odour management; and place-based socioeconomic studies of attitudes, practices and needs of stakeholders. It will help develop a deeper understanding of potential biosolids users and their problems, priorities and context in order to generate the strategic and empirical knowledge necessary to ensure the Centre\u2019s biosolids research is genuinely impactful. \n \n The overall project will be conducted in four work packages incorporating literature reviews, broad scale empirical research with potential and existing end-users and other stakeholders, focused research on two value chains, and synthesis and knowledge translation. This particular PhD project will contribute to all work packages and the wider Centre, but focus on mixed methods analysis of an emerging biosolids value chain in Victoria. The particular focus and case studies will be developed in conjunction with the successful applicant, but will analyse existing, emerging and possible biosolids uses and associated stakeholder relations","sdg":"6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 - Climate Action; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"160404 Urban and Regional Studies (excl. Planning)\n  160401 Economic Geography"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lauren Rickards","title":"The sociocultural work of transforming biosolids into a valued resource","description":"This social science PhD helps explore the sociocultural work involved in transforming the \u2018biosolids\u2019 from water treatment processes into an appealing resource for farmers and other end users. Drawing on Science and Technology studies, human geography, science communication studies and related fields, the project will complement the scientific and technical work of biosolids management with a close exploration of the labours involved in assembling biosolids into a resource such as biochar or fertiliser that others want, value and use. Empirically focused on an emerging biosolids value chain in Victoria, the project will examine cultural factors such as discourses about the \u2018circular economy\u2019, sociopolitical factors such as new alliances and risk communications, and material factors such as lived experience of climatic disruptions. Overall, the project will help develop a conceptual social science framework about the work involved in contemporary biosolids management, the agendas, hopes and social relationships involved, and the apparent barriers and enablers. \n \n This PhD offers an unusual combination of sophisticated social science and applied industry research. It is part of one of ten projects in the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia\u2019s Biosolids Resource. Part of the Sustainability theme, the broader project this PhD is part of focuses on the stakeholders involved in biosolids management and use and involves three Chief Investigators (Prof Lauren Rickards, Prof Matthew Kearnes and A\/Prof Michael Burton), two postdoctoral fellows (Pat Bonney and James Haye) and two PhD students.","sdg":"2 - Zero Hunger; 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 - Climate Action","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"STS 5 Pollution Mitigation; STS 1 Circular Economy; STS 4 Water","forcodes":"440610 (social geography)\n 441002 (environmental sociology)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Criminology and Justice Studies; Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Michele Ruyters, Crystal MacKinnon, Stuart Thomas, Monica Barratt, Nicola Henry, Georgina Heydon, Aiden Warren, Charlie Hunt, Anastasia Powell, Larissa Sandy, Brianna Chesser, Gemma Hamilton, Lisa Harris, Suzi Hutchings, Binoy Kampmark, Marg Lidell, Marietta Martinovic, Rob Watts, Pete Chambers, Rajesh Sharma, Russell Solomon, Robin Cameron, Greg Stratton, Lucy Maxwell, Peta Malins, Sharon Andrews, James Rowe","title":"Crime, Justice & Security","description":"We invite proposals addressing social, political and inter-personal conflict, including family and gender violence, policing and consequences of transnational crime, borders and national security, the impact of terrorism, crime and digital technology, shifting political conditions and relationships, gender and race inequalities in criminal justice systems and forensic mental health settings.\n Projects can focus on the voices of those who are persecuted and discriminated against for their identity, beliefs or circumstances and\/or legal, policy and practice reforms for institutions and services, as part of a broader global agenda towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Supervisors come from disciplines including social work and law, justice and legal studies, psychology and forensic mental health, Indigenous studies, international development and political science, criminology and education.\n There is the opportunity to work with community groups and industry partners to generate an evidence-based for policy and practice reform at the interface of institutions, services and societal norms. Priority areas: - Digital Criminology\n - Gender and Family Violence\n - Indigenous and critical race perspectives on law and justice\n - Forensic mental health\n - Proposals related to Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative\n - International Peacekeeping and Security","sdg":"5, 10, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1602, 160604"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Paul Battersby, Hariz Halilovich, Val Colic-Peisker, Damian Grenfell, Robbie Guevara, Vandra Harris, Julian Lee, Yaso Nadarajah, Ceridwen Spark, Kaye Quek, Elizabeth Kath, Bruce Wilson, Emma Shortis, Reina Ichii, Peter Phipps, Gemma Sou","title":"Humanitarianism, Migration & Development","description":"Mass migration as a result of humanitarian crises is a key contemporary global challenge shaped by the impact of global financial institutions and governance structures, environmental threats from climate change, ideological contestations and the changing nature of conflicts, generating new forms of precarity and vulnerability. Innovations in social media are impacting on cultural understandings of migration, identity and belonging, while ongoing digital transformations create challenges and opportunities for intervention approaches in the humanitarian and international development sector.\n We welcome proposals that address issues in the fields of humanitarianism, migration and development by focusing on new and entrenched vulnerabilities locally or internationally, including the impact on women and children and indigenous groups. Candidates may have the opportunity to work with our partners including Australian Red Cross and Oxfam. Supervisors come from a background in anthropology, international development, political science, social work, gender studies, criminology, and global studies. \n Priority areas: \n 1. Indigenous and decolonisation perspectives in development\n 2. Digital transformations in the Humanitarian Sector\n 3. Gender, sexuality and development\n 4. Migrant communities, belonging and social \n 5. Critical engagements with UN Sustainable Development Goals","sdg":"1, 5,10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"160104, 160606, 160607, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Professor Paul Carter","title":"Deep Timetable: A Noongar Rail History","description":"The invisible history of Indigenous peoples and Country in building Australia\u2019s rail infrastructure is slowly being recognised. Noongar Country \u2013 south-western Western Australia \u2013 has been profoundly impacted by such development. Yet this story has never been told and it is a story that Noongar community wishes to be heard. This project, auspiced by the Noongar community, will clarify the impact of the railway on Noongar people and Country. Working closely with Noongar knowledge custodians, the project aims to reconstruct the hitherto overlooked history using a Noongar narrative framework \u2013 where storytelling actively maps Country and kinship relations \u2013 to plot the relationship with the emergent rail network. The project aims to help mature an understanding of the foundational relationship between infrastructure development and Indigenous peoples and Country.","sdg":"11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":"210301"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Digital Design; Social Work and Human Services","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Renata Kokanovic","title":"Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena","description":"PhD scholarship attached to the Australian Research Council Linkage Project \u2013 Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena.\n \n We have an exciting and unique opportunity for a highly motivated student to undertake a PhD as part of a large Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project entitled Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena. The team is comprised of an international research group with expertise in critical mental health research, medical humanities, cultural studies, psychiatry and qualitative and arts-based research in mental health. The project is also is guided by collaborators with lived experiences and an Advisory Group. \n \n The focus of the PhD project will be to explore experiences of borderline personality among young people. The student will be panel supervised and trained in advanced qualitative and critical methodologies, and the production of digital resources. They will also be mentored to develop their expertise in critical social research on mental health. \n \n Value and duration\n $31,000 per annum for three years with a possible extension of six months (full time).\n \n Number of scholarships available\n One\n \n Eligibility\n Candidates with backgrounds in critical mental health and health sociology are encouraged to apply.\n To be eligible for this scholarship you must:\n \u2022 have first-class honours or equivalent in a relevant discipline;\n \u2022 be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident;\n \u2022 provide evidence of good oral and written communication skills;\n \u2022 demonstrable interest to work as part of a multi-disciplinary research team;\n \u2022 meet RMIT\u2019s entry requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy.\n \n How to apply\n To apply, please submit the following documents:\n \u2022 a cover letter, including a research statement\n \u2022 a copy of electronic academic transcripts\n \u2022 a CV that includes details of any publications\/awards and the contact details of 2 academic referees.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"441011 - Sociology of health (70%) 920410 - Mental Health (30%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Bekessy, Ascelin Gordon, Georgia Garrard, Matthew Selinske, Holly Kirk, Alex Kusmanoff","title":"Interdisciplinary Conservation Science","description":"Managing biodiversity demands a multidisciplinary approach that reconciles ecological, social and economic dimensions. The ICON Science Research Group examines these diverse drivers of change, particularly in urban and semi-rural environments. We are looking for HDR PhD students for 6 specific projects:\n \n 1) Effective biodiversity behaviour change across supply chains\n Work with project partner Zoos Victoria on a sustainable coffee engagement project, designing interventions, collaborating with coffee industry partners, and evaluating intervention outcomes. 2) Message framing for improved biodiversity conservation\n How we say things can be as important as what we say when trying to change behaviours that affect biodiversity conservation. We have numerous partners from state and federal government agencies and non-government organisation interested in exploring the topic of communication and message framing in various contexts \n 3) Onsets not offsets for real biodiversity gains\n Work with us on an ARC Discovery project investigating an alternative approach to biodiversity offsetting that delivers positive on-site benefits to biodiversity and industry. By requiring proponents to demonstrate how they will retain, protect, restore and improve biodiversity on their site, onsetting will drive creative thinking and much-needed innovation within industry. \n 4) Designing green spaces for biodiversity and human well-being\n Interested in maintaining and encouraging more biodiversity into the cities? We have an established research program looking at social and ecological factors involved with urban greening, that specifically focuses on how people perceive different types of green spaces in cities, unpacking the elements of 'green' in green space design and delving into city floral visitor networks (like native bees!). \n 5) Understanding the synergies and trade-offs between conservation and ecosystem service supply and demand in rural and urban areas There has been significant progress in understanding how we value and measure ecosystem services. However, much of this work has been focused on the supply of services, with a less research on understanding the dynamics of the demand for services. In addition, more work is needed to properly understand the likely synergies and tradeoffs that may occur between prioritizing ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. 6) Biodiversity sensitive urban design (BSUD)\n \n We work with government agencies, certification bodies, non-government organisations and urban developers to improve urban design in cities to enhance biodiversity within the urban fabric. PhD projects could focus on the intersection of architecture and BSUD, the measurement of biodiversity outcomes, urban design that enhances connectivity for target species or techniques for engaging stakeholders in setting compelling biodiversity objectives.","sdg":"6,9,11,12,14,15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":""},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Foster","title":"Apartment Living, Green space and Well-being","description":"We are seeking a motivated student to undertake a PhD on the interplay between apartment design, exposure to green space (including views of green\/blue space, building communal spaces, and public parks) and health and wellbeing. \n  Studies link natural views and access to greenspace and nature with a range of positive health and wellbeing outcomes. Alternatively, environments dominated by concrete can have a negative impact on resident health. Thus, stakeholder decisions on siting apartment buildings, the orientation of apartments and the location and design of communal green space, including deep soil zones to accommodate large trees, could have implications for residents\u2019 health. \n  This project focuses on apartment living, green-space and mental wellbeing to better understand apartment residents\u2019 exposure to and use of green space (i.e., within the building and neighbourhood), and whether this impacts on mental wellbeing. A key component of the study could include the development of a Green Floor View Index in GIS, a novel technique which quantifies the area of urban vegetation that can be observed from an apartment, based on floor level and apartment orientation. \n  The PhD is part of an ARC Discovery Grant on creating evidence-based public open space standards for apartment residents (the \u2018High Life\u2019 Study). The candidate will work with investigators in Melbourne and Perth to develop a project on the interplay between apartment design, green space and wellbeing.","sdg":"40819","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"120507 - Urban Analysis and Development 40\n 120508 - Urban Design 35\n 120304 - Digital and Interaction Design 25"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Katrina Phillips, Pawel Mankiewicz, Merv Jackson","title":"Understanding disability and mental health through a Vietnamese lens to overcome stigma","description":"Disabled people are far from a homogenous group, with the term often being an umbrella term covering disabled people with additional support needs that are physical, sensory (e.g. Deaf or Blind), mental health, intellectual, or neurodivergent related. Disabled people comprise 7.8% of the Vietnamese population (this statistic captures only physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities due to definitional differences). The number of people with mental health support needs or who are neurodivergent is unknown. What is known is that people in all these subgroups of disability face marginalisation in many aspects of life, including education, employment, relationships and child-raising, recreation, accessibility to information, public transportation, politics, and health. There are a number of reasons for this marginalisation, including stigma and misunderstanding from the wider community. While the research is clear that marginalisation and stigma exist, it is unclear the extent to which it varies between different types of disabilities and support needs.   The aim of the current project is to work with the community to explore how these subgroups experience marginalisation and stigma and then create interventions to change perceptions of family, communities, and high-level systems. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"2027-01-01","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"420318 - People with disability 90%\n529999        Other psychology not elsewhere classified 10%\n\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Gordon Ingram, Anh Nguyen, Mary Lam, Yang Yap","title":"Mental health risks and coping strategies in Vietnamese medical students ","description":"Students in high-pressure educational careers, such as medicine, can be at risk of mental health problems that adversely affect their studies and continue causing them problems later in life. They are often lacking in effective institutional support that can help them deal with these problems, especially in under-resourced countries like Vietnam. This research project aims to understand the experiences of medical students in Vietnam who suffer from stress, depression, and anxiety due to academic, financial, and social pressures, and provide concrete solutions for helping them achieve a balanced level of mental and physical health. The first step will include longitudinal mixed-methods research to understand the drivers of these mental health problems in Vietnamese medical students. The outcome variables of stress, depression, anxiety, and wellbeing will be measure using scales such as DASS-21, WHO-5, MHC-SF and CSI [physiological  measures too, e.g. wearables for sleep etc.] A wide range of moderating factors will be examined, including lack of economic resources, family pressure, lack of social support due to dislocation, health problems, alcohol and other lifestyle risk factors, time demands, sleep problems, and media use. We will also investigate the coping strategies that students have developed and develop ways of utilizing advice from members of the cohort who cope better with these problems. The results will feed into the development of a technology-based intervention to improve students' mental health, using positive psychological concepts such as self-compassion, gratitude and patience, and techniques such as mindful concentration, meditation and self-regulation.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"525203 Clinical & Health Psychology\n424206 Public Health \n393904 Specialist Studies in Education"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"Melbourne City; Bundoora; Brunswick; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Leila Karimi, Chris Powell","title":"Psychometric Assessment of a New Measurement of Belongingness","description":"A review of belongingness as a construct is vital, as even after three decades the concept has been described as \u201cbroad, vague and under-theorised\u201d (Ward, 2022). A precise and shared understanding of belongingness will facilitate the operationalisation of the construct as an entity distinct from the outcomes and antecedents with which it is closely related. This in turn may facilitate the refinement of both belongingness-centred theoretical perspectives and practical interventions. This study, therefore, will develop a new measure of belongingness and will examine the main predictors and outcomes of belongingness in work settings.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"520104 (50%)\r\n520304 (50%)\r"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Chinese Medicine","programcode":"DR237","campus":"Melbourne City; Bundoora; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"George Lenon, Angela Yang, Andrew Hung","title":"The effects of Fucoidan and Lingzhi on Lung cancer cells","description":"Cancer is a significant global disease burden, with 14.1 million cases annually and a mortality of approx. 8.2 million each year. Globally, 57% of new cases (8 million) and 65% of mortality (5.3 million) occur in underdeveloped regions, with approximately half of these happening in Asia. Furthermore, the cancer-associated costs to the global economy are estimated at $3.66 trillion annually. In various studies, fucoidan has been found to slow tumour metastasis, and enhance the therapeutic effects of conventional Therapy, reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, defend against treatment-related weight loss and muscle loss.  Fucoidan has been shown to directly affect cancer cells in vitro via cellular pathways that involve the activation of NF-\u03ba\u03b2. This activation is mediated by PI3K\/ Akt and ERK signalling pathways. Recent research indicates that fucoidan may also induce programmed cell death (known as apoptosis) in breast and colon cancer cells by modulating the endoplasmic reticulum stress cascades. Fucoidan has been shown to cause cell cycle arrest in the first growth phase (G1) of an HCT116 human colon cancer cell line. By halting the cell cycle process this way, the colon cancer cells could not divide and spread. The direct cytotoxic and anti-angiogenesis mechanisms of Lingzhi have been established by in vitro studies. Lingzhi or its products can be classified as an anticancer agent when current and more direct scientific evidence becomes available. It is proposed that combining these two compounds helps strengthen the immune system to treat and prevent cancer formation as well as metastasis.\r\nThe objective of this project is to use computational analysis to investigate the effects of fucoidan, Lingzhi and combination on cancer cells, especially Lung cancer cells.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"420803"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing &Publishing, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brigid Magner, Polly Stanton, Olivia Guntarik, Rebecca Hill, Rachel Wilson, Bonny Cassidy, Leah Li, Adrian Danks, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Place, Location, Sovereignties and the Transnational","description":"This theme aims to explore the possibilities of place, belonging, language and the transnational, including Indigenous language revival and maintenance, through literary, screen and other creative works. Questions include: how can creative writing, screen and sound, and allied literary and creative practices, be used explore the complex relationships between place and sovereignty? How do place-stories and mediations contribute to a shared sense of identity, and how might they work to recalibrate settler-Indigenous relations? How do creative works authored by Indigenous writers and media-makers articulate and perform sovereignty? And how can literary\/screen\/sound practice transform how geographic places are experienced and defined?","sdg":"11, 15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 1904, 2005"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brigid Magner, Ronnie Scott, Jessica Wilkinson, Olivia Guntarik, Rose Michael, Peta Murray, Zoe Dzunko, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Stayci Taylor","title":"Playful and Experimental Approaches to Creative Writing Methods","description":"How can creative writing methods including play, immersive practice, observation and deep listening reshape creative reinterpretations of the material world? Alternatively, how might formal methodological experimentation in creative writing contribute to new ways of knowing, doing or understanding contemporary realities? This theme encourages engagement with interdisciplinary ways of knowing, including play scholarship from ludology, psychology, literary studies or biology. By foregrounding playful and experimental research practices with poetry, fiction, nonfiction, digital literatures and performance writing, this research will enable innovative investigations of pressing material, social, ecological and cultural issues, as well as offer new insight into innovative methods and applications of creative writing and\/or literary studies.","sdg":"44868","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Carlin; Francesca Rendle-Short; Michelle Aung Thin; Melody Ellis","title":"Connecting Asia-Pacific Literary Cultures: Grounds for Encounter and Exchange","description":"This project aims to analyse and develop innovative creative practices to connect writers and evolve literary cultures in the Asia-Pacific region. It will elaborate, test, evaluate and communicate an evolving model for best practice in intercultural and transnational exchange, based on principles and processes of ethical encounter and exchange through creative practice. It looks at and builds upon the work of a successful pilot program, Writers\u2019 Immersion and Cultural Exchange (WrICE), which has developed an organic network of 59 writers across 13 countries. The model, premised on situating creative writing as a way of thinking, being and learning collectively, centres on methods of curating and facilitating collaborative residencies. The project asks: how might writers be supported to develop intercultural and international relationships that augment and transform their creative practices, and produce networks of cooperation across the Asia-Pacific? The PhD project is an opportunity for a creative writer with an established or emerging track record to extend their practice through collaborative and intercultural engagement with creative peers from across the Asia-Pacific. \n  \n  The PhD researcher will conduct creative practice-based fieldwork as a writer\/participant in the project, extending and challenging their existing creative practice. This is an opportunity to participate in and co-design a range of innovative exercises in creative and intercultural collaboration, alongside creative peers from across the Asia-Pacific, and to theorise and apply the collaborative and intercultural creative writing methods developed and explored through the project.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"190402 - Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) (80%)\n  (360201 Creative and Professional Writing (Creative Writing))\n  200209 - Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-cultural Studies (20%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Haiqing Yu, Annette Markham, Leah Li, Tania Lewis, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Digital Domesticity, Sustainability, and the Everyday","description":"Digital Domesticity, Sustainability, and the Everyday examines the role of everyday life practices and homes as increasingly central hubs of digital engagement and smart infrastructure, and the implications of this for post-human experience and climate change. This research will centre on and in people\u2019s homes, lives and communities, using a range of possible approaches\u2014from digital methods to ethnography and beyond\u2014to foreground the rich and shifting relationships between practices, beliefs, technology and environments. Projects tend to focus on particular domains or interrelations, such as environmental activism online, e-waste and digital sustainability; the politics of smart homes and domestic robotics; the characteristics and complexities of relationships between humans and their digital personal assistants; the digitisation of food, and games, YouTube, post-television cultures and streaming services.","sdg":"44906","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Mark Gibson, Emsie Arnoldi, Rob Cover, Bruno Schivinski, Alex Wake, Scott Brook, Catherine Gomes, Michaela Jackson, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Cathy Greenfield, Marianne Sison, Annette Markham, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan, Ramon Lobato, Michelle Aung Thin, Ella Chorazy, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Daniel Binns, Leah Li, Maria Stratford, Tania Lewis, Jay Daniel Thompson, David Fouvy, Chengju Huang, John Postill, Julie Bilby, Lucy Morieson, Annette Markham","title":"Digital media and the social","description":"This theme focuses on the ways in which digital media is an intrinsic part of the social. From the new forms of articulating and experiencing identity and community through social media and mobile devices, to the role of analytics and big data in the management of organisations and populations, research in this theme focuses on the emergent issues of trust, ethics, publics, planning, technology, and power. It is concerned with the role of digital media and communications technologies in articulating publics and communities, as well as the actions of agencies that would seek to manage, inform, influence, and listen to such groups. It has a further interest in critical methodologies across a range of interdisciplinary fields that have been used to explore the ways in which the social is reproduced and transformed by digital communications, including digital ethnography, sociology of the internet, science and technology studies, governmentality studies, and mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) network analysis.","sdg":"42684","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Marsha Berry, Rachel Wilson, Rebecca Young, Daniel Binns, Jay Daniel Thompson, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Natalie Hendry, Seth Keen","title":"Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design","description":"Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design positions research participants as \u2018creative agents\u2019 and authors of their own experience. This programme takes the question of research translation as a point of departure and creates experiences, artefacts, resources and texts through which participant\u2019s stories, perspectives, desires and subjectivities are presented in affective and accessible ways. Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design explores the potential of social practice and co-designed arts across a range of disciplinary spaces. Researchers explore issues relating to visibility, agency, voice, care, educational experience, screen and performance-based methods for progressive and transformational ethnographic research. This program places a strong emphasis on accessibility and social inclusion. Methods employed are designed to be inclusive, relevant in inter-cultural and cross-cultural contexts and ensure to facilitate distributed agency in ways that support and encourage participants. Research is both a vehicle for social change and a means of collaborative knowledge production.","sdg":"38445","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Meese, Bruno Schivinski, Alex Wake, Michaela Jackson, Catherine Gomes, Haiqing Yu, Marianne Sison, Lukas Parker, Ella Chorazy, Linda Brennan, Lisa Waller, Leah Li, Robert Crawford David Fouvy, Chengju Huang, Julie Bilby","title":"Social, Public and Marketing Communications","description":"This theme focuses on all forms of social, public and commercial communications; from advertising campaigns through organisational communications to news media and citizen journalism. It focuses on normative and critical accounts of the effects and efficacy of media communications projects and industries subject to processes of digital disruption, including the tensions between public, community and commercial interests and values. Research in this theme is often interdisciplinary and encompasses institutions, industries, stakeholders and individuals with a focus on contributing to the creation of public value, including building citizenship and public participation with mainstream as well as diverse groups. Topics and disciplines include Indigenous media, branding, public relations and strategic communications, social marketing and public value, organisational ethics, fact-checking and misinformation, public and citizen journalism, consumer activism and community advocacy; and media and communications for community development.","sdg":"41191","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Meese, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Cathy Greenfield, Annette Markham, Ramon Lobato, Ellie Rennie, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca, Tania Lewis","title":"Automation and Social Futures","description":"Automation and Social Futures engages with the ethical, political, social, organisational, cultural and governance implications of machine learning, algorithmic decision-making and digital infrastructures. The research will investigate the intersection of technology and the human experience, using methods ranging from data analytics to close level ethnographic approaches. Possible areas of investigation include the complex interrelations between technology design and technologies in use; social media platforms; ethics and future automation of memory and heritage practices; impact of algorithms on identity; deep fakes and disinformation campaigns; autonomous vehicles; smart city infrastructures; blockchain as infrastructure; supply chain systems. This program places strong focus on building better potential futures for our communities by critically examining the politics and ethics behind both norms and governance around automated decision-making systems, especially important in times of continuous and rapid change.","sdg":"8","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Josie Vine, Brigid Magner, Ronnie Scott, Kim Munro, Jessica Wilkinson. Marsha Berry, Rebecca Hill, Bonny Cassidy, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Stayci Taylor, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetics: Creative Ecologies and Imaginative Futures","description":"This theme looks at how writing and publishing can engage with other disciplines and knowledges to create new imaginings of histories, ecologies and futures. It invites a range of approaches, deploying fiction, nonfiction, poetry and\/or performance writing, along with hybrid forms such as the audio essay or poetic biography that complicate generic boundaries. It explores and interrogates how devices of speculation, imagination, poetry and fabulation can generate new perspectives and approaches to critical issues. These include questions of work and care, ecological and ethical futures, and the politics and poetics of fact and fiction as they relate to the way stories are told, policies devised, and worlds imagined.","sdg":"11, 13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Josie Vine, Ronnie Scott, Rebecca Hill, Michelle Aung Thin, Bonny Cassidy, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Leah Li, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Voice, Ethics and Power in Writing and Publishing","description":"This theme looks at how dynamics of power play out across bodies, time, narratives and institutions. Its focus is on ethical relations and how these may form the basis for socially grounded creative practices. Through practice-based and allied creative methods, it asks how stories come to matter: whose stories, what stories, how stories are shaped, framed and circulated. It invites critical engagement with theories of difference and relationality, including Indigenous, feminist, queer, critical race, decolonial theory and posthumanist theory. Equally, it is open to the bending of genres to explore transgressive and performative contours and cartographies. The theme invites and implicates diverse modes of creative practice, including the essayistic, poetic, performative and fictional","sdg":"5, 16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904, 2005"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Mark Gibson, Lisa French, Emsie Arnoldi, Scott Brook, Rachel Wilson, Ramon Lobato, Cathy Greenfield, Ellie Rennie, Gretchen Coombs, Daniel Binns, Robert Crawford, Chengju Huang, Julie Bilby, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Cultural and Creative Industries","description":"This research theme focuses on the industry dynamics of the Cultural and Creative Industries. It defines the CCIs broadly - including the media industries (screen, music recording, journalism, publishing), arts and design, games and advertising - and is distinguished by a focus on industry features; such as policy and regulation: the impact of new technologies and digital platforms on production, distribution and consumption; cultural and creative work, employability and careers: creative hubs and ecosystems: social network markets and fields of creative production; cultural economy and entrepreneurship; and the history of the CCIs as modern industry and policy formations and, more recently, domains of government intervention, regulation, and industry advocacy. CCI researchers in the School have an interest in gender, labour, government policy, education, locative media, and the platform economy.","sdg":"44812","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 1904, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rob Cover, Bruno Schivinski, Emsie Arnoldi, Michaela Jackson, Catherine Gomes, Haiqing Yu, Marianne Sison, Lukas Parker, Ella Chorazy, Linda Brennan, Lisa Waller, Leah Li, Jay Daniel Thompson David Fouvy, Seth Keen","title":"Communicating for Health, Sustainable Environments and Community Wellbeing","description":"This theme encompasses research into communication and media applications in the areas of health and sustainability, especially where societal change is creating rapid transformations for communities and environments. The theme includes health and environmental communication campaigns, affective social media, gaming, crisis communications, and community advocacy. This theme includes multiple disciplinary threads from across media and communications, including journalism, social marketing for behaviour change, advertising, corporate responsibility and organisational ethics, strategic communications, and supports research in interdisciplinary teams with industry partners. The theme supports a diverse range of methodologies, including applied design and innovation, especially co-design and user experience research. Research in this theme covers a range of social issues such as equity, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, digital wellbeing, building individual, community and societal wellbeing and social change.","sdg":"40301","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rob Cover, Catherine Gomes, Emsie Arnoldi, Olivia Guntarik, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Marianne Sison, Antonio Castillo, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Leah Li, Tania Lewis, Jay Daniel Thompson","title":"Digital Inclusion, Mobility, and Activism","description":"The research program examines the challenges and potentials of digital participation as this relates to access and inclusion, connectivity, networks and political activism, gig or micro work, and mobility and migration. Possible research methods include analyses of existing data sets, digital ethnography, critical pedagogical experiments, arts-based interventions, and working with communities to understand how digital technologies are mobilised for various political and personal purposes. Research seeks to explain patterns and practices that have built up around digital communities or activist practices, and to explore the outcomes and implications of disconnections and misalignments between technology design, everyday use, policies and norms. Possible areas of investigation include experimenting with groups to adapt or hack common digital tools to preserve cultural memory; building localized rather than universal interpretations of critical data literacy; bringing together policymakers and community members to make so-called smart technology designs more usable and relevant; the politics of tech communities; the outcomes of internet use for different groups; locative technologies and place.","sdg":"3, 5, 10, 16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, Catherine Strong, Lisa French, Kim Munro, Polly Stanton, Marsha Berry, Patrick Kelly, Alexia Kannas, Alan Nguyen, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Rachel Wilson, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Rebecca Young, Djoymi Baker, Daniel Binns, Maria Stratford, Shweta Kishore, Stayci Taylor, Seth Keen, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Thinking Critically about Screen, Sound and Music as Creative Practices","description":"This theme investigates contexts, epistemologies, theories, methods, and methodologies to enrich understandings of the cultures of screen, and\/or sound and\/or music. This can be approached through a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to screen studies, popular music, filmmaking, screenwriting, history, curatorial practice, sound design, online media and other related fields, including through community, social justice or environmental lenses. Interdisciplinary approaches are also encouraged. These approaches can be applied to a range of genres, modes of engagement with content, theoretical perspectives or formats, including the digital and virtual.","sdg":"44776","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change \/ Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, Catherine Strong, Patrick Kelly, Alexia Kannas, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Maria Stratford, Shweta Kishore, Stayci Taylor, Adrian Danks, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi","title":"Performance and Identity in Screen, Sound, Music","description":"The theme aims to understand the importance of identity in screen, and\/or sound and\/or music. This includes how identity affects performance, production, dissemination and reception of cultural products. Aspects of identity that could be considered include, but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, age, dis\/ability and gender. This can incorporate the aspects of identity formation enabled through these cultural forms that are essential to community formation and positive self-reflections, as well as those that are exclusionary or that contribute to the maintenance of inequality in wider society. Projects within this theme aim to generate creative and inventive solutions to real-world problems which have the capacity to change social expectations about identity and increase representations of cultural diversity.","sdg":"44839","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2003"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, James Meese, Catherine Strong, Mark Gibson, Kim Munro, Patrick Kelly, Alan Nguyen, Alex Wake, Scott Brook, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Djoymi Baker, Daniel Binns, Leah Li, Maria Stratford, Tania Lewis, Adrian Danks, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Transforming Screen and Sound Industries in a Digital Age","description":"This theme investigates social, economic and industrial dynamics of screen, and\/or sound and\/or music culture. Research topics may include audiences, policy, labour, access, digital inclusion, participation, cultural diversity, sustainability and other issues related to the social contexts of cultural production, distribution and consumption. We invite proposals that consider one or more of these issues in relation to a specific media industry (or industries), in contemporary or historical contexts.","sdg":"44874","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Christina Scott-young, Ken Farnes, Guinevere Gilbert, Tayyab Maqsood","title":"Resilient Transformation of Eary Career Project Management professionals","description":"Project management is an exciting and rewarding career, but projects can be demanding. Unexpected challenges and stresses can leave project managers and their teams feeling overburdened, overworked, or even burnt out. Burnout is a state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress. The COVID pandemic has brought additional stresses, disrupting conventional ways of working, adversely impacting physical and mental health, and causing social disconnection in teams. In this volatile environment, burnout is a real risk for project practitioners. Project managers and their teams need transformative ways to manage their stress. One effective strategy is to focus on building both personal and team resilience that allow them to withstand and bounce back from workplace stresses and to overcome the threat of burnout. This research project will explore i.) the major stressors that project managers and their teams experience individually and collectively, and ii.) identify the effective strategies that leaders, teams and individuals use to build their resilience, transforming them both individually and as a team. This project can be adapted to the research candidate\u2019s particular interests, and can be conducted using mixed methods, or by adopting either a quantitative or a qualitative research approach.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation, Social change","forcodes":"330205"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Oswald, Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, Payam Pirzadeh","title":"A Framework for Improving Safety Performance of Construction Projects based on the Interaction of Lean Construction and BIM","description":"The construction industry's safety performance continues to be a problem across the world. There is a need for more innovative ways to reduce accidents and injury. This research explores the integration of Lean construction principles and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to improve safety performance in construction. While Lean construction and BIM can affect safety performance independently, it is hypothesized that to reach maximum safety potential, the application of Lean construction and BIM should be considered in an integrated way. There is a lack of research evidence on the interaction and integration of Lean construction and BIM for improving construction safety performance. Further research is required to bridge this knowledge gap, which is the focus of this study. This research aims to investigate the feasibility of integrating Lean construction and BIM to improve construction safety in Australia and to develop a framework featuring the interaction of lean construction and BIM from the perspective of improving construction safety. This research uses a mixed methods approach, including systematic literature review, case studies, survey, and framework development and validation. The results of this study can increase the understanding of construction practitioners about the significance of integrating lean construction and BIM for safety improvement. This innovative approach could identify a novel approach for improving construction safety practice and advancing theoretical understanding into reducing accidents in the construction industry.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Oswald, Trivess Moore","title":"The construction cladding crisis","description":"The Australian construction boom in high density residential building has put significant pressure on the industry to deliver high-quality products on time and safely. The acceleration in construction has led to new building techniques, higher resourcing requirements and policy changes to keep up with demand. This has led to a culture of significant building defects estimated to have affected most new residential buildings. Inappropriate cladding is a major defect that can detected in new medium and high-density buildings. In 2017, combustible cladding fueled the Grenfell tower fire in the UK that killed 72 people. The combustible cladding has also led to fires in Australia and overseas; with Australian authorities acting to ban such cladding. Years on from the Grenfell disaster, there is ongoing tension between policymakers, the building industry and owners about how to resolve the problem of combustible cladding. This PhD project would explore the manifestation of how defects have occurred within new residential buildings, with a focus on combustible cladding. It is envisioned a qualitative approach to the problem will be undertaken with use of interviews, observations and relevant documentation as data. The project will provide a contribution to knowledge by providing insights into the construction cladding crisis in Australia. This could help inform future construction policy and practice in order to avoid this issue recurring and to potentially save lives of the general public who are at risk living within unsafe buildings.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Property","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Karien Dekker, Judith Callanan, Andrea Sharam","title":"Social and Affordable housing in Australia","description":"Melbourne and Sydney are among the least affordable cities in the world when it comes to housing. A large majority of low income households in the private rental sector are experiencing housing stress \u2013meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. This is occurring at a time of historical under-investment in social and affordable housing. Housing price inflation has also contributed to declining home ownership rates, particularly among first home buyers. There is broad agreement that that low-income households require assistance, but no coherent, sustained policy strategy to address this need. Declining housing affordability is of intense public interest, but its causes and the preferred solutions are highly contested. To increase access to, and quality of social and affordable housing, many obstacles are to be overcome. A few examples: \n  \u2022 Land values have been inflated by competition for centrally located sites and permissive planning schemes \u2022 Most public funding goes to existing home owners \u2022 Existing residents protest the development of housing in their neighbourhood \u2022 The taxation system encourages property speculation \u2022 And multi-residential construction costs are high. We invite HDR proposals that investigate one or more of the following topics: \u2022 Underlying causes of the lack of affordable housing (planning processes; financial, economic, policy and political issues) \u2022 Underlying causes of inadequate housing supply for low to middle income households (financial, economic, policy and political issues) \u2022 Effectiveness of measures to improve the quality and cost of housing (design, environmental sustainability, materials, construction processes \u2022 Innovative approaches to solving Australia\u2019s affordable housing problem","sdg":"10- Reduced inequalities; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures\/Social Change","forcodes":"330299"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Sustainability and Urban Planning","programcode":"DR212 \/ MR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nicola Willand, Nigel Goodman, Priya Rajagopalan, Jin Woo","title":"Indoor air quality in apartment buildings","description":"In the context of the trajectory to highly energy efficient dwellings and the trend towards higher density urban living in Australia, this Area of Focus addresses the nexus of lack of understanding of exposure to chemical pollutants in higher density housing.\n  Exposure to chemical pollution in housing is a function of material qualities of the dwelling, householder practices and the outdoor environment. Chemical air pollutants have indoor and outdoor origins. Indoor exposure may come from building materials, smoking, cooking or cleaning. Outdoor exposure may be linked to traffic fumes, industrial sites or bush fires. Exposure to indoor air pollutants can be minimised by source control, removal at point of release (e.g. exhaust over stove), natural and mechanical ventilation and air purification. Although exposure to indoor pollutants is ubiquitous, there is concern that exposure may be increased in 1. highly energy efficient housing, because of its increased air tightness, and 2. In higher density housing, as apartments tend to have fewer opportunities for natural ventilation, exposure may happen in common areas and there may be involuntary air exchange between dwelling units or across balconies.\n  In the context of National Construction Code moving towards higher energy efficiency and more stringent mechanical ventilation requirements, more knowledge is needed on the following topics to ensure householder health and wellbeing:\n  \u2022 Interaction between dwelling quality, householder practices, indoor air quality and health outcomes;\n  \u2022 Perspectives and practices of building professionals around building materials, air tightness and ventilation.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 7-Affordable and clean energy; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330206"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Omid Haass, Frank Boukamp, Tiendung Le, Tayyab Maqsood","title":"Application of IOTs within Australian Construction Industry","description":"IoT, or The internet of Things, describes a series of interrelated devices with unique identifiers, which can interconnect, interact and exchange data. These devices operate autonomously - without a requirement for human intervention - and therefore project the appearance of being self-aware, and able to make decisions. The Australian Construction Industry may potentially realise significant cost savings and improved safety levels if it were to utilise and leverage some of the benefits which this technology offers. The focus of this project will be primarily to evaluate the existing body of research, with a view to bring together varying approaches and findings. These will in turn inform findings, which will aim to provide quantitative data to make a compelling case for the adoption of these technologies into the Australian Construction Industry. The Project will include analyses of recent findings and data, to ensure applicability to the Australian context. This will be evaluated against any relevant data sets from international sources, to compare and contrast divergent trends to argue the case for, or against, the adoption of this relatively recent technology.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Pauline Teo, Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, Peter Wong","title":"Mitigating Safety and Rework Incidents in Construction","description":"For several decades, rework and safety incidents are pervasive and recurring problems in construction projects (e.g., Love et al., 2016). Recent research undertaken revealed a significant positive relationship exists between quality and safety performance (Teo and Love, 2017).\n  The adverse consequences of rework have been widely reported, including damage to reputation, loss of productivity, and reduced profitability. Quality failure costs have been reported ranging from less than 1 to over 20% of a project\u2019s original contract value (e.g., Love et al., 2018).\n  The pursuit of an incident- and injury-free workplace remains an ongoing challenge even though considerable effort has been made to ensure the safety of workers. Several issues consistently contribute to this scenario including an organization\u2019s ineffective safety climate and culture, its poor absorptive capacity and an inability to subsequently learn, and the adverse behaviour of individuals.\n  Anecdotally, it has been observed that the underlying conditions that contribute to the occurrence of rework in construction projects have been recognized as the main contributors to safety incidents (Love et al., 2016). However, many contracting organizations treat rework as part of normal operations and not does focus on this symbiotic relationship or are simply ignored. Love and Teo (2017) have found that workplace injuries and accidents are more likely to occur while rectification works are being performed. If rework can be reduced, then significant improvements in safety performance can be achieved.\n  This research will provide construction organizations with the understanding, knowledge and context that is needed to mitigate rework and develop safety performance indicators to ensure projects are delivered in accordance with pre-determined objectives.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Peter Wong, Guillermo Aranda Mena, Rebecca Yang, Ron Wakefield","title":"Automation in Construction","description":"The vision of Industry 5.0 has prompted the construction sector to rethink how their practice can better align with the advanced technology to reduce the reliance on labour and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of project delivery. This project aims to devise pragmatic solutions to foster automation in construction designs and operations. It covers the implementation of technologies and concepts including Building Information Modelling (BIM), robotics, immersive technology, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), and digital twins. This involves a review of the current practice, an exploration the new approaches, and the development of the best practice guides to foster a sector-wide reform.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330201"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Priya Rajagopalan, Mary Myla Andamon, Jin Woo, Nicola Willand","title":"Strategies for energy efficient housing in Australia under changing climates","description":"This project will explore the impacts of climate change on energy consumption and thermal comfort of residential buildings in Australia under a various climate change scenarios. The candidate will work with leading sustainability scientists at RMIT and CSIRO, using cutting edge numerical simulation tools and experimental data to help deliver the next generation of efficient and healthy residential building designs for Australia. The key objectives of the research project are as follows: \u2022Using simulation tools, determine the impacts of climate change on the energy consumption and potential for summer overheating of typical residential buildings under various Australian climate conditions;\n  \u2022Identify the potential measures for reducing overheating of highly energy efficient Australian residential buildings under current and future climates; and\n  \u2022Use these findings to develop strategies to help governments and industry deliver the next generation of efficient, healthy new and retro-fitted buildings to improve performance under current and future warming climates.","sdg":"7-Affordable and clean energy; 9-Industry, Innovation and Infratsructure; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies, Informations and systems","forcodes":"330206"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Property","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rebecca Leshinski, Judith Callanan, Chris Eves, Kwabena Mintah","title":"Technology innovations and their impact and disruption in the property and Built Environment sectors","description":"This project aims to explore the extent, value, cost and disruptive impact of new and future technological innovations in the various sectors of the property industry. The project will also investigate a range of operational aspects within the property sector that are now or in the future will be influenced by Big Data, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. It is intended that the research project will contribute to the advancement of knowledge to answer the how\u2019s and why\u2019s behind adoption and failure of adoption of technical innovations and digital transformation in the property sector","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies, Informations and systems","forcodes":"330299"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tayyab Maqsood, Tiendung Le, Farshid Rahmani, Salman Shooshtarian","title":"Framework and business case for developing a market place for selling and buying Construction and Demolition waste","description":"Construction and demolition waste is an ever growing problem in Australia. Landfill sites across Australia are at capacity. The Australian Government has been discouraging dumping waste in landfills by increasing levies on waste going to landfill and encouraging reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste.\n  However, the definitions pertaining to classes of waste and the levies are not consistent across different states in Australia. There are different economic factors pertinent to a certain state that are at play which determines this levy in that state. The type of construction and demolition waste also depends on the nature of the industry. The project would focus on the waste generated by residential, commercial, rail and road infrastructure. With advances in technology, it is now possible to develop a platform that could encourage buying and selling of construction and demolition waste across different industries and across different states.\n  This project seeks to develop a framework and a business case underpinning the development of this trading platform. Using JIT (Just in Time) principles, buyers and sellers would be able engage in on-line transactions and be able to buy or sell the construction and demolition waste at various locations in a timely manner.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 12-Responsible consumption and production","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures\/Social Change","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"F&T Design","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Donna Cleveland, Rajkishoe Nayak","title":"Sustainability","description":"Vietnam\u2019s industry needs to explore more viable, and sustainable material solutions. The area of focus for this research will primarily employ an experimental approach to designing new material possibilities that will help us to overcome the environmental impacts and unethical practices of the current industry while combining the knowledge of traditional and future craftsmanship. You will be passionate about designing for a circular and sustainable economy bringing together traditional knowledge, cross cultural practices and innovative technologies to scope the scaling up of new material processes to commercialization. Possible approaches are to reimagine new material processes and propose alternative material solutions to meet increased demand for sustainable materials. Defining the specific materials and technologies used will be developed throughout the project period in collaboration with the research team. The theoretical entry point and methodology will depend on the profile of the PhD candidate. Your aim is to develop new strategies for sustainable material futures. Alignment with the implementation and\/or evaluation of the United Nations SDGs will be viewed favorably.","sdg":"SDG 11 and SDG 12","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"AM 4 Materials for sustainable living DCP 2 Playful and Material Encounters DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries STS 1 Circular Economy","forcodes":"330314 Sustainable design 330315 Textile and fashion design"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR207 \/ DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Catherine Earl, Andrew Stiff, Justin Battin","title":"Cities & Urbanism","description":"The area of focus for the research will ideally be a non-traditional research output (NTRO) or a practice-based project. It will explore the lifeworld and livability of the mega-urban region of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research aims to create new knowledge and innovative creative practice that draws on a phenomenological approach and\/or any sensory method including but not limited to visual, sonic, olfactory, tactile, culinary, affective, atmosphere, material, etc. The theoretical perspective is open, depending on the applicant\u2019s preference and track record, but note we are keen to engage with emerging and innovative approaches from the environmental humanities that rethink the dominance of humans in urban built and natural environments. You will join a growing team of dynamic researchers and designers in the School of Communication and Design at RMIT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. The sensory focused investigation will produce an exhibition, a dissertation and presentation of practice, followed by examiners questions.","sdg":"SGD 5, SDG 8, SGD 11, SDG 12, SDG 17","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"DCP 3 The social and Sustainable DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries UF 1 Urban and spatial economics UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":"330103 Architectural heritage and conservation 330110 Sustainable architecture 330405 Public participation and community engagement 330411 Urban design 430208 Intangible heritage 470202 Asian cultural studies"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"Design, Art","programcode":"DR213 \/ DR211 \/ DR208","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Stiff, Hai Phu Ho, Agnieszka Kiejziewicz, Adhvaidha Kalidasan, Rossitsa Bolgurova, Manny Ling, Nick Cope, Liem Bui, Hellmut Monz, Britta Boyer, Glenn Wyatt, Long TV Nguyen, Christopher Denis-Delacour, Quynh Le Xuan, Eriko Yamato, Duong Thi Hoang Oanh","title":"Creativity, Heritage & Society","description":"The National Strategy for the development of Vietnamese cultural industries with a vision to 2030 addresses 5 key themes: Creative Education & Skills, Governance, Investment & Regulation, Audiences & Market Development, Clustering Networking, and International Positioning. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a series of opportunities to redefine the role and development of culture industries in Vietnam, particularly with a view towards sustainability and localization. The area of research focus seeks an enthusiastic practice-based researcher to propose an investigation using an innovative methodology that addresses how the National Strategy and pertinent stakeholders are responding to the reinvigorated attention to sustainability (as informed by UNESCO) and the local, social, and vernacular character through one (or more) of the above-mentioned themes.","sdg":"SGD 5, SDG 9, SGD 11, SDG 12, SDG 17","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"DCP 2 Playful and Material Encounters DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy","forcodes":"430204 Digital heritage \n 430202 Critical heritage, museum and archive studies \n 470106 Media industry studies\n 470208 Culture, representation and identity \n 360604 Photography, video and lens-based practice \n 330306 Design practice and methods"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Data Science (CT)","programcode":"DR221\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Son Dao (son.daovutruong@rmit.edu.vn), Hung Pham (hung.phamviet2@rmit.edu.vn)","title":"Surrogate modeling and Machine Learning for science and engineering applications","description":"The research will focus on data-efficient machine learning (or surrogate modeling) techniques to solve complex problems in science and engineering. Potential research areas including extension and uses of machine learning algorithms such as generative models, neural networks, Gaussian Processes, Bayesian optimization, and more to solve challenging problems in science and engineering. The benefits of the research are as follows: (1) Fast design space exploration: compact scalable regression models for design automation, parametric studies, design space exploration, optimization, yield improvement, visualization, prototyping, and sensitivity analysis; (2) Quickly gain insight: knowledge discovery in sparse data sets, and knowledge extraction from large data sets; (3) Reduced computational time, thus, shorten time to market.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460207\r\n460501\r\n461199\r"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Songlin Ding (RMIT Melbourne) and Minh Tran (RMIT Vietnam)","title":"Digital Twin Assistance for Smart Manufacturing","description":"Digital twin is considered as an innovative and essential tool for smart industry and currently has been applied to various industries including automotive, aerospace, and maritime engineering. The project focuses on investigating the digital twin for smart manufacturing application in which the robotic system can automatically recognize the dimension variation on the stock and obstacles around its operating zone and avoid collision in real time with feedback data. This will allow safe remote control and failure prediction via preventive maintenance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"AMF 1 Manufacturing across scales and functions; AMF 2 Advanced automation research and sensor and sensor network research","forcodes":"400707 Manufacturing Robotics (25%) 401409 Machining (25%) 401402 CAD\/CAM System (25%) 400711 Simulation, Modelling, and Programming of Mechatronics System (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Alberto Bernabeo, Lin Tian, Nhan Nguyen, Associate Lecturer\u2022 Undergraduate & Postgraduate, SBM\/ RMIT Vietnam","title":"Air Quality pollution monitoring, including landfills","description":"The ability to remotely detect and map chemical pollution in open air environments is a topic of significant interest to both defence and civilian communities with regard to environment, health and safety aspects of everyday life. \r\nIn this project we propose:\r\nObjective n.1: a multitasking experimental approach based on the integrated use of remote sensing, aerosol sampling and chemical speciation together with the use of drones\/tethered balloons equipped with aerosol sensors aimed at providing all the information which so far have been collected partially. \r\nObjective n.2: The study will also collect information about the 3D distribution of all the aerosol properties described before with the aim of determining and helping the vertical resolution of data from remote sensing.\r\nObjective n.3: The project will include the testing of aerosol probes aimed at producing aerosol size distribution useful firstly for the research purposes and secondly, but not secondarily, in an attempt of devising the potential for an application as a new on-board instrumentation to integrate flight safety equipment on commercial aviation airplanes.\r\nThe consequences of climate change (UNSDG 13. Climate Action) and weather conditions associated with industrial\/fossile fuels emissions for the transport sector have received relatively little attention. Still, it is widely known that transport systems on the whole perform worse under adverse and extreme weather conditions. This is especially true in densely populated regions, such as many coastal areas around the globe such as in Vietnam, where one single event may lead to a chain of reactions that influence large parts of the transport system. In terms of Sustainable Development, SBM will contribute collecting and sharing the data of the 18 Air Visual Air Quality Monitors installed around Ho Chi Minh City.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"330413\tUrban planning and health\r\n379901\tEarth system sciences\r\n410599\tPollution and contamination not elsewhere classified \r\n059999\tEnvironmental Sciences not elsewhere classified\r\n370199\tAtmospheric sciences not elsewhere classified\r\n401101\tAir pollution modelling and control\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Khuong Nguyen, Ke Wang","title":"Wavelet Neural Network for Three\u2010Phase Power Signal Harmonic-Filtering and Extraction","description":"The integration of renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and wind turbines has significantly increased the use of inverter-connected systems in modern power grids. These inverters, however, introduce harmonic distortions into the grid, which can severely degrade power quality, cause system inefficiencies, and lead to equipment malfunctions. Harmonic oscillations, if not properly mitigated, can create instability in the grid, complicating energy distribution and management.\nTraditional methods of harmonic filtering, such as passive filters or fixed digital filters, are limited in their ability to adapt to the ever-changing nature of harmonic distortion, especially in systems with non-linear loads and variable inverter output. These methods also struggle with identifying transient disturbances or adjusting in real-time to complex harmonic profiles in three-phase power systems.\nThe use of wavelet neural networks (WNNs), which combine the time-frequency localization capability of wavelet transform with the learning and adaptive potential of neural networks, presents a novel and promising approach for filtering and harmonic extraction in three-phase power systems. Moreover, leveraging AI-based adaptive detection algorithms enables real-time dynamic adjustments to the filter parameters, thus enhancing the effectiveness of harmonic suppression in inverter-connected systems.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"(400802) Electrical circuits and systems - 25%\n(400911) Power electronics - 25%\n(461103) Deep learning - 25%\n(461104) Neural networks - 25%\n"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"AI-Enhanced Smart Grid Management ","description":"This research project aims to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of advanced smart grid management systems. The focus will be on employing AI techniques for accurate load prediction and efficient solving of dispatching problems, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of energy distribution in smart grids. Research Objectives: (1) \nTo develop AI-based models for precise short-term and long-term electrical load prediction; (2) To utilize AI algorithms for optimizing the dispatching of energy resources, balancing supply and demand effectively; (3) To integrate renewable energy sources into the smart grid more efficiently using AI-driven forecasting and management tools. The project is expected to result in a highly efficient smart grid management system that can adapt to changing energy demands and integrate renewable sources effectively. This will lead to reduced energy wastage, lower operational costs, and a more sustainable energy system. The research will also provide valuable insights into the application of AI in energy systems, setting a precedent for future innovations in smart grid technology.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Digital Twins in Advanced Manufacturing to Enhance Efficiency","description":"Digital Twins of manufacturing systems are an emerging tool for improvement, optimization, and monitoring of physical manufacturing systems. The idea of representing physical systems with digital depictions has been prevalent since the early days of Computer Aided Design (CAD), but recently the concept of a Digital Twin has been expanded to encapsulate more than just a digital model of a design. Instead, the Digital Twin offers a unique, comprehensive, and real-time toolset for analysis and improvement\nof physical systems. To validate these capabilities and assess their efficacy in a manufacturing setting, the creation, use, and analysis of Digital Twin (DT)\nsystems was recorded and assessed across real-world manufacturing use cases.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4014"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Climate-Smart, digital farming: Case Studies and Applications of IoT and AI in Agricultural setting","description":"The proposed research project aims to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing agricultural practices, focusing on the phenotyping of fruits and vegetables, ripeness prediction, and yield prediction. The project will develop and integrate advanced AI algorithms with existing agricultural technologies to create a more efficient, sustainable, and productive farming system. Research Objectives: (1) To develop AI-based models for accurate phenotyping of fruits and vegetables, enabling the identification of desirable traits for breeding and cultivation; (2) To create AI algorithms for predicting the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, facilitating optimal harvest times and reducing waste; (3) To implement AI-driven systems for precise yield prediction, aiding in better crop management and planning.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Leveraging AI \/ deep learning for predictive maintenance","description":"This research project focuses on developing advanced predictive maintenance techniques for cyber-physical systems (CPS), crucial in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and energy. The project aims to integrate cutting-edge technologies like machine learning, IoT, and big data analytics for early fault diagnosis and system health monitoring, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of CPS. Research Objectives: (1) To develop machine learning models for real-time fault diagnosis and prediction in CPS; (2) To integrate IoT sensors for continuous monitoring and data collection of system parameters; (3) To utilize big data analytics for the analysis of historical and real-time data for trend identification and maintenance prediction. This research project represents a significant step towards the intelligent and automated maintenance of cyber-physical systems. By leveraging advanced technologies, it aims to transform maintenance strategies from reactive to proactive, ensuring higher system availability and reliability.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Alexandru Constantin Fechete, Professor Anthony S Holland - School of Engineering, Electronic & Telecommunications Engineering, RMIT University, Professor Andrew Greentree, Professor of Quantum Physics, Physics, School of Science, RMIT University\r\nDr Qiang Sun, Research Fellow, Physics, School of Science, RMIT University\r\n\r\n\r\n","title":"Modelling of robustness and resilience space-based electronics","description":"The space environment is a challenging one for electronics. There are high levels of both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, combined with large changes in temperature, depending on whether they are in shade or not.  This extreme environment presents challenges for the materials and design of space-based electronics. \r\nThis project aims to model radiation response and thermal process for electronic components designed for space applications.  We will develop a new, multi-scale, multi-physical disciplinary modelling methodology, combining radiation modelling, device-level, and whole circuit simulations.  Outcomes from this research will inform the design of electronics for space applications.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"090604 Microelectronics (50%)\r\n370106 Atmospheric Radiation (25%)\r\n020199 Space (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Dao Truong Son, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Machine Learning based Control of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive Systems","description":"Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have been widely employed in a number of high-end applications, such as wind turbine generation, electric vehicles, ship propulsion and robotics thanks to its high-power density and high-efficiency. The challenges of these systems in practice are the deteriorated efficiency and control performance during the operation. So far, some methods based on the traditional control theories have been proposed to tackle these challenges. However, the performance of these methods is heavily impacted by the non-linearity of the system and the parameters variation during the operation. This project will develop a novel control scheme using the reinforcement learning algorithm to improve the control performance and efficiency of the PMSM drive system.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (40%), 404008 (30%); 404009 (30%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Dao Truong Son","title":"Sensorless Control of Induction Drive Systems applied in Electric Vehicles","description":"Induction Electric drive systems have been replacing the traditional combustion engines in the automotive industry thanks to their superior advantages such as no gas emission, low production cost, low operation and maintenance cost. The robust control scheme of this electric drive system requires the information of rotor speed and position by using the mechanical encoder or resolver. However, these mechanical devices are temperature dependent and vulnerable to the hostile environment. In order to improve the reliability as well as to reduce the size and cost of the drive system in the electric vehicles, some methods have been proposed to estimate the rotor position and speeds. However, the limitations of these methods are low estimation accuracy at low and very low operation speeds and low estimation bandwidth. This project focuses on the development of a new data driven technique to estimate the rotor speed and position of the induction motor with high accuracy, high bandwidth over the full range of operating speed from zero to the rated value.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (30); 404008(50); 404009 (20%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dao Truong Son, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Design and Control of a Novel Multiphase Electrostatic Machines","description":"The production of the electric machines requires specific natural resources, which have been raising the environmental and sustainable economic issues. So far, the electric machines have been designed based on electromagnetic principles and dominantly made of materials, such as laminated cores, permanent magnet and the metal conductors (copper or aluminum). In contrast, the electrostatic machines are made of only dielectric and electrodes. Therefore, the elimination of the costly metal conductors, permanent magnet, the laminated cores can reduce the complexity of the manufacturing process and the price of the machines. It can also reduce the carbon emission due to the production of metal conductors and permanent magnet. This project aims to develop a novel prototype and control scheme of a multiphase electrostatic machine with high efficiency, simple structure and low cost for the applications under high temperature conditions or sensitive to magnetic fields.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (20); 404008 (40%); 404017(40%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Online parameters identification of permanent magnet synchronous machine used in wind turbine generation","description":"The penetration of the wind energy into the smart power system has been encountering the technical challenges of electric quality, stability and reliability. Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have been dominantly applied in the wind-turbine generation due to their advantages of high-power density, high efficiency and high dynamic performance. However, in practice due to the variation of the machine\u2019 s parameters, such as permanent magnet flux linkage, stator resistance and inductances in relation to the variation of load and aging factor, the dynamic performance, efficiency and state estimation of this generation system deteriorate. This project proposes a novel method for fast and accurately identifying generator\u2019s parameters in real-time, so called on-line method, with the aim of enhancing the control performance of the wind-generation system and improving the stability of the integrated power system. At the same time, the generator\u2019s health can be monitored, potential electric failures of the generator can be diagnosed, thus increasing the reliability of the integrated power system.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404008 (50%); 404009 (25%); 404007(25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Digital Health\u00a0(SHBS)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Ngoc Dinh","title":"A scientific workflow for dengue outbreak forecasting","description":"Dengue is an arboviral infection that could cause severe symptoms and leave a significant influence on the general health of those patients who don\u2019t receive adequate therapeutic assistance. It thrives in tropical and subtropical countries and could overburden the local health facilities during an outbreak. The capacity to predict a dengue outbreak is therefore, of significant interest to the public health services. It has been proven that a dengue outbreak correlates highly with not only weather and climate factors but also the human behaviors. This project aims to develop a scientific workflow that handles heterogenous data from multiple modalities such as weather information (e.g. precipitation, temperature and humidity), epidemiological data and human demographics and develops a multimodal machine learning framework. The multimodal machine learning model must addresses the difference in data representation, while aligning other metrics of the data such as granularity and frequency, with the goal of transferring knowledge between modalities and their representations. Finally, this project combines the multimodal machine learning model with probabilistic machine learning framework to generate posterior prediction distributions for dengue cases. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"460501 (35%)\r\n460206 (40%)\r\n460207 (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences (Science)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar \/ Potential Co-Supervisors:\nProfessor Fabio Zambetta, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies\nProfessor Iqbal Gondal, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies\nProfessor Margaret Hamilton, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies","title":"Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence for Next Generation Educational Technology Platforms","description":"This project uses Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence to develop an educational technology platform and training programs that are challenging to offer in real-world setting. Meta-Education has the potential to radically transform the teaching and learning landscape. It\u2019s power, though rudimentary is already realised with the use of VR, AR, XR, and MR in existing educational platforms. It has been cheaper, easier, and safer to provide STEM education using these, rather than risking training in real-life scenarios. Trainee neurosurgeons and pilots are a good example. Artificial Intelligence will ensure that the Meta-Education platform follows the rules prescribed by the Teacher. Artificial Intelligence is also the enabler of simulation-based STEM training. For learners to be able to get the feel of training in the authentic world, Artificial Intelligence is needed to ensure learners are able to work and learn with intelligent NPC tutors, peers, and other learners.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%)\r\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)\r\n390405 Educational technology and computing (35%)\""},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truong, Yunus Khatri, Jayani Chandrapala","title":"Cell-based dairy fat alternatives: the metabolic engineering of oleaginous organisms","description":"The objective of this study is to produce nature-identical, cell-based cow milk fats using oil\r\nproducing microbes\/organisms. The final aim is to produce milk without using cows which\r\nhas advantages such as similar taste, healthier & low carbon footprint. Conventional dairy farming is unsustainable due to high land, animal welfare, water & greenhouse gas emissions. Plant based alternatives lack taste, texture & cooking characteristics requiring an urgent need to invest in cell-based alternatives. Fat plays a major role in providing a huge benefit towards\r\nsensorial perceptions of consumers in food products. Milk fat is considered one of the\r\nmost complex natural fats. Saturated and monosaturated fatty acid contents in milk account for ~70% and 25% by weight, respectively. Of these saturated fatty acids, ~11% are short-chain\r\nfatty acids. The proposed project aims to work on the metabolic engineering of oleaginous\r\norganisms for the accumulation and synthesis of C4-C16 (Carbon chain 4 to 16) fatty acids using\r\nTriacyl glycerides (TAGs). Oil-producing microbes will be subjected to grow under high carbon\r\nand low nitrogen conditions where cells will grow until nitrogen unavailability. The grown\r\ncells will then start to convert carbon into lipids, and cells will be ruptured via a physical\r\nprocess. The fatty acids of interest will be extracted and purified after necessary enzyme\r\ntreatments to produce fatty acids with variable chain lengths. The project will optimize the\r\nfermentation process to produce high yields, cell rupturing conditions, and enzyme treatment\r\nconditions to obtain the desired fatty acids.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"300602 Food Chemistry and food sensory sciences (50%)\r\n300607 Food Technology (40%)\r\n300606 Food sustainablity (10%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Novel Immersive Approaches to Information Seeking","description":"People search through digital information more than ever before. However, current search systems present information through a 2D search engine results page. In addition, opportunities to interact with the search results to understand underlying relationships in the retrieved data, are limited. The proposed approach will allow users to navigate information naturally and immersively, following users\u2019 interests and curiosity rather than being constrained by a search box and a ranked search results list.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to explore this unique interaction paradigm for effective and efficient interactive information retrieval through virtual or augmented reality, enabling a novel approach to defining user information needs, presenting results, and facilitating search reformulations.\r\n\r\nThe project can answer research questions, including:\r\n-What is the most effective way to visualise 3D information units (in virtual or augmented reality) to facilitate enhanced search interactions?\r\n-How do users formulate information needs, manipulate results, and navigate immersive information spaces?\r\n-How does immersive search versus traditional ranked lists impact users' navigation behaviours within an information space?\r\n-How do users with different levels of familiarity with immersive applications experience information?\r\n-How does the proposed approach compare to current search methods for exploring complex information needs?\r\n\r\nThe project will contribute to the field of interactive information retrieval by providing a novel approach to exploring information needs. Using virtual or augmented reality together with current advances in conversational interactions for information seeking will allow for more intuitive and natural navigation of information, which could lead to unexplored insights into how people interact with information.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%) ; 460806 Human-computer interaction (30%) ; 461003 Human information interaction and retrieval (30%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Towards Intelligent Data-driven Software Engineering","description":"Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown outstanding progress with impressive performance over the last decade. AI techniques have been applied to solve numerous problems such as weather forecasting, movie recommending, autonomous driving, health applications, question answering, etc. The main ingredient of an AI algorithm is the data that is mined from problems that are same or similar to the problem to be solved.\nSoftware Engineering (SE) is a highly impact area with many interesting and important challenges. Besides, the amount of data generated by SE is generally large and cheap to collect (e.g., source code, software system logs, software reports). Therefore, SE is an ideal area where AI techniques can be applied.\nIn this project, we thus aim to develop novel AI-based techniques to solve various challenging problems in SE:\n+ configurable software performance prediction with a minimal number of measured data [1]\n+ intelligent incident management for software-intensive system including incident detection, incident identification, incident triage [2]\n+ software defect and vulnerability detection [3]\n+ etc.\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the chosen topic.\nReferences:\n[1] H. Ha, H. Zhang. \u201cDeepPerf: Performance Prediction for Configurable Software with Deep Sparse Neural Network\u201d, in Proceedings of the 41st ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 1095-1106, Montr\u00e9al, Canada, 2019.\n[2] Z. Chen, Y. Kang, L. Li, X. Zhang, H. Zhang, et al., \u201cTowards intelligent incident management: why we need it and how we make it\u201d, in Proceedings of the ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC\/FSE), pages 1487-1497, 2020.\n[3] S. Omri, C. Sinz, \u201cDeep Learning for Software Defect Prediction: A Survey\u201d, in the Workshops of the 42nd ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 209-214, 2020.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461201 Automated software engineering (60%) ; 461103 Deep learning (20%) ; 461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221 ","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Further Advance Bayesian Optimization","description":"Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a powerful sample-efficient strategy for finding the global optimum of an expensive black-box functions [1]. The main idea is to fit a surrogate model on the previous function evaluations, construct an acquisition function based on the surrogate model, and then use the acquisition function to select the next data point to be evaluated. Its applications include but not limited to automated machine learning, experimental design, environmental monitoring, and robotics. Whilst being effective and efficient in solving many optimization problems, BO is still a relatively new research field and suffers various limitations [1]. For example,\n+ Existing BO algorithms do not work well with high-dimensional optimization problems\n+ Limited BO methods can be applied to solve optimization problems with discrete, categorical, and mixed variables.\n+ Limited BO methods can solve the multi-objective optimization problems.\n+ etc.\nThis project aims to advance the efficacy of BO algorithms by various techniques such as evolutionary methods (e.g., covariance matrix adaptation, particle swarm, multi-objective decomposition) [2], deep surrogate models (e.g., deep kernel, Bayesian deep learning) [3]. Apart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\nReferences:\n[1] B. Shahriari, K. Swersky, Z. Wang, R.P. Adams, N. de Freitas (2016). Taking the Human Out of the Loop: A Review of Bayesian Optimization. Proceedings of IEEE 104(1): 148-175.\n[2] A. E. Eiben, James E. Smith (2015). Introduction to Evolutionary Computing. Natural Computing Series, Springer.\n[3] Y. Gal (2016). Uncertainty in Deep Learning. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%), 460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Ke Wang, Guanghui Ren, Arnan Mitchell ","title":"Development of photonic IC and electronic IC integration","description":"This project aims to develop the capability to unite integrated electronic circuits with integrated photonic components onto a single photonic-electronic integrated chip (PEIC) through the collaboration between RMIT Melbourne InPAC team with RMIT VN and VNU. We will demonstrate this capability by integrating electronic driver circuits, biasing controllers and electronic transimpedance amplifiers with photonic circuits to form a fully integrated photonic transceivers, and demonstrate these transceivers for high-speed data transmission and signal processing. We will achieve this through device-by-device hybrid integration approach, by selectively micro-transfer printing different electronic dies to a photonic chip.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400909"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stanley Luong","title":"Navigational assisted device for the blind","description":"This project will investigate methods which derived from a multi-discipline input from Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering to formulate solutions in term of hardware, software, algorithm to realise a practical device to assist blind people in daily navigation.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"400999 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware not elsewhere classified (50%) ; 460304 Computer vision (25%) ; 460308 Pattern recognition (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Science","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Yunus Khatri, Dr. Tuyen Truong, Professor Rajaraman Eri \n","title":"Antimicrobial Bioplastics derived from Algal Biopolymers and Curcumin Additives for Active Food Containers","description":"Research on bioplastics and biocomponents to replace petroleum based plastics has been ongoing, with several potential biodegradable food packaging materials such as starch, cellulose, alginate, carrageenan, chitosan, pectin, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) being studied. While plant-based polymers show great potential, they require large areas of landfills to supply raw materials. Algae extracts, on the other hand, are highly recommended for their ability to capture large amounts of CO2 through photosynthesis, making them a sustainable solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the non-competitive land area for food security, high growth speed, and limited nutrient requirements make biopolymers extracted from algae a strong candidate for producing sustainable bioplastics, including active packaging and edible packaging. Curcumin, a polyphenol extract with the chemical formula 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione, has gained attention as a promising natural additive in food products owing to its antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer properties. Multiple studies have reported the ability turmeric extract to inhibit the growth of various pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, while also extending the shelf-life of meat products. Researchers have explored the use of curcumin as an additive in bioplastic films made from different materials, such as chitosan, pectin, soybean polysaccharides, and cellulose acetate, to create curcumin-based composite films with enhanced antimicrobial activity, film stiffness, and UV-blocking properties.\nAim:\n1.        To extract and purify algae biopolymer for use as the base material for developing food containers.\n2.        To incorporate curcumin as an antimicrobial agent in the algae biopolymer and optimize its concentration.\n3.        To evaluate the characterization of curcumin algal bioplastic \n4.        To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the developed containers against common foodborne pathogens.\n","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"300604 Food packaging, preservation and processing (75%) ;  310602 Bioprocessing, bioproduction and bioproducts (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Science","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences","programcode":"DR222","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dao, Huong Ha, Tri Dang","title":"High-dimensional Bayesian Optimization via Decomposition and Gradient Descent","description":"Systematic reviews are the gold standard in research evidence, particularly within the healthcare field. However, in the context of an ever-increasing volume of scientific literature, conducting systematic reviews has become an extremely time-consuming and arduous process. Automated tools are urgently needed to support retrieval, synthesis, quality assessment, and meta-analysis of research papers. While some progress has been made on systematic review automation and its component steps through information retrieval, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, Large Language Models (LLMs) represent a valuable technology that may support significant advancements in this arena. This project will seek to explore how best LLMs and NLP can be deployed for systematic review automation, as well as examining the capabilities and limitations of generative AI.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\n460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%) "},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Science","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences","programcode":"DR222","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Eberhard, Alex Kruger, Geetika Verma, Thao Nguyen Hieu","title":"Regularity structures for first-order optimization methods and applications in imaging problems in industry 4.0. ","description":"Qualitative and quantitative understanding of complicated physical systems is at the core of every development of modern technology. Mathematical foundations of computational optimization tools play the key role in the analysis. The last few decades have witnessed an explosion of first-order methods for solving nonconvex optimization problems arising from various practical fields. Recent literature has indicated a huge potential of the metric regularity property and its siblings in analysing convergence and complexity of first-order methods. Meticulous investigation of regularity structures with the target of improving understanding of convergence behavior of expansive fixed-point algorithms will be the first research avenue. The expected findings would include sharper analysis tools for extending the convergence theory beyond the traditional framework of convexity and monotonicity. The project also targets more delicate characterizations of regularity notions which will allow researchers to challenge open problems in optimization theory. Further applications and improvement of the convergence analysis will be another research avenue of the project. The prospective outcomes of this research direction would further bridge the gap between what can be explained by the convergence theory and what is often observed in practice. The research is driven by practical problems arising in imaging, including machine learning algorithms for computer vision systems in autonomous production lines. The new research findings in Variational analysis and optimization methods will be applied to a wide range of real-world problems in imaging science.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"010303 Optimisation\r\n0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing\r\n010203 Calculus of Variations, Systems Theory and Control Theory"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Aemen Nasir, Nhu Do","title":"Leadership Across Generations: Navigating AI Adoption in Family Businesses","description":"1. Project Aim\nThis project examines how leadership influences the speed and success of AI adoption in organisations, with a focus on family businesses navigating generational leadership transitions. Leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping organisational culture, responding to external pressures, and determining technological readiness. In family enterprises, succession challenges and differing generational perspectives on innovation can either accelerate or hinder AI adoption. This study aims to identify leadership strategies that foster successful AI integration while maintaining business continuity.\n2. Project Gap\nExisting research on AI adoption primarily focuses on technical, individual, or industry-specific factors, overlooking the complex interplay of leadership, organisational structure, and external pressures. While leadership is recognised as crucial in digital transformation, its specific role\u2014particularly in family businesses where intergenerational shifts impact decision-making\u2014remains underexplored. This project addresses this gap by integrating leadership theories with technology adoption frameworks to develop a holistic model that accounts for organisational, technological, and generational dynamics.\n3. Methodology\nAn explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach will be employed. First, a quantitative survey will assess AI adoption speed, project success, leadership styles, and contextual factors, using statistical modelling to test mediation and moderation effects. Then, qualitative multiple case studies will provide deeper insights into how leadership practices in family businesses shape AI adoption. This phase will explore generational differences in AI perceptions, implementation challenges, and leadership strategies for aligning innovation with long-term sustainability.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"2025-07-01","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350707 Leadership (40%)\n460299 Artificial Intelligence (30%)\n350716 Small business organisation and management (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trang Le, E.Y.T. Chew","title":"Exploring the Potential of Game-based Learning in Higher Education and Corporate Environments","description":"In today\u2019s educational landscape, traditional teaching methods often fail to engage learners effectively, necessitating new strategies for collaboration. Despite the rising use of gamification, its effectiveness in higher education and corporate training is under-researched, creating valuable opportunities for study.\n\nGame-based learning promotes hands-on engagement and active participation through tools like Lego\u00ae Serious Play\u00ae (LSP\u00ae), card games, and digital games, fostering creativity and problem-solving. This proposal invites PhD candidates to explore how these methodologies enhance student engagement and corporate training experiences. Potential research topics include improving knowledge retention, critical thinking, and creativity or facilitating team building within organizations.\n\nThe supervision team includes certified LSP\u00ae facilitators to support students in mastering relevant skills. Internships with partner organizations will allow candidates to implement gamification strategies, applying theoretical knowledge and gaining practical experience that benefits both their research and the organizations.\n\nIdeal candidates should have backgrounds in education, organizational development, or psychology, and possess a passion for innovative learning or corporate training methodologies. We invite forward-thinking researchers to apply for this opportunity to explore game-based learning's potential while gaining valuable hands-on experience through internships.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"2029-12-31","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350503 Human resources management\n350599 Human resources and industrial relations not elsewhere classified\n390303 Higher education\n350711 Organisational planning and management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thao Luong, Trang Le","title":"From Perceptions to Practices: Understanding Meaningful Work in Human Resource Management amidst Digital Transformation","description":"As organizations rapidly adopt digital technologies, the concept of meaningful work is evolving, presenting new challenges and opportunities for Human Resource Management (HRM). Employees increasingly seek roles that offer not just compensation but also a sense of purpose. This proposal aims to recruit HDR candidates to explore the intricacies of meaningful work within the HR context, emphasizing how digital transformation impacts employee engagement, recruitment, retention, and organizational culture in ways that align with individuals' desires for fulfillment.\r\n\r\nThe modern workplace, influenced by technological advancements, is changing the traditional employer-employee relationship. Remote work and AI-driven HR practices alter how employees connect with their roles. Understanding how these changes influence perceptions of meaningful work is crucial for HR professionals aiming to develop strategies that enhance employee satisfaction and retention.\r\n\r\nPhD candidates will investigate pressing questions at the intersection of meaningful work and HRM within the digital landscape. They may explore topics such as job design for enhanced engagement, effective recruitment strategies that communicate organizational culture, and the role of digital platforms in fostering diverse perspectives on meaningful work.\r\n\r\nIdeal candidates will have a background in HRM, organizational behavior, or a related field, along with a strong interest in advancing both quantitative and qualitative research skills. We encourage aspiring researchers to apply for this transformative opportunity to study the dynamics of meaningful work in the digital era, contributing valuable insights to both academic literature and organizational practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350503 Human resources management\r\n350504 Industrial and employee relations\r\n350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Chung Phan, Duc Tran Trinh","title":"RURAL POVERTY DYNAMICS AND LIVELIHOOD TRANSTIONS IN CENTRAL VIETNAM","description":"This PhD project will use selected waves of the Thailand Vietnam Social Economic Panel (TVSEP) to examine rural poverty dynamics and livelihood transitions in three provinces of central Vietnam. TVSEP is a long-running panel study funded by the Deutsche Forchingsgemeinschaft (DSG) and led by three German, one Thai and two Vietnamese universities. TVSEP has been following 4,400 households in three provinces in Northeast Thailand and three provinces in Central Vietnam since 2007. To date, 11 waves of household surveys have been completed under the TVSEP, with three additional migrant tracking surveys in 2010, 2018 and 2021. The most recent household survey was in 2024, with a fourth tracking survey planned for 2025. The TVSEP is regarded as high-quality household panel, which has already led to over 100 published paper and 20 completed PhD theses, and possess all requisite ethical and government clearances. \n\nThe thesis will examine the following issues using a primarily quantitative approach, supplemented by geo-spatial methods where appropriate, is envisaged:\n1.\tPoverty dynamics: which socio-economic, geographic and other factors most impact the ability of rural Vietnamese household to escape poverty and what are the factors that trap households in poverty for extended periods of time?  How has transient poverty waxed and waned over time, and are the transient poor different from the chronically poor?\n2.\tLivelihood transitions: how are rural livelihoods in central Vietnam evolving over time? Which events and policies have had most impact on these livelihood transitions?\n3.\tCOVID-19: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect poverty dynamics and livelihood transitions in the selected provinces in central Vietnam?  How did households and communities respond to the pandemic, and how long did it take them to recover, either fully or partially, from it?\n\nCandidates should have a strong background in development economics, applied statistics and econometrics. A knowledge of geographic information systems and geo-spatial methods would also be useful. The student will join an appropriate research cluster in RMIT Vietnam and the cross-campus RMIT Centre for International Development. The student will be encouraged to undertake a three-to-four-month internship at one of the three German universities (Cologne, Gottingen or Leibnitz) that have been implementing TVSEP.  S\/he will be also encouraged to present papers based on her\/his research at national and international conferences. Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals such as Agricultural Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Review of Income and Wealth and World Development. \n\nThe successful candidate, who must be based at one of RMIT\u2019s two Vietnam campuses, will be awarded a four-year tuition waiver and a stipend of approximately VND 14.5 million per month.  Receipt of this scholarship is conditional upon the candidate committing to working full-time on her\/his thesis and undertaking the RMIT College of Business and Law\u2019s PhD course sequence in their first year of study. ","sdg":"[\"1 - No Poverty\",\"10 - Reduced Inequalities \",\"13 - Climate Action\",\"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing\",\"4 - Quality Education\"]","funded":"Yes","closedate":"2026-03-31","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380101; 380204; 410199"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Anushka Siriwardana","title":"Artificial Intelligence in MarTech, Influencer Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Decision Journey","description":"This research examines the interplay between marketing technology (MarTech), influencer marketing, consumer behavior, and the customer decision journey, with a forward-looking integration of human-artificial intelligence principles. It bridges the gap between human and machine capabilities, emphasizing collaboration and augmentation rather than replacement. It offers groundbreaking potential to transform consumer interactions and decision-making in digital marketing environments. As digital platforms evolve, understanding these dimensions is essential for refining strategies, improving engagement, and fostering AI-driven hyper-performance in marketing. MarTech and influencer marketing are revolutionizing brand-consumer interactions. However, when augmented by human-AI systems, more research is needed to evaluate their combined effectiveness across the customer decision process. This research investigates how MarTech tools and influencer strategies shape consumer behavior and decision-making at each journey stage. Key questions include: How can MarTech and influencer marketing transform decision-making? What factors influence consumer acceptance and resistance, especially with AI-augmented insights? How do these integrated approaches impact purchase decisions across demographic groups? How can we foster hyper-performance in the contemporary marketing environment? This study analyzes consumer interactions with MarTech and influencer materials to build predictive consumer behavior models. The mixed-methods methodology combines qualitative interviews with experts and quantitative surveys enriched by AI-driven sentiment analysis and predictive algorithms to identify patterns and trends. This research provides critical insights for marketers, developers, and policymakers, enabling more precise, adaptive marketing strategies. By linking theoretical knowledge with practical application, the study aims to enhance understanding of how digital tools redefine consumer behavior and decision-making in transformative ways.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350607: Marketing Technology (50%)\n350601: Consumer Behaviour (30%)\n460299: Artificial Intelligence not Elsewhere Classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Anushka Siriwardana, Agnis Stibe","title":"Impact of Emerging Technologies on Hospitality Marketing and Travel Experience ","description":"This study will analyze the relationship between emerging technologies and the customer journey within Vietnam's hospitality sector, highlighting the incorporation of these technologies in the post-COVID revival of tourism. It will also focus on the significance of digital innovations in catering to the preferences of Gen Z and late millennials in urban settings for sustainable and digitally enhanced travel experiences. The research aims to improve guest experiences and decision-making from booking to payment and traveling by seamlessly integrating emerging technologies. As the hotel industry evolves with digital innovations, comprehending the interaction between these technologies and conventional consumer behavior models is essential for formulating advanced marketing tactics and improving guest engagement. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews with industry experts and quantitative consumer surveys, further enriched by AI-driven sentiment analysis and predictive algorithms to identify nuanced patterns and trends. The study seeks to evaluate the efficacy of these technological interventions throughout the entire consumer decision journey, with anticipated findings that will provide actionable insights for the sector leaders, technology developers, and policymakers, thereby enabling the development of adaptive, efficient, and guest-centric service models. This research will connect theoretical frameworks with empirical data to enhance comprehension of how digital innovations can transform consumer behavior and decision-making in the hospitality industry in Vietnam, establishing a basis for strategic marketing and operational improvements in Vietnam's developing tourism sector.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"2025-12-31","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350607: Marketing Technology (50%) \n350806: Tourist behaviour and visitor experience (30%) \n350601: Consumer Behaviour (20%) "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa","title":"Absorptive Capacity in Southeast Asian Tourism: Sustainability and Innovation","description":"Tourism is a vital economic driver in Southeast Asia especially in Vietnam, offering significant opportunities for entrepreneurship to address sustainability challenges amid rapid digital transformation. This research redefines absorptive capacity within the tourism and hospitality sectors, emphasizing its role in advancing entrepreneurial success and sustainability (Zahra and George, 2002). It examines how knowledge-sharing and social media strategies influence absorptive capacity, providing actionable insights for overcoming regional challenges and leveraging opportunities. \n\nA mixed- methods approach combines quantitative analysis of absorptive capacity\u2019s mediating effects with qualitative case studies of entrepreneurial tourism enterprises. Key drivers, including stakeholder collaboration, entrepreneurial leadership, social media engagement, and organizational culture, are explored to understand their impact on eco-friendly practices, innovative business models, and entrepreneurial outcomes. Moderating factors such as environmental dynamism and technological readiness are analyzed to assess their influence on sustainability and entrepreneurship.\n\nSocial media is identified as an activation trigger or knowledge acquisition tool within the absorptive capacity framework, exposing firms to market trends, customer demands, and competitive dynamics while aligning with its acquisition dimension (Leung et al., 2013). Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (Acs et al., 2009), the study highlights entrepreneurs as critical agents for transforming unused knowledge into innovation and growth.\n\nIntegrating this with Thomas and Wood (2014), absorptive capacity emerges as a dynamic capability enabling entrepreneurs to exploit spillover knowledge. Aligned with RMIT\u2019s sustainability and regional impact priorities, this research provides practical frameworks to foster sustainable practices, support entrepreneurship, and enhance digital transformation in Southeast Asia and Vietnam\u2019s dynamic tourism market.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350806 - Tourism Management \n350702 - Entrepreneurship \n350705 - Innovation Management \n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso,Seng Kok","title":"Digital transformation and Vietnam\u2019s niche and emerging industries","description":"This project focuses on digital transformation\u2019s impact on Vietnam\u2019s niche and emerging industries. Vietnam is both a leader and as the potential to excel in international markets. First, Vietnam ranks second in the world in coffee exports by volume (Statista, 2024a, Statista, 2024b). As documented in some cases, Vietnam is also increasingly the home of entrepreneurial firms that are adding value to coffee production, including by using technologies (Viet Nam News, 2023). Second, Vietnam is also one of the world\u2019s leaders in cashew nut production and exports (Statista, 2024c). In this industry, Vietnam is also a major cashew nut importer that, subsequently exports these products to other markets (Chi et al., 2018). Third, the potential for Vietnam\u2019s organic food production to enter lucrative markets, particularly the European Union (EU) market, is considerable (VCCI, 2023). Recent new legislation (VCCI, 2024) concerning the issuance of organic certificates to be able to export into the EU presents both challenges and opportunities for Vietnam. Moreover, with the EU seeking to promote technology transfer, digitalisation and high-tech transformation of production processes (VCCI, 2024) there are important implications for organic producers. \n\nThis project proposes various research questions (RQs), including but not limited to the following:\nRQ1: How are firms benefitting from digital transformation, including with regard to their supply chain (e.g., production, logistics, adding value, packaging, selling\/exporting).\nRQ2: What opportunities\/challenges do they perceive from a deeper involvement in digitalisation\/digital transformation practices?\nRQ3: How do they perceive their industry\u2019s future regarding the adoption of digitalisation\/digital transformation? ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management (30%)\n350711 Organisational planning and management (30%)\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified (40%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi, Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"An examination of businesses operating in smart city environments","description":"Smart cities can provide advantages to government and business entities in the form of efficiency, connectivity, smart transportation, security, cost savings or smart buildings (Wirsbinna & Grega, 2021). The smart city phenomenon is changing from a predominant focus on urban infrastructure development (2000-2015) to a stronger focus on services (Kim, 2022). This shift suggests an increasing importance of smart city maintenance and operation rather than building, where smart technologies, big data, artificial intelligence, and urban data are leveraged to offer uninterrupted and valuable services to smart city residents (Kim, 2022).\n\nHowever, an analysis or overview of the effects of smart cities, both positive and negative, is lacking (Lim et al., 2019). In addition, research focusing on smart cities\u2019 unbalanced effects of technology diffusion on various groups (e.g., residents and disadvantaged groups) and institutions, including small businesses) is limited (Zhao et al., 2021). Similarly, there is a dearth of smart city investigations focusing on the business perspective (Pa\u0161ali\u0107 et al., 2021). This gap is also obvious in the case of Vietnam and other economies, both established and emerging. The project embraces a number of foci and directions to examine research questions  that illuminate the understanding of businesses operating in smart city ecosystems, including but not limited to the following:\n\nHow has the business experienced the different phases of smart city development?\nHow has the smart city regime affected the local businesses operating in this ecosystem?\nHow do business owners\/managers perceive the future coexistence with the smart city regime?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350705 Innovation management (30%)\n350711 Organisational planning and management (30%)\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified (40%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Thi Van Anh","title":"Customer Engagement with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing Strategies","description":"Project Aims\nThis project aims to understand factors influencing customer perceptions and engagement with AI-powered tools and content currently being used by brands and marketers. The project addresses the following questions:\n\u2022 How customers perceive the information quality performance of AI-generated content and AI-powered tools?\n\u2022 Which factors contribute to customers\u2019 trust and satisfaction with information quality from AI-powered content and tools, therefore determining their engagement with the content and the tools?\n\u2022 What strategies are required to enhance customer engagement with AI-content and tools?\nProject Gap\nThe application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become more popular in marketing recently as it enables hyper-personalized experiences, predictive analytics, and real-time customer engagement. AI-driven innovations allow automated and personalised content creation with information provided to customers in real-time, prompting them to interact and engage with AI-powered tools for better service quality. However, the effectiveness of AI in engaging with customers depends on customer perception of information quality, perceived interactivity, and perceived personalization from AI-generated content and AI-powered tools. Other factors might include privacy concerns, trust, behavioural factors such as customer learning experience, or generational, cultural, or socioeconomic factors (Sura\u00f1a\u2010S\u00e1nchez and Aramendia\u2010Muneta, 2024). Understanding how these factors influence the trust and satisfaction of AI-generated content and tools can suggest better marketing strategies to enhance customer engagement and business marketing performance. \nMethodology\nThis project should employ a mixed-method approach to explore the various facets of the research questions.\nSura\u00f1a\u2010S\u00e1nchez, C. and Aramendia\u2010Muneta, M.E., 2024. Impact of artificial intelligence on customer engagement and advertising engagement: A review and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 48(2), p.e13027.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"3506 Marketing"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fiza Qureshi","title":"Sustainable Finance and Market Stability: Unveiling the Role of Green Investments","description":"The proposed project aims to explore the relationship dynamics between sustainable investments and financial market trends. The study will focus on various sustainable financial investments such as ESG securities, green bonds, social bonds, Green Loans, ESG Funds, Green Exchange-Traded Funds, Carbon Credits, Sustainable Real Estate Investment Trusts, and Green Insurance Products with regard to their impact on financial markets and economies. Given that existing literature in this domain is still developing, there is a considerable research gap regarding the comprehensive influence of sustainable investments on financial market performance. This project seeks to fill that gap by thoroughly examining the role of sustainable financial products in promoting financial market stability and understanding their impact on market dynamics.\nUtilizing a quantitative research methodology, this study will analyze data from companies and economies that issue sustainable securities, encompassing both developed and emerging markets. The project\u2019s goal is to provide valuable insights into how sustainable investments align with financial market advancements, contributing to broader sustainable development and climate action objectives. These findings will offer critical opportunities for investors and policymakers to support and capitalize on sustainable practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350202 Finance (40%)\n350204 Financial institutions (20%) \n350208 Investment and Risk management (20%)\n350201 Environment and climate finance (20%) "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Oanh Thi Kim Vu, AP Abel Duarte Alonso\nDr Santiago Velesquez ","title":"Vietnam's female entrepreneurs managing smart transition in the circular economy ","description":"(i)-Project Aims \r\nThis project will reveal opportunities and challenges in involvement in Circular Economy (CE) from\r\nfemale entrepreneurs\u2019 perspectives, operating in Vietnam\u2019s cities outside major urban centres.\r\nSpecifically, the project will address the following questions: \r\n\u2022 How do female entrepreneurs in non-major urban centres tangibly and\/or intangibly benefit from\r\nCE practices? \r\n\u2022 What challenges are they facing while pursuing these practices? \r\n\u2022 How do they perceive the future of CE pursuits? \r\n\u2022 What strategies are required to manage smart transition in CE? \r\n\r\n(ii)-Project Gap \r\nVietnam\u2019s areas outside major urban centers face pervasive challenges (including households\u2019\r\ninadequate access to financial services and gender inequality), which result in limited property\r\nownership and employment opportunities for women. These challenges are compounded by the\r\nfact that social and environmental issues in Vietnam are still inadequately addressed. Responding to\r\nthe need to reach sustainable goals and improve economic growth, the Vietnamese government\r\nhas proposed incentives to promote CE, emphasizing the extension of products\u2019 life cycles in which\r\nwomen entrepreneurs could find opportunities in CE projects.\u202fOur research is therefore timely and\r\nvaluable, especially when Vietnamese population is expected to grow leading to an increased\r\ndemand for CE projects. \r\n\r\n(iii)-Methodology \r\nThis project will first choose a qualitative method and an inductive approach, gathering data from\r\nVietnamese female entrepreneurs embracing CE principles in non-major urban cities. Subsequently,\r\nsemi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews will be conducted to address the above\r\nquestions. The interviews will entail a holistic approach, representing various regions, age groups,\r\nand industries, therefore, enabling comparative analysis across various characteristics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship\n440406 Rural community development\n440599 Gender studies not elsewhere classified\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Daisy Kanagasapapathy, Ushik Shrestha Khwakhali","title":"Permeation of robotic technology in the Vietnamese hospitality cultural norms","description":"The tourism and hospitality industry (T&H) is on the cusp of embracing robotic (AI). There are many opportunities with robotics AI which can lead to a possible change of attitudes in guest experience and service operations.  In Vietnam there is a foreseeable integration of these technologies with the current cultural norms (Chung et al., 2019).\n\nWhile these technologies are seen to be effective from an operational perspective, its proliferation can have a profound effect on a culturally rich country i.e. Vietnam (research gap).  As such it would be great interest to undertake study on the integration of such robotics technologies vis-\u00e0-vis on culturally norm in a hospitality operational trade in a defined Vietnamese city, in terms of local service standards, kinematics, time-motion functions, service design standards from a local service provider standpoint to a user perspective. No such research or study has been conducted within Vietnam yet.\n\nThe overarching research question is to determine the acceptance of robotic within the framework of Belance, Carlo and Scheper (2019)\u2019s robotic integration for Vietnamese T&H operators and its impacts on the above 4 factors vis-\u00e0-vis its cultural norms from different stakeholders.  This is in-line with RMIT\u2019s Vietnam research interest in Smart Cities and Innovative Industries.\n\nThe impacts of a research will grant T&H companies to pivot their operational functions towards a more robotic inclined industry accordingly to the users in line with industry and the nation\u2019s desire.  It will also create springboards for ancillary hospitality to navigate the use of this new technologies.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"\u2022        350307 Technology management \n\u2022        350705 Innovation management \n\u2022        35050806 Tourist behavior and visitor experience\n\u2022        350803 Tourism management\n\u2022        330305 Design Management\n\u2022        330310 Interaction and experience design\n\u2022        330312 Service Design\n\u2022        470202 Asian Cultural Studies\n\u2022        470203 Consumption and everyday life\n\u2022        470208 Culture, representation and identity\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso,Seng Kok","title":"Digitalising micro, small, and medium hospitality and tourism enterprises","description":"Although digital transformation is a much-studied research domain (Cheng et al., 2023), many knowledge gaps remain unaddressed. Studies focusing on the impact of digital transformation on hospitality\/tourism firms are still under development, particularly concerning their financing or investment decisions (Hu et al., 2024). Furthermore, the digitalisation process among hospitality and tourism firms has been under-studied; accordingly, there is a need to understand digital transformation in their context, both currently and in the future (Cheng et al., 2023). Similarly, scant research exists on business model innovation practices or processes concerning small and medium enterprises\u2019 digital venturing (Anderson et al., 2022). \n     Against this backdrop, this project, with a qualitative approach and openness to mixed methods, seeks to deepen the knowledge of the potential for digital transformation to support firms in navigating the rapidly changing business environment. The project predominantly focuses on a critical business cohort: micro, small and medium-sized (MSM), which represents most businesses in Vietnam (OECD, 2021) and considers avenues to address relevant and impactful research questions, including:\nHow could MSMs harness digital transformation to: \n\u2022        Add value to their day-to-day operations beyond social media, e-commerce or online communication?\n\u2022        Enhance their competitiveness?\n\u2022        Equip enterprises with more adaptable tools?\n\u2022        Encourage knowledge development?\n\u2022        Effectively combine digitalisation with their signature products\/services?\n     The supervisory team has conducted numerous projects since 2021, resulting in multiple peer-reviewed journal publications, and welcomes projects focusing on Vietnam\u2019s potential to develop hospitality and tourism concepts from a variety of industries utilising digital transformation to enhance their development, competitiveness and value proposition. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350402 Hospitality management \n350803 Tourism management "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa","title":"Absorptive Capacity in Southeast Asian Tourism: Sustainability and Innovation (2 positions)","description":"Tourism is a vital economic driver in Southeast Asia especially in Vietnam, offering significant opportunities for entrepreneurship to address sustainability challenges amid rapid digital transformation. This research redefines absorptive capacity within the tourism and hospitality sectors, emphasizing its role in advancing entrepreneurial success and sustainability (Zahra and George, 2002). It examines how knowledge-sharing and social media strategies influence absorptive capacity, providing actionable insights for overcoming regional challenges and leveraging opportunities.\n\nA mixed- methods approach combines quantitative analysis of absorptive capacity\u2019s mediating effects with qualitative case studies of entrepreneurial tourism enterprises. Key drivers, including stakeholder collaboration, entrepreneurial leadership, social media engagement, and organizational culture, are explored to understand their impact on eco-friendly practices, innovative business models, and entrepreneurial outcomes. Moderating factors such as environmental dynamism and technological readiness are analyzed to assess their influence on sustainability and entrepreneurship.\n\nSocial media is identified as an activation trigger or knowledge acquisition tool within the absorptive capacity framework, exposing firms to market trends, customer demands, and competitive dynamics while aligning with its acquisition dimension (Leung et al., 2013). Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (Acs et al., 2009), the study highlights entrepreneurs as critical agents for transforming unused knowledge into innovation and growth.\n\nIntegrating this with Thomas and Wood (2014), absorptive capacity emerges as a dynamic capability enabling entrepreneurs to exploit spillover knowledge. Aligned with RMIT\u2019s sustainability and regional impact priorities, this research provides practical frameworks to foster sustainable practices, support entrepreneurship, and enhance digital transformation in Southeast Asia and Vietnam\u2019s dynamic tourism market.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350806 - Tourism Management \n350702 - Entrepreneurship \n350705 - Innovation Management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Adriel Sim, Nhu Do","title":"AI Mentors in Education: Impact on Staff Behaviour, Agency, Wellbeing","description":"1. Project Aim\nThe purpose of this project is to investigate the impact of AI chatbots functioning as mentors on educational staff's behaviour, agency, and overall wellbeing. Ultimately, the study seeks to assess whether AI chatbots can serve as effective mentors and support systems for staff, thereby improving working conditions in the educational environment, where time constraints, a focus on students\u2019 results, and daily interactions with students and parents often limit teachers\u2019 agency and exhaust them emotionally.\n\n2. Project Gap\nWhile the use of AI chatbots in education has predominantly focused on student learning and support, there is a notable lack of management research examining their role in mentoring educational staff. Existing studies often overlook the potential benefits and challenges that AI chatbot mentors may present to staff members' professional development and wellbeing within organisational settings. This project addresses this gap by exploring (i) how AI chatbot mentorship affects staff behaviours and professional practices; (ii) the influence of AI chatbots on staff agency and wellbeing.\n\n3. Methodology\nA mixed-methods approach will be used. Structured questionnaires will collect quantitative data on changes in staff behaviour, perceived agency, and wellbeing as a result of interactions with AI chatbot mentors. Semi-structured interviews will provide qualitative insights into personal experiences and attitudes towards AI mentorship. Chat logs will be analysed to identify themes and patterns correlating with changes in professional practices and decision-making processes. Triangulating these data enables holistic answers to the research questions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life (45%)\n390403 Educational administration, management and leadership (30%)\n460299 Artificial Intelligence (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tran Nguyet Que, Hyenjin Park","title":"Employee wellbeing and engagement in human resource management","description":"Technology advancements and the rapid changes of socio-economic factors have implications on human resource management, particularly employee wellbeing and employee engagement. Employee well-being is strongly associated with business-unit level profitability and negatively correlated with turnover (Krekel et al., 2019). It can be noted that employees\u2019 well-being, which can be measured by job satisfaction, has been claimed to result in high productivity and low turnover. However, Krekel et al. (2019) show that emotional and cognitive elements such as happiness-enhancing treatment and employee engagement also affect employee productivity.\u00a0 Extensive training, participation and communication, sensitive selection, and incentive compensation are found positively related to employee engagement in service industry in India through employees\u2019 vigour (i.e high energy and mental resilience at work), dedication, and absorption (i.e. high concentration at work) (Goyal and Patwardhan, 2020). Work satisfaction and rewards are mainly antecedents of employee engagement at small and medium enterprises in Indonesia, while remuneration satisfaction, self-leadership, and interpersonal leadership positively influenced employee engagement in Thailand (Rakthin et al., 2021; Dyah Sugandini et al, 2018). Boccoli and colleagues (2023) reported organizations play an important role in determining the level of employee engagement when implementing policies and activities within the organizational scope. This proposal calls for PhD students who are interested in investigating employee wellbeing and employee engagement,\u00a0using either quantitative or qualitative or mixed methods to address the unanswered questions of human resource management in the contemporary workplace. \u00a0","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350503 Human Resources Management\n350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Adriel Sim. Aemin Nasir, Nhu Do","title":"The AI Awakening: Transforming Vietnam's Psychological Landscape","description":"Artificial intelligence (AI) integration into workplaces presents a transformative shift in work, impacting employees' psychological well-being and organizational dynamics. In Vietnam, where rapid technological advancements coincide with cultural nuances, understanding the relationship between AI and psychological capital is vital. Psychological capital encompasses positive psychological resources such as resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, and hope, which play a crucial role in individuals' ability to navigate challenges and thrive in the workplace. This research proposal aims to investigate how AI integration influences psychological capital among employees in Vietnam, identifying mechanisms and interventions to support their well-being and productivity.\n\nThe proposed research will employ a mixed-methods approach, utilizing surveys and semi-structured interviews to collect data from employees across various industries in Vietnam. Quantitative surveys will assess the impact of AI integration on psychological capital, measuring factors such as resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, and hope. Qualitative interviews will provide deeper insights into the mechanisms through which AI affects psychological capital, considering cultural, organizational, and individual perspectives.\n\nBy examining the relationship between AI integration and psychological capital in Vietnam, this research seeks to contribute both academically and practically. The findings will inform organizations and policymakers about the potential psychological effects of AI integration and identify strategies to cultivate a positive work environment conducive to employees' well-being and performance. Additionally, the research aims to highlight the importance of fostering psychological capital in the face of technological advancements, promoting resilience and adaptability among the Vietnamese workforces.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350507        Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life 50%\n350506        Workforce planning 25%\n350710        Organisational behaviour 25%"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Oanh Thi Kim Vu, AP Abel Duarte Alonso\nDr Santiago Velesquez ","title":"Vietnam's female entrepreneurs managing smart transition in the circular economy ","description":"(i)-Project Aims \r\nThis project will reveal opportunities and challenges in involvement in Circular Economy (CE) from\r\nfemale entrepreneurs\u2019 perspectives, operating in Vietnam\u2019s cities outside major urban centres.\r\nSpecifically, the project will address the following questions: \r\n\u2022 How do female entrepreneurs in non-major urban centres tangibly and\/or intangibly benefit from\r\nCE practices? \r\n\u2022 What challenges are they facing while pursuing these practices? \r\n\u2022 How do they perceive the future of CE pursuits? \r\n\u2022 What strategies are required to manage smart transition in CE? \r\n\r\n(ii)-Project Gap \r\nVietnam\u2019s areas outside major urban centers face pervasive challenges (including households\u2019\r\ninadequate access to financial services and gender inequality), which result in limited property\r\nownership and employment opportunities for women. These challenges are compounded by the\r\nfact that social and environmental issues in Vietnam are still inadequately addressed. Responding to\r\nthe need to reach sustainable goals and improve economic growth, the Vietnamese government\r\nhas proposed incentives to promote CE, emphasizing the extension of products\u2019 life cycles in which\r\nwomen entrepreneurs could find opportunities in CE projects.\u202fOur research is therefore timely and\r\nvaluable, especially when Vietnamese population is expected to grow leading to an increased\r\ndemand for CE projects. \r\n\r\n(iii)-Methodology \r\nThis project will first choose a qualitative method and an inductive approach, gathering data from\r\nVietnamese female entrepreneurs embracing CE principles in non-major urban cities. Subsequently,\r\nsemi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews will be conducted to address the above\r\nquestions. The interviews will entail a holistic approach, representing various regions, age groups,\r\nand industries, therefore, enabling comparative analysis across various characteristics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship\n440406 Rural community development\n440599 Gender studies not elsewhere classified\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang, Huy Truong , Van-Anh Nguyen","title":"Sustainability, not Achilles\u2019 heel of digital transformation","description":"This research project aims to reconcile the two seemingly contracting trends, \u201cdigital transformation and sustainability\u201d, exploring how digital transformation and sustainability can be synergized within business ecosystems. It will involve an extensive review and analysis of current digital transformation strategies and sustainability practices across various industries, e.g., healthcare, logistics, and marketing. The primary objective is identifying and developing integrated approaches to drive digital innovation and sustainable development. The project will propose models and frameworks encapsulating best practices, guiding businesses to leverage digital technologies to enhance their sustainability goals. Potential topic(s) can explore the synergy between digitization and sustainability, the transformative potential of digital technologies in achieving sustainability in supply chain operations, or how technologies can be integrated with sustainable practices to create resilient and eco-friendly supply chains. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (25%) , 350304 Business systems in context (25%), 350705 Innovation management (25%), 350307 Technology management (25%)\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dao Le Trang Anh, Dang Thao Quyen","title":"Gender Equality, Disability, Social Inclusion (GEDSI) and Corporate Performance of SMEs in Vietnam","description":"This research investigates the impact of Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) on firm performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. SMEs play a critical role in Vietnam\u2019s economic development, yet there is limited research on how implementing inclusive practices influences business outcomes. This study aims to fill that gap by examining how GEDSI initiatives (i.e. promoting gender equality, accommodating disabilities, and fostering social inclusion) impact firm performance measures such as productivity and profitability. \n\nBy conducting surveys and interviews with SME owners, managers, and employees across various industries, this research will use primary data and a qualitative\/ quantitative analysis approach to identify the key factors that support or hinder the adoption of GEDSI practices. If possible, secondary data will also be used to identify the GEDSI impacts on firm financial performance and productivity. The findings will provide actionable insights for SMEs on how inclusivity can enhance their competitiveness, while also contributing to broader social goals. \n\nThe research aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDG 5 - Gender Equality, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 10 - Reduced Inequality. This research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations to promote inclusivity and sustainable growth in Vietnam\u2019s SME sector. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350502 Employment equity and diversity\n350702 Corporate social responsibility"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert Baulch, Adeel Ahmed, Alrence Halibas, Anika Mishra, Simon Feeny","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Selected Asian Countries","description":"\"Applicants are sought for one or two PhD projects on poverty and polarization based at RMIT University Vietnam. Each project will consist of three papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, or Thailand since the late 1990s or early 2000s; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same time in that country; and (iii) how polarization and poverty changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues will be examined through the analysis of multiple rounds of nationally representative household survey data.   \n\nPolarization will be measured using both the Foster-Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using incomes or expenditures and a continuous measure of non-monetary wellbeing (e.g., disability adjusted life years or years of completed years of education). Monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures using incomes or expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index used for non-monetary poverty. \n\nApplicants should have a strong background in development economics and applied statistics\/econometrics. Knowledge of qualitative and mixed methods is an advantage. \nThe student selected will be based in the Business School at RMIT University Vietnam and join RMIT\u2019s Centre for International Development.  \n\nThe successful candidate will be encouraged to present papers at national and international conferences, Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals such as the Journal of Economic Inequality, the Review of Income and Wealth and World Development.  \n\nSeveral internship opportunities exist with international and non-governmental organisations.\nCountries\"\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"\"440405 (Poverty, inclusivity, and wellbeing)\n440703 (Economic development policy)\n380229 (Applied economics, not elsewhere classified)\n\"\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Richard Ramsawak","title":"Leveraging Big Data, and Machine Learning for Urban Development","description":"Urban growth among Southeast Asian countries is continuing to advance rapidly. Latest projections point to an increase in the percentage of urban population from 44% in 2010 to almost 66% by 2050 (Nations 2018).  Much of this growth has stemmed from the rapid industrialization, and economic advancement among key Asian countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand (Huff 2012, Fan, Ouyang et al. 2019). While this has brought benefits of increasing income, employment, and innovation, it has also created new challenges in urban planning and greater environmental risk to these locations.\r\nThis project aims to harness novel big data sources combined with advanced machine learning (ML) techniques to address urban development challenges in key Southeast Asian cities. For instance, data on real estate prices gathered from online sources can be combined with satellite imagery to develop elaborate random forest models, to analyze price trends, value new amenities such as green spaces, and assess the impact of policy changes. Near real-time mobility data can optimize transport networks and predict productivity and environmental benefits.  Satellite imagery combined with ecological and household data can be used to develop convolutional neural networks to evaluate the impacts of changes in built areas on the environment and to develop adaptive solutions. \r\nBy focusing on cities like Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Manila, this research contributes to our understanding of the unique socio-economic characteristics of Southeast Asian cities and leverages new big data sources and techniques to develop innovative data-driven solutions to the challenges they face. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"330404 Urban Analysis and Development\r\n460903 Machine Learning\r\n330305 Sustainable Urban Development"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Irfan Haider","title":"Corporate governance and SDGs","description":"The proposed project aims to empirically examine whether and how corporate governance mechanisms (e.g., board gender diversity, skills and education or background of the board members etc.) can be used to achieve one(s) of the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The literature in this strand is still growing to analyze the crucial role of corporate governance measures adopted by companies toward environmental sustainability. However, a comprehensive and compact research is needed to examine the role of corporate governance practices to achieve the desired outcomes. The proposed study will employ quantitative research approach using panel data of global firms (may include, developed and\/or developing countries for comparative analysis). The proposed research will contribute to wider community i.e., researchers, policymakers, corporations, investors, and society at large by providing comprehensive understanding of the interplay of corporate governance practices and SDGs achievement, thereby contributing to the advancement of corporate sustainability globally.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350201\tEnvironment and climate finance (40%)\r\n350202\tFinance (20%)\r\n350107\tSustainability accounting and reporting (40%)\r\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert McClelland, Dr. Quyen Dang","title":"Green nation branding and firms\u2019 internationalization: the case of Vietnam","description":"Nation branding is critical in the context of changing globalization. Despite conversations that surround de-globalization, international trade and foreign direct investment continue to occur with impressive figures (UNCTAD, 2023). However, there have been fundamental changes in terms of each country\u2019s roles and characteristics on the global market. Importantly, being the driver of the world\u2019s economic growth, emerging markets such as Vietnam strive to penetrate more deeply into globalization through FDI and international trade while aiming to align with sustainable development goals. Therefore, how Vietnam navigates its way through the landscape of building a green nation brand to facilitate Vietnamese firms\u2019 internationalization is an important topic that could have implications for academia, firms, and governments in other countries. \nPrevious literature has mostly explored nation branding in the political, tourism and marketing fields (Rojas-M\u00e9ndez et al. 2022). Increasing attention has been paid to nation branding and international business recently but mainly related to the outcomes of the nation branding process and effects on external stakeholders such as attracting foreign direct investment and the acceptance of firms in foreign countries (Montanari et al. 2019). The lack of research on nation branding process and internal stakeholders such as domestic businesses and citizens limits the impacts on academia and practitioners. Hence, through using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this project aims to address the following research questions: \n1.        How do Vietnamese businesses and citizens perceive the nation brand of their country?\n2.        How can Vietnam build a green nation brand in international markets?\n3.        How does a green nation branding strategy influence the strategies and actions of Vietnamese businesses to develop in international markets?\n4.        What role do moderators and mediators play in the process of building a green nation brand for Vietnam?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706        International business"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert McClelland, Dr. Quyen Dang","title":"Green nation branding and firms\u2019 internationalization: the case of Vietnam","description":"Nation branding is critical in the context of changing globalization. Despite conversations that surround de-globalization, international trade and foreign direct investment continue to occur with impressive figures (UNCTAD, 2023). However, there have been fundamental changes in terms of each country\u2019s roles and characteristics on the global market. Importantly, being the driver of the world\u2019s economic growth, emerging markets such as Vietnam strive to penetrate more deeply into globalization through FDI and international trade while aiming to align with sustainable development goals. Therefore, how Vietnam navigates its way through the landscape of building a green nation brand to facilitate Vietnamese firms\u2019 internationalization is an important topic that could have implications for academia, firms, and governments in other countries. \nPrevious literature has mostly explored nation branding in the political, tourism and marketing fields (Rojas-M\u00e9ndez et al. 2022). Increasing attention has been paid to nation branding and international business recently but mainly related to the outcomes of the nation branding process and effects on external stakeholders such as attracting foreign direct investment and the acceptance of firms in foreign countries (Montanari et al. 2019). The lack of research on nation branding process and internal stakeholders such as domestic businesses and citizens limits the impacts on academia and practitioners. Hence, through using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this project aims to address the following research questions: \n1.        How do Vietnamese businesses and citizens perceive the nation brand of their country?\n2.        How can Vietnam build a green nation brand in international markets?\n3.        How does a green nation branding strategy influence the strategies and actions of Vietnamese businesses to develop in international markets?\n4.        What role do moderators and mediators play in the process of building a green nation brand for Vietnam?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706        International business"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nuno F. Ribeiro, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran, Catherine Earl\r\nMarian Makkar, Andy Stiff","title":"Local residents\u2019 attitudes towards sustainable tourism development in post-Covid19 Vietnam: A case study from Ho Chi Minh City (project 1 of 2) ","description":"This project is part of a larger funded multidisciplinary project that addresses sustainable tourism development along the Kenh Te canal banks of Districts 4 and 7 in Saigon, Vietnam. This project seeks to address the impacts of (sustainable) tourism development in riverside areas of Saigon, concentrating on the impact on local residents\u2019 lives and livelihoods. This study will address a gap in the sustainable tourism literature by investigating the impacts of tourism development in certain areas of Ho Chi Minh City that hitherto have had little to no contact with tourism. This study will also provide an additional testing ground for relationships between attitudes and intended behavior towards tourism development in Vietnam, which thus far has not been done. Findings will support researchers, policy makers, and tourism promotion campaigns. It will also enhance Vietnam\u2019s tourism promotional efforts aimed at increasing revisits by international tourists. This study will use primarily a quantitative approach, seeking to establish the relationship between beliefs, attitudes, and intended behavior towards tourism development The study will use survey\/questionnaire instruments of data collection and structural equation modelling (SEM) and multivariate analysis towards to investigate the nature and strength of relationships between tourism development, tourism developers, and the impact that tourism has\/will have in local residents\u2019 lives and livelihoods.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350801\tImpacts of tourism \r\n350803\tTourism management \r\n350805\tTourism resource appraisal \n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204 Management","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Nhat Minh, Hiep Cong Pham","title":"The impacts of Blockchain technology adoption on supply chain performance: an empirical study from Vietnam","description":"In recent years, blockchain technology has revolutionized supply chain management, enhancing efficiency and transparency with its decentralized, immutable ledger. Most existing studies on blockchain in supply chain management focus on theoretical benefits, with insufficient empirical data on its actual impact. Previous research primarily relies on literature reviews (Azzi et al., 2019; Longo et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2023; Han and Fang, 2024) and limited empirical analysis (Alazab, 2021; Karamchandani et al., 2021). Additionally, there is a lack of research on the unique challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption in emerging markets like Vietnam. To the best of our knowledge, there are only few empirical studies that had focused on the specific context of emerging market like Vietnamese transport and logistics companies. Furthermore, existing studies either provide a composite view of supply chains or focus on individual stages, limiting detailed understanding. There is a need for stage-wise assessment of supply chain practices with blockchain integration to evaluate its direct impact on performance. Additionally, despite extensive literature on blockchain, few clear frameworks exist for deciding whether a supply chain should adopt blockchain. This study aims to develop such a framework, aiding decision-making before implementation. Given Vietnam's rapid economic growth and strategic importance in global supply chains, understanding how blockchain can enhance supply chain performance is crucial.\nResearch methodology:\n\u2022        Conduct a literature review on explore existing research on the impacts of blockchain technology adoption on supply chain performance, with a focus on the transport and logistics sectors. \n\u2022        Develop a theoretical framework, regarding to the potential of blockchain to positively affect supply chain performance in terms of several indicators. \n\u2022        Employ mixed-methods research, including qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, and quantitative surveys with Structural Equation Modelling, to test the proposed model \n\u2022        Using primary data.\nExpected outcomes:\nWe expect the study to uncover a comprehensive understanding of how blockchain technology impacts supply chain performance. It's providing valuable insights for businesses in blockchain technology adoption to enhance operational efficiency, shortens lead times, and optimizes inventory management, while also reducing transaction and operational costs. It improves supply chain visibility, ensuring product authenticity and stakeholder trust.\n\nReferences\nAlazab, M. (2021), \u201cBlockchain technology in supply chain management: an empirical study of the factors affecting user adoption\/acceptance\u201d, Cluster Computing, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 83-101\nAzzi, R., Chamoun, R.K. and Sokhn, M. (2019), \u201cThe power of a blockchain-based supply chain\u201d, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 135, pp. 582-592.\nHan, Y., & Fang, X. (2024). Systematic review of adopting blockchain in supply chain management: bibliometric analysis and theme discussion. International Journal of Production Research, 62(3), 991-1016.\nKaramchandani, A., Srivastava, S.K., Kumar, S. and Srivastava, A. (2021), \u201cAnalysing perceived role of blockchain technology in SCM context for the manufacturing industry\u201d, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 59 No. 11, pp. 3398-3429\nLongo, F., Nicoletti, L., Padovano, A., d\u2019Atri, G. and Forte, M. (2019), \u201cBlockchain-enabled supply chain: an experimental study\u201d, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 136, pp. 57-69.\nVan Nguyen, T., Cong Pham, H., Nhat Nguyen, M., Zhou, L., & Akbari, M. (2023). Data-driven review of blockchain applications in supply chain management: key research themes and future directions. International Journal of Production Research, 61(23), 8213-8235.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"3509        Transportation, logistics and supply chains (40%)\n350909        Supply chains (40%)\n3507        Strategy, management and organisational behaviour (20%)\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204 Management","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Kok Seng Kiong, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran","title":"Understanding value creation from co-production between formal and informal waste collection within the circular economic framework","description":"The waste management sector in emergent countries represents a unique and complex environmental, social and economic challenge. Within the sector there has been a long-standing co-existence between the formal and informal waste collection systems. Much of the extant research has shown that informal waste collectors and recyclers can bring economic and social benefits, especially for vulnerable communities. This is premise upon its adapted coordination structure, minimal expenditures and the embrace for socio-economic opportunities (Wilson et al., 2006, Moreno-S\u00e1nchez et al., 2006). For example, plastics within the waste stream provide a distinct case where waste pickers or scavengers engage in selective waste collection services, potentially contributing to recycling efficiency, minimizing waste discharge into the wider environment. However, there are still substantial gaps within the extant academic literature exploring this socio-economic phenomenon, given the difficulties inherent with studies of informal waste-management, namely the diverse and unstructured contexts of waste-pickers. This has become an area of imperative interest especially considering the potential benefits and opportunities in furthering the circular economy discourse and impacts within Global South economies where much of these informal waste management systems exist \u200b(C. Joshi et al., 2019; Ono et al., 2023; Zisopoulos et al., 2023)\u200b.  \r\n\r\nThus, the primary aim of this study is to better characterize and understand the plastic waste collection and recycling business model in a Global South economy, focusing on Vietnam. The study will disentangle the factors that contribute to value co-production between the informal and formal waste collection systems and its structure within a Vietnamese context. The research seeks to develop an analytical framework built on a system dynamics approach (Sterman et al., 2010; Estay-Ossandon et al., 2018) to explore (non-)market arrangements in the creation of informal and formal waste collection systems with the goal to improve the overall social, environmental and economic benefits furthering the circularity model.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"350304 Business systems in context (20%)\r\n380105 Environment and resource economics (20%)\r\n380119 Welfare economics (10%)\r\n440407 Socio-economic development (25%)\r\n460901 Business process management (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR201 BusInfoSys","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Kok Seng Kiong, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran","title":"Understanding value creation from co-production between formal and informal waste collection within the circular economic framework","description":"The waste management sector in emergent countries represents a unique and complex environmental, social and economic challenge. Within the sector there has been a long-standing co-existence between the formal and informal waste collection systems. Much of the extant research has shown that informal waste collectors and recyclers can bring economic and social benefits, especially for vulnerable communities. This is premise upon its adapted coordination structure, minimal expenditures and the embrace for socio-economic opportunities (Wilson et al., 2006, Moreno-S\u00e1nchez et al., 2006). For example, plastics within the waste stream provide a distinct case where waste pickers or scavengers engage in selective waste collection services, potentially contributing to recycling efficiency, minimizing waste discharge into the wider environment. However, there are still substantial gaps within the extant academic literature exploring this socio-economic phenomenon, given the difficulties inherent with studies of informal waste-management, namely the diverse and unstructured contexts of waste-pickers. This has become an area of imperative interest especially considering the potential benefits and opportunities in furthering the circular economy discourse and impacts within Global South economies where much of these informal waste management systems exist \u200b(C. Joshi et al., 2019; Ono et al., 2023; Zisopoulos et al., 2023)\u200b.  \r\n\r\nThus, the primary aim of this study is to better characterize and understand the plastic waste collection and recycling business model in a Global South economy, focusing on Vietnam. The study will disentangle the factors that contribute to value co-production between the informal and formal waste collection systems and its structure within a Vietnamese context. The research seeks to develop an analytical framework built on a system dynamics approach (Sterman et al., 2010; Estay-Ossandon et al., 2018) to explore (non-)market arrangements in the creation of informal and formal waste collection systems with the goal to improve the overall social, environmental and economic benefits furthering the circularity model.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"350304 Business systems in context (20%)\r\n380105 Environment and resource economics (20%)\r\n380119 Welfare economics (10%)\r\n440407 Socio-economic development (25%)\r\n460901 Business process management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Exploring User security behaviour in WFH context - A TOE Approach","description":"Many organizations around the globe have let their employees work from home, especially due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which expose these organizations to various information security risks in the employees\u2019 work environment at home. While prior research has examined the cognitive factors that influenced the information security behaviors of remote workers, little was known about the impact of the different work environments on these behaviors. Moreover, organizations and employees are abruptly forced to embrace working from home, which create unprecedented problems and inconvenience in how employees perform daily work at home that could jeopardize organizational information security. This project proposes to adapt the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to investigate the factors that influence how employees protect organizational information security while working from home during an extended period. In terms of theoretical implications, the project focuses on exploring the contextual and situational factors that influence employee information security behaviors. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"ISE 4 Cyber Security","forcodes":"460499 Cybersecurity and privacy not elsewhere classified (25%) 460904 Information security management (75%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui, Nhung Vu Thi Hong","title":"Assessing Factors Affecting Circular Economy Adoption by SMEs in Vietnam","description":"The transition to a circular economy presents a significant opportunity for Vietnam's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reduce costs, enhance competitiveness, and promote sustainable development. However, the factors affecting SMEs' adoption of the circular economy in Vietnam are poorly understood. This PhD research proposes to investigate the key drivers and barriers to circular economy adoption among SMEs in Vietnam and to identify strategies and policies to promote greater adoption and more sustainable practices.\r\n\r\nThe research will use a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze data. First, qualitative data will be collected through in-depth interviews with SME owners, government officials, and industry experts to understand the drivers and barriers to circular economy adoption in Vietnam. Then, a survey will be administered to a representative sample of SMEs in different sectors and regions of Vietnam to quantify the prevalence of circular economy practices and to explore the factors that influence their adoption. \r\n\r\nThe original contribution of this PhD project lies in its focus on SMEs, which are a critical segment of the economy in Vietnam and other developing countries. By identifying the factors that influence circular economy adoption among SMEs, the research can inform policy decisions and help to promote more sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Additionally, the project's mixed-methods approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of the issues at play, combining qualitative insights with quantitative data to provide a nuanced view of the factors affecting circular economy adoption in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350716\tSmall business organisation and management (40%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (30%)\r\n350709\tOrganisation and management theory (30%)\r"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Trung Quang Nguyen, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"Technology uptake and competitiveness among Vietnamese micro and small-sized businesses","description":"The effects of technological uptake among businesses, including micro, small, and medium\nenterprises (MSMEs), have contributed to significant changes and new opportunities (Herv\u00e9 et al.,\n2021). One demonstration is that the more a firm increases the digitalisation of its operations, the\nstronger its entrepreneurial behaviour, leading to beneficial strategic decisions in international\nactivities (Herv\u00e9 et al., 2021). Nevertheless, digital transformation also challenges MSMEs\u2019\ncompetitiveness; this burden is particularly present among micro and small enterprises (MSEs)\noperating in emerging economies, where, traditionally, pervasive inhibiting factors are limiting their\ngrowth (da Costa et al., 2022). This point has enormous implications, especially given the massive\npresence of MSEs worldwide and their socioeconomic impacts and contributions (Teka, 2022).\nAccording to Vietnam\u2019s SMS Support Law, micro-sized firms employ 10 or fewer people and small-sized firms 11-100 people; based on the 2016 GSO Enterprise Census, over 91 per cent of formal\nbusinesses fall under the MSE category in Vietnam (OECD, 2021).\n Unpacking the nexus between MSEs and technology adoption is timely and relevant. Moreover,\nPhD candidates could choose from, develop, and explore a suite of critical themes with the potential\nto benefit Vietnam\u2019s MSE industry stakeholders, including through empirical and conceptual data,\nanalyses, and models under the delivery of journal articles and workshops that, together, can deliver\na more robust understanding of technology\u2019s role and impact as a facilitator of MSEs\u2019 future\ncompetitiveness. This line of research could also be complemented and enhanced through an\ninternship at one of our partners\u2019 companies, cross-industry, or cross-national investigations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350711 Organisational planning and management\n350716 Small business organisation and management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang, Huy Truong , Van-Anh Nguyen","title":"Sustainability, not Achilles\u2019 heel of digital transformation","description":"This research project aims to reconcile the two seemingly contracting trends, \u201cdigital transformation and sustainability\u201d, exploring how digital transformation and sustainability can be synergized within business ecosystems. It will involve an extensive review and analysis of current digital transformation strategies and sustainability practices across various industries, e.g., healthcare, logistics, and marketing. The primary objective is identifying and developing integrated approaches to drive digital innovation and sustainable development. The project will propose models and frameworks encapsulating best practices, guiding businesses to leverage digital technologies to enhance their sustainability goals. Potential topic(s) can explore the synergy between digitization and sustainability, the transformative potential of digital technologies in achieving sustainability in supply chain operations, or how technologies can be integrated with sustainable practices to create resilient and eco-friendly supply chains. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (25%) , 350304 Business systems in context (25%), 350705 Innovation management (25%), 350307 Technology management (25%)\n"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert Baulch,Chung Phan","title":"Education, Skills and Employment Transitions for Millennials in Vietnam","description":"This PhD project will use Rounds 1 to 6 of Young Lives (https:\/\/www.younglives.org.uk\/) to examine transitions in education and employment for two cohorts of children born just before\/after the Millennium in Vietnam. Young Lives is unique longitudinal study coordinated Oxford University that has followed 12,000 children in four developing countries since 2001.  In Vietnam, 3000 children were selected from households in five geographically dispersed provinces. Five face-to-face questionnaire survey rounds have been completed plus five phone interviews during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a qualitative sub-sample of 200 children and two school surveys. The Young Lives\u2019 data has low attrition and is high-quality. \n\nA three to four paper thesis, using a primarily quantitative approach, to examine the following issues is envisaged: \n\n1.        Which socio-economic factors most impact the ability of Vietnamese students to progress from lower to upper secondary school and from there to tertiary education? \n2.        What are the typical pathways for young people as they progress from secondary or tertiary education to employment in Vietnam? Which events and policies have most impacted these transitions?\n3.        How well do the education qualifications and skills of young workers align with the demands of Vietnam\u2019s rapidly growing and urbanising economy? \n4.        How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the educational transitions and employment outcomes of Vietnamese youth?\n\nApplicants should have a strong background in development economics and applied statistics\/econometrics. Knowledge of education economics and qualitative methods is an advantage. \n\nSeveral internship opportunities exist with international and Vietnamese organisations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380104\n380111\n440403"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Umair Akram","title":"Metaverse Tourism service quality and customer behavior intention to use Metaverse and to visit a destination.","description":"\"The tourism industry has seen significant growth, especially with the advent of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robots, biometric technology, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), all of which enhance personalization and enrich tourist experiences. While the impact of innovative technology has been extensively explored in various sectors, its role in the tourism and hospitality industry remains underrepresented. Drawing from insights from the Holistic Technostress Model and the Flow theory, this project seeks to develop a framework that evaluates Metaverse Tourism Service Quality and its influence on tourist attitudes, experiences, and behavioral intentions. Key research questions include: What attributes define Metaverse tourism service quality? How can Metaverse tourism service quality shape customer behavior? To what extent does Metaverse tourism impact customer behavior? In terms of research design and methods, this project will employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches for data collection and analysis. The anticipated outcomes aim to elucidate the concept of Metaverse tourism service quality and its correlation with tourist attitudes, experiences, and intentions. Furthermore, the findings will provide actionable strategies for tourism stakeholders to bolster tourism initiatives and enhance tourist intentions.\"","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"350601 (50%)\r\n350806 (25%)\r\n460806 (25%)\r"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Van Ha Thi Cam, Tra Pham, Ronald Kumar","title":"Globalisation, innovation and Sustainable Development Goals: The role of institutions. ","description":"Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are among the most essential aims of most countries and it takes a lot of effort to achieve these goals. Since globalisation and technological development are widely seen as the drivers for economic growth, the role of governments appears to be equally important to attain SDGs. This proposed project aims to examine the role of institutions in the relationship between globalisation, technological development, and inequality using country-level data covering the 1990-2022 period. The project first examines the tri-dimension relationship between globalisation, technological development, and inequality  and then investigates if governance plays a role in this relationship. While there is a large body of existing literature pays attention to the relationship between globalisation and inequality, limited work has been done on the tri-dimention relationship as well as the role of institutions in this relationship. This project also considers the differences between countries by income group and location. The project takes into account the changes in the relationship after several significant economic events, for example, the Southeast Asia financial crisis (1998-2000), the Global financial crisis (2008-2010), and Covid-19 (2019-2021), and examine the role of governance in these crucial times. The majority of data for this research come from the World Bank database: World Development Indicator (WDI); World Governance Indicator (WGI) and Global Innovation Index (GII). This project is expected to provide some insights into the existing literature, such as the tri-dimension relationship, as well as provide policy recommendations for countries to consider these drivers for achieving the SDGs. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"380110\tInternational economics (50%)\r\n380113\tPublic economics - public choice (25%)\r\n380112\tMacroeconomics (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui Duy, Teck Yap Lee ","title":"Digital Banking and Financial Literacy in Vietnam","description":"Digital banking has emerged as a disruptive force in the financial industry, offering customers convenient and accessible services. However, the impact of digital banking on customers' financial literacy is still not fully understood. Financial literacy is crucial in promoting financial inclusion and economic development, and understanding the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy is essential for policymakers, digital banking providers, and customers. This study investigates the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy in Vietnam.\r\n\r\nDespite the growing popularity of digital banking in Vietnam, little is known about its impact on customers' financial literacy. Most studies on digital banking in Vietnam have focused on adoption, usage, and customer satisfaction, but the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy has been largely overlooked.\r\n\r\nThe research will begin with a review of the literature on digital banking and financial literacy, followed by in-depth interviews with digital banking customers in Vietnam. The interviews will explore customers' experiences and perceptions of digital banking, their financial knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and the extent to which they receive financial education and guidance from digital banking providers. The study will also survey digital banking customers in Vietnam to collect quantitative data on their financial literacy, digital banking usage, and demographic characteristics. The survey data will be analyzed using statistical methods to explore the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy. Finally, the study will draw on the findings from the interviews and surveys to develop recommendations for digital banking providers and policymakers in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204\tFinancial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\r\n350208\tInvestment and risk management (20%)\r\n350299\tBanking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Binh Nguyen Thanh, Diem T. H. Vo","title":"What drives the development of Cryptoeconomies?","description":"A cryptoeconomy (economy built on the Blockchain) can be viewed as an emerging economy, since it has numerous institutional characteristics of a traditional economy including money, property rights, economic transactions, production capital, products & services, legal infrastructure as well as users who seek to contribute to the cryptoeconomy and receive economic value in turn. Cryptoeconomies offer digital financial services that support small medium-sized enterprises, enables small businesses to provide services to global markets and financial settlements for cross-border payments (Jiang & Chen, 2021), and provides low-cost financial services to impoverished individuals, contributing to poverty alleviation (Ning, Ramirez, & Khuntia, 2021). Hence, accelerating the development of cryptoeconomies can help to economically empower and bring financial inclusion to businesses and individuals at a global scale which are critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, our understanding of the theory behind cryptoeconomy development is limited. The literature on this topic is in its infancy and lacks theory-driven empirical studies. Traditional economic development theories need to be adjusted to fit into the context of cryptoeconomies. Addressing this gap, this project begins by conducting a literature review and highlighting key differences between cryptoeconomies and traditional economies. This project then applies traditional economic theories on cryptoeconomies to model their economic growth and empirically test those theories. The results intend to provide insights and implications for the blockchain community and policymakers regarding developing an economy (e.g., improving productivity, reducing poverty, creating empowerment opportunities) and how to achieve SDGs. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"380302 Macroeconomic theory (30%);\u00a0380204 Panel data analysis (20%);\u00a0380112 macroeconomics (50%)\u00a0"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stanley Teck Lee Yap, Tung Bui Duy, PhD (Senior Supervisor, School of Business and Management, RMIT Vietnam)","title":"Economic policy uncertainty, market risks and farmers\u2019 welfare in Vietnam.","description":"Agricultural commodity markets are confronting more complex challenges from economic policy uncertainty and market risks. Economic policy uncertainty convoluted with market risks amplify the agricultural commodity prices volatility and negatively impacts the welfare of farmers in developing countries (FAO, 2022, p. 23). Moreover, barriers such as non-transparency agricultural pricing mechanism (Distefano et al., 2018), lack of risk management knowledge (Baffes and Nagle, 2022), and asymmetric information between farmers and local intermediaries (Park et al., 2020) hinder effective risk management. Research gap exists in examine agricultural production that considered economic policy uncertainty and local\/global market risks in the institutional context of transition and developing countries such as Vietnam. This study investigates: (1) What are the economic policy uncertainty and market risks impacting the Vietnamese farmers\u2019 welfare, and how and to what extent are the impacts; (2) What are the feasible risk management strategy and policy to sustain the Vietnamese farmers\u2019 welfare. This study contributes to how the existing Vietnamese agricultural policy can be improved to mitigate these impacts. This study consists qualitative in-depth interview with the Vietnamese farmers to identify the risks impacting their welfare, and quantitative economic analysis to explore associations between welfare, policy and market risks, commodity prices, and socioeconomic factors. The trade model by Eaton and Kortum (2002) which considers welfare, technology, and trade geography will be used as the theoretical foundation model. The potential PhD candidate should have obtained a Master's degree in the field relevant to business management, economics or finance with analytical skills foundation.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380101 Agricultural economics (40%)\r\n380202 Econometric and statistical method (30%) \r\n380304 Microeconomic theory (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Greeni Maheshwari, Manjit Singh Sandhu, Umair Akram","title":"ICT adoption among women entrepreneurs in Vietnam","description":"Entrepreneurship has been considered the primary force for developing any growing economy. Information and technology, as compared to the other developing nations, have yet to be rooted in the entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam, especially for women entrepreneurs.\u00a0 According to world bank survey (2020), new technology application is at an early stage in Vietnam, where only 6% of businesses used cloud computing for business tasks and under 2% of businesses used big data or artificial intelligence for marketing. The proportion of women-owned businesses in 2011 was 21%, significantly increasing to 31.3% in 2018, per the Mastercard Index of Women entrepreneur report. Vietnam has great potential for developing information and communications technology, which is considered a key pillar for the government in developing a digital economy. The digital economy creates excellent opportunities for stakeholders to increase production and business efficiency in the context of the rapidly developing science and technology revolution 4.0, but less than 60% of small and medium sized enterprises said they either lack information about existing technologies or lack the skills to use them (World Bank survey, 2020).\u00a0Entrepreneurial growth concerning women entrepreneurs has been regarded and given due consideration with the growth of industrialization. Women start-ups can grasp the digital economy trends to achieve their goals in the shortest time and ensure sustainable development in the face of many challenges caused by the radically changing business environment. Female entrepreneurs can play a significant role in fostering the development of the small business sector and facilitating the evolution of enterprises in transition economies. A lack of technological awareness among women and entrepreneurs makes them incapable of handling the competition set by global firms. Hence, the purpose of the project is to examine the experiences and challenges of women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial growth and the use of ICT for women entrepreneurs in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704, 350716, 350705"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen, Muhammad Safiullah (Economics, Finance, and Marketing)","title":"The real effects of climate change risks on firm sustainability outcomes","description":"Climate change poses a substantial risk to any economy and financial system (Litterman et al., 2020). Thus it has gained significant attention from the media, regulators, practitioners, and academics over the past years. Current climate finance research has offered important insights into different aspects of climate change risks. It focuses on the hedging and pricing of those risks but overlooks their real effects on firms\u2019 sustainability outcomes and the role of stakeholders in mitigating the risks (Hong et al., 2020; Hong & Shore, 2022). \r\n\r\nMotivated by such gap and informed by climate economic and finance theory, this PhD project aims to investigate (1) whether and how climate-change risks (measured by both the real risks such as sea level rise (Nguyen et al., 2022), local air pollution (Huynh et al., 2021) and climate change sentiment such as climate change news risk (Engle et al., 2020; Huynh & Xia, 2021)) influence related corporate sustainability outcomes (e.g., corporate green innovation) and (2) if such relationships are conditioned on firm media reputation, internal and external governance mechanisms (e.g., board gender diversity, institutional ownership), and engagement of stakeholders. \r\n\r\nThis PhD project will offer insights into the impact of climate change risks on corporate sustainability outcomes and channels through which that process occurs or factors affecting this process. The findings are expected to assist regulators in formulating policies that support a sustainable economy.  \r\n\r\nThe candidate is expected to have a solid background in economics\/finance, quantitative research methods, and strong analytical skills. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"353502 Banking, finance, and investment\r\n353507 Strategy, management, and organizational behaviour "},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Trung Quang Nguyen, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"Technology uptake and competitiveness among Vietnamese micro and small-sized businesses","description":"The effects of technological uptake among businesses, including micro, small, and medium\nenterprises (MSMEs), have contributed to significant changes and new opportunities (Herv\u00e9 et al.,\n2021). One demonstration is that the more a firm increases the digitalisation of its operations, the\nstronger its entrepreneurial behaviour, leading to beneficial strategic decisions in international\nactivities (Herv\u00e9 et al., 2021). Nevertheless, digital transformation also challenges MSMEs\u2019\ncompetitiveness; this burden is particularly present among micro and small enterprises (MSEs)\noperating in emerging economies, where, traditionally, pervasive inhibiting factors are limiting their\ngrowth (da Costa et al., 2022). This point has enormous implications, especially given the massive\npresence of MSEs worldwide and their socioeconomic impacts and contributions (Teka, 2022).\nAccording to Vietnam\u2019s SMS Support Law, micro-sized firms employ 10 or fewer people and small-sized firms 11-100 people; based on the 2016 GSO Enterprise Census, over 91 per cent of formal\nbusinesses fall under the MSE category in Vietnam (OECD, 2021).\n Unpacking the nexus between MSEs and technology adoption is timely and relevant. Moreover,\nPhD candidates could choose from, develop, and explore a suite of critical themes with the potential\nto benefit Vietnam\u2019s MSE industry stakeholders, including through empirical and conceptual data,\nanalyses, and models under the delivery of journal articles and workshops that, together, can deliver\na more robust understanding of technology\u2019s role and impact as a facilitator of MSEs\u2019 future\ncompetitiveness. This line of research could also be complemented and enhanced through an\ninternship at one of our partners\u2019 companies, cross-industry, or cross-national investigations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350711 Organisational planning and management\n350716 Small business organisation and management"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Success Factors and Challenges of Algorithmic Decision-Making in Healthcare","description":"As data-driven technologies are widely adopted in different settings, scholars and practitioners have recently studied aspects of algorithmic decision-making (ADM), or the process where decisions are made either directly by the algorithms or by a human decision-maker supported by algorithms. In either case, many concerns have been raised regarding the fairness, transparency, accuracy, accountability, data privacy, and security of ADM, to name a few. More importantly, these concerns need to be addressed when ADM is applied in critical contexts such as healthcare. This doctoral research project will employ a mixed-methods approach to explore the success factors and challenges associated with the existing or potential use of ADM in healthcare from the perspective of users. The project would contribute practical implications for designing ADM process and data-driven healthcare technologies that are both useful and acceptable to societies. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Systems (AISSC)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Jasper Teow","title":"Exploring human perception, acceptance, and use of emerging technologies.","description":"This research investigates the multifaceted aspects of human interactions with emerging technologies, focusing on perception, acceptance, and practical application. Understanding these elements is crucial as technological advancements reshape daily life and societal structures. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and others, are increasingly penetrating personal and professional environments. Earlier studies suggest that the success of these technologies largely depends on how well they are perceived and accepted by users. However, comprehensive research that delves into these relationships remains limited. This research explores how individuals perceive and accept emerging technologies and how these perceptions influence their usage patterns. The key research questions include: How do cognitive biases affect the perception of emerging technologies? What are the primary factors that influence the acceptance of new technological tools? How does the usage of these technologies vary across different demographic groups? This research prefers a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data. The analysis is expected to focus on identifying trends and patterns within user groups, aiming to develop predictive models for technology adoption. The research will deploy the Knowledge Behavior Gap (KBG) model as the key methodological framing. The research outcomes shall provide valuable insights for technology developers, policymakers, and educators, helping to tailor innovative solutions that meet user needs and enhance the integration of emerging technologies into society. The overall research aim is to contribute a deeper understanding of human factors driving the success and integration of new technological advancements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460806 Human-computer interaction (70%)\n460803 Collaborative and social computing (15%)\n460805 Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems (15%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Systems (AISSC)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Hoang Thuan, Robert McClelland","title":"Decisions to switch channels in multiple\/omnichannel retailers","description":"Companies have integrated multiple online and offline channels as an effective approach to improve customer experiences. Prior research suggests that the decision to switch channels cannot simply be based on perceived benefit; rather multiple factors should be considered. However, a structured account decision factors and decisions making process is still lacking. This research project fills the gap by exploring how customers make decisions to switch. We aim to identify and structure key factors influencing this decision. With these factors, we further aim to develop a decision making process\/framework concerning key activities related to the decision. A mixed method approach can be applied to identify the relevant factors and quantitatively test how these factors influencing the decision.  Based on the findings, the project will give several recommendations for managers making the crowdsourcing decision.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350601 Consumer behaviour (50%)\r\n469999 Information systems (50%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Accounting (AISSC)","programcode":"DR200","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuan Chu, Samuel Buerey, Ronald Kumar","title":"Exploring Challenges Faced by Vietnamese Firms in Sustainability Reporting","description":"There is a dearth of comprehensive studies examining the challenges hindering successful implementation of sustainability reporting practices at the organizational level in Vietnam. This PhD project will bridge this gap by providing an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by Vietnamese firms in adopting and implementing sustainable practices and reporting, assessing the impact of these challenges, and suggesting potential strategies for improvement. Hence, the project welcomes both quantitative and\/or qualitative methods. The project aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the current state of sustainability reporting in Vietnam. The research will explore developments in recent theoretical frameworks on sustainability reporting, which will be customized and applied to in an emerging country context to identify the complexities and challenges of adopting sustainability reporting. The findings will be examined for its uniqueness to Vietnamese companies, as well as the plausible uniformity that may exist across countries, the latter aspect will be based on a thorough literature review. Noting the nuances in the adoption of sustainability, the research project aims to propose an alternative framework, and hence contribute to the theoretical aspects on corporate sustainability from the perspective of developing countries. The project will aim to carefully synthesize the findings into actionable solutions, that can be considered for implementation by businesses, policymakers, and stakeholders, with the view to improve sustainability reporting practices in Vietnam. The replication of the findings to other countries in the region will further strengthen the sustainable development agenda in the region.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350107 (50%) \u2013 Sustainability accounting and reporting; \n350101 (25%) \u2013 Accounting theory and standards; \n380202 (15%) \u2013 Econometrics and statistical methods;\n441006 (10%) - Sociological methodology and research methods"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hiep Pham","title":"Social Marketing Approach in Encouraging Employee Security Compliance","description":"Understanding the behavioral change process of system users to adopt safe security practices is important to the success of an organization\u2019s cybersecurity program. Internal marketing is an effective strategy to enhance organizational capabilities and competencies, by influencing employees\u2019 attitudes and behaviors towards organizational goals. Social marketing adopts the concepts and techniques of commercial marketing to influence target audiences to adopt or sustain behavior in pursuit of social goals such as in increasing pro-environmental behavior, health related behavior, and service quality. Internal social marketing (ISM) combines social and internal marketing, applying internal marketing to influence employees\u2019 attitude and behavior towards organizational changes, but to aiming to achieve social, rather than commercial objectives. This study aims to apply 7Ps marketing mix, as part of an ISM approach, and measure its effectiveness on employee compliance behaviour. This understanding could inform the design of behavioral infrastructure to promote and maintain cybersecurity compliance. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"ISE 4 Cyber Security","forcodes":"460904 Information security management (60%) 350612 Social marketing (30% 350604 Marketing communications (10%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hiep Pham","title":"Digital transformation of logistics and supply chains in Vietnam - A Risk Focused Approach","description":"Digitalization in supply chain (SC) has emerged as a response to improve information sharing, better demand management and reduce cost. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented global SC disruptions greatly affect firms\u2019 critical operation. As many firms are trying to remain competitive by investing in digital transformation regardless of their current technology infrastructure, size, business model, or business environment, it is essential to understand key determinants of a firm\u2019s digital SC transformation decision. A firm\u2019s perceived SC disruption risk and its internal capabilities such as absorptive capacity and learning intent impact the level of digital SC transformation that it will commit to. This project can examine industry-specific risks and firm heterogeneity to identify industry-specific risk variables understanding how firms respond to disruption risks in their supply chain. Research can also be done to include more internal capabilities (asymmetric learning, open innovation, etc.) and external factors (e.g. TOE) to explore their impacts on digital SC transformation in a crisis. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy","forcodes":"350903 Logistics 350909 Supply chains 350999 Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vu Thi Hong Nhung,  Bui Duy Tung","title":"Gender Differences in Adopting Digital Technologies among SMEs in Vietnam","description":"With the rapid development of digital technologies, adopting and using these technologies have become increasingly crucial for the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. However, there is limited research on gender differences in adopting and using digital technologies among SMEs in Vietnam. This study aims to fill this research gap by examining the gender differences in the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs in Vietnam. \r\nWhile there is a growing body of literature on the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs, there is limited research on gender differences in this area. This study contributes to the literature on gender differences in the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs by focusing on the Vietnamese context. By examining the factors influencing the adoption and use of digital technologies among men and women-owned SMEs, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of how gender differences may shape technology adoption and use. Additionally, this study provides insights into how policymakers and business support organisations can better support women-owned SMEs in adopting and using digital technologies.\r\nThe quantitative component of the study will involve a survey of SMEs in Vietnam, focusing on collecting data on the adoption and use of digital technologies, as well as other relevant factors such as firm size, industry, and ownership. The qualitative component of the study will involve in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of SMEs to provide more detailed insights into the factors that influence technology adoption and use among men and women-owned SMEs. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350716\tSmall business organisation and management  (33%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (33%)\t\t\r\n440705\tGender, policy and administration\t(34%)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vicki Little","title":"Creating public value through nature-based solutions: Implanting urban farming","description":"Innovating to support social and environmental outcomes is 'sustainability-oriented' innovation (SOI). It is a broad topic, capturing ecopreneurship (people-focused), the innovations themselves (technologies, artefacts, skills and capabilities), and the nested systems they are designed to intervene in (households, neighbourhoods, communities, cities, countries and the planet itself). The goal is to create and distribute value equitably for and to quintuple helix systems stakeholders (e.g., government, civil society, academia, industry and the environment). In particular, SOI addresses the needs of silent social stakeholders - future generations.\r\n\r\nFood security is one of the most important targets for SOI. Climate change is affecting productive capacity and hence food security in multiple ways, for example sea level rise, extreme weather events destroying crops and contaminating land, and invasive species becoming more pervasive. Traditional agriculture will encounter increasing challenges from both climate and social license to operate, particularly in its current damaging, intensive forms. Therefore, we must pivot to new forms of food provisioning. We must find ways to distribute production to reduce risk, and to provide equitable access for local communities. \r\n\r\nThis topic is deliberately broad. There could be opportunities to collaborate with private or public stakeholders producing nature-based solutions, for example, or who are innovating laboratory grown meats, or who are creating communities of practice around decentralised food production, or who are finding innovative ways to turn food waste into new food solutions. Those opportunities might include industry, government or community internships, wherein the candidate gathers data as a participant observer (ethnography or action research). It could include colleagues from other schools who are working on bioscience innovations, or sustainable cities, or engineering solutions.\r\n\r\nThe key principles are:\r\n\r\n1. Addressing the impact of climate change on current food systems (SDGs 13 (climate action), 2 (zero hunger), 9 (industry innovation & infrastructure), 12 (responsible production and consumption));\r\n2. Taking a broad, transformative (vs incremental) position to conceptualising necessary change, with the implication that a critical perspective of current damaging logics would be required;\r\n3. Taking a situated systems vs individual actor perspective with the implication that the study would engage in naturalistic enquiry (case study, ethnography, action research);\r\n4. Taking an effectuation view of the topic and outputs, drawing on the skills, competencies, networks and interests of the student(s) involved and the supervisory team; recognising that the project relates to a logic of theory discovery rather than a logic of theory justification and testing; with the implication that the topic will evolve over time and in response to new information (an emergent logic).\r\n\r\nThis is not a topic for those who are uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, it is a topic for enquirers (both faculty and students) who wish to challenge current thinking, and to make the world a better place. It therefore requires candidates with an entrepreneurial mindset, and who wish to help solve 'wicked' problems.\r\n\r\nThe project could form a point of coalescence for a platform(s), or for a group of students, each tackling an aspect of the problem of improving food security. That problem is both 'wicked' and intersectional i.e., also incorporates issues around gender and wealth inequality, land rights, access to resources, indigenous knowledge and epistemological justice.  Please note that this project touches on most of the platforms.\r\n\r\nThe topic or topics would need to be refined in consultation with the student, supervisory panel (which may be transdisciplinary i.e. include industry or government representation) in line with these first principles. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"350603\r\n350605\r\n350612"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang","title":"Digital Transformation and digitalisation of healthcare in Vietnam","description":"Digital transformation and the digitalisation of processes, which leverage digital technologies to optimise existing operations and create improvements, have been rapidly taking place in organisations of all sizes and across different sectors. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact societies around the world, the healthcare sector is put under pressure to adopt digital technologies to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for citizens of all ages. Nevertheless, the extant literature has shown that digital transformation programs are often large and complex, and contextual i.e., there is no one-size-fits-all solution for digital transformation across different contexts. This doctoral research project will employ a mixed method approach to examine the success factors and challenges in the adoption of digital technologies from both the perspectives of healthcare centres (e.g., hospitals and clinics) and relevant stakeholders (e.g., doctors, nurses, professional staff, as well as patients and policy makers). Furthermore, it involves developing and delivering a comprehensive training program to enhance digital transformation capabilities of healthcare centres and staff in Vietnam. The project will put forward a validated framework that outlines the best practices for digital transformation and digitalisation in the healthcare context. The PhD candidate(s) working on this project will be mentored by experienced and senior researchers who have established research track records in the digital transformation and digitalisation areas. The candidate(s) will also have access to networks of researchers in the Managing Smart Transformation research cluster at RMIT Vietnam and RMIT Australia, as well as healthcare centres and medical professionals in Vietnam. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang","title":"From Thoughts to Actions, from Data to Insights: Understanding Humans in the Digital World","description":"Firms have created IT-enabled transformational services across industries. Local entertainment companies offer a wide range of streaming services, from video and music to gaming across devices. In the financial sector, firms promote online payment and banking services as IT-based services, including e-wallets and online savings. Meanwhile, technology firms provide IT solutions as web-based services. Healthcare physicians now deliver healthcare services through electronic platforms. As there are many new forms of business, the ways consumers interact with them all have changed. All these interactions have created a huge volume of digital data. Digital traces from consumer online activities present researchers with the opportunity to research the interplay between people, processes, and technology, since the insights extracted from such large-scale data would not be possible in traditional experiments. The Ph.D. candidate(s) working on this project need to expand their capacity to work with large, but less-than-ideal datasets, and integrate digital trace data into research designs for causal inference tasks. Potential topic(s) will explore different perspectives on marketing, consumers, and technology, e.g. consumers' adoption and usage of IT-enabled products and services, extraction of actionable insights from consumers\u2019 online activities.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;SC 4 Transformations in Work;UF 4 Applied urban analytics;","forcodes":"350301 Business analytics (40%) 350303 Business information systems (30%) 350601 Consumer behaviour (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thai Nguyen","title":"Blockchain, FinTech and transformation in banking industry","description":"Blockchain and fintech are challenging the traditional roles of the well-established banking systems. What are the impacts of blockchain and fintech on the banking industry and how is the industry responding? How effective are government policies on banking industry upon the emergence of blockchain and fintech? Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2027","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;","forcodes":"350204, 350299, 380107"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thai Nguyen, Tra Pham","title":"Central bank digital currencies, financial inclusion and financial instability","description":"Countries around the world have been pursuing the development of Central Bank Digital Currency in recent years. This has important implications for multiple aspects of the financial systems. Standard arguments claim that CBDCs promote financial inclusion through drawing the unbanked to formal financial services. However, greater financial inclusion may pose risks for financial stability through credit expansion and other factors. Prior research mostly documents a trade-off between financial inclusion and financial stability, but synergy can also occur. As both financial inclusion and financial stability are paramount to policy agenda, it is important to explore how they are related and how the introduction of CBDC will impact this nexus. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2024","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;","forcodes":"350204, 380107, 380112"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen, SPM Finance\n","title":"Corporate sustainability performance during environmental, political and technological uncertainties","description":"Corporate sustainability has emerged as a prominent business strategy that could improve a firm\u2019s reputation, with possible benefits on the firm\u2019s value and long-term development. However, we have witnessed drastic changes in the social, environmental and political landscape as well as new emerging technologies over the last few years, therefore the factors that drive corporate sustainability performance in the current literature may no longer be applicable. Thus, it is important to re-examine the determinants of corporate sustainability performance in this new landscape at the firm level. This PhD project aims to shed light on the importance of external factors such as political connections; environment, social and governance (ESG) disclosure; and blockchain-related activities on corporate sustainability performance at a global scale. As such, this project will examine the key determinants of corporate sustainability performance and investigate the effect of political connections, ESG disclosure and blockchain-related activities on corporate sustainability performance. The project will employ quantitative methods such as content analysis, multi-criteria decision-making methods and several statistical models and techniques such as OLS, GMM, probit regression, propensity score matching and other sensitivity tests. The outcomes of this project are expected to advance the understanding of the determinants of corporate sustainability performance and show how political connections, ESG voluntary disclosure and blockchain-related activities drive corporate sustainability performance. The project will also provide policy and practical implications to assist firms to achieve long-term sustainability objectives.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350202 Finance (75%) ; 350203 Financial Econometrics (25%) ; 350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trung Nguyen","title":"Moving Toward an Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Nation","description":"Vietnam has set an ambitious goal - moving toward a digital nation by 2030. The National Programme for Digital Transformation aims to \u201cdevelop a digital government, digital economy, and digital society and to establish Vietnamese digital technology enterprises capable of going global\u201d (Prime Minister of Vietnam, 2020). Although the country has taken great initiatives to excel through smart cities and industry 4.0, the actual implementation shows there were still many difficulties and challenges for city leaders, management agencies, and businesses. Potential topic(s) explore the inclusive and sustainable digital transformation of Vietnam, e.g., digital government, digital society, digital economy, international business, and benchmarking of smart and sustainable cities. These projects aim to examine drivers, barriers, and government's support for an inclusive and sustainable digital nation; to recast the new globalization and define the new meaning of 'born global'; or to benchmark smart city. The Ph.D. candidate(s) working on this project will be mentored by experienced researchers in the e-government and digitalization areas.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;UF 2 Smart cities analytics;GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance;","forcodes":"350714 Public sector organisation and management (50%) 350706 International business (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vicki Little","title":"Sustainability-oriented innovation in agrifood markets","description":"Producing sufficient food for future generations is vital, however current modes of industrial food production are unsustainable, i.e. destroy the natural capital upon which they are based. Therefore, sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI) must be purposively developed and diffused into current food systems. However, the nature of SOIs are as yet not well understood, likewise the issues and challenges of development and diffusion into current systems. Deeper insight is needed into the tensions between social, economic and environmental elements of food production from a holistic perspective. Likewise, further insight is needed into the nature and dynamics of ecopreneurship, whereby disruptive or niche innovations derive; and into the mindsets and practices of ecopreneurs who challenge the status quo. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"DCP The Social and Sustainable","forcodes":""},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"George Majo","title":"Approaches for Greener supply chain in Vietnamese fashion and textile industries","description":"The drive for sustainability is getting significant attention from various industries including fashion and textiles. These sectors are neglecting the sustainability objectives especially in developing countries for various reasons. Fashion and textile supply chain involves environmental pollution due to its inherent nature in manufacturing industries. Similarly, the social and economic aspects of sustainability is neglected in the form of not taking care of the society and resources. This project will investigate the greener supply chain aspects in Vietnamese fashion and textile industries. Various approaches taken by the industries to become green will be investigated through this project. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be implemented during the study. The study findings can provide an outline for the existing industries and the new industries steps to become sustainable.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"The Social and Sustainable","forcodes":"350909 Supply chains"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dao Le Trang Anh","title":"Financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality in the Asia-Pacific region","description":"The Asia-Pacific region is at the forefront of the global digital revolution, with developed and emerging countries that lead the adoption and advancement of new technologies. Over the past few decades, the Asia-Pacific region has also experienced impressive economic growth, with many countries in the region transitioning from low-income to middle- and high-income status. However, the digitalization level, the degree of financial development, and the quality of institutions vary greatly across the region. \nFinancial development refers to the growth of financial institutions and markets, while digitalization refers to the use of digital technologies to transform economic and social activities. Institutional quality encompasses a range of factors such as the rule of law, protection of property rights, and government efficiency, which are critical to fostering an enabling environment for sustainable economic growth and development. The interplay between financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality in the Asia-Pacific region is undiscovered, and understanding these relationships is essential for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners seeking to promote sustainable economic development in the region and in each nation.\nThis project, therefore, aims to explore the nexuses of financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality by a comparative analysis among nations in the Asia-Pacific region. From the findings, the project provides insights into the potential implications for bettering the financial sector, the digitalization process, and the broader economy in each nation as well as the entire Asia-Pacific region.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350207 International Finance\r\n380107 Financial Economics\r\n\r"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vu Thi Hong Nhung, Bui Duy Tung","title":"Financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam","description":"Digital banking has recently gained tremendous popularity, especially in developing countries like Vietnam. However, with the increasing usage of digital banking, there is a growing concern about consumers' ability to make informed choices and protect themselves against fraud and scams. As a result, financial literacy has been identified as critical in ensuring consumer protection in digital banking. However, despite the importance of financial literacy, there is a lack of empirical research on its impact on consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. Thus, this study aims to address this research gap by investigating the role of financial literacy in consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. The study's findings can have significant implications for Vietnam's policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions. By understanding the role of financial literacy in consumer protection, policymakers can design and implement more effective policies and regulations to ensure consumers' safety in digital banking.\u00a0\r\nThe qualitative phase of the research will involve in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, such as policymakers, regulators, and representatives from financial institutions. The qualitative data will be analyzed thematically to identify the key themes and patterns related to financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. The quantitative phase of the research will involve administering a survey questionnaire to a sample of digital banking customers in Vietnam. The survey will assess customers' financial literacy, their experiences with fraud and scams in digital banking, and their awareness of consumer protection policies and regulations. The data collected from the survey will be analyzed using statistical methods to identify the relationship between financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204 Financial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\n350208 Investment and risk management (20%)\n350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui","title":"Financial education and digital banking for vulnerable populations in Vietnam ","description":"Access to financial services is critical to the economic development of any country. Yet, despite efforts to promote financial inclusion, vulnerable populations in Vietnam, such as women, rural residents, and low-income households, continue to face challenges in accessing and using digital banking services. Financial education and digital banking initiatives have been identified as potential solutions to bridge the financial inclusion gap. However, the effectiveness of these initiatives is yet to be fully explored, particularly among the most vulnerable populations.\r\n\r\nThis study aims to fill that gap by examining the effectiveness of financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam. The study will identify the barriers to accessing and using digital banking services among these populations and the strategies that digital banking providers and policymakers can adopt to promote financial inclusion. The study will contribute to the literature on financial inclusion by providing insights into the effectiveness of financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam.\r\n\r\nThe study will begin with a literature review to identify the existing literature on financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam. The study will then use surveys to collect quantitative data from a sample of vulnerable populations in Vietnam, including women, rural residents, and low-income households. The survey will focus on their access to and use of digital banking services and their attitudes towards financial education. The study will also conduct in-depth interviews with a subset of the survey respondents to better understand their experiences with digital banking services and financial education.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204 - Financial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\r\n160810 - Urban and Regional Economics (20%)\r\n350299Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jasper Teow, Phuong Hoang (Emmy) (phuong.hoangai@rmit.edu.vn)","title":"Decoding the Human Element: Consumer Behaviour in Technology and Innovation","description":"The interplay between AI, digital technologies and innovative marketing has resulted in transformative changes to the consumer landscape. Candidates in this research program examine the psychological, social, and environmental factors shaping consumer behavior in this constantly evolving landscape. This project invites candidates interested in topics at the intersection of consumer psychology, technology adoption, and marketing innovation. \n\nAreas of investigation include, but are certainly not limited to: \nAI aversion, Cultural influences on risk perception and innovativeness, Judgment and decision-making processes affecting technology adoption, The digital divide and its impact on elderly consumers, Consumer psychology influencing innovative product design, Behavioral insights and nudging in intervention design, Time perception and technological resistance, Consumer creativity, Decision heuristics and biases, Prosocial and charity behavior, Choice architecture, overload and framing effects on consumption behaviour, Social influence and online behavior, Spread of mis\/disinformation across social networks, Digital transformation and its impact on consumer psychology, AR \/ VR \/ Wearable technology on consumer behaviour, etc.\n \nPh.D. candidates joining this project should possess a genuine curiosity about consumer behavior, technology, and marketing. They will be exposed to experimental research methodologies, conducting field studies, observing naturalistic consumer behavior, and harnessing the power of big data analyses. Through these, the program endeavours to generate outputs that both advance academic discourse and, importantly, yield tangible societal and managerial impact which can advance industry practices and public policies.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350601 Consumer behaviour (50%)\n350602 Consumer-oriented product or service development (30%)\n520505 Social psychology (20%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Catherine Earl & Vicki Little","title":"Enterprising women in Southeast Asia (multiple positions) ","description":"We invite proposals addressing social, political and economic aspects of women\u2019s entrepreneurship, including women-owned and women-led micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, family- and home-based businesses, and digital and emerging forms of entrepreneurship. The focus is on the voices of women entrepreneurs from any Southeast Asian context (ASEAN states plus Timor-Leste), with a particular interest in aligning to at least one of the following: sustainable livelihoods, social enterprise, women\u2019s empowerment and the COVID-19 pandemic recovery as part of a broader global agenda towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Projects should be interdisciplinary and address a current or emerging issue in Southeast Asia. Engagement with novel and innovative qualitative methodologies is encouraged. There is the opportunity to work with community groups and industry partners to generate evidence-based policy and practice reform at the interface of institutions, services and societal norms. Supervisors come from disciplines including entrepreneurship, management, marketing, tourism and hospitality management, culture industries, communications, sociology, social work and law, social policy, gender studies, leadership, international development, and education. Priority areas: \r\n- Gender equity and women\u2019s empowerment\r\n- Decent work and economic growth\r\n- Responsible production and consumption\r\n- Sustainable cities and communities\r\n- Digital transformation","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"35074 (marketing)\r\n1605-12 (policy and administration)\r\n200212 - South-East Asian Cultural Studies."},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"MANJIT SINGH SANDHU, Burkhard Schrage, Santiago Velasquez","title":"Understanding Family Firm internationalization: Insights from Vietnam\r","description":"Family firms refer to businesses where multiple family members from the same firm have ownership and management control of the organization to sustain its continuation across generations (Chua et al, 1999; Arregle et al,2021; Chua et al, 1999).Recent data shows that family firms own and control more than 70% of  businesses globally and contribute 70\u201390% of the world\u2019s GDP (Family Firm Institute,2021). In recent years, the advent of globalization, rapid technological development and increasing competition has forced  many family firms to pursue internationalization strategies. This has attracted deep interest among family business  research scholars with an increasing number of publications in the last decade. However,  the field is still very much at its infancy stage as the current body of knowledge is highly heterogeneous and has provided mixed findings on how family ownership, \u2018familiness\u2019 and management influence internationalization (Alayo, Iturralde, Maseda, & Aparicio, 2020; Arregle, 2021). This project intends to examine the influence of family ownership on family firm internationalization in Vietnam. Family firms play an important role in the economic development of Vietnam. Data shows that 25% of Vietnam\u2019s GDP is contributed by the 100 largest Vietnamese family firms. In addition, 50 of the top listed public companies in Vietnam (such as Kido, Vietjet, Vingroup)  are family firm\u2019s.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350704\r\n350706\r\n350718"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trung Quang Nguyen, Ngoc Pham, Research Fellow, Melanie Davern Centre for Urban Research, RMIT (Melbourne) ","title":"Urban liveability for a city in a low-to-middle-income country: The case of Vietnam   ","description":"Building cities that are \"liveable\" has become a priority for many governments and sectors, including those working to improve population health and reduce inequities. With two-thirds of the world's population projected to live in cities by 2050, urbanisation is happening at an unprecedented pace, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is limited guidance on what constitutes a liveable city from an LMIC perspective, with most of the evidence relating to high-income countries such as Australia, Singapore, and European countries. Existing liveability frameworks typically include features such as public transport, affordable housing, and public open space, but these may not capture all the liveability considerations for LMICs.\r\nThe objectives of the study are three-fold: first, to conceptualise and prioritise components of urban liveability that are specific to Ho Chi Minh City in the Vietnam context; second, to identify how these components align with or diverge from existing liveability frameworks; and third, to identify potential indicators and data sources that could be used to develop a Pilot Ho Chi Minh Liveability Framework. \r\nThe study theoretically provides a comprehensive understanding of what makes a city liveable in the context of an LMIC. Practically, it could help guide policymakers and urban planners in their decision-making. By identifying the specific components of urban liveability that are important in Ho Chi Minh City, the study could also help other cities in similar contexts in Vietnam and other LMICs facing rapid urbanisation.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"330413 Urban planning & Health (50%); \r\n330314 Sustainable design (25%); \r\n200207 Social structure & Health (25%)\u00a0"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Giang Hoang, Duy Dang","title":"The impacts of leadership on innovation in Vietnamese firms","description":"Innovation is critical for sustaining firms' competitive advantage and business performance. Although leadership has been identified as playing a key role in fostering innovation, little is known about how this factor plays out in the Vietnamese context. This study investigates the relationship between leadership and innovation and its underlying mechanisms (i.e., mediation and moderation effects) using data from Vietnamese firms. This study employs a sequential confirmatory research design to examine these relationships. It starts with a quantitative study to test a theoretical model that links leadership to innovation. Then, a qualitative study will be conducted to confirm the findings of the quantitative study. This study not only provides deeper understanding of innovation management practices in Vietnamese firms, but also advances the research streams of innovation and leadership. The research results will also offer important practical implications for Vietnamese organizations that are investing in innovation activities and are seeking ways to enhance their innovation performance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350707\tLeadership (50%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (50%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Jasper Teow","title":"Exploring human perception, acceptance, and use of emerging technologies.","description":"This research investigates the multifaceted aspects of human interactions with emerging technologies, focusing on perception, acceptance, and practical application. Understanding these elements is crucial as technological advancements reshape daily life and societal structures. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and others, are increasingly penetrating personal and professional environments. Earlier studies suggest that the success of these technologies largely depends on how well they are perceived and accepted by users. However, comprehensive research that delves into these relationships remains limited. This research explores how individuals perceive and accept emerging technologies and how these perceptions influence their usage patterns. The key research questions include: How do cognitive biases affect the perception of emerging technologies? What are the primary factors that influence the acceptance of new technological tools? How does the usage of these technologies vary across different demographic groups? This research prefers a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data. The analysis is expected to focus on identifying trends and patterns within user groups, aiming to develop predictive models for technology adoption. The research will deploy the Knowledge Behavior Gap (KBG) model as the key methodological framing. The research outcomes shall provide valuable insights for technology developers, policymakers, and educators, helping to tailor innovative solutions that meet user needs and enhance the integration of emerging technologies into society. The overall research aim is to contribute a deeper understanding of human factors driving the success and integration of new technological advancements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460806 Human-computer interaction (70%)\n460803 Collaborative and social computing (15%)\n460805 Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems (15%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Long Nguyen","title":"Digital transformation for sustainable tourism destinations: A post-pandemic study in an emerging country","description":"The sustainable tourism SMEs operated by minority group communities in Vietnam were among the most vulnerable groups for survival due to Covid-19. With the rich cultural heritage, lots of minority groups applied sustainable tourism practices for years. However, due to limited development in infrastructure, and lack of digital knowledge and skills, they have limited resources to appeal to the traveler's market for business recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, digital transformation is required for them to promote their sustainable tourism activities effectively. The research aims to explore the possible practices of the digital transformation of their sustainable tourism business. Research design & methods: A mixed method will be adopted for this study. First, qualitative observation and interviews will be conducted to explore the challenge, barriers, and opportunities for the practice of digital transformation to develop the conceptual model. Second, the survey will be conducted to test the conceptual model for digital transformation. Outcomes & implications: Developing a framework of how digitalization can be implemented for sustainable tourism among minority group community could benefit the underprivileged population group. This research aims to provide suggestions for local authorities through the framework and contribute to the inclusive investment decisions from both the tourism service providers and the government.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"DCP 3 The Social and Sustainable; GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"460907 Information systems for sustainable development and the public good (50%) 350611 Service Marketing (25%) 350803 Tourism Management 25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nuno da Costa Cardoso Dantas Ribeiro","title":"Culture, destination image, and intention to revisit tourism destinations: The case of Vietnam","description":"This project will investigate the relationship between cultural perceptions (specifically along Hofstede\u2019s cultural dimensions of Identity, Power, and Uncertainty Avoidance), destination image and intention to revisit a tourism destination focusing on the case of Vietnam. While \u201cculture\u201d is one of the most referenced motivations for visiting Vietnam among international tourists, little is known about how cultural perceptions, namely of Vietnam pre-visit impact tourists\u2019 pre- and post-image of Vietnam as a tourism destination. Research questions include but are not limited to: \u201cHow do cultural perceptions of Vietnam influence its image as a tourism destination?\u201d and \u201cWhich cultural perceptions about Vietnam have a positive\/negative impact on Vietnam\u2019s destination image and intention to revisit among international tourists?\u201d  Research design & methods: This study will use a mixed-methods approach, combining intercept surveys conducted at Tan Son Nhat (SGS) and Noi Bai (HN) airports with arriving and departing international tourists (with the assistance of VNAT). Following the initial quantitative analysis, follow-up focus groups will be conducted with a smaller sample. Outcomes & implications: This study will seek to test for relationships between culture, destination image, and intention to revisit. It will also provide an additional testing ground for Hofstede\u2019s theory of cultural dimensions across national identities within a tourism setting, which thus far has not been explored in Vietnam. Findings will support researchers, policy makers, and Vietnamese tourism promotion campaigns. It will also seek to suggest strategies aimed at increasing revisits by international tourists to Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; STS 2 Food;","forcodes":"350806 Tourist behaviour and visitor experience"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bob Baulch","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Vietnam","description":"In Vietnam, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to greater socio-economic differentiation between the rich and the poor. Conventional measures of inequality (e.g., the Gini coefficient) understate the effects of both short-term shocks (such as COVID-19) and longer-run trends (such as the structural transformation of the Vietnamese economy) by giving most weight to those located towards the middle of the income distribution. Polarization measures (e.g, Foster & Wolfson and Esteban, Duclos & Ray measures) avoid this difficulty by allowing for sub-groups to emerge across the entire distribution, thereby shedding light on the gap(s) between the rich and poor. Using the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys, this PhD project will consist of three (or four) papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in Vietnam between1998 and 2018; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same period; and, once the VHLSS 2022 becomes available, (iii) how polarization and poverty changed between 2018 and 2022 in response to COVID-19  A fourth paper comparing changes in polarization and poverty in Vietnam with other countries in Southeast Asia, using the grouped distribution data available from the international sources, could also be written. Polarization would be measured using the Foster & Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using both per capita expenditures and continuous measures of non-monetary wellbeing (such as disability adjusted life years or years or completed years of education. Similarly, monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures for per capita expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index (HPI) used for non-monetary measures. A range of national and international poverty lines\/thresholds would be considered, with stochastic dominance tests conducted to assess the sensitivity of the poverty estimates to the choice of poverty line or threshold.  The data used would be selected years of the VHLSS (mostly probably 1998, 2008, 2018 and 2022).  The project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the distributional consequences of rapid economic growth and of COVID-19 in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, with a focus on polarization and (absolute) poverty.  Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals including the Journal of Economic Inequality, Review of Income and Wealth, and World Development.  We will encourage the student to present papers based on the thesis at national and international conferences (such as the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, and the annual conferences of the Development Studies Association, International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, and Vietnam Economic Association).  ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy; UF 3 Transformative urban governance;","forcodes":"380199 Applied Economics: not elsewhere classified. (40%) 440405 Poverty, inclusivity and well-being (40%) 380119 Welfare Economics (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Simon Feeny","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Asian Countries","description":"These three-year PhD projects will consist of papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in India, Indonesia and\/or the Philippines; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same time period; and (iii) how polarization and poverty changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. \n\nThese issues will be examined through the analysis of several waves of nationally representative household survey data.   \n\nPolarization would be measured using both the Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using both per capita expenditures and one or two (continuous) measures of non-monetary wellbeing (such as disability adjusted life years or years of completed years of education for those entering the labour force). Similarly, monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures for per capita expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index (HPI) used for non-monetary measures. A range of national and international poverty lines\/thresholds would be used, with stochastic dominance tests conducted to assess the sensitivity of the poverty estimates to the choice of poverty line or threshold. \n\nThe student selected would join the Centre for International Development in Melbourne. \n\nThe successful candidate will be encouraged to present papers at national and international conferences, such as those of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, Development Studies Association, International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, Vietnam Economic Association, and Vietnam Economic Research Network.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380119"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Nguyen","title":"Blockchain Governance: taking stock and moving forward","description":"Governance is critical to the sustainability and success of a blockchain project as it facilitates adoption and contribution of blockchain stakeholders to advance the cause of the blockchain (e.g., Beck et al., 2018; Pelt et al., 2021). However, what we know about blockchain governance is very limited as this literature is in its infancy (Xu et al., 2019) and atheoretical (Hofman et al., 2021), and lacks theory-driven empirical studies (Toufaily et al., 2021). Addressing this limitation, the present project aims to examine the predictors and outcomes of blockchain governance via the lens of economic and management theories like signaling, transaction cost, and\/or resource-based theory. We will first conduct a literature review on blockchain governance. We then draw on management and economic theories to develop a theoretical model regarding the antecedents and outcomes of blockchain governance. We rely on quantitative research methods: hierarchical regression, multilevel and\/or panel data analysis and secondary data to test the proposed model. The data might be collected from such websites as Coinmarketcap, Coincheckup, Glassnode, and IntoTheBlock. We expect this project to extend the theoretical understanding and concepts of blockchain governance via the lens of management and economic theories. The project offers implications for the blockchain community regarding the governance structures or protocols that transfer into favorable outcomes (e.g., innovation) and how to achieve and sustain those governance structures. ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy","forcodes":"350701 Corporate governance (50%) 350718 Strategy (25%) 441004 Social change (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen Thi My","title":"Social finance as a predictor of firm economic outcomes and asset prices: A review of emerging markets","description":"Social finance is a generative research area examining the \u201cstudy of how social processes shape economic outcomes\u201d (Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020, p. 1). The proposed project focuses on scrutinising the numerous types of social interactions and their impacts on asset prices\/firm economic outcomes within an emerging markets setting, of which there is currently a paucity of empirical examinations (Kuchler et al., 2021; Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020). This project extends the recent line of literature on the social dynamics\/interactions of economic agents, and their influences on investor behavior\/economic activity within emerging market finance (Bailey et al., 2021; Ferris et al., 2017; Kuchler et al., 2021; Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020; Maturana & Nickerson, 2019). This project aims to examine ASEAN countries. Research shows a remarkable economic growth of ASEAN economies which contributes significantly to the economic development in the region (Das & Lin, 2018; Nasir et al., 2019). More importantly, the socio-economic dynamics of financing and human capital development is a generative area of examination with many aspects still not well understood, especially within an emerging market context, and is widely considered as a key focus for policy makers in the ASEAN region (WorldBank, 2019). A growing number of studies have also examined various aspects of the ASEAN markets (e.g., Dogah, 2021; Nasir et al., 2019; Sohag et al., 2021; Tang et al., 2022). Following the extant literature, the research methodology will adopt a mixed methods approach including both quantitative and qualitative methods. The student can use available indices such as the social connectedness index (Bailey et al., 2018), macro\/firm data, and\/or collect primary data on the social interactions\/dynamics and other necessary data. Utilising economic and sociological lenses allows for a richer understanding of the embeddedness of social processes within firm behaviour furthering the extent of academic neo-institutionalist literature. This greater disambiguation of social processes as predictors of firm asset pricing and economic outcomes will provide insight to policy-makers enabling them to derive more targeted mechanisms.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy;","forcodes":"350202 Finance (40%) 350203 Financial Econometrics (30%) 441005 Social theory (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Management","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thuan Nguyen Hoang","title":"Roles of Design Thinking in Entrepreneurship","description":"Design thinking refers to the process of identifying unsolved problems, generating innovative ideas, building prototypes, test prototypes, which all together propose solutions for the related problems. Recent research shows that design thinking is important for startups and entrepreneurship, as it enables entrepreneurs to generate and test innovative ideas and select the most promising ones for developing new products and services (Mohammadi et al., 2021; Klenner et al, 2022). Although the benefits of design thinking have been widely agreed upon in the context of innovations, a few studies explore the roles of design thinking for entrepreneurship for SMEs. Fulfilling this gap, the current project aims to study the roles of design thinking in SME entrepreneurship, and consider how design thinking can be applied to support entrepreneurship in these companies. The research adopts mixed methods. It starts with a qualitative method to explore the different roles and impacts of design thinking in entrepreneurship. Then, a quantitative method will be used to confirm these roles and impacts. From a research perspective, the study fulfills the current research gap in the literature regarding the roles and impact of design thinking in entrepreneurship. From a practical perspective, the study provides a framework for how design thinking can be applied to support entrepreneurship to the best effect.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement;","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship (50%) 460912 Knowledge and information management (50%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Management","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Managing digital transformation implementation with dynamic capabilities and organisational paradoxes: development of a process model","description":"Digital transformation refers to the technology-induced changes necessary for digital business, in which organisations experience a fundamental and sociotechnical transformation. Nevertheless, practitioners struggle to grasp how digital transformation programs should be executed. This PhD project aims to shed light on the process of implementing digital transformation, especially by adopting the theoretical lens of the dynamic capability framework and theory of organisational paradoxes. The research questions explore the under-researched relationships between dynamic capabilities and organisational paradoxes in the digital transformation context, and how they inform tactics and strategies for implementing the firms\u2019 digital transformation across organisational levels. This PhD project aims to study digital transformation implementation in the services and tourism sectors, including healthcare\/medical services. There are various research approaches that are suitable for this research. A mixed-method design, which comprises qualitative and quantitative methods, is commonly used. An action research design, in combination with applied methods such as social network analysis, may also be considered. In terms of practical implications, this project aims to inform current practices of implementing digital transformation and strategies for developing the firms\u2019 digital maturity. The research will develop a process model for digital transformation implementation and advance understanding of the under-researched relationships between dynamic capabilities, organisational paradoxes, and digital transformation. ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Nguyen","title":"Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) Management in Vietnam: A Reverse Logistics Platform","description":"Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) generated annually in Vietnam has sharply increased since 2004, from 1.9 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes in 2015 while the rate of recycling is only around 1% to 2%, the lowest indicator in the region (Monre, 2016). The government aims to collect 90% and recycle 60% of C&DW by 2030, which creates an emerging need for the evaluation of possible logistic platforms to address the shortfalls. The project uses stakeholder analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify and quantify C&DW collection pathways and the environmental implications of C&DW recycling in Vietnam. The study addresses the lack of published statistics and limited coordination among different supply chain actors (government agencies, construction builders and 3PL partners). Besides, the project evaluates scenarios related to bottlenecks and reverse transport and logistics designs, through quantifying and mapping C&DW to track final flows to landfill and recycling. The outcomes will serve to develop the C&DW logistic management platform, inform policy relating to changing current recycling practices and extend the opportunity for the development of the preliminary life cycle inventory database in Vietnam. The study also serves as a seeding point for future research funding opportunities, which will provide Vietnam\u2019s academia, industry, and consultancy with the underpinning comprehensive data to engage in LCA for policy decision-making.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; SC 4 Transformations in Work; STS 5 Pollution Mitigation; UF 2 Smart cities analytics; UF 4 Applied urban analytics;","forcodes":"350909 Supply chains (40%) 350999 Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified (40%) 330499 Urban and regional planning not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Nguyen","title":"Blockchain and supply chain integration: Agri-food industry in Vietnam","description":" The Vietnamese Agri-food sector made a contribution to GDP worth USD 86.4 billion, in 2020 and represents 26% of the whole Vietnamese economy, but is also vulnerable to global risks. The recent cases of Vietnamese cashew nut scams highlight the need to ensure governance structure and digitalization transformation to avoid opportunistic behaviours and help food processing firms integrate better into global supply chain networks. To maintain supply chain visibility, there is a need to ensure food quality and safety standards to foster more collaboration and integration among farmers, food processors and other partners. While digital transformation plays a critical role in supply chain integration and firm competitiveness, however, how can the agriculture industry, where firms often have a diverse background, and limited access to technological and commercial markets, can strengthen and at the same time protect itself from global supply chain risks? This study will use mixed methods, adopting different operations theories such as transaction cost and value chain analysis to identify appropriate pathways for small and medium Vietnamese food processors in adopting selected blockchain and AI technologies. The research will examine the management of technological applications, such as credit verification and smart contracts, in enhancing supply chain integration to provide recommendations for food quality and safety. The outcomes from such projects can inform and enhance the Agri-food industry, through various workshops and training materials and guidelines, in digitalization to limit opportunistic behaviour and enhance quality and food safety in the light of environmental and behavioural uncertainty.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"350302 Business information management (incl. records, knowledge and intelligence) (40%) 350909 Supply chains (40%) 309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Quyen Dang, Robert McClelland","title":"Vietnamese fashion industry: Internationalization in the context of sustainable development ","description":"Garment and textile have continuously led the list of top export commodities in Vietnam, ranking fourth in the list as of 2022 (Statista, 2023). In recent years, Vietnam\u2019s fashion industry has shown significant growth and exposure to the global markets. Having once been the workshop of global fashion brands, the industry now witnesses the upgrade in the global value chain with the emergence of local brands which penetrate international fashion hubs such as the US, EU and Japan. Leveraging on sustainability and digitalization, the international expansion of Vietnam\u2019s fashion industry has been undergoing interesting journeys that have not been captured or conceptualized in the international business literature which has long been dominated by models from Western and more developed countries. Hence, it is relevant to conduct research on this topic to advance international business theories and provide practical lessons for different stakeholders including governments, local and global businesses. This project will address significant theoretical gaps by focusing on the internationalization of the Vietnamese fashion industry. ","sdg":"8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, 10 - Reduced Inequalities, 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, 17 - Partnerships for the Goals","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/24","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706 International business"}],"college":{"1":"Design & Social Context","5":"STEM","64":"Science, Engineering & Health","169":"Business and Law","199":"Business & Law"},"school":{"1":"Architecture & Urban Design","5":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","54":"Engineering","60":"Computing Technologies","68":"Design","80":"Education","85":"Fashion & Textiles","91":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","111":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","115":"Media & Communication","131":"Property, Construction & Project Management","142":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","145":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","167":"Science","169":"The Business School (Vietnam)"},"discipline":{"1":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","5":"Computer Science","12":"Cloud, Systems & Security (CT)","13":"Information Technology (CT)","14":"Artificial Intelligence","16":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","17":"Data Science (CT)","33":"Cyber Security (CT)","34":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","44":"Food Technology (Science)","46":"Biotechnology & Biological Sciences (Science)","48":"Software Engineering (CT)","54":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","58":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","59":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (Engineering)","64":"Cloud, Systems & Security","68":"Digital Design","69":"Communication Design","70":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","73":"Digital Design; Industrial Design","80":"Health and Physical Education","81":"Creativity Education; STEAM; Teacher Education","82":"Education Studies; Sociology of Education","83":"Educational Studies; Mathematics Education; Science Education; STEM","84":"Civil and Infrastructure Engineering","85":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise; Textiles Technology","86":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation; Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering","87":"Textiles Technology","89":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise","91":"Global and Language Studies","92":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","105":"Criminology and Justice Studies; Global and Language Studies","108":"Digital Design; Social Work and Human Services","111":"Psychology","114":"Chinese Medicine","115":"Writing &Publishing, Media","116":"Writing & Publishing","118":"Communication, Media","131":"Project management","132":"Construction Management","134":"Property","135":"Sustainability and Urban Planning","142":"F&T Design","144":"Design, Art","146":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics","148":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","149":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","158":"Digital Health\u00a0(SHBS)","159":"Mathematical Sciences (Science)","160":"Food Technology","164":"Engineering","166":"Food Science","167":"Mathematical Sciences","169":"Management (MGMT)","172":"Economics (EFM)","173":"Marketing (EFM)","174":"Business (GSBL)","179":"Finance (EFM)","196":"Management","199":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","204":"Business","213":"Information Systems (AISSC)","215":"Accounting (AISSC)","217":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","223":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","239":"Economics","242":"Finance","243":"Information Management","245":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management"}}); showSheetData({"status":1,"result":[{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Jan van Schaik, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew; Landscape Supervisors: Katrina Simon, Charles Anderson, Quentin Stevens, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Alice Lewis, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, John Fien, Esther Charlesworth, Leila Irajifar; Interior Design Supervisors: Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Olivia Hamilton, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash","title":"Cities and Environments","description":"Design research in this field can incorporate both generative and applied research modes to propose and produce designed propositions for cities and environments. Such design research investigates how existing environments can be reimagined to offer sustainable, resilient and inclusive urban futures, explores the ways and means of understanding and designing alternative solutions to configuring the urban\/biosphere fabric, and considers how these alternative configurations might benefit a multi-species ecology of inhabitants. In this domain, design research projects can also consider how designers can collaborate with other development and built environment professionals to contribute to improved well-being and resilience in marginalized and displaced communities and in what ways and under what conditions the design of habitation and settlement infrastructure can contribute to wider education, health and livelihood goals for such communities. In addition, research can include the exploration of the intersection between the economic, environmental and cultural dynamics of spatial production and engage with the politics of urban and rural transformation through design practice and modes of advocacy. This may include (but is not limited to): Transitional Economies - collaborations with community and stakeholders; Disrupted Landscapes - temporal \/ dynamic master planning; Landscape driven development models; and the development of evidence-based practice in shelter, infrastructure and settlement design for communities marginalized by the increasing frequency and severity of conflict, poverty, disasters and climate change. This field of enquiry also encompasses an engagement with and the exploration of Indigenous Knowledges and associated vernacular \/ ethno-architectures and place-making practices, as well as the development of sovereign relationships and alternative governance models","sdg":"2,3,6,7,9,11,12,13,14,15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Urban Futures, Social Change, Information Systems","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew Interior Design Supervisors: Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash Landscape Supervisors: Charles Anderson, Katrina Simon, Quentin Stevens, Anton James, Heike Rahmann, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, Alice Lewis","title":"Generative Design Practice Research","description":"The Generative Design Practice Research mode of creative research crosses boundaries between professional and academic\/university-based research practices, and often between disciplines. This practice research approach enables practitioners to generate new kinds of practices - within a discipline, or through establishing new fields of practice - in response to challenges and concerns emerging in a changing world. Candidates might be early career, seeking to enter into a period of deep enquiry that transforms a set of practice-based interests into a more developed practice with a well-articulated emphasis, set of agendas and approaches. They might equally be mid- or later-career practitioners seeking to generate a new practice trajectory through a transformation of their established mastery. They demonstrate their findings publicly in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their practice research, usually through an exhibit, a written dissertation, and a presentation to examiners. This mode offers new knowledge in the form of previously unarticulated approaches to practice, informed by specific issues and challenges that direct their generative action.","sdg":"2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew Interior Design Supervisors:Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash Landscape Supervisors: Charles Anderson, Katrina Simon, Quentin Stevens, Heike Rahmann, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, Alice Lewis","title":"Reflective Industry Design Practice Research","description":"Reflective Industry Design Practice Research involves practitioners operating largely in a professional environment, generally with a peer-reviewed and award-winning body of work developed over 10 years or more. These practitioners have already developed recognised mastery in their field. They are invited to reflect upon the nature of that mastery within a critical framework, engaging them in reviewing the nature of their mastery, defining its enabling structures, its knowledge bases, and the implications of the nexus between these for emerging forms of research-led practice. They conclude by speculating through design on the nature of their future practice. They demonstrate their finding publicly, through an exhibit, a presentation to the examiners, and a written dissertation. Two kinds of knowledge are created by the research. One concerns the ways in which designers marshal their intelligence, to construct the mental space within which they practice design. The other reveals how public behaviours are invented and used to support design practice. This mode of research extends and develops the knowledge base of their profession, and thus its ability to serve society.","sdg":"2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"John Fien, Esther Charlesworth, Leila Irajifar, Harriet Edquist, Christine Phillips, Charles Anderson, Nicholas Boyarsky, Alice Lewis, Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Olivia Hamilton, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash","title":"Cultural and Social Spatial Practices","description":"Research within this field engages with practices from the Arts, Ethnography, Design History and Theory, with a particular exploration of design for social change and cultural production. Major projects can be identified in the areas of design diplomacy, design for democracy, design for diversity and inclusion, design for affordable housing, ecological design, design for community development and cultural production. Design for social change encompasses working with social enterprises, NGOs, foundations, corporations and governments and includes concepts and processes such as social innovation, collaborative systems, co-design, co-production, curatorial practice and systemic change. A range of questions for research can underpin this field. In what ways and under what conditions can design and design thinking contribute to social change most effectively? How can collaboration across the spectrum of design methodologies and genres generate deeper and longer-lasting transformations? How could such collaborations be organized, funded, and implemented? How can the effectiveness of such collaborations be measured? What are the range of quantitative and qualitative metrics available for gauging sustained impact and value? How can programs and solutions be designed at a scale commensurate with the scale of the actual problems being confronted? What discourses within the design professions facilitate and\/or constrain the practice of design for social change? In what ways can design education contribute to positive discourses and discursive practices in design for social change? Research in this area may be undertaken through both thesis and\/or practice-based approaches, with lead supervision offered by staff with expertise in design for post-conflict and post\u2013disaster settings, design with remote and Indigenous communities, sustainability and resliency policy and practices, social transformation processes, public participation and cultural production.","sdg":"1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Urban Futures, Design & Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411, Architectural History, Theory and criticism 330104, Sustainable Architecture 330110"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Kang, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Revolutionizing Healthcare with AI-Driven Personalized Life Expectancy Predictions and Wearable Technologies","description":"Life expectancy (LE) prediction is a critical problem in computational science, requiring the integration of diverse and dynamic variables. Traditional methods rely on generalized population statistics, limiting accuracy and individual relevance. This project proposes a computational framework for Personalized Life Expectancy (PLE) prediction, leveraging wearable technology, mobile health applications, and advanced machine learning. The framework processes real-time health metrics such as calorie expenditure, sleep patterns, and heart rate, collected via wearable devices and processed through cloud computing. Machine learning algorithms analyze this data to provide individuals with dynamic, personalized LE predictions. The project also emphasizes scalability, enabling the aggregation of anonymized health data to uncover population-level trends and inform healthcare resource allocation. This research addresses core challenges in computer science, including real-time data streaming, predictive modeling accuracy, and user-specific customization. Additionally, it explores the integration of edge computing to enhance data processing efficiency and ensure privacy in large-scale applications. The project aligns computational tools with societal needs, supporting preventive healthcare and encouraging healthier behaviors. Its scalable design can reduce healthcare costs and inform public health policies through actionable insights. Collaboration with industry stakeholders ensures practical implementation and real-world impact. By advancing the methodologies for data analytics, wearable integration, and predictive modeling, this project contributes to personalized healthcare, health informatics, and big data applications. It aims to establish a foundation for computational innovations that improve health outcomes and address global healthcare challenges.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2027","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"080702 - Health Informatics (50%)\n080110 - Simulation and Modelling (25%)\n111799 - Public Health and Health Services (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Kang, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Health Data Wrangling for Identification and Privacy Protection","description":"Biometrics, such as retina, voice, and fingerprints, are commonly used for identification and authentication. However, these methods are unsuitable for remote authentication. Health data, often sensitive and containing personal information, poses significant privacy concerns, especially in electronic health (eHealth) and Internet of Health Things (IoHT) technologies. While individual health metrics like heart rate may seem insignificant, their combination with other data can reveal unique patterns for individuals. \n\nThis project explores the feasibility of using health data for secure identification. It will evaluate health data to determine meaningful traits and assess activity recognition for trait verification. Key outcomes include (1) assessing the accuracy of health data traits with measurable and standardized metrics, and (2) creating a structured model of attributes that influence the effectiveness of health data in identification. \n\nThe project will also involve developing an application to collect input data from users with health issues. This application aims to generate identification mechanisms capable of triggering automatic alarm notifications in emergencies. By integrating health data for remote authentication, this research addresses critical privacy concerns while advancing secure, user-centered IoHT solutions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461304"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Hai Dong","title":"Threat Modeling and Impact Assessment for Digital Currency Vulnerabilities Using Agent-Based Simulations","description":"The cryptocurrency ecosystem continues to be plagued by security breaches and exploits, with billions of dollars lost to hackers each year. In 2022, the Ronin Network suffered a $625 million hack, while Binance saw $570 million stolen in a single incident. These attacks highlight critical vulnerabilities in blockchain protocols, smart contracts, and exchange infrastructure. Traditional security approaches have struggled to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape in the cryptocurrency industry. There is an urgent need for more sophisticated threat modeling techniques that can anticipate novel attack vectors and simulate complex adversarial behaviors. Agent-based modeling offers a promising approach to capture the dynamic and decentralized nature of cryptocurrency systems and their potential vulnerabilities. RQs: How can agent-based models effectively simulate the behavior of different types of attackers (e.g. nation-state actors, organized crime groups, individual hackers) in cryptocurrency ecosystems? What are the most critical vulnerabilities in current cryptocurrency architectures as revealed through agent-based threat modeling, and how do these compare to real-world exploits? How can agent-based simulations be used to evaluate the effectiveness of different security measures and protocols in mitigating cryptocurrency vulnerabilities? Impact: The findings have potential to inform the development of more robust protocols and security measures, ultimately contributing to safeguard billions of dollars in digital assets.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460202 Autonomous agents and multiagent systems (50%)\n460402 Data and information privacy (25%)\n461101 Adversarial machine learning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse","title":"Security by Design for Central Bank Digital Currencies ","description":"As central banks worldwide race to develop digital currencies, cybersecurity has emerged as a critical concern. The potential launch of CBDCs represents one of the most significant changes to the global financial system in decades. However, recent high-profile hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance protocols have highlighted the immense security challenges facing digital assets. A report by Chainalysis found that crypto hacks reached an all-time high of $3.8 billion stolen in 2022, with North Korean hackers alone accounting for over $1 billion in theft. These incidents underscore the urgent need for robust security measures to be integrated into CBDC designs from the ground up. However, there are few studies examining the comprehensive security services required for widespread acceptance of digital currencies. Without addressing the risks comprehensively, hasty deployment can undermine public trust and financial stability. The research will employ a mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460407 System and network security (50%)\n460406 Software and application security (25%)\n350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Son Hoang Dau, Huong Ha","title":"Crypto Scams Uncovered: Analyzing the Tactics and Trends of Digital Fraud","description":"The total crypto scam revenue from 2019 to 2023 reached a staggering amount of nearly US $40 billion [Chainalysis]. Immunefi also reported a global loss of $1.2B to hacks and rug pulls in August 2024 alone.\nIn this project, to contribute to the global effort in combating digital fraud, we take a deep dive into the dark land of crypto scammers. The first and most crucial step is to perform a systematic investigation to understand how the scammers of each type of scam operated and laundered their scam money via privacy-protecting services such as mixers and bridges and centralized exchanges. The next step is to develop rule-based and machine learning algorithms including graph neural networks and large language models like GPT to detect and track various scam activities among the vast publicly available on-chain data. We will build various scam datasets for popular chains such as Ethereum, BNB, Arbitrum, and Solana, to address the lack of up-to-date and well-curated datasets in crypto scam and facilitate future research. We will also build visualization tools that will not only assist our research but also potentially help community and law enforcement in tracking crypto scammers in real time.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461106 Semi- and unsupervised learning (50%)\n460404 Digital forensics (25%)\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Minh Dinh, Maria Spichkova","title":"Enhancing Gamified Learning Environments with AI for Personalized Engagement ","description":"This project aims to enhance gamified learning environments by integrating AI technologies. The system will use AI to adapt educational games based on students\u2019 progress, learning styles, and preferences, making the experience more interactive and engaging. The platform will offer personalized challenges, rewards, and feedback, encouraging motivation and deepening understanding. The integration of AI will provide real-time insights into student performance, enabling educators to tailor the gaming experience to improve learning outcomes while making education enjoyable and immersive.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (40%)\n4612 Software engineering (40%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Tuan-Anh Hoang, Maria Spichkova","title":"AI-Driven Adaptive Learning for Personalized Education","description":"This project aims to explore the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in personalizing educational content to address the diverse needs and learning styles of individual students. By leveraging machine learning algorithms to analyze student behavior, performance, and preferences, the research will investigate how AI can dynamically adjust lessons, exercises, and assessments to enhance the learning experience. The objective is to develop a technological-pedagogical combined approach that maximizes student engagement and achievement while accommodating varied learning preferences. \n\nAdditionally, the study will examine methods for providing continuous, real-time feedback, ensuring that students receive targeted support to improve their understanding and retention of the material. This research will contribute to the development of adaptive learning technologies and inform best practices for integrating AI in education.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (40%)\n4612 Software engineering (40%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Cloud, Systems & Security (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Effective And Efficient Situation Awareness In Big Social Media Data","description":"Situation awareness helps understand the elements in the environment, the current situation, and project the future actions. Real applications like crisis management require the real time awareness of the critical situations. However, the services using traditional methods like phone calls can be easily delayed due to busy lines, transfer delays or limited communication ability in the disaster area. Social media-based situation awareness provides another feasible channel for crisis management, since critical events that cause great loss in live are commonly identified in social media.\nThis project aims to develop advanced techniques to analyse big social media data and more efficiently conduct critical situation awareness over online services. By enhancing the services and capabilities of crisis management users and reducing the loss in disasters, significant economic and social benefits will be brought to government, society, enterprises and social users.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460506 Graph, social and multimedia data (50%)\n460807 Information visualization (25%)\n460902 Decision support and group support systems (25%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Technology (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Ke Deng","title":"Classification for multiple data streams spatiotemporally and\/or logically associated","description":"Coming with 5G networks, it's not just going to be one stream of data but it's a flood of streams from an almost uncountable number of sensors. This enables the continuous information being collected in the finer spatiotemporal granularity such that the physical world change can be captured remarkably more smoothly. However, the scope of these stream data, the complexity of their relationship to describe a system or systems, the diversity of information collected by different sensors, the incorrect or missing readings of numerous sensors, and the higher expectation of data value and quicker responses requires new approaches. We will anticipate exploring the stronger correlation between data instances across streams if spatiotemporally and\/or logically coupled in spaces or in systems.\nThis project investigates the problem of classification on multiple data streams which are spatiotemporally and\/or logically associated in some spaces or systems, e.g., the data streams generated by social media users in a city, by the sensors deployed in different rooms of a smart home or in different stages of a production line. The multiple data streams may be homogenous or heterogenous (i.e., different streams contain different information and labels), static or dynamic (i.e., data sources are moving objects).  Each data stream has its own classification problem, e.g., emotion detection of social media users, condition detection of a room for light on\/off, and the working state detection of a system","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460511 Stream and sensor data (60%)\n460502 Data mining and knowledge discovery (40%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fabio Zambetta","title":"Next-Generation Augmented Training and Assistive Systems","description":"Computer based simulation and virtual reality systems have been used for developing training environments in areas such as emergency evacuation, military training, aircraft pilot training and others [1]. Although virtual reality provides an immersive environment, it has several limitations. The users cannot interact with the physical environment, and the training environment is not easily adapted to different physical spaces. Further, there is a significant cost in developing the physical models that the virtual reality system would require. In this project, we propose the use of augmented and mixed reality [2] to develop the next generation of training systems and present a framework for developing a fire evacuation training system that incorporates augmented reality, techniques for modelling human behaviour in such situations, intelligent virtual characters controlled by various artificial intelligence techniques, and interactive narrative generation to form the training scenarios.\nThe aim of this research project is developing a prototypical implementation of a next-generation training and\/or assistive system posed to solve critical problems in complex learning scenarios requiring physical interaction with the real world [3][6].\n\nThe key issues being addressed are:\n1. Reducing complexity in preparing and delivering real-world training sessions.\n2. Engaging trainees for extended periods of time, hence increasing the overall quantity of their learning experience at a reduced cognitive load [7].\n3. Immersing trainees deeper in their training experience, hence improving the quality and of their learning experience and\/or providing means to assist them in whichever task they might be engaging in.\n\nThe trainees will be wearing mixed reality (holographic) headsets [4], which will allow virtual reality objects not only to be superimposed to real objects, but to interact with them. This means that we would be able to model realistic physical interactions throughout existing rooms once the simulation of the scenario starts. The significance of such a next-generation training system will be enormous as it will apply to any domain or scenario where real-world training is required, but for which virtual reality is too expensive or problematic. Scenarios of interest include for instance evacuations, rescue and emergency situations; military and police operations rehearsals; exploration of dangerous or unknown locations; interplanetary missions [5]. References:\n\n[1. The VR book. J. Jerald, ACM Press (2016).\n[2] Augmented Reality: Principles and Practice. Schmalstieg et al., Addison-Wesley (2016).\n[3] Tangible Holograms: Towards Mobile Physical Augmentation of Virtual Objects. Available online at https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1703.08288.\n[4] Microsoft Hololens device, see https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-au\/hololens.\n[5] NASA\u2019s Destination Mars. See https:\/\/blogs.windows.com\/devices\/2016\/09\/19\/hololens-experiencedestination-mars-now-open-at kennedy-space-center-visitor-complex\/#OVT4Pb4YlVwDtjVb.97.\n[6] Evoking empathy with visually impaired people through an augmented reality embodiment experience. Guarese, et al. Proceedings of the IEEE VR conference (2023).\n[7] The Evolution of Cognitive Load Theory and the Measurement of Its Intrinsic, Extraneous and Germane Loads: A Review. Orru & Longo. International Symposium on Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications (2019).","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708        Virtual and mixed reality (50%)\n460806        Human-computer interaction (25%)\n460202        Autonomous agents and multiagent systems (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fabio Zambetta, John Thamgarajah, Michael Dann","title":"Learning optimal control of games and machines in real-time","description":"Learning to control agents directly from high-dimensional sensory inputs is one of the long-standing challenges of reinforcement learning (RL) and machine learning in general. Most successful RL applications that operate on these domains have relied on hand-crafted features combined with linear value functions or policy representations. \n\nMore recently, several deep neural learning techniques have been proposed to automate feature representation at the cost of increased training times [1]. Video games represent an ideal testbed for (deep) RL techniques due to the high complexity and randomness of the environments and of the interactions presented to a player and their real-time nature. The challenge posed by video games has not been lost on the major ICT companies, such as Google and Microsoft, which have been researching and investing\nin games AI research [2][3]. \n\nIn addition to that, Elon Musk (founder of Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX) had invested in an OpenAI foundation [4] whose mission is to improve state-of-the-art machine learning research using several hundreds of videogames as testbeds. OpenAI has released Gym and Universe, open source software that can be used to benchmark new machine learning algorithms. \n\nThe aim of this project is to investigate novel approaches to reinforcement learning and, specifically, investigate the limitations and the advantages of combining deep learning with RL. Another important line of inquiry will concern whether specific class of games are more suited to deep\nreinforcement learning, and which other classes of algorithms could be combined with RL if deep learning is found to be not suitable.\n\nOur previous work in the area has included investigations of similar algorithms in a variety of different games, including classic arcades Super Mario [5], Pacman [6] and first-person shooters [7]. We intend to apply our work out on optimal control of video games to physical devices and machines including UAVs, drones, selfdriving cars and humanoid robots. In fact, preliminary results on the use of those techniques in auditory implants has led to positive results [8].\n\nReferences\n[1]. Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning. Mnih et al., Nature 518, 529\u2013533 (2015).\n[2]. Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search. Silver et al. 529, 484\u2013489 (2016).\n[3]. Hybrid Reward Architecture for Reinforcement Learning. Van Seijen et al., available online at https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1706.04208 (2017).\n[4]. OpenAI software systems, available online at https:\/\/openai.com\/systems\/.\n[5]. Integrating skills and simulation to solve complex navigation tasks in infinite Mario. Dann et al., IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 1-7 (2017).\n[6]. Learning options from demonstrations: A Pac-Man case study. Tamassia et al., IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 1-7 (2017).\n[7]. Combining Monte Carlo tree search and apprenticeship learning for capture the flag. Ivanovic et al., Proceedings of IEEE CIG (2015).\n[8]. Utilising reinforcement learning to develop strategies for driving auditory neural implants. Lee et al., Journal of Neural Engineering, 13, 1 \u2013 13 (2016).","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461105        Reinforcement learning (70%)\n460703        Entertainment and gaming (15%)\n460205        Intelligent robotics (15%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Fabio Zambetta","title":"Novel Immersive Approaches to Information Seeking","description":"People search through digital information more than ever before. However, current search systems present information through a 2D search engine results page. In addition, opportunities to interact with the search results to understand underlying relationships in the retrieved data, are limited. The proposed approach will allow users to navigate information naturally and immersively, following users\u2019 interests and curiosity rather than being constrained by a search box and a ranked search results list.\n\nThis project aims to explore this unique interaction paradigm for effective and efficient interactive information retrieval through virtual or augmented reality, enabling a novel approach to defining user information needs, presenting results, and facilitating search reformulations.\n\nThe project can answer research questions, including:\n-What is the most effective way to visualise 3D information units (in virtual or augmented reality) to facilitate enhanced search interactions?\n-How do users formulate information needs, manipulate results, and navigate immersive information spaces?\n-How does immersive search versus traditional ranked lists impact users' navigation behaviours within an information space?\n-How do users with different levels of familiarity with immersive applications experience information?\n-How does the proposed approach compare to current search methods for exploring complex information needs?\n\nThe project will contribute to the field of interactive information retrieval by providing a novel approach to exploring information needs. Using virtual or augmented reality together with current advances in conversational interactions for information seeking will allow for more intuitive and natural navigation of information, which could lead to unexplored insights into how people interact with information.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%)\n460806 Human-computer interaction (30%)\n461003 Human information interaction and retrieval (30%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Data Science (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Truong Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Detecting complex emotions from texts","description":"Textual emotion detection is a critical area of study with significant applications in business, education, and healthcare. Despite substantial theoretical advancements over the years, there are notable gaps in the practical implementation of these methods in the aforementioned fields. The techniques currently available do not yet seem ready for real-world application. This study's primary objective is to identify the challenges faced in both current literature and practical applications in this area.  There is also a pressing need for improved models that can accurately categorize a wider range of emotional states distinctly. Finally, there is a demand for techniques capable of dimensionally detecting valence, arousal, and dominance scores from emotional experiences. These challenges stem not only from the models and applications themselves but also from the readiness of current approaches and datasets in the rapidly evolving fields of machine learning and affective computing which required more attention from the research community.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4609, 4611, 4605, 4612, 4613"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Dynamic Disaster Relief Distribution Modelling with AI based Fuzzy Petri Net","description":"Relief distribution during natural or man-made disasters is a collection of support actions that assist people in returning to their everyday lives after it has been disrupted. Its goal is to mitigate the effects of disasters by delivering needed relief goods to the right people at the right time and in the right place. One of the most critical aspects to consider is uncertainties related to changes in the relief distribution system, as minor disruptions could have severe consequences for planning outcomes. The failure of a single essential route, for example, might cause significant disruptions in resource allocation strategy. This project outlines a research project which applies formal methods for modelling the dynamic circumstances of a disaster-affected region based on artificial intelligence based fuzzy Petri nets, fuzzy set theory and stochastic modelling techniques.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460204 Fuzzy Computation (50%)\n460207 Modelling and Simulation (30%)\n460605 Distributed Systems and Algorithms (20%) "},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Secure, Equitable, and Energy Efficient Protocol for Cryptocurrency Networks","description":"Cryptocurrencies are going mainstream and becoming an acceptable form for payments and other financial transactions (US Government\u2019s Republican Policy Committee, 2022; Hougan, Forbes.Com, 2022). However, ever since its introduction via the Satoshi Nakamoto white paper in 2008, it has been plagued with high energy consumption, security risks, scalability issues, slow processing speed, and high transaction costs. Many protocols have been proposed to overcome these issues. Most cryptocurrency networks use Proof-of-Work (PoW) or Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The problem with these two protocols is that PoW gives preference to users who have spent a lot of money to setup their supercomputers, while PoS gives preferences to users that have more coins. Therefore, the rich getting richer paradox. We propose a secure, equitable and energy efficient protocol called Proof-of-Evidence (PoE). Our protocol keeps the users secure by keeping them inside a perimeter network within the DMZ. We ensure that everyone on our proposed network gets a chance to add a block of transactions and get rewarded. Because there is no competition to add transactions, normal computers are used and therefore the energy requirements are low and efficient.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"FinTech Applications and GDPR Privacy Requirements: How Do We Comply?","description":"Blockchain based FinTech applications are transparent, trusted and based on consensus. Nothing is hidden, kept secret or private. Public blockchains emphasize openness as a key characteristic that enables auditability. However, users still value the ability to keep information that is non-relevant to the transaction private, such as their identity. There are two main concerns around privacy for users: identity privacy and transaction privacy. In order to comply with regulations in Fintech industry, for example, Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT), when required, the transactions\u2019 information must be revealed to authorized agencies. What frameworks are needed to maintain privacy and comply with authorities seeking information? In what format do we send, receive, and do transactions so that is satisfies the above?","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Analysing Brainwaves for Prevention and Treatment of Mental Illness using Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things","description":"We propose to design a device that can detect signs of mental illness at initial stages so that the person could start the treatment as soon as possible. Regular analysis of the  brainwaves will be uploaded at a central location and will be compared with previous readings as well as from the standard analysis that will be fed into the system to detect signs for various illnesses. The privacy of the patient and security of the data will be taken into consideration while developing the device and the application. The device would be based on IoT (Internet of Things) along with the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The IoT part would take care of his connection with devices such as mobile, etc. or to a cloud server. Whereas ML and AI would be used for its background functioning that would be training the data and predicting the disease.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Blockchain-based Multi Factor Authentication for Securing Cloud Servers","description":"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been digitally transformed without being aware of it (Prybylski, 2022: Forbes; Stackpole, 2021: MIT). This means Internet traffic has increased by 60% (OECD, 2020), and 30% more people are now working from home (McKinsey, 2021). Cyber threats have increased by 81% (McAfee, 2021). There is a need to enhance cyber security with blockchain technology and multi factor authentication. We aim to enhance cyber security by hashing the public cloud servers. Additionally, we are going to require users to login via blockchain and use a centralised multi factor authentication. These enhancements will be significant because it will keep the users secure from cyber-attacks. It will contribute towards SDG 3, 8, 9, and 11. Blockchain technology provides trust, transparent and immutable transactions. Our expected outcomes would be the design specifications of servers with their conceptual models to protect our digital economy and keep everyone cyber secured.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Resolving the Current Skills Gaps in Cyber Security Education \u2013 A Vietnam Survey","description":"The recent escalation in the number of cyber-attacks and online crime has made cybersecurity an increasingly urgent challenge at a time when digital technologies are transforming national economies and the daily lives of citizens. It is important that national and regional strategies which address these risks to digital security are supported by tertiary education and training programmes that provide graduates and trainees with the necessary knowledge and expertise about cyber security. As society is becoming increasingly dependent on digital technology, cybersecurity is an issue of great concern to governments, industry, and organisations of all types. This project aims to better understand the gaps that exist between the knowledge and skills of the young graduates entering the cybersecurity workforce and the cyber security needs of the industry.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Blockchain Smart Contracts for Autonomous Supply Chain Management and Operation","description":"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a disruption in the global and local supply chain as the supply chain was managed with humans in charge of the supply chain system. Although almost all supply chains are controlled with Supply Chain Management systems, it still requires human intervention and participation. With the lockdown, the humans couldn\u2019t participate or intervene to manage the supply chain and therefore the lock down disrupted the supply chain and, in some cases, it came to complete shutdown. This project proposes to develop a fully automated supply chain management system running on blockchains and self-managed and monitored with smart contracts as a solution to prevent any future disruptions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Transparent, Distributed, and Secure Platform for Crowdfunding based on Blockchain","description":"Online crowdfunding platform powered through blockchain brings transparency and accountability. This could possibly improve the scale of business since more and more people would now like to fund the ventures as each individual is aware of the utilization of the funds. The blockchain technology builds upon the Industrial Internet (Industry 4.0), a transparent and secure environment for the people and the transactions. This project intends to develop an application based on blockchain that has the potential to improve the security and reliability of the transactions. Since the control in blockchain based technology is decentralized, it will effectively address the monopoly over the funds and improve accountability.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Modified Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (MPBFT) Algorithm - A Novel Protocol for Achieving Consensus in Blockchain Networks","description":"This project proposes to develop a novel protocol for achieving consensus in blockchain networks. The proposed protocol intends to overcome the disadvantages of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism by overcoming issues like high usage of computing resources and delay in confirmation of new blocks over the blockchain. Simulations will be run, and our proposed algorithm modified until we come up with the modified algorithm that reduces the CPU utilization by a defined percentage and confirms the twice number of blocks when compared with the original Proof-of-Work algorithm. The Modified Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (MPBFT) Algorithm will then be suitable for consortium based blockchain networks.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Zero-Day Threat Detection and Prevention of Cyber Attacks in Data Centre Power Grids using AI","description":"The main objective of the project is to protect the power grid and UPS of digital data warehouses and data centres from cyber-attacks by framing an AI based multi-level cyber shield. The system design is collaborative of multi-agents to monitor various activities, an agent for network infrastructure surveillance, a software agent to detect malicious viruses, agent to filter the network traffic, agent to secure data backup monitoring, agent to update security policies etc. Multi-agent based algorithm is designed to handle data regression, clustering of similar data items, classification of untrusted data, vulnerable management, Thread hunting, internal temperature monitoring, backup power monitoring, and analysing massive quantities of risk data.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Secure Framework to Mitigate IoT Environment against Security Vulnerabilities","description":"This project proposes implementing IoT ecosystem and then performing hardware and firmware attacks to determine security holes. Middleware interactions from the IoT hardware to cloud would also be reviewed for cloud-network specific vulnerabilities for further attacks. Finally, an audit methodology would be proposed with relevant and exhaustive reports on vulnerabilities identified. IoT is a growing market and will be the future of our daily lives. Because of its emergence, there is no standard to guide the development process, there are many protocols and custom solutions to connect a hardware device to the cloud. The project outcomes can be used to help IoT device makers to develop secure IoT devices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"AI-based Smart IoT Processing of Images & Videos during Surveillance","description":"Smart IoT devices and Surveillance cameras capture images and videos, sending them directly to the Cloud-based servers for analysis. Globally, visual data generated from IoT Surveillance cameras are overwhelming and there is a drastic need for re-designing the devices for the video and image data gets converted automatically into relevant, timely, actionable intelligence and more importantly redefine the device health and life of that device to operate with the highest efficiency, optimum processing, consume low power. Artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms can be adopted to work on the data captured, power consumed, computing performed, storage used to provide efficient processing and performance, and low data transmission.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Using blockchain to control and monitor shared information.","description":"Protecting privacy is a big concern in today's digital world. When a person visits a website or uses a software application, she must accept its privacy policy either explicitly or implicitly. In addition to agreeing with the stated policy, users also trust that the data collectors only do what they wrote. However, more often than not, this trust has no grounds and is based on personal perception only. To mitigate that problem, this project proposes blockchain-based protocols and techniques users can apply to control and monitor their individual and private information without the need of cooperation from the data collectors.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460402 Data and information privacy (50%)\n460504 Data quality (25%)\n460605 Distributed systems and algorithms (25%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh","title":"Machine-Learning Based Reverse Engineering Technique for Binary Analysis","description":"Reverse engineering (RE) of binaries has useful applications in improving and debugging legacy programs, in refactoring code, and in analyzing and classifying malware. Binary analysis using machine learning-based frameworks, such as Gaussian-based process or support vector machine, has shown the power to automate feature extraction tasks while significantly reduced manual analysis efforts required for large-scale programs. Furthermore, if one views a binary as a collection of bit patterns then it is possible to employ a computer vision framework such as Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs) to recognize known features in a binary. This project aims to develop a binary reserve engineering framework that explores the power of deep neural architectures such as CNN and RNN to identify local features and assemble them to develop a global understanding of the inspected executable.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh","title":"Swarm Learning with Blockchain network to facilitate scalable distributed machine learning on the edge","description":"Traditional distributed machine learning (ML) makes use of a decentralized data pipeline but a central server to host the trained model. Consequently, raw data created on the edge must be sent to and from the central server for processing, thus limits scalability. This project investigates the Swarm Learning approach in which blockchain technology is leveraged to facilitates the exchanging of model training attributes such as weights and biases, that are explored by the individual nodes in the network, without sharing the raw data itself. The project will focus on data exchanging protocols to ensure privacy preservation and to improve the accuracy of the ML model being built independently at each edge node.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Cyber Security (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jonathan Crellin, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Fake-news Alerts: Developing Personalized News Recommendation for Fake News Mitigation","description":"This PhD research aims to tackle the widespread issue of fake news by developing a tool that helps users identify false information more effectively. Existing methods, like automated detectors and fact-checkers, often don\u2019t provide personalized support for individual users. To address this, the research will create a system that offers customized, accurate news recommendations to help users spot and correct fake news. The plan includes improving the Rec4Mit [9] model with human feedback using techniques like Reinforcement Learning (RL) or generative AI, and designing a user-friendly browser plug-in called \u201cFake News Alerts.\u201d This plug-in will assist users in evaluating news accuracy and alert them to potential risks. By applying usability and explainable AI principles, the tool will be both practical and easy to understand. The effectiveness of the \u201cFake News Alerts\u201d tool will be tested through user studies to see how well it helps users differentiate between fake and real news.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460499, 460208, 460299"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216 PhD (Mech & Manu Eng)\/ DR219 PhD (Environmental Eng)","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"HCMC Traffic Simuation for Improved Air Quality: A Novel Approach","description":"Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) faces severe air quality challenges due to rapid urbanisation and a growing vehicle fleet. Vehicle emissions significantly contribute to pollution, posing health risks to the population. While policies aim to improve air quality, the city's complex urban layout complicates traffic management.\n\nThis project will leverage data from over 600 live-feed traffic cameras to develop Al computer vision algorithms that extract insights such as traffic density, vehicle types, and driver behaviour. These insights will parameterise urban traffic simulations (using tools like VISSIM or SUMO), integrated with vehicle emission models, to assess emission reduction strategies.\n\nFocusing on key intersections, the project will simulate road layouts, signage, and vehicle types to facilitate generation of realistic drive cycles. Emission models will evaluate the impact of various changes in infrastructure and vehicle composition, providing actionable insights into mitigation strategies. This research aims to support sustainable urban planning and enhance public health through data-driven policy recommendations\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n373701 Atmospheric Sciences (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (30%)\n464601 Applied Computing (30%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"Digital twin model development for fleet management of automated guided vehicles in indoor applications","description":"Digital twin technology is recognised as a groundbreaking and indispensable tool for smart manufacturing, which utilises the advanced technology from emerging domains of robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things. In the context of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) used widely used in indoor applications such as manufacturing or farming, a digital twin is a virtual replica that leverages data and simulation to enable real-time prediction, optimization, monitoring, control, and enhanced decision-making processes.\n\nThe aim of this PhD project is to develop and optimise a digital twin to enhance the performance of the fleet of AGVs in operation, which ultimately increases the safety and quality of automation process. The project's core focus is on developing a digital twin\u2014a dynamic and real-time simulation that accurately represents the vehicle's physical characteristics and operational processes of multiple vehicles. This advanced model incorporates real-time data on system performance resulting in helpful insights to facilitate data-drive decisions on AGV management. The impact of the project includes cost efficiency, energy efficiency, safety, and advancement in digital twin technology. This research project has potential applications in smart manufacturing and smart farming, where automated guided vehicle or ground mobile robots are widely\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (30%)\n404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics (50%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu","title":"Electric Motorbike Battery-Swap System Optimisation for Sustainability and the Creation of a Circular Economy 20241031","description":"With 8.5 million motorcycles (89% of the vehicle fleet), electrification in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) offers significant potential to improve air quality and public health. However, deploying charging infrastructure presents challenges, particularly given the city's limited space and electrical infrastructure. Battery-swap systems-where users exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones-offer a promising solution. This project focuses on designing and optimising such a system tailored to HCMC's unique needs, ensuring battery longevity and exploring circular economy opportunities for repurposing or recycling used batteries.\n\nThe first phase of the project will use digital-twin simulations and battery-aging models to optimise deployment strategies, balancing battery use across diverse duty cycles to maximise their lifespan. The second phase will explore technologies to enable a circular economy, using synthetic data to predict recycling and redeployment yields specific to HCMC's conditions. A new battery design will be proposed to align with local capabilities and future recycling requirements, fostering sustainable urban electrification.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404017 Mechanical Engineering (40%)\n464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (20%)\n404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"Model predictive control for improving electric vehicle thermal regulation and efficiency","description":"This project will investigate the opportunities for the use of nonlinear model predictive control in battery electric vehicle thermal management to improve system efficiency. The research challenge is the system level coordination of local controllers (battery, electric machine, cabin) to maximise overall vehicle energy efficiency. An added constraint is the distributed computational architecture on the vehicle. The main research question to be investigated is how the local controllers can be coordinated without compromising the advantages that predictive control provides at subsystem level. A stretch target is the incorporation of model adaption at the local level to further improve performance. The project will be simulation based making use of plant models from a vehicle OEM. Time-allowing the resulting controller will be validated on SPACE rapid control prototyping hardware, made available by the OEM.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nhat-Quang Tran, Minh Dinh, Huong Ha","title":"FaRMIT \u2013 A Vietnamese Foundation Model for Agricultural Forecasting","description":"The research aims to develop a foundation model to predict the prices of Vietnam's key agricultural products, such as coffee, rice, durian, rubber, cashew, and pepper. \n\nThe main objectives include:\n\u2022        Building a zero-shot forecasting framework by distilling pretrained models (Moirai, Chronos, \u2026). \n\u2022        Exploring cost-effective foundation model development through evolutionary merging (CME-ES, TIES-Merging with DARE algorithms, \u2026).\n\u2022        Exploring the contribution of price forecasting in crop planning, as reliable forecasts help farmers and policymakers make informed decisions about which crops to plant and how to allocate resources. \n\nBy improving forecast accuracy and reliability, this research aims to support better crop planning and may benefit 15.4 million farmers in Vietnam, contributing to an agricultural sector that generated over $53 billion in export revenue in 2023.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"300210        Sustainable agricultural development (20%)\n461103        Deep learning (40%)\n461199        Machine learning not elsewhere classified (45%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Huong Ha","title":"Further Advance Bayesian Optimization","description":"Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a powerful sample-efficient strategy for finding the global optimum of an expensive black-box functions [1]. The main idea is to fit a surrogate model on the previous function evaluations, construct an acquisition function based on the surrogate model, and then use the acquisition function to select the next data point to be evaluated. Its applications include but not limited to automated machine learning, experimental design, environmental monitoring, and robotics. Whilst being effective and efficient in solving many optimization problems, BO is still a relatively new research field and suffers various limitations [1]. For example,\r\n+ Existing BO algorithms do not work well with high-dimensional optimization problems\r\n+ Limited BO methods can be applied to solve optimization problems with discrete, categorical, and mixed variables.\r\n+ Limited BO methods can solve the multi-objective optimization problems.\r\n+ etc.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to advance the efficacy of BO algorithms by various techniques such as evolutionary methods (e.g., covariance matrix adaptation, particle swarm, multi-objective decomposition) [2], deep surrogate models (e.g., deep kernel, Bayesian deep learning) [3]. \r\n\r\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\r\n460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Huong Ha","title":"Towards the Trustworthiness of Machine Learning Systems After Deployment","description":"Machine learning (ML) systems are employed across sectors to assist humans in making important decisions. However, it is well-known that ML systems can be unreliable. ML systems work based on the assumption that the system's training data come from the same distribution with the data encountered in the deployment. But this assumption does not always hold in real life [1]. Thus, there is no guarantee that an ML system, which had an impressive performance during the development process, still performs well after deployment. It is therefore crucial that the trustworthiness of the ML systems need to be ensured after deployment, so as to prevent potential failures that may have severe unintended consequences.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to develop various techniques to ensure the trustworthiness of ML systems after deployment. Some directions that we're aiming towards:\r\n+ active testing of ML systems so that only a minimal number of ground-truth need to be used to evaluate the correctness of ML systems [2]\r\n+ monitoring ML systems performance so as to detect any issues with the ML systems' performance\r\n+ automatic retraining ML systems so as to ensure their performance always satisfying users' requirements\r\n+ etc.\r\n\r\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\n461103 Deep learning (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Leveraging IoT, AI, and Satellites for Precision Agriculture in Vietnamese Tea Plantations","description":"This research project is at optimizing tea cultivation practices in Vietnam through the integration of IoT, AI, and Satellites. By deploying IoT devices, analysing satellite imagery, and developing AI models, the project seeks to enhance productivity and sustainability in tea plantations. Collaboration with local farmers will ensure the practical implementation of technological solutions, ultimately improving the efficiency and profitability of tea cultivation in Vietnam. The proposed IoT infrastructure will consist of a network of sensors deployed across tea fields to monitor soil moisture, nutrient levels, temperature, humidity, and pest activity. This data will be transmitted to a centralized platform where AI algorithms will analyze the information, providing actionable insights and predictive models for optimal crop management. Additionally, satellite imagery will be utilized to assess large-scale environmental conditions, detect crop health anomalies, and guide resource allocation with high spatial and temporal resolution. The contribution of this project lies in its holistic approach to precision agriculture, tailored specifically for the unique climatic and geographical conditions of Vietnamese tea plantations. By leveraging these cutting-edge technologies, the research will enable farmers to make data-driven decisions, reduce resource waste, and improve crop yield and quality. Furthermore, this project will provide a scalable model that can be adapted to other regions and crops, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural practices on a broader scale. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, this study aspires to set a new standard for agricultural productivity and environmental stewardship in Vietnam's tea industry.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"100507 Smart Technologies - Internet of Things (35%)\n080602 Computational Intelligence (40%)\n090905 Agricultural Remote Sensing (25%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Data-Driven Machine Learning Framework for Blockchain Security","description":"The intersection of Artificial intelligence and blockchain technology has the potential to enhance the security of blockchain systems. As blockchain networks become increasingly integrated into various sectors, there is a need for robust security measures to counteract potential vulnerabilities. This research aims to develop a machine learning data-driven framework to analyze and enhance blockchain security. By deriving a comprehensive approach to detect anomalies and assess risks within blockchain environments, this study seeks to address existing limitations in data analysis for security purposes. Objectives: This research aims to: Derive a data-driven modelling approach to security in blockchain networks, Apply machine learning techniques to detect blockchain system anomalies, And create a comprehensive framework for blockchain security analysis and enhancement. Impact: This research will provide practitioners and researchers with basis for enhancing the security of blockchain systems, contributing to the integrity and reliability of decentralized technologies which can reduce risk and harm to end users.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460406 Software and application security (50%)\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)\n461106 Semi- and unsupervised learning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Arthur Tang","title":"Development of Immersive AR\/VR Environments Utilizing LLMs and Voice Processing","description":"This project aims to develop an advanced immersive virtual environment that integrates Large Language Models (LLMs), voice processing, and Augmented\/Virtual Reality (AR\/VR) to create a dynamic, interactive learning and training platform. By combining these cutting-edge technologies, the project will offer users realistic, voice-based interactions with both AI-driven Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and other participants in a virtual world designed to simulate real-life scenarios. This immersive environment will provide hands-on experiences that can be applied to various fields, including nursing, mental health treatment, and beyond. \n\nResearch areas include but are not limited to: (1) Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Investigate how users interact with AI-driven NPCs and how the system can enhance the realism and natural flow of conversation; (2) Emotion and Sentiment Analysis: Explore integrating emotion recognition to make NPC interactions more dynamic and responsive to user emotions; (3) Immersion and Engagement: Study the impact of AR\/VR immersion on learning effectiveness, user retention, and engagement compared to traditional learning methods; (4) AI Personalization: Research how to make NPCs more adaptive and responsive based on user behaviour and learning progression.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (30%)\n4612 Software engineering (30%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)\n4607 Graphics, Augmented Reality and Games (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Khuong Nguyen, Yunus Khatri","title":"Deep Learning in the Measurement of Microplastics in Fish","description":"The presence of microplastics in marine ecosystems is an escalating global concern, especially as they infiltrate the food chain, with fish\u2014a significant source of human nutrition\u2014being particularly affected. Recent reports, such as those from CNN and DW [1, 2], emphasize the potential health risks that microplastics pose to both aquatic life and humans. However, the accurate detection and measurement of microplastics in fish remains a complex and time-consuming process, primarily due to the varied sizes, shapes, and compositions of these particles. Traditional methods like manual microscopy and spectroscopy are labor-intensive and prone to error, limiting their practical application in large-scale monitoring.\nThe integration of deep learning offers an innovative solution to these challenges, enabling automation and improving accuracy in detecting microplastic contamination in fish. This PhD project aims to develop a deep learning model that will not only automate but also enhance the precision of identifying microplastics in fish tissues, addressing current limitations and offering a scalable solution for food safety monitoring.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"(300607) Food Technology - 30% \n(300606) Food sustainablity - 30%\n(461103) Deep learning - 20%\n(461104) Neural networks - 20%"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR231 \/ DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truong, Hoang Phan, Yunus Khatri","title":"Gene Expression for Biosensor Development in Food Quality Control","description":"Ability to detect food spoilage helps food producers comply with stringent safety regulations. This project aims to develop a biosensor using the gene expression approach to enhance food quality control of perishable food. By researching the response to contaminants and quality indicators, the project will create a biosensor capable of real-time, accurate detection. The biosensor will be optimized for sensitivity and specificity, providing a cost-effective and rapid solution for monitoring food safety. The novelty lies in integrating advanced genetic expression techniques(s) with practical applications, offering a groundbreaking approach to monitor food quality and ensure higher standards for consumers.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300607 Food technology (30%)\n300605 Food safety, traceability, certification and authenticity (30%)\n310505 Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches) (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Biotechnology & Biological Sciences (Science)","programcode":"DR231\/ DR232\/ DR219 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Popovich, Hoang Phan, Nathan Bott","title":"Evaluating Bioactive Accumulation and Agroeconomic Benefits of Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Microalgae, and Probiotics in Organic Byproduct and Waste Management","description":"This interdisciplinary project investigates the bioactive accumulation capabilities of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), microalgae, and probiotics as a mutual supportive model in converting organic byproducts and waste into valuable resources. By analyzing the bioactive compounds accumulated for pharmaceutical\/cosmetic applications, the study aims to optimize waste management practices and enhance the economic viability of organic recycling. The project employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess efficiency and profitability, providing insights into sustainable agricultural practices and contributing to a circular economy. This novel approach promises to set new standards and insights in organic transformation and emission mitigation.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified\n401106 Waste management, reduction, reuse and recycling\n410199 Climate change impacts and adaptation not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221\/DR232\/DR231","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh, Hoang Phan","title":"Addressing potential conflicts in collaborative human-AI agent environments for agri-food sustainability","description":"The research aims to enhance the synergy between human and AI agents in the agri-food sector. By identifying and addressing potential conflicts, the project seeks to improve decision-making processes, optimize resource use, and promote sustainable practices. A significant technical challenge in this field is the integration of diverse data sources and ensuring unstructured data interoperability. Key objectives include developing a conflict resolution algorithm\/framework, integrating and balancing AI-driven insights with human expertise, and fostering a collaborative environment that supports a harmonious human-AI partnership that drives efficiency and sustainability in agri-food systems. Additionally, it emphasizes the inclusion of disadvantaged groups to ensure equitable benefits and participation in sustainable practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460202 Autonomous agents and multiagent systems\n300606 Food Sustainability\n460299 Artificial Intelligence not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Maria Spichkova","title":"Employability Perspectives on Entry-Level Software Testing Skills","description":"Quality assurance (QA) is one of the major concerns in software development. There are many reasons for it, including a significant gap between industry needs and academic preparation. This PhD research project will focus on identification of essential QA competencies - testing, soft, and technical skills - expected from novice software testers and assesses their importance. Focusing on the Vietnamese and Australian software industries, this research project aims are (1) to outline the currently critical skill set for entry-level testers, to provide guidelines for integrating these competencies into university-level software testing curricula and (2) to analyze students\u2019 perceptions regarding QA to better prepare them for entry-level positions and ensure they meet industry standards and expectations.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (60%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Tuan-Anh Hoang, Vinh Dang","title":"Testing and Verification of Smart Contracts","description":"This research focuses on ensuring the reliability, security, and correctness of smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements with terms encoded directly in code, commonly used in blockchain technology. Given the irreversible nature of smart contracts, any bugs or vulnerabilities can lead to significant financial and security risks. The study explores software testing techniques to detect bugs and errors in smart contract code, including functional, security, and performance testing. Software verification methods, such as formal verification, are used to mathematically prove that the contract behaves as intended. Incorporating AI into this process can enhance testing and verification by automating bug detection, generating test cases, and predicting potential vulnerabilities. AI-driven tools can improve both the efficiency and accuracy of testing smart contracts, ultimately contributing to more secure and robust blockchain ecosystems.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461208 Software testing, verification and validation (50%)\n461104 Neural networks (25%)\n460406 Software and application security (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Maria Spichkova","title":"Cultural and Organizational Influences on Vietnam's Software Testing Practices","description":"Software testing constitutes a critical facet within the software development life cycle, especially in light of emerging AI-driven tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. On the other hand, software testing activities might be influenced by organizational culture and the nature of software development projects. This PhD research project endeavors to explore the intricacies of software testing practices within the Vietnamese context, seeking to elucidate insights of significant import to professionals globally. Employing a comparative approach, we endeavor to juxtapose our findings with analogous studies, notably those conducted in Australia, thereby aiming to present a comprehensive understanding. The ramifications of this investigation transcend the geographical confines of Vietnam, offering insights into overarching global testing trends. Moreover, this study serves as a conduit for researchers to discern the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the industry, thereby fostering enhanced industry-academia collaborations.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (60%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Automated generation of test oracles","description":"During software testing, a test oracle is commonly used to verify whether the behaviour of the system under test is correct. It enables the determination of whether the system is functioning as expected. With the increasing use of machine learning solutions in areas such as software testing, there is a possibility of developing an automated test oracle for many applications. However, machine learning-based test oracles' reliability is questionable, as software failure misclassification may occur. This could lead to inaccurate labelling of a class, which undermines the usefulness of the machine learning-based test oracle. Despite this concern, the behaviour of machine learning-based test oracles depends on the dataset and algorithms used for training. It is important to note that the challenge of identifying correct and incorrect behaviour in software testing is known as the \"Test Oracle Problem\", which exists beyond machine learning applications. This implies that machine learning methods can be used to develop a robust and reliable automated test oracle. Furthermore, the application of automated test oracles can also improve the efficiency of industry-specific workflows related to validation and verification.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (40%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)\r\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Improving Software Fault Prediction for Imbalanced Data","description":"Allocating a sufficient budget for software testing is crucial to ensure that the software is defect-free. However, as software grows in size and complexity, testing becomes more expensive, and some companies may not have enough resources to allocate toward it. To address this issue, many researchers have turned to machine learning methods to create software fault prediction models that can detect defect-prone modules, allowing for more efficient resource allocation during testing. While this is a viable solution, the effectiveness of machine learning models depends on various factors, such as data imbalance. There are several techniques in class imbalance research that can potentially enhance the performance of prediction models by processing the dataset before inputting it. However, not all methods are compatible with each other.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (40%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)\r\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Sensor Fusion and Active Vision for mobile robots","description":"Many smart mobility and industrial automation applications rely on object detection and tracking. Examples include mobile robots, autonomous vehicles, smart traffic infrastructure, security & surveillance. Sensor fusion is essential for safety-critical systems, both to ensure robustness (through considering redundant information) and accuracy (through considering complementary information).\r\nTo really empower machine vision both in terms of accuracy and efficiency, sensor fusion and scene analytics must go beyond passive interpretation of the scene. Sensing and computing power must be directed to where it is most essential for task performance (called active sensing), based on cues from earlier observations or from different sensors. This may be achieved by analytics feeding back information to the sensors, which can then, for example, adjust their sensitivity, field of view, resolution or power setting to this information. This feedback will require the development of novel, flexible AI architectures that combine the power of deep learning with a high degree of reconfigurability and adaptability to changing sensor dynamics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4002"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Engineering","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR216P23","campus":"RMIT VIetnam","teamleader":"Thanh Tran, Vi Nguyen","title":"Topology optimization for metal 3D manufacturing technology","description":"Metal 3D printing technology plays an important role in advanced manufacturing technology, especially in the strategy of sustainable manufacturing. In this project, modeling of structure-property characterization and structural design optimization are centered. The utilization of topology optimization is investigated for structural design in metal additive manufacturing. The goal is to answer the question if there is a relationship between topology optimization and metal 3D printing technology in medical, dental, or aerospace. From the expectedly achieved model and structure design, a multiple objective optimization problem will be solved for finding effectiveness of the process parameters on strengthen of mechanical properties and optimal weight of finished parts. Simulation and experimental studies are implemented to validate the proposed research.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"401707 Solid mechanics (40%)\r\n401401 Additive manufacturing (40%)\r\n401408 Manufacturing processes and technologies (excl. textiles) (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ehsan Asadi, Thanh T Tran","title":"A robust control design method for web transport system in flexible printed solar panel manufacturing technology","description":"Dynamic analysis, system design, and control synthesis play an important role in machine design with high-performance and reliability. The research starts with solving an optimization problem for selecting optimally the system parameters via dynamic analysis, and then several assumptions on roll-to-roll (R2R) web dynamics are analyzed to provide a physically closer model for the nonlinear R2R web dynamic system. The achieved model may not be a good candidate for applying a new control method, Thus, some assumptions are proposed to transform the achieved model into a standard strict-feedback form of the R2R web dynamics. Then, robust control analysis and synthesis methods are proposed to for the strict-feedback form to improve the performance and stability in the presence of disturbance. Finally, control software development for R2R web system is provided for simulation and experimental studies. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"400799 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics not elsewhere classified\n400705 Control engineering"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215P23\/ DR216P23\/DR220\/DR221 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hai-Nguyen (Hann) Nguyen","title":"Towards Physically Capable Aerial Robots for Environmental and Infrastructure Applications","description":"The demand for aerial robots is rapidly growing in fields such as ecological monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and disaster response. While current aerial robots excel at reaching and observing hard-to-access locations, their capabilities are limited by short endurance and a lack of meaningful physical interaction (i.e., restricted to passive observation). Equipping these robots with new manipulation capabilities, such as precise sensor placement for environmental monitoring, structural contact inspections over time, and complex physical interventions (e.g., firefighting, object manipulation), would greatly broaden their range of applications.\n\nDespite recent progress, current aerial robots typically manage only basic interactions\u2014such as single-point contacts or predefined action sequences\u2014due to the complexities of floating-base dynamics, aerodynamics, and the absence of accurate proprioceptive sensing. These limitations make aerial robots vulnerable to disturbances and uncertainties in unstructured environments. This research will address these challenges by focusing on the interconnected design and control aspects, which should be tackled holistically. The objective is to design innovative aerial platforms along with efficient control and planning algorithms that leverage the design, inspired by real-world applications in environmental monitoring, infrastructure assessment, and disaster response.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400702 Automation engineering (50%)\n400706 Field robotics (50%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215P23\/ DR216P23\/ DR220\/ DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hai-Nguyen (Hann) Nguyen, ","title":"Autonomy for Aerial Robots in Complex Ecological and Agricultural Environments","description":"Aerial robots, or simply drones, hold great potential for gathering important data in challenging environments, such as under dense forest canopies, in ecologically sensitive areas with limited ground access, or in dynamic settings like greenhouses. With their ability to fly and hover, aerial robots can efficiently collect data distributed across space and time. However, navigating such complex and dynamic environments requires high levels of autonomy and adaptability. Dense vegetation, varying light conditions, changing features, and moving obstacles present significant challenges to maintaining safe and efficient navigation for data collection, underscoring the need for advanced autonomous navigation capabilities.\n\nCurrent literature highlights the limitations of aerial robots\u2019 ability to navigate complex, unstructured environments without human intervention. This research lies at the intersection of control and perception, focusing on the use of new sensing modalities and developing tighter integration between the two, such as an end-to-end approach with differentiable control and perception elements. The work will contribute essential advancements to autonomous navigation in aerial robotics for ecological and agricultural applications.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400702 Automation engineering (50%)\n400706 Field robotics (50%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215\/DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thanh Tran, Ehsan Asadi","title":"A new robust control design method for a nonlinear flight dynamics","description":"This project investigates a nonlinear robust control algorithm for flight dynamics of aircraft. The project focuses on two points: i) A new idea is proposed to formulate a robust control law of the nonlinear flight dynamics System. This process of control design is implemented by using the Lyapunov-function based design. ii) Flight-path angle control of longitudinal dynamics of F-16 aircraft model is applied in a form of nonlinear dynamic system under a series of less restrictive assumptions. A direct applicability of the proposed control theoretic framework is used to derive robust control laws for the achieved model. To show advancement, improvement, and validation of the proposed control method, In-door experimental studies are implemented, where numerical data or flight path angle control of longitudinal motion of F-16 aircraft model is investigated finally to validate the proposed control approach.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"4001 Aerospace engineering (40%)\r\n4007 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics (40%)\r\n4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware (20%)\r\n\r\n\r"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Real-time monitoring of the remaining useful life of an industrial\/electronic system with a data-based approach","description":"The aim of this PhD track is to develop an AI methodology, using machine learning (ML) approaches, to predict the remaining useful lifetime of electronic systems by fusing data obtained from both sensors and simulations. The idea is to use the ML-based approach to compensate for the limitations of an approach that relies solely on simulations (uncertainty on the material parameters etc.). Experimental validation of the methodology will also be carried out.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nalin Arachchilage, Matthew Warren","title":"Enhancing privacy awareness of individuals in social media: an internal social marketing approach","description":"Understanding the behavioural change process of social media users to adopt safe privacy practices is vital to protect them from data breaches. This research project explores how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. This understanding could inform the design of social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to promote and maintain online privacy compliance. This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with social media users in Vietnam. Responses are then categorized under the 7Ps marketing mix framework. Discussions are centred on social media users' experiences, their perceptions of privacy behaviour and awareness initiatives, and the impact of initiatives on compliance behaviour. \nThe key objectives of the project are:\n1.        Background and literature study on how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. \n2.        Developing a framework, based on the 7Ps marketing mix, to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. \n3.        Evaluate the users' understanding and enhancement of privacy awareness of their social media usage through the developed framework. \n4.    Develop informed design guidelines for social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to promote and maintain online privacy compliance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460904 Information security management (50%)\n460402 Data and information privacy (25%)\n460910 Information systems user experience design and development (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Golnoush Abaei","title":"Improving Software Fault Prediction for Imbalanced Data","description":"Allocating a sufficient budget for software testing is crucial to ensure that the software is defect-free. However, as software grows in size and complexity, testing becomes more expensive, and some companies may not have enough resources to allocate toward it. To address this issue, many researchers have turned to machine learning methods to create software fault prediction models that can detect defect-prone modules, allowing for more efficient resource allocation during testing. While this is a viable solution, the effectiveness of machine learning models depends on various factors, such as data imbalance. There are several techniques in class imbalance research that can potentially enhance the performance of prediction models by processing the dataset before inputting it. However, not all methods are compatible with each other.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461208 Software testing, verification and validation (30%)\n461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (30%)\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (10%)\n461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (10%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232\/DR231","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yunus Khatri, Hoang Phan, Tuyen Truong","title":"Transcriptomic profiling of Pseudomonas fluorescens in pasteurized milk for further developing a rapid and portable detection method ","description":"Psychrotrophic bacteria are a major concern in the milk industry due to their ability to grow well at low temperatures and produce heat-stable enzymes which subsequently alter milk quality and safety. Pseudomonas fluorescens (P. fluorescens) is the most prevalent species of Pseudomonas detected in High Temperature Short Time pasteurized milk. Milk spoilage can be significantly exacerbated by heat-stable extracellular proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes synthesized by P. fluorescens. Dufour et al (2008) demonstrated that P. fluorescens produced AprX \u2013 a thermal-resistant alkaline metallopeptidase, is responsible for casein deterioration in milk.\nSeveral methods have been applied to detect contamination levels post-pasteurization. However, these traditional methods have some limitations, specifically labour intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a rapid, accurate method to detect microbes in a timely manner to cope with contamination in the pasteurization and filling units.\nIMPACT - The outcomes of this research will inform the design for a rapid, accurate and portable method to detect P. fluorescens in milk. Thus, the knowledge created will assist in resolving milk spoilage and assist in preventing significant losses in the dairy industry","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300607 Food technology (30%)\n300605 Food safety, traceability, certification and authenticity (30%)\n310505 Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches) (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truon, Rajaraman Eri","title":"The Impact of Nutritional Intervention on Gestational Diabetes in Vietnamese Patients","description":"Gestational diabetes has emerged as a significant public health concern in Vietnam, impacting both the healthcare sector and the general population. Notably, clinical studies conducted in Vietnam reveal varying prevalence rates, ranging from 8% to 32%, depending upon geographic regions and diagnostic criteria. Complications associated with gestational diabetes include preeclampsia, miscarriage, stillbirth, and an increased likelihood of cesarean sections.\r\nIn the current healthcare landscape of Vietnam, pregnant women undergo gestational diabetes screening between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. However, once diagnosed, patients often receive rudimentary instructions from obstetricians and gynecologists, typically centered on reducing sugar and starch consumption. Furthermore, there is a lack of coordination with dietitians for comprehensive nutritional assessments and interventions. Concurrently, existing studies and clinical guidelines underscore the pivotal role of dietary therapy in managing blood sugar levels during pregnancy, potentially reducing the need for insulin.\r\nCompounding these challenges is the nascent state of the nutrition industry in Vietnam, particularly within the realm of clinical nutrition. This infancy translates to a dearth of recommendations and guidelines tailored to nutritional interventions for the Vietnamese populace.\r\nGiven this landscape, this research project seeks to address these pressing issues by evaluating the efficacy of nutritional interventions for Vietnamese patients with gestational diabetes through randomized controlled trials and metabolomics studies. The ultimate aim is to bridge the gap in nutritional guidance and recommendations, offering targeted nutrition programs that hold immense promise for improving the management of gestational diabetes in Vietnamese patients, with far-reaching implications for maternal and fetal health.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300603: Food Nutritional Balance (65%)\r\n321001: Clinical Nutrition (20%)\r\n310205: Proteomics and Metabolics (15%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Cloud, Systems & Security","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fengling Han, Huo Chong Ling (RMIT Vietnam)","title":"CSIRO Data61 Next Generation Emerging Technologies: Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning","description":"To address the increasingly striking discordance between its rapid growth and renewed awareness of privacy protection in this era of intelligence, this project focuses on the security of private and protection of sensitive information carried by the data with machine learning methods.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460403 Data security and protection\r\n330204 Building information modelling and management\r\n330206 Building science, technologies and systems"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeffery Chan","title":"Social Network Analysis Research for Studying Technology Adoption in Organisations and Society","description":"Technology adoption in companies and society is a complex process, but involves peer influences and other co-founding factors. In this project\/co-supervisor, we would like to extend upon initial work in using social network analysis and diffusion models to study technology adoption in companies and research advanced models that combines node information, background influences and other information. This will be combined with user studies to gather further datasets about technology adoption in a company based in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460502"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Xiuzhen Jenny Zhang","title":"summarization of opinions on social media","description":"This project will explore generative language technologies for generating unbiased opinion summaries. The project is related to sentiment analysis of conversations on social media and is related to topics such as deep learning, NLP and text mining. It also relates to bias for machine learning for social media \u2013 a way to address bias in summarization is to include a diverse set of contrastive viewpoints in the summary of social media posts.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460502 Data Mining and Knowledge discovery"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Xiuzhen Jenny Zhang","title":"Trust of misinformation on social media","description":"Misinformation is a recognised as a grand challenge in the 21st century. Contrary to our belief, recent research published in Science shows that humans plays significant roles in the propagation of misinformation. This project aims to study the human behaviour towards misinformation generated by human or machine. Research questions include understand user behaviour (trust\/distrust) for misinformation, classification of user behaviour for misinformation behaviour; characterise mistrust communities. We will use a data analytics approach, combined with qualitative methods.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460506"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Digital Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ben Byrne, Jonathan Duckworth, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Laurene Vaughan, Darrin Verhagen, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski","title":"Digital Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Digital Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to games, animation, interaction design and user experience design. Specific areas of digital design research include cinematic Virtual Reality, Esports, embodied interaction, creative coding, audio essays, computational culture and performance. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in digital design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120303 Digital and Interaction Design\n  190202 Computer Gaming and Animation\n  190203 Electronic Media Art\n  190504 Performance and Installation Art\n  200102 Communication Technology and Digital Media Studies\n  200212 Screen and Media Culture"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brad Haylock, Stephen Banham, Jenny Grigg, Neal Haslem, Andy Simionato, Laurene Vaughan, Noel Waite","title":"Typography and Design for Publishing","description":"The School of Design at RMIT welcomes candidates seeking to undertake research in Typography and Design for Publishing. Research in this area spans practice-based and theoretical approaches, and applied and speculative approaches. Studies broadly address matters of book typography, editorial design, type design and lettering, and commercial, independent or speculative publishing. Topics might include but are not limited to: the future of the book; book design methodology; innovations in publishing processes or modes of publishing; typography in the public sphere; and publishing as a critical practice. Researchers in this area might also take a design-led approach to questions relating to the sociology of books, publishing and reading, or to small-press and artist-book publishing. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"4,11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Auger, Olivier Cotsaftis, Liam Fennessy, Pirjo Haikola, Brad Haylock, Scott Mitchell, Andy Simionato, Laurene Vaughan, Oliver Vodeb, Jaz Choi, Toni Roberts, Sarah Teasley","title":"Speculative and Critical Design","description":"Speculative Design and Critical Design projects and practices interrogate the status quo in various ways, or propose variously unorthodox future scenarios. These modes of practice often explicitly challenge the current state of design itself: its narrowing pathways, prevailing assumptions, and corporate agendas. In this area of focus, RMIT School of Design welcomes researchers who deploy the principles, methods or ethics of critical and speculative design to interrogate received assumptions and practices in domains ranging from governance, politics, technological development, human interactions, and design practice itself. Research candidates in this area demonstrate their findings in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their research. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Auger, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Simon Lockrey, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Juan Sanin, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Malte Wagenfeld","title":"Industrial Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Industrial Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to product design, furniture design, ergonomics and product-service systems. Research in this area might extend from an industrial design perspective into topics and domains such as service design, design for social innovation, design for social change, safeness by design, human-centred design, sustainable design, and inclusive design. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in industrial design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120305 Industrial Design, \n  120302 Design Innovation"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jaz Choi, Jonathan Duckworth, Troy Innocent, Rohit Khot, Gina Moore, Matthew Riley","title":"Design for Playful Interaction","description":"Play is a methodology for creative practice that traverses diverse disciplines, materials, spaces and modes of interaction. Knowledge and techniques from games and interaction design inform research on innovative cyber-physical systems that are captivating, transformative and productive. Application areas at RMIT School of Design include Human-Food Interaction (HFI), playable cities and care-full design. Contemporary concerns with food include technological, environmental, and social disruptions, ranging from food security to agricultural sustainability to rising obesity and diminishing commensality. Playable cities use creative technologies to situate citizens within experiences that allow them to re-imagine, reconnect and reinvent their world. Care-fully designing playful engagement embodies care as a matter of concern; its ethics and logic guides conceptual, methodological, and translational undertakings. We seek research candidates in this area who are passionate about exploring design for playful engagement through transdisciplinary research and practice in\/across different fields of design \u2013 including but not limited to interaction \/ experience \/ service. Interests and experience in co-creative, trans-disciplinary, practice-based methods are highly valued.","sdg":"2,3,11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Digital and Interaction Design\n  190203 Electronic Media Art"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lawrence Harvey, Darrin Verhagen, Ben Byrne, Jordan Lacey, Scott Mitchell, Joshua Batty, Frank Feltham, Jeffrey Hannam","title":"Sound, Music and Acoustics","description":"Developments in spatial sound technology from the mid- to late-20th century enabled the creation, delivery and research of complex acoustic environments. Whereas music and concert halls were once the privileged location of advanced human auditory experience, digital technology has greatly expanded the potential for new types of spatial sound and soundscapes. Applicants are invited to consider contributions to research areas that include: urban soundscape designs for multi-channel systems; evaluating urban soundscape designs and urban soundscape planning models; software projects for spatialised performance, installations or gesture control; spatialised performance\/electroacoustic performance practise; analysis of contemporary spatial compositions and installation practice; integrating 3D design softwares within spatial sound designs; and experimental acoustic design. Applicants must have intermediate to advanced skills in studio production to realise their research.","sdg":"3,9,11,12,13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Urban Futures, Information and Systems","forcodes":"120104 Architectural Science and Technology\n  120302 Design innovation\n  190203 Electronic Media Art\n  190504 Performance and Installation Art"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Teasley, Brad Haylock, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite, Jenny Grigg","title":"Critical, Historical and Theoretical Studies in Design","description":"This area of focus supports researchers undertaking studies in design history, theory and criticism. Topics might include: new modes of design criticism, new regional design histories, critical design historiography, and new theories of design. Critical design studies might take regional, feminist, decolonising, Indigenous, LGBTIQA+, or other, or variously intersectional standpoints to contribute to emergent discourses in design. New design histories may focus on people, places, themes or modes of practice that have been overlooked or under-recognised by research to date. Research in this area might also examine the modes by which design histories or theories are produced and reproduced, for example in education or publishing. Candidates in this area will typically present a thesis for examination, but may also undertake practice-based research, for example through curatorial practice. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,16,17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120301 Design History and Theory"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stephen Banham, Marius Foley, Jenny Grigg, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, James Oliver, Toni Roberts, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Laurene Vaughan, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite","title":"Communication Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Communication Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to graphic design, interpretation design, branding, packaging and data visualisation. Research in this area might extend from a communication design standpoint into topics and domains such as design strategy, service design, design for social innovation, design for social change, design for community building, human-centred design, and inclusive design. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in communication design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design), \n  120302 Design Innovation, \n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Stephen Banham, Chris Barker, Joshua Batty, Ben Byrne, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Jonathan Duckworth, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Jenny Grigg, Pirjo Haikola, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Leah Heiss, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen, Oliver Vodeb, Malte Wagenfeld, Noel Waite, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Sarah Teasley, Deb Polson","title":"Reflective Industry Practice Research in Design","description":"Reflective Industry Practice Research in Design involves practitioner-researchers operating largely in a professional environment, generally with a peer-reviewed and award-winning body of work developed over 10 years or more. These practitioners-researchers have already developed recognised mastery in their field. In this area of research focus in RMIT School of Design, experienced practitioners become practitioner-ressearchers who interrogate their own practices in order to explicate and disseminate their disciplinary knowledge, defining its enabling structures, its knowledge bases, and the implications of the nexus between these for emerging forms of research-led practice. They conclude by speculating through design on the nature of their future practice. They demonstrate their findings publicly, through an exhibit, a presentation to examiners, and a written dissertation. This mode of research extends and develops the knowledge base of the design professions, and thus their ability to serve society.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Areli Avendano Franco, Stephen Banham, Chris Barker, Joshua Batty, Ben Byrne, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Mick Douglas, Jonathan Duckworth, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Jenny Grigg, Pirjo Haikola, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Leah Heiss, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen, Oliver Vodeb, Malte Wagenfeld, Noel Waite, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Ian de Vere","title":"Generative Practice Research in Design","description":"The Generative Practice Research mode of practice research in design crosses boundaries between professional and academic research. This practice-based research approach enables practitioner-researchers to generate new kinds of practices \u2014 within a discipline or across disciplines \u2014 in response to challenges and concerns emerging in a changing world and amidst transformations across practice domains. Candidates in this area might be early-career practitioners seeking to enter into a period of deep inquiry that transforms a set of practice-based interests into a more developed practice with well-articulated emphases, agendas and approaches. They might equally be mid- or later-career practitioners seeking to generate a new practice trajectory through a transformation of their established mastery. Research candidates in this area demonstrate their findings publicly in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their practice research, usually through an exhibit, a written dissertation and a presentation to examiners. This area of research focusses on the generation of new knowledge in the form of previously unarticulated approaches to practice, informed by specific issues and challenges that direct researchers' generative inquiries.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Toni Roberts, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite, Juan Sanin, Sarah Teasley, Deb Polson","title":"Ben Byrne, Jonathan Duckworth, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Laurene Vaughan, Darrin Verhagen, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Deb Polson","description":"Social impact relates to the capacity to create positive social change for communities, individuals and ecologies. In recent years, designers have been moving beyond engaging with consumer culture, instead exploring new forms of practice, including design for social innovation. In response to these informed narratives, designers must realise the potential of design as an agent of change to make a broader contribution to society, rather than to enhance marketability by influencing consumer behaviour. This area of research focus also responds to pressing concerns surrounding sustainability, arising from current rapid extinction of species, habitat loss and displacement of more-than-human communities, and recognises the moral and practical crises in design that have contributed to such conditions. Established research in the School of Design in this area of focus includes fighting food waste, design to support natural ecologies in the face of climate change, and designing against crime. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Jaz Choi, Simon Curlis, Jonathan Duckworth, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Neal Haslem, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Scott Mitchell, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen","title":"Design for Health, Wellbeing and Aging","description":"Design research has an active role to play in how society changes the ways people access and experience services and engagements, from the organisational through to the socio-political level. This area of research focus emphasises the importance of design in relation to health, wellbeing and aging. Researchers in this area explore the deployment of design to reimagine health, resilience and care. Candidates might draw on generative or applied practice research approaches in human-centred design, or upon product design, ethnographic approaches, co-creatives processes and iterative and reflective practices. Specific themes and areas of inquiry might include but are not limited to: serious games for health; interaction design for health applications; design innovation for sexual health; design for dementia treatment; and interaction design for mindful eating. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"1,2,3,4,5,8,11,16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Health and Physical Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Amanda Telford, Toni Hilland, Melanie Nash, Carl Ridgeway","title":"Health, Physical Education and Wellbeing","description":"We invite proposals for candidates interested in Health and Physical Education un Primary, Secondary and \/or Higher Education (PSTs) to explore ways in which Health and Physical educators can enhance health and physical activity opportunities in learning environments. This project recognises the multi-faceted nature of the influences on the health, wellbeing and learning. Therefore, there is a necessity to support teacher education and professional development to enhance students\u2019 health, well- being and learning within a school context. Candidates may be interested in exploring the use of creative student-centred pedagogies, curricular initiatives, assessment tools and other 21st Century learning skills to understand and promote health, well-being, physical activity opportunities and learning within school Health and Physical Education. The primary research designs of the project may employ a combination of descriptive research (namely Survey, Developmental research, Case Study, Focus group, Observational and Correlational), quasi-experimental, mixed methods and quantitative research. The project will draw from a wide range of sociocultural, behavioural and educational theoretical perspectives to explore the potential of Health and Physical Educators\u2019 capacity to positively influence students\u2019 health, well-being, physical activity and learning within a school context. International comparisons of PISA data for student outcomes relating to a range of academic performance indicators ranked Australia among the lowest in the world. Research has shown the direct links between school leadership and student achievements (Barber, Whelan & Clark, 2010). In addition, the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance report in 38 countries across 6 continents found that overall physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Australia are low\/poor (graded D-). This project recognises that school Health and Physical Education programs, co-curricular initiatives and environments play vital roles in shaping young people\u2019s experiences, health, well-being, learning and development which impacts on these achievements. Overall, the project will use this empirical base to contribute to scholarship on the impact of student-centred pedagogies, school-based health and well-being programs on teacher capabilities to positively influence students\u2019 health, well-being and achievements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"3 Good Health and Wellbieng, 4 Quality Education","forcodes":"130103 Higher Education, 130104 Primary Education, 130106 Secondary Education, 130210 Physical Education and Development Curriculum and Pedagogy, 130303 Education Assessment and Evaluation,130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators, 111712 Health Promotion"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Creativity Education; STEAM; Teacher Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Daniel Harris, David Rousell, Patricia McLaughlin, Linda Knight, Aleksandra Acker","title":"Creativity Education","description":"We invite proposals for candidates interested in diverse engagements with creativity and creative ecologies, including but not limited to: gallery and museum spaces, community and activist spaces, higher education spaces, urban and regional public spaces, art, architecture, design spaces, creative industries spaces, in addition to more formal compulsory schooling spaces. We are interested in all forms of transdisciplinary (e.g STEAM) creative ecologies, including those that potentially contribute to the re-imagining of formal schooling in synergistic ways. Additionally, we invite engagement from those in the cultural and creative industries whose work doesn't necessarily focus on K-12 schooling. There is a large body of evidence-based research supporting creativity as an economic and educational imperative, not only in workplace preparation, but for addressing global and local inequities, the climate crisis, and for crafting fulfilling lives and communities. This need for creative change is addressed in the Australian Government\u2019s Inquiry into Innovation and Creativity (Commonwealth of Australia 2017), Recommendation 10 (2.94), which \u201crecommends that the National Innovation and Science Agenda explicitly recognise the importance of STEAM, creative digital skills, the creative industries and the arts more generally\u201d (p. 40). We believe, as does the Victorian Department of Education and other governing bodies, that 21st century sociality demands the development of a highly flexible skill set, critical for navigating the complexities of digital life and an evolving economy. 21st century skills involve ways of thinking, working and living under rapidly changing conditions, including but not limited to critical and creative thinking. While these skills align with current national and international agendas for education policy reform, we also invite proposals interested in skills of creative subversion and insurrection with respect to neo-liberal governance and control. Recent turns toward \u2018hacktivism\u2019, \u2018undercommons study\u2019 (Harney & Moten, 2013), the \u2018hashtag syllabus\u2019 (Graziano et al, 2019), Strikes4ClimateAction, and Extinction Rebellion are just a few examples of creative activism in the educational sphere. We do not see these varied applications of creativity studies as mutually-exclusive. We invite proposals that address governmental \u2018creative skills\u2019 economic agendas, but may also critically challenge and reroute these creative skills toward alternative political and ethical imaginaries. Our \u2018creative ecologies\u2019 approach draws on critical theoretical frameworks, including new materialisms, affect studies and posthumanism. We encourage creative\/experimental methods, including research-creation and arts-based approaches, and design-based research. We celebrate the real-world ways in which people learn and apply their learning through socially just, project-based and collaborative means.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality education; 8 Decent wprk and economic growth, 17 Partnerships for the goals","forcodes":"390101 - Creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy; 390303 - higher education; 390406 - gender, sexuality and education; 39201 - Education Policy; 390307"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Education Studies; Sociology of Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Seth Brown, Emily Gray, Annette Gough","title":"Education and Skills for Sustainable Development","description":"UNEVOC@RMIT is located in the School of Education, RMIT University. \n \n UNEVOC@RMIT is part of a global network, co-ordinated from UNESCO\u2010UNEVOC headquarters in Bonn, Germany. \n Positioning RMIT and Australia as a leader and enabler in the region (Asia Pacific, North Asia and South Asia) in applied research, network building and evidenced\u2010based interventions and policy\u2010making in VET. Leveraging the work being conducted at other UNEVOC Centres around the world for the benefit of Australia and Australian future workforces and industry. \n \n Contributing, through concrete, applied, and research-based activities, to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The research focus for UNEVOC @ RMIT is multidisciplinary, and is framed, in part, by the UNESCO UNEVOC priorities for VET: 1. Fostering youth employment and entrepreneurship; 2. Promoting equality and gender equality; 3. Facilitating the transition to green economies and sustainable societies. In this framework our work is initially focused on three key areas: 1. Young people, 21st Century capabilities, wellbeing, pathways and the future of work; 2. Building a networked approach to enabling and capturing social value in learning and training; 3. Exploring educational ecologies of well-being, resilience, and enterprise in times of crisis and disruption. \n This work is informed by the sense that at the start of the 21st century \u2018we are currently situated in a posthuman convergence between the Fourth industrial Age and the Sixth Extinction, between an advanced knowledge economy, which perpetuates patterns of discrimination and exclusion, and the threat of climate change devastation for both human and non-human entities\u2019.\n \n We welcome expressions of interest for PhD and Masters by research projects that align with this program.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality Education; 5 Gender Equality; 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth","forcodes":"390203 Sociology of education; 390201 Education policy; 390114 Vocational education and training curriculum and pedagogy;390308 Technical, further and workplace education"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Educational Studies; Mathematics Education; Science Education; STEM","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tasos Barkatsas, Di Siemon, Rebecca Seah, Angela Rogers, Dan Jazby, Marj Horne, Daniel Harris, Tricia McLaughlin","title":"STEM and STEAM Education","description":"1. Refining disciplinary models of STEM education: There are debates that argue that the term STEM is too diffuse and ill-defined and that there should be a return to the individual disciplines (Siekmann, 2017); debates that current conceptualisations of STEM should be expanded to include a wider range of disciplines, such as Art (Spoehr, Barnett, Molly, Dev & Hordacre, 2010); and debates that STEM education should reflect a more integrated, problem-based learning approach geared towards solving societal problems.\n 2. Research on the development, teaching and learning of reasoning, problem solving, creativity and collaboration in the domains of science, technology, engineering and mathematics considered separately or in combination as appropriate.\n 3. Participation and equity - considerations related to access and participation in STEM education by under-represented groups, including indigenous students, students from socio-economically disadvantaged groups, women\/girls.\n 4. How STEM education is enacted at different levels of education, including: how education institutions engage with industry and community to develop STEM education to contribute to how society grapples with 21st century problems and trends; and how STEM education is positioned as a vehicle for curriculum and pedagogical renewal (inquiry, problem-based learning and 21stcentury skills) and student re-engagement.\n \n 5. How teacher education institutions are preparing new graduate teachers to engage with the STEM education agenda in their practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality education","forcodes":"390113 Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy; 390302 Curriculum and Pedagogy Theory and Development; 390303 Higher Education; 390304 Primary education; 390306 Secondary education; 390307 Teacher education and professional development of educators; 390308 Learning Analytics; 390309 Learning Sciences; 390109 Mathematics and Numeracy curriculum and development; 390405 Educational Assessment and Evaluation; 390405 Educational Technology and Computers"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Engineering","discipline":"Civil and Infrastructure Engineering","programcode":"DR218","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sara Moridpour, Minh Dinh","title":"Tourist bus route planning in Urban Areas","description":"Finding the shortest route in urban space for tourist buses is a complicated problem in the temporary world. Therefore, the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a problem that is essential that I need to research and apply the existing optimal solution. In my study, I investigate one solution, the Genetic Algorithm (GA), to solve the problem. Moreover, when this algorithm is implemented in Python language programming and combined with Google APIs to calculate the optimal distance between multiple locations, and then I consider the real-time traffic condition to solve TSP effectively and efficiently via Google Maps.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"400512 (100%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise; Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lijing Wang, Rajiv Padhye, Scott Mayson, Ricarda Bigolin, Jenny Underwood, Sean Ryan, Angela Finn, Rebecca van Amber, Peter Boyd, Andrea Eckersley, Tarryn Handcock, Pia Interlandi, Georgia McCorkill, Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Alex Sherlock, Denise Sprynskyj","title":"Wearable Body Space","description":"Textile materials and fashion garments occupy a liminal space connecting and separating the body to and from its physical, technological, social and cultural environments. The investigation of the role of textiles and fashion in this relationship is multidisciplinary and covers several fields, including textile engineering and technologies, materials sciences, electrical and software engineering, design theory and practice, visual communication, and the sociology and phenomenology of dress.\n \n Research in this field crosses the disciplines of technology, enterprise and design, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Smart textiles systems and wearable electronics connecting technologies and textiles, in order to harvest and store energy, embed batteries, sensors and actuators, monitor health, monitor the environment, provide communication, etc, including, for example, the development of fibre-based RFID tags, nanocellulose aerogel for energy generation, and stretchable conducting polymer-coated textile electrodes for supercapacitors;\n Garment technology and smart wearables that monitor health and well-being, provide communication or entertainment, enhance user experience, and connect with the Internet of Things and industry 4.0, without compromising clothing performance and functionality;\n Physiological and\/or psychological responses to textile materials in the context of health, comfort and well-being;\n The personal, social and cultural role of fashion and clothing, and of its communicative and performative potential, in the context of an increasingly urbanised and\/or technologized environment;\n The personal, social and cultural place of fashion in the context of an increasingly fluid political, cultural and gender-diverse world.","sdg":"3; 9; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication; BHI","forcodes":"0906, 0910, 0912, 1203,1608, 1701, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation; Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Scott Mayson, Jenny Underwood, Stephen Wigley, Rebecca van Amber, Angela Finn, Pia Interlandi, Saniyat Islam, Georgia McCorkill, Kate Sala","title":"Sustainable Fashion and Textile Systems","description":"The fashion and textile industry is currently undergoing a green revolution, driven by a concern for the environmental and social impact of fashion and textile materials, products, processes and systems.\n \n Research in this field crosses the disciplines of technology, enterprise and design, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Performance and properties of sustainable materials including natural fibre biomaterials, natural dye colouration, and\/or the development of alternatives to traditional, polluting materials;\n Fibre recycling technologies, textile waste technologies, life-cycle analysis of materials, and\/or environmental management frameworks;\n Sustainable fashion and textile business models, including textile manufacturing practices, circular economy development models, and\/or sustainable industry supply chains;\n Sustainable fashion retail and consumption models, including the future of retail spaces and\/or the impact of technological innovations;\n The role of consumer psychology, social movements (e.g. veganism), changing social values and social policy frameworks;\n The marketing of sustainability in the context of so-called greenwashing;\n Sustainable fashion and textile design practice models, from commercial large-scale to independent micro-practices.","sdg":"3; 5; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation; Design and Creative Practice; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"0910, 0912, 1203, 1503, 1505, 1608"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Steve Michielsen, Xin Wang","title":"Nanotextiles and Scalability","description":"The use of nanoparticles has been a promising way to develop performance textiles, although durability and comfort remain issues in the potential application of the technology. Similarly, the scaling up of nanofibres continues to present a challenge to their application. This project has a number of aims, including the growing of nanoparticles on textiles and the development of novel methods of synthesis, and the theory and method of electrospinning in the fabrication of nanofibres.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n The development of carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites;\n The development of spacer fabric with CNT-reinforced nanofibres for impact protection;\n Novel electrospinning systems for the scalable production of nanofibres;\n Nanomaterials\/fibrous nanocomposite systems for multiple applications;\n The use of nanodiamond\/selenium within fibrous systems for the development of medical textiles;\n The design, modelling and engineering of compression garments;\n Braided 3D pre-form structures for fibre-reinforced composites;\n Modelling of the protection and thermal comfort of semi-permeable PPE.","sdg":"3; 9","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication: BHI","forcodes":"0910, 1007"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Steve Michielsen, Xin Wang, Scott Mayson, Rebecca van Amber, Pia Interlandi, Saniyat Islam","title":"Materials for Extreme Conditions","description":"Innovations in advanced materials and performance textiles are required to confront a range of extreme environments, from the heat encountered in firefighting, to chemical, biological and other hazardous materials, to the stresses involved in space travel, to protective garments for law enforcement officers.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n The development of compression garments and gloves for astronauts;\n The design and evaluation, including through the use of the school\u2019s new flame mannikin, of functional firefighting garments;\n The development of CBRN protective textiles;\n The design of body armour for stab and ballistic protection;\n Ergonomic performance evaluation of garments;\n The improvement of UV-blocking and antibacterial properties of protective materials;\n The coating of textiles with nanomaterials for multiple applications\n The development of nanodiamond\/textile composites.","sdg":"3; 9; 13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials","forcodes":"0910, 0912"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robyn Healy, Scott Mayson, Ricarda Bigolin, Jenny Underwood, Stephen Wigley, Sean Ryan, Peter Boyd, Andrea Eckersley, Angela Finn, Laura Gardner, Tarryn Handcock, Georgia McCorkill, Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Tarun Panwar, Alex Sherlock, Denise Sprynskyj, Carol Tan","title":"Fashion and Textiles Communication, Enterprise and Pedagogy","description":"Research in this field lies at the intersection of the disciplines of design and enterprise, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics\n \n Practice-based and practice-led investigations of diverse forms of fashion and textile practice;\n Innovations in the communication of fashion though image, writing and performance, including its recent adoption of innovative technologies such as VR and AR and\/or its increasingly diverse forms of dissemination through publication;\n Contemporary self-critical reflection upon and engagement with fashion by practitioners and writers both within and outside the academy;\n New models for the teaching and communication of fashion and textile design practice, including the foregrounding of practice-based thinking and\/or the social and environmental responsibility of fashion and textile practices;\n Recent developments in the relationship between local and global systems of fashion, in its cultural, political and economic aspects;\n New forms of collaborative and cross-disciplinary relationships between practitioners in fashion and textiles and practitioners in fields such as industrial and product design, architecture and urban design, performance, photography, film and the visual arts, and\/or actors and critics working in fields such as public policy or social activism.","sdg":"3; 4; 5; 9; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice; Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"1203, 1302, 1901, 1904, 1905, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Steve Michielsen, Lijing Wang, Rajiv Padhye, Xin Wang, Rebecca van Amber","title":"Textile Identification and Analysis","description":"The identification and analysis of textile composition and behaviour has important applications in a range of areas including defence and forensics and as protection against fraud and counterfeiting.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Hyperspectral analysis of fibre material and textile digital signal processing, with applications for the development and detection of camouflage and counterfeit materials;\n Bloodstain pattern analysis, with applications in the field of forensic science;\n Analysis of fabric wetting and the wicking of liquids, in the development of innovative materials for comfort and\/or for forensic fibre identification;\n Artificial intelligence tools and developing technologies to provide forensic evidence and to identify the origin of textiles, including, for example, the identification of Australian wool, the origin of animal furs and skins, the DNA analysis of textile fibres, and\/or the integration of fibre-based RFID technology for individual textile identification, life cycle studies, and supply chain tracking.","sdg":"9; 11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials; ISE","forcodes":"0303, 0801, 0906, 0910"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"Melbourne City","teamleader":"Chris Ziguras, Kerry Mullan, Alexis Bergantz, Chantal Crozet, Ana Maria Ducasse, Lynne Li, Glenda Mejia, Jindan Li, Jing Qi, Maki Yoshida, Miranda Lai, Caroline Norma, Erika Gonzalez, Georgina Heydon","title":"Language, Culture & International Education ","description":"We invite proposals that investigate language processes and apply knowledge of language and culture to issues such as multilingualism, culture and identity, intercultural communication, language and culture education (particularly international education), language policy and planning, applied linguistics, forensic linguistics, and interpreting and translating. Projects should engage systematically with language data using a range of established theories, including discourse analysis, to provide a critical perspective that problematises linguistic, historical, social, political and educational questions in a global context.\nSupervisors come from diverse disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Cultural History, Gender, Migration, Film and Literary Studies, Education and Psychology.                                                                         \n Priority areas:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             - Language in applied settings (e.g. classroom,forensic, health, security)\n- Language, culture and humour\n- Intercultural communication\n- International Education ","sdg":"4, 10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"130103, 130207, 2002, 2003, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Butt, Lucy Gunn","title":"Evidence and Impact for health determinants of the urban environment","description":"The development of a health determinants of the urban environment research agenda has led to a wide ranging reassessment of the production of urban places in Australian cities, including in relation to walkability, open space provision, urban shade and access to quality food at the local level. While this literature has informed policy agenda, such as Melbourne's \"20-minute Neighbourhood\u201d policy objective, and similar approaches elsewhere, the distinct changes in urban form, urban design and infrastructure or service delivery that are required to deliver the evidence-based indicators is not apparent in the growth areas of Australia's largest cities. This project will use the example of recent and proposed development and settlement patterns in an Australian context to investigate urban development pathways and points in those processes where divergence from identified objectives of health determinants occur. The research will utilise case studies and engage with policy makers and the producers of urban\/suburban development (public and private sector). \n Various project directions may be possible depending on the project proposal and the skills and interests of a successful candidate. The project may include a focus in areas such as (but not limited to); Spatial Analysis, Design Evaluation or Policy and Practitioner Focused Research, or elements of each of these, with appropriate methods used, including mixed methodologies.","sdg":"44868","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"UF 1 Urban and spatial economics; UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":""},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Belen Zapata-Diomedi","title":"Health and environmental impacts of urban liveability","description":"Cities now house the majority of the world\u2019s population, with city planning shown to influence population health and wellbeing and environmental sustainability. For example, transport systems may support the use of the car as opposed to sustainable modes such as walking, cycling and public transport. Such approaches to city planning are detrimental to human health and the environment because they encourage people to drive leading to sedentary behaviour and transport related air pollution issues. In Australia, significant progress has been made in measuring domains of city planning that impact on health and wellbeing framed according to the concept of liveability.5 Given the significant health and environmental consequences of city planning, a priori health and environmental impact assessment of city planning policies and initiatives are fundamental to support sustainable city planning that protects human health.\n This PhD forms part of an NHMRC\/UK RI project called JIBE. It will involve a qualitative and quantitative Health Impact Assessment (HIAs) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs) of liveability in Australia and\/or the UK. This study will investigate how HIAs and EIAs are used in decision making processes; develop case studies quantifying the health and environmental impacts of liveability. The PhD candidate will join the international research team but will be in Australia working with a team with expertise in studying the health benefits of urban liveability. The PhD candidate will greatly benefit from working the Australian and UK JIBE team of experts in transport, planning, and public health.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"111706 Epidemiology (20%)\n 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified (30%)\n 129999 Built Environment and Design not elsewhere classified (30%)\n 059999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Billie Giles-Corti, Lucy Gunn, Bel\u00e9n Zapata-Diomedi, Gavin Turrell, Tayebeh Saghapour, Alan Both","title":"Healthy Liveable Cities","description":"Creating healthy, liveable and sustainable cities is a major challenge in the face of population growth, social inequalities, traffic congestion, peak oil and increases in non-communicable diseases. Planning and delivering better cities is a local, national and global priority.\n \n Healthy and liveable communities provide the basis for social equity, harmony, economic resilience and environmental and social sustainability. Our work contributes to academic scholarship and aims to inform policies and practices to create healthy liveable communities.\n \n Bringing together a multidisciplinary research team, this program examines the influence of city design and planning on health and wellbeing.\n \n The research is developed in partnership with stakeholders to inform best practice policy and planning through the creation of evidence-based liveability indicators.\n \n The team draws from experience in epidemiology, behavioural science, geography, geomatics, psychology and public health. They use a variety of quantitative and qualitative analyses including geospatial analyses, policy analysis and economic evaluation.\n \n Our priority areas are to:\n \n 1)Explore the nexus between place, health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on locational disadvantage.\n 2)Examine the extent to which local and state planning policies, including transport, land use and health impact on the social determinants of health.\n 3)Influence future policies to improve population outcomes.\n 4)We have a strong focus on research translation and engagement, collaborating with communities, government, non-government organisations and the private sector in health, planning, housing and transport.","sdg":"1, 3, 10, 11, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"11117, 12508"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"C Maller, B Cooke, L Mumaw","title":"People, nature and place","description":"The People, Nature, Place (PNP) research program focuses on urban human-nature relationships, how these are understood, and their impacts on people and sustainability. In particular it seeks to develop, sustain and promote impactful research on the complexities of achieving the tri-fold goals of sustainability, nature protection and human flourishing in cities. This interest encapsulates urban greening, placemaking, edible cities, and other enhancements. PNP takes a broad definition of what nature(s) and associated representations encompass, including plants, animals, ecosystems, air, soil, water and fire. PNP will seek to strengthen the research capacity for exploring these topics from an environmentally-engaged social science perspective. \n Aims:\n 1) Connect PNP with a growing national and international research agenda on human-environmental relations in a range of disciplines including planning, geography and environmental studies\n 2) Develop theoretically informed yet empirically grounded applied research, with a key objective to translate new theoretical insights on changing urban human-nature relations into practical solutions, and think through the governance and policy implications for urban and urbanising environments\n 3) Provide an opportunity to connect current and emerging activity into a coherent form that would enable interdisciplinary cross-fertilisation, mutually beneficial sharing and growing of resources and knowledge across research, community, industry and government\n 4) Bring both people and nature into shared focus through use of a range of methods and approaches, including: critical social science, urban political ecology, environmental justice, equity and mapping\/digital technologies","sdg":"3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"160404, 160510, 160403"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Chris Ziguras, Kerry Mullan, Alexis Bergantz, Chantal Crozet, Ana Maria Ducasse, Lynne Li, Glenda Mejia, Jindan Li, Jing Qi, Maki Yoshida, Miranda Lai, Caroline Norma, Erika Gonzalez, Georgina Heydon","title":"Language, Culture & International Education","description":"We invite proposals that investigate language processes and apply knowledge of language and culture to issues such as multilingualism, culture and identity, intercultural communication, language and culture education (particularly international education), language policy and planning, applied linguistics, forensic linguistics, and interpreting and translating. Projects should engage systematically with language data using a range of established theories, including discourse analysis, to provide a critical perspective that problematises linguistic, historical, social, political and educational questions in a global context.\n Supervisors come from diverse disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Cultural History, Gender, Migration, Film and Literary Studies, Education and Psychology. \n  Priority areas: - Language in applied settings (e.g. classroom,forensic, health, security)\n - Language, culture and humour\n - Intercultural communication\n - International Education","sdg":"43012","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"130103, 130207, 2002, 2003, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"I McShane, J Boyd, B Middha,","title":"Urban Cultures and Technologies","description":"Researchers in this program focus on cultural heritage, cultural policy and cultural institutions (especially museums and libraries and their collections, urban digital networks , 'smart' cities, and the uses of digital platforms in local governance, and local-level community infrastructure, including schools and community hubs, as well as more informal public spaces and 'bottom-up' infrastructure. Our work is multi-disciplinary and informed by critical theorists working in historical and heritage studies, public policy and infrastructure studies, cultural diversity and gender.","sdg":"3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1205, 1605, 2103"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jago Dodson, Ralph Horne, Libby Porter, Megan Nethercote, Sarah Foster, Louise Dorignon, David Kelly, Wendy Steele, Todd Denham","title":"Housing and Urban Economies","description":"The Housing and Urban Economics research program encompasses projects and initiatives which seek to understand:\n \n 1) Political and sociological theories of social and environmental justice and their application to housing systems and policies 2) How housing operates as aninstitutional system through mechanisms of markets, policy and behaviour 3) Emerging and innovative institutional arrangements for the supply of affordable housing 4) The role of housing as a site of environmental consumption and approaches to improve the supply and uptake of environmnetally efficient housing 5) Housing systems as spatial configurations of differentiated populations and the dynamics that underpin these patterns 6) The sociology of housing, including demography, age, class, race, and gender 7) Housing and health, including relationships between dwelling structures and individual and community outcomes. The housing and urban economies group is open to a diversity of methodological approaches to housing recognising the cross-disciplinary nature of the program and the Centre, as well as the long tradition of critical and theoretical housing inquiry at RMIT including comparative approaches. CUR is also a major contributor to the RMIT AHURI Centre, which links with the national AHURI network and provides wide opportunities for HDRs to participate in collaborative projects including eligibility for AHURI top-up scholarships.","sdg":"1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1205"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jago Dodson, Robin Goodman, Chris de Gruyter, Terry Li, Andrew Butt, Anthony Kent, Marco Amati","title":"Planning and Transport in City Regions","description":"The Planning and Transport in City Regions Program seeks to understand processes of urban development and patterns of mobility at the metro-regional scale, and the policy measures needed to improve the productivity, livability and sustainability of city-regions. While the program has a focus on Australian cities (including Melbourne for its local context) the problems and challenges faced by planners in grappling with urban transformation have international resonance and the program\u2019s work is positioned within a national and international context and experience in metropolitan scale land-use and transport planning to inform its research agenda. Building and maintain partnerships with communities, industry and givernement in areas of policy, evidence-based decision making and regulatory systems is a core focus on the program.","sdg":"8, 9 11, 13, 15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"120504, 120506"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Judith Bessant, Katherine Johnson, Robyn Martin, Kat Daley, Bawa Kuyini, Belinda Johnson, Chris Maylea, Christina David, Sharlene Nipperess, Ronnie Egan, Sonia Martin, Paul Ramcharan, Angelika Papadopolous, John Whyte, Guy Johnson, Juliet Watson, Renata Kokanovic, Kate Johnston-Ataata, Jacinthe Flore, Anna Urbanowicz, Crystal MacKinnon, Kim Humphrey, Paul Scriven, Suellen Murray","title":"Citizenship, Care & Health","description":"Giving and receiving support and care is intensely personal yet its provision is entrenched in systemic and structural processes. Through a focus on \u2018voice\u2019, lived experience and end-user participation, researchers in Citizenship, Care & Health aim to influence policy, practice and education that benefits citizens and communities in situations of vulnerability and precarity by reducing social inequalities, promoting health and mental health, and improving participation in society.\n We welcome proposals that work with gender, sexuality, cultural and generational communities in the contexts of mental and physical health, housing and homelessness, disability and the NDIS, social and community service provision and design, and their intersections. We offer the potential to collaboration with our partners in health, housing and community service organisations and consumer advocacy groups, and a supervisory team from a range of disciplinary areas, including social work, social policy, youth work, medical and health sociology, community psychology and disability studies. We are particularly interested in projects with the potential to address intersectional disadvantage and vulnerability using innovative and participatory research methods. \n  Priority area: - Homelessness and housing\n - Lived experience of health and mental health\n - Disability\n - Youth work\n - Aged Care\n - Critical perspectives on trauma","sdg":"1, 3, 10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change; Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"160512, 160702, 170103"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"L Porter, W Steele, B Coffey, P Mayfield, D Kelly, L Dorignon","title":"Critical Urban Governance","description":"The Critical Urban Governance program brings together urban researchers and educators at RMIT to focus critical attention on how cities are governed, and for whom. Through our research and engagement we aim to shape public debate, create new knowledge and provide an inclusive space for discussion and the development of new governance practices to address the challenges facing contemporary cities. \n The Critical Urban Governance program seeks to work with PhD candidates who bring critical attention to how cities are governed, how, why, to what ends and for whom. Questions of urban equity, justice, fairness and inclusion lie at the heart of our research program agenda.\n In particular we acknowledge the unceded sovereignty of the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung \/ Bunurong speaking peoples on the land where we are located and respectfully acknowledge Ancestors and Elders in all of the places where we conduct our work.\n We acknowledge that systems of governance and law have always been present in the country now called Australia. Both the scholarship and practice of urban governance have historically worked to obscure and deny Indigenous sovereignties. We commit to learning how to practice our scholarship and education on Country in relationship with Indigenous sovereignty, for a more just and sustainable urban future.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1604, 160510, 160403, 120502,160514"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"L Rickards, M Vahanvati, E Kuligowski","title":"Climate Change Transformations","description":"The CCT research group works to understand and address the far-reaching challenges that climate change poses in the context of other complex societal and environmental changes and issues. Committed to social, environmental and climate justice, our work aims to foster positive transformational change towards more genuine sustainable development at multiple scales and in cities and regions. It facilitates critically reflexive, trans-disciplinary exchange between theory and practice by coproducing research with practitioners, policymakers and communities. We work across four broad themes. 1. Adaptation governance and practice: Climate change adaptation requires adaptation of governance, institutions and policies across all sectors and levels of government. CCT researchers work at the research-policy interface to help policy-makers, organisations, businesses and communities make sense of and act effectively on the adaptation challenge. \n 2. Sustainable and just transitions: CCT researchers are working with stakeholders to transition energy systems onto a lower carbon basis and reconfigure production systems using circular economy principles in a way that improves social justice, climate adaptation and other sustainable development outcomes. 3. Disasters, development, and resilience: Focused on the social drivers of disasters, CCT researchers use qualitative and quantitative analytical tools and insights to position Disaster Risk Reduction within climate change adaptation, foster socio-ecological resilience, justice and the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals. 4. Regenerative social-ecological systems: CCT researchers are working with stakeholders to help rethink, reboot and redesign agriculture and natural resource management in ambitious ways that celebrate the turn to catchment and landscape scale interventions, soil health, resilience thinking, strengthened rural-urban relations and transformational climate change adaptation.","sdg":"1,2,3,5,6,7, 8,11,12,13,15,16,17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"160404, 160510, 160403"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lauren Rickards","title":"Assembling a biosolids value chain","description":"Transforming biosolids from waste to resource achieves multiple goals, but actually transforming biosolids into usable innovations is realised is not straight forward. The overall project that this PhD is part of aims to better understand and synthesise the socioeconomic dimensions of biosolids uptake in agriculture in order to provide a conceptual framework of potential barriers and enablers. It will leverage scientific and technical work in the Centre to help scale biosolids innovation where appropriate and ensure it provides genuine value for all involved. Academically, it will bring together: innovation studies; socioeconomic research on recycled water and biosolids use, particularly public perceptions of and cultural attitudes towards sewerage and odour management; and place-based socioeconomic studies of attitudes, practices and needs of stakeholders. It will help develop a deeper understanding of potential biosolids users and their problems, priorities and context in order to generate the strategic and empirical knowledge necessary to ensure the Centre\u2019s biosolids research is genuinely impactful. \n \n The overall project will be conducted in four work packages incorporating literature reviews, broad scale empirical research with potential and existing end-users and other stakeholders, focused research on two value chains, and synthesis and knowledge translation. This particular PhD project will contribute to all work packages and the wider Centre, but focus on mixed methods analysis of an emerging biosolids value chain in Victoria. The particular focus and case studies will be developed in conjunction with the successful applicant, but will analyse existing, emerging and possible biosolids uses and associated stakeholder relations","sdg":"6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 - Climate Action; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"160404 Urban and Regional Studies (excl. Planning)\n  160401 Economic Geography"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lauren Rickards","title":"The sociocultural work of transforming biosolids into a valued resource","description":"This social science PhD helps explore the sociocultural work involved in transforming the \u2018biosolids\u2019 from water treatment processes into an appealing resource for farmers and other end users. Drawing on Science and Technology studies, human geography, science communication studies and related fields, the project will complement the scientific and technical work of biosolids management with a close exploration of the labours involved in assembling biosolids into a resource such as biochar or fertiliser that others want, value and use. Empirically focused on an emerging biosolids value chain in Victoria, the project will examine cultural factors such as discourses about the \u2018circular economy\u2019, sociopolitical factors such as new alliances and risk communications, and material factors such as lived experience of climatic disruptions. Overall, the project will help develop a conceptual social science framework about the work involved in contemporary biosolids management, the agendas, hopes and social relationships involved, and the apparent barriers and enablers. \n \n This PhD offers an unusual combination of sophisticated social science and applied industry research. It is part of one of ten projects in the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia\u2019s Biosolids Resource. Part of the Sustainability theme, the broader project this PhD is part of focuses on the stakeholders involved in biosolids management and use and involves three Chief Investigators (Prof Lauren Rickards, Prof Matthew Kearnes and A\/Prof Michael Burton), two postdoctoral fellows (Pat Bonney and James Haye) and two PhD students.","sdg":"2 - Zero Hunger; 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 - Climate Action","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"STS 5 Pollution Mitigation; STS 1 Circular Economy; STS 4 Water","forcodes":"440610 (social geography)\n 441002 (environmental sociology)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Criminology and Justice Studies; Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Michele Ruyters, Crystal MacKinnon, Stuart Thomas, Monica Barratt, Nicola Henry, Georgina Heydon, Aiden Warren, Charlie Hunt, Anastasia Powell, Larissa Sandy, Brianna Chesser, Gemma Hamilton, Lisa Harris, Suzi Hutchings, Binoy Kampmark, Marg Lidell, Marietta Martinovic, Rob Watts, Pete Chambers, Rajesh Sharma, Russell Solomon, Robin Cameron, Greg Stratton, Lucy Maxwell, Peta Malins, Sharon Andrews, James Rowe","title":"Crime, Justice & Security","description":"We invite proposals addressing social, political and inter-personal conflict, including family and gender violence, policing and consequences of transnational crime, borders and national security, the impact of terrorism, crime and digital technology, shifting political conditions and relationships, gender and race inequalities in criminal justice systems and forensic mental health settings.\n Projects can focus on the voices of those who are persecuted and discriminated against for their identity, beliefs or circumstances and\/or legal, policy and practice reforms for institutions and services, as part of a broader global agenda towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Supervisors come from disciplines including social work and law, justice and legal studies, psychology and forensic mental health, Indigenous studies, international development and political science, criminology and education.\n There is the opportunity to work with community groups and industry partners to generate an evidence-based for policy and practice reform at the interface of institutions, services and societal norms. Priority areas: - Digital Criminology\n - Gender and Family Violence\n - Indigenous and critical race perspectives on law and justice\n - Forensic mental health\n - Proposals related to Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative\n - International Peacekeeping and Security","sdg":"5, 10, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1602, 160604"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Paul Battersby, Hariz Halilovich, Val Colic-Peisker, Damian Grenfell, Robbie Guevara, Vandra Harris, Julian Lee, Yaso Nadarajah, Ceridwen Spark, Kaye Quek, Elizabeth Kath, Bruce Wilson, Emma Shortis, Reina Ichii, Peter Phipps, Gemma Sou","title":"Humanitarianism, Migration & Development","description":"Mass migration as a result of humanitarian crises is a key contemporary global challenge shaped by the impact of global financial institutions and governance structures, environmental threats from climate change, ideological contestations and the changing nature of conflicts, generating new forms of precarity and vulnerability. Innovations in social media are impacting on cultural understandings of migration, identity and belonging, while ongoing digital transformations create challenges and opportunities for intervention approaches in the humanitarian and international development sector.\n We welcome proposals that address issues in the fields of humanitarianism, migration and development by focusing on new and entrenched vulnerabilities locally or internationally, including the impact on women and children and indigenous groups. Candidates may have the opportunity to work with our partners including Australian Red Cross and Oxfam. Supervisors come from a background in anthropology, international development, political science, social work, gender studies, criminology, and global studies. \n Priority areas: \n 1. Indigenous and decolonisation perspectives in development\n 2. Digital transformations in the Humanitarian Sector\n 3. Gender, sexuality and development\n 4. Migrant communities, belonging and social \n 5. Critical engagements with UN Sustainable Development Goals","sdg":"1, 5,10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"160104, 160606, 160607, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Professor Paul Carter","title":"Deep Timetable: A Noongar Rail History","description":"The invisible history of Indigenous peoples and Country in building Australia\u2019s rail infrastructure is slowly being recognised. Noongar Country \u2013 south-western Western Australia \u2013 has been profoundly impacted by such development. Yet this story has never been told and it is a story that Noongar community wishes to be heard. This project, auspiced by the Noongar community, will clarify the impact of the railway on Noongar people and Country. Working closely with Noongar knowledge custodians, the project aims to reconstruct the hitherto overlooked history using a Noongar narrative framework \u2013 where storytelling actively maps Country and kinship relations \u2013 to plot the relationship with the emergent rail network. The project aims to help mature an understanding of the foundational relationship between infrastructure development and Indigenous peoples and Country.","sdg":"11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":"210301"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Digital Design; Social Work and Human Services","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Renata Kokanovic","title":"Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena","description":"PhD scholarship attached to the Australian Research Council Linkage Project \u2013 Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena.\n \n We have an exciting and unique opportunity for a highly motivated student to undertake a PhD as part of a large Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project entitled Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena. The team is comprised of an international research group with expertise in critical mental health research, medical humanities, cultural studies, psychiatry and qualitative and arts-based research in mental health. The project is also is guided by collaborators with lived experiences and an Advisory Group. \n \n The focus of the PhD project will be to explore experiences of borderline personality among young people. The student will be panel supervised and trained in advanced qualitative and critical methodologies, and the production of digital resources. They will also be mentored to develop their expertise in critical social research on mental health. \n \n Value and duration\n $31,000 per annum for three years with a possible extension of six months (full time).\n \n Number of scholarships available\n One\n \n Eligibility\n Candidates with backgrounds in critical mental health and health sociology are encouraged to apply.\n To be eligible for this scholarship you must:\n \u2022 have first-class honours or equivalent in a relevant discipline;\n \u2022 be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident;\n \u2022 provide evidence of good oral and written communication skills;\n \u2022 demonstrable interest to work as part of a multi-disciplinary research team;\n \u2022 meet RMIT\u2019s entry requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy.\n \n How to apply\n To apply, please submit the following documents:\n \u2022 a cover letter, including a research statement\n \u2022 a copy of electronic academic transcripts\n \u2022 a CV that includes details of any publications\/awards and the contact details of 2 academic referees.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"441011 - Sociology of health (70%) 920410 - Mental Health (30%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Bekessy, Ascelin Gordon, Georgia Garrard, Matthew Selinske, Holly Kirk, Alex Kusmanoff","title":"Interdisciplinary Conservation Science","description":"Managing biodiversity demands a multidisciplinary approach that reconciles ecological, social and economic dimensions. The ICON Science Research Group examines these diverse drivers of change, particularly in urban and semi-rural environments. We are looking for HDR PhD students for 6 specific projects:\n \n 1) Effective biodiversity behaviour change across supply chains\n Work with project partner Zoos Victoria on a sustainable coffee engagement project, designing interventions, collaborating with coffee industry partners, and evaluating intervention outcomes. 2) Message framing for improved biodiversity conservation\n How we say things can be as important as what we say when trying to change behaviours that affect biodiversity conservation. We have numerous partners from state and federal government agencies and non-government organisation interested in exploring the topic of communication and message framing in various contexts \n 3) Onsets not offsets for real biodiversity gains\n Work with us on an ARC Discovery project investigating an alternative approach to biodiversity offsetting that delivers positive on-site benefits to biodiversity and industry. By requiring proponents to demonstrate how they will retain, protect, restore and improve biodiversity on their site, onsetting will drive creative thinking and much-needed innovation within industry. \n 4) Designing green spaces for biodiversity and human well-being\n Interested in maintaining and encouraging more biodiversity into the cities? We have an established research program looking at social and ecological factors involved with urban greening, that specifically focuses on how people perceive different types of green spaces in cities, unpacking the elements of 'green' in green space design and delving into city floral visitor networks (like native bees!). \n 5) Understanding the synergies and trade-offs between conservation and ecosystem service supply and demand in rural and urban areas There has been significant progress in understanding how we value and measure ecosystem services. However, much of this work has been focused on the supply of services, with a less research on understanding the dynamics of the demand for services. In addition, more work is needed to properly understand the likely synergies and tradeoffs that may occur between prioritizing ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. 6) Biodiversity sensitive urban design (BSUD)\n \n We work with government agencies, certification bodies, non-government organisations and urban developers to improve urban design in cities to enhance biodiversity within the urban fabric. PhD projects could focus on the intersection of architecture and BSUD, the measurement of biodiversity outcomes, urban design that enhances connectivity for target species or techniques for engaging stakeholders in setting compelling biodiversity objectives.","sdg":"6,9,11,12,14,15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":""},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Foster","title":"Apartment Living, Green space and Well-being","description":"We are seeking a motivated student to undertake a PhD on the interplay between apartment design, exposure to green space (including views of green\/blue space, building communal spaces, and public parks) and health and wellbeing. \n  Studies link natural views and access to greenspace and nature with a range of positive health and wellbeing outcomes. Alternatively, environments dominated by concrete can have a negative impact on resident health. Thus, stakeholder decisions on siting apartment buildings, the orientation of apartments and the location and design of communal green space, including deep soil zones to accommodate large trees, could have implications for residents\u2019 health. \n  This project focuses on apartment living, green-space and mental wellbeing to better understand apartment residents\u2019 exposure to and use of green space (i.e., within the building and neighbourhood), and whether this impacts on mental wellbeing. A key component of the study could include the development of a Green Floor View Index in GIS, a novel technique which quantifies the area of urban vegetation that can be observed from an apartment, based on floor level and apartment orientation. \n  The PhD is part of an ARC Discovery Grant on creating evidence-based public open space standards for apartment residents (the \u2018High Life\u2019 Study). The candidate will work with investigators in Melbourne and Perth to develop a project on the interplay between apartment design, green space and wellbeing.","sdg":"40819","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"120507 - Urban Analysis and Development 40\n 120508 - Urban Design 35\n 120304 - Digital and Interaction Design 25"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Katrina Phillips, Pawel Mankiewicz, Merv Jackson","title":"Understanding disability and mental health through a Vietnamese lens to overcome stigma","description":"Disabled people are far from a homogenous group, with the term often being an umbrella term covering disabled people with additional support needs that are physical, sensory (e.g. Deaf or Blind), mental health, intellectual, or neurodivergent related. Disabled people comprise 7.8% of the Vietnamese population (this statistic captures only physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities due to definitional differences). The number of people with mental health support needs or who are neurodivergent is unknown. What is known is that people in all these subgroups of disability face marginalisation in many aspects of life, including education, employment, relationships and child-raising, recreation, accessibility to information, public transportation, politics, and health. There are a number of reasons for this marginalisation, including stigma and misunderstanding from the wider community. While the research is clear that marginalisation and stigma exist, it is unclear the extent to which it varies between different types of disabilities and support needs.   The aim of the current project is to work with the community to explore how these subgroups experience marginalisation and stigma and then create interventions to change perceptions of family, communities, and high-level systems. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"2027-01-01","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"420318 - People with disability 90%\n529999        Other psychology not elsewhere classified 10%\n\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Gordon Ingram, Anh Nguyen, Mary Lam, Yang Yap","title":"Mental health risks and coping strategies in Vietnamese medical students ","description":"Students in high-pressure educational careers, such as medicine, can be at risk of mental health problems that adversely affect their studies and continue causing them problems later in life. They are often lacking in effective institutional support that can help them deal with these problems, especially in under-resourced countries like Vietnam. This research project aims to understand the experiences of medical students in Vietnam who suffer from stress, depression, and anxiety due to academic, financial, and social pressures, and provide concrete solutions for helping them achieve a balanced level of mental and physical health. The first step will include longitudinal mixed-methods research to understand the drivers of these mental health problems in Vietnamese medical students. The outcome variables of stress, depression, anxiety, and wellbeing will be measure using scales such as DASS-21, WHO-5, MHC-SF and CSI [physiological  measures too, e.g. wearables for sleep etc.] A wide range of moderating factors will be examined, including lack of economic resources, family pressure, lack of social support due to dislocation, health problems, alcohol and other lifestyle risk factors, time demands, sleep problems, and media use. We will also investigate the coping strategies that students have developed and develop ways of utilizing advice from members of the cohort who cope better with these problems. The results will feed into the development of a technology-based intervention to improve students' mental health, using positive psychological concepts such as self-compassion, gratitude and patience, and techniques such as mindful concentration, meditation and self-regulation.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"525203 Clinical & Health Psychology\n424206 Public Health \n393904 Specialist Studies in Education"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"Melbourne City; Bundoora; Brunswick; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Leila Karimi, Chris Powell","title":"Psychometric Assessment of a New Measurement of Belongingness","description":"A review of belongingness as a construct is vital, as even after three decades the concept has been described as \u201cbroad, vague and under-theorised\u201d (Ward, 2022). A precise and shared understanding of belongingness will facilitate the operationalisation of the construct as an entity distinct from the outcomes and antecedents with which it is closely related. This in turn may facilitate the refinement of both belongingness-centred theoretical perspectives and practical interventions. This study, therefore, will develop a new measure of belongingness and will examine the main predictors and outcomes of belongingness in work settings.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"520104 (50%)\r\n520304 (50%)\r"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Chinese Medicine","programcode":"DR237","campus":"Melbourne City; Bundoora; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"George Lenon, Angela Yang, Andrew Hung","title":"The effects of Fucoidan and Lingzhi on Lung cancer cells","description":"Cancer is a significant global disease burden, with 14.1 million cases annually and a mortality of approx. 8.2 million each year. Globally, 57% of new cases (8 million) and 65% of mortality (5.3 million) occur in underdeveloped regions, with approximately half of these happening in Asia. Furthermore, the cancer-associated costs to the global economy are estimated at $3.66 trillion annually. In various studies, fucoidan has been found to slow tumour metastasis, and enhance the therapeutic effects of conventional Therapy, reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, defend against treatment-related weight loss and muscle loss.  Fucoidan has been shown to directly affect cancer cells in vitro via cellular pathways that involve the activation of NF-\u03ba\u03b2. This activation is mediated by PI3K\/ Akt and ERK signalling pathways. Recent research indicates that fucoidan may also induce programmed cell death (known as apoptosis) in breast and colon cancer cells by modulating the endoplasmic reticulum stress cascades. Fucoidan has been shown to cause cell cycle arrest in the first growth phase (G1) of an HCT116 human colon cancer cell line. By halting the cell cycle process this way, the colon cancer cells could not divide and spread. The direct cytotoxic and anti-angiogenesis mechanisms of Lingzhi have been established by in vitro studies. Lingzhi or its products can be classified as an anticancer agent when current and more direct scientific evidence becomes available. It is proposed that combining these two compounds helps strengthen the immune system to treat and prevent cancer formation as well as metastasis.\r\nThe objective of this project is to use computational analysis to investigate the effects of fucoidan, Lingzhi and combination on cancer cells, especially Lung cancer cells.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"420803"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing &Publishing, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brigid Magner, Polly Stanton, Olivia Guntarik, Rebecca Hill, Rachel Wilson, Bonny Cassidy, Leah Li, Adrian Danks, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Place, Location, Sovereignties and the Transnational","description":"This theme aims to explore the possibilities of place, belonging, language and the transnational, including Indigenous language revival and maintenance, through literary, screen and other creative works. Questions include: how can creative writing, screen and sound, and allied literary and creative practices, be used explore the complex relationships between place and sovereignty? How do place-stories and mediations contribute to a shared sense of identity, and how might they work to recalibrate settler-Indigenous relations? How do creative works authored by Indigenous writers and media-makers articulate and perform sovereignty? And how can literary\/screen\/sound practice transform how geographic places are experienced and defined?","sdg":"11, 15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 1904, 2005"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brigid Magner, Ronnie Scott, Jessica Wilkinson, Olivia Guntarik, Rose Michael, Peta Murray, Zoe Dzunko, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Stayci Taylor","title":"Playful and Experimental Approaches to Creative Writing Methods","description":"How can creative writing methods including play, immersive practice, observation and deep listening reshape creative reinterpretations of the material world? Alternatively, how might formal methodological experimentation in creative writing contribute to new ways of knowing, doing or understanding contemporary realities? This theme encourages engagement with interdisciplinary ways of knowing, including play scholarship from ludology, psychology, literary studies or biology. By foregrounding playful and experimental research practices with poetry, fiction, nonfiction, digital literatures and performance writing, this research will enable innovative investigations of pressing material, social, ecological and cultural issues, as well as offer new insight into innovative methods and applications of creative writing and\/or literary studies.","sdg":"44868","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Carlin; Francesca Rendle-Short; Michelle Aung Thin; Melody Ellis","title":"Connecting Asia-Pacific Literary Cultures: Grounds for Encounter and Exchange","description":"This project aims to analyse and develop innovative creative practices to connect writers and evolve literary cultures in the Asia-Pacific region. It will elaborate, test, evaluate and communicate an evolving model for best practice in intercultural and transnational exchange, based on principles and processes of ethical encounter and exchange through creative practice. It looks at and builds upon the work of a successful pilot program, Writers\u2019 Immersion and Cultural Exchange (WrICE), which has developed an organic network of 59 writers across 13 countries. The model, premised on situating creative writing as a way of thinking, being and learning collectively, centres on methods of curating and facilitating collaborative residencies. The project asks: how might writers be supported to develop intercultural and international relationships that augment and transform their creative practices, and produce networks of cooperation across the Asia-Pacific? The PhD project is an opportunity for a creative writer with an established or emerging track record to extend their practice through collaborative and intercultural engagement with creative peers from across the Asia-Pacific. \n  \n  The PhD researcher will conduct creative practice-based fieldwork as a writer\/participant in the project, extending and challenging their existing creative practice. This is an opportunity to participate in and co-design a range of innovative exercises in creative and intercultural collaboration, alongside creative peers from across the Asia-Pacific, and to theorise and apply the collaborative and intercultural creative writing methods developed and explored through the project.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"190402 - Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) (80%)\n  (360201 Creative and Professional Writing (Creative Writing))\n  200209 - Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-cultural Studies (20%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Haiqing Yu, Annette Markham, Leah Li, Tania Lewis, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Digital Domesticity, Sustainability, and the Everyday","description":"Digital Domesticity, Sustainability, and the Everyday examines the role of everyday life practices and homes as increasingly central hubs of digital engagement and smart infrastructure, and the implications of this for post-human experience and climate change. This research will centre on and in people\u2019s homes, lives and communities, using a range of possible approaches\u2014from digital methods to ethnography and beyond\u2014to foreground the rich and shifting relationships between practices, beliefs, technology and environments. Projects tend to focus on particular domains or interrelations, such as environmental activism online, e-waste and digital sustainability; the politics of smart homes and domestic robotics; the characteristics and complexities of relationships between humans and their digital personal assistants; the digitisation of food, and games, YouTube, post-television cultures and streaming services.","sdg":"44906","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Mark Gibson, Emsie Arnoldi, Rob Cover, Bruno Schivinski, Alex Wake, Scott Brook, Catherine Gomes, Michaela Jackson, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Cathy Greenfield, Marianne Sison, Annette Markham, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan, Ramon Lobato, Michelle Aung Thin, Ella Chorazy, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Daniel Binns, Leah Li, Maria Stratford, Tania Lewis, Jay Daniel Thompson, David Fouvy, Chengju Huang, John Postill, Julie Bilby, Lucy Morieson, Annette Markham","title":"Digital media and the social","description":"This theme focuses on the ways in which digital media is an intrinsic part of the social. From the new forms of articulating and experiencing identity and community through social media and mobile devices, to the role of analytics and big data in the management of organisations and populations, research in this theme focuses on the emergent issues of trust, ethics, publics, planning, technology, and power. It is concerned with the role of digital media and communications technologies in articulating publics and communities, as well as the actions of agencies that would seek to manage, inform, influence, and listen to such groups. It has a further interest in critical methodologies across a range of interdisciplinary fields that have been used to explore the ways in which the social is reproduced and transformed by digital communications, including digital ethnography, sociology of the internet, science and technology studies, governmentality studies, and mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) network analysis.","sdg":"42684","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Marsha Berry, Rachel Wilson, Rebecca Young, Daniel Binns, Jay Daniel Thompson, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Natalie Hendry, Seth Keen","title":"Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design","description":"Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design positions research participants as \u2018creative agents\u2019 and authors of their own experience. This programme takes the question of research translation as a point of departure and creates experiences, artefacts, resources and texts through which participant\u2019s stories, perspectives, desires and subjectivities are presented in affective and accessible ways. Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design explores the potential of social practice and co-designed arts across a range of disciplinary spaces. Researchers explore issues relating to visibility, agency, voice, care, educational experience, screen and performance-based methods for progressive and transformational ethnographic research. This program places a strong emphasis on accessibility and social inclusion. Methods employed are designed to be inclusive, relevant in inter-cultural and cross-cultural contexts and ensure to facilitate distributed agency in ways that support and encourage participants. Research is both a vehicle for social change and a means of collaborative knowledge production.","sdg":"38445","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Meese, Bruno Schivinski, Alex Wake, Michaela Jackson, Catherine Gomes, Haiqing Yu, Marianne Sison, Lukas Parker, Ella Chorazy, Linda Brennan, Lisa Waller, Leah Li, Robert Crawford David Fouvy, Chengju Huang, Julie Bilby","title":"Social, Public and Marketing Communications","description":"This theme focuses on all forms of social, public and commercial communications; from advertising campaigns through organisational communications to news media and citizen journalism. It focuses on normative and critical accounts of the effects and efficacy of media communications projects and industries subject to processes of digital disruption, including the tensions between public, community and commercial interests and values. Research in this theme is often interdisciplinary and encompasses institutions, industries, stakeholders and individuals with a focus on contributing to the creation of public value, including building citizenship and public participation with mainstream as well as diverse groups. Topics and disciplines include Indigenous media, branding, public relations and strategic communications, social marketing and public value, organisational ethics, fact-checking and misinformation, public and citizen journalism, consumer activism and community advocacy; and media and communications for community development.","sdg":"41191","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Meese, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Cathy Greenfield, Annette Markham, Ramon Lobato, Ellie Rennie, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca, Tania Lewis","title":"Automation and Social Futures","description":"Automation and Social Futures engages with the ethical, political, social, organisational, cultural and governance implications of machine learning, algorithmic decision-making and digital infrastructures. The research will investigate the intersection of technology and the human experience, using methods ranging from data analytics to close level ethnographic approaches. Possible areas of investigation include the complex interrelations between technology design and technologies in use; social media platforms; ethics and future automation of memory and heritage practices; impact of algorithms on identity; deep fakes and disinformation campaigns; autonomous vehicles; smart city infrastructures; blockchain as infrastructure; supply chain systems. This program places strong focus on building better potential futures for our communities by critically examining the politics and ethics behind both norms and governance around automated decision-making systems, especially important in times of continuous and rapid change.","sdg":"8","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Josie Vine, Brigid Magner, Ronnie Scott, Kim Munro, Jessica Wilkinson. Marsha Berry, Rebecca Hill, Bonny Cassidy, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Stayci Taylor, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetics: Creative Ecologies and Imaginative Futures","description":"This theme looks at how writing and publishing can engage with other disciplines and knowledges to create new imaginings of histories, ecologies and futures. It invites a range of approaches, deploying fiction, nonfiction, poetry and\/or performance writing, along with hybrid forms such as the audio essay or poetic biography that complicate generic boundaries. It explores and interrogates how devices of speculation, imagination, poetry and fabulation can generate new perspectives and approaches to critical issues. These include questions of work and care, ecological and ethical futures, and the politics and poetics of fact and fiction as they relate to the way stories are told, policies devised, and worlds imagined.","sdg":"11, 13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Josie Vine, Ronnie Scott, Rebecca Hill, Michelle Aung Thin, Bonny Cassidy, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Leah Li, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Voice, Ethics and Power in Writing and Publishing","description":"This theme looks at how dynamics of power play out across bodies, time, narratives and institutions. Its focus is on ethical relations and how these may form the basis for socially grounded creative practices. Through practice-based and allied creative methods, it asks how stories come to matter: whose stories, what stories, how stories are shaped, framed and circulated. It invites critical engagement with theories of difference and relationality, including Indigenous, feminist, queer, critical race, decolonial theory and posthumanist theory. Equally, it is open to the bending of genres to explore transgressive and performative contours and cartographies. The theme invites and implicates diverse modes of creative practice, including the essayistic, poetic, performative and fictional","sdg":"5, 16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904, 2005"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Mark Gibson, Lisa French, Emsie Arnoldi, Scott Brook, Rachel Wilson, Ramon Lobato, Cathy Greenfield, Ellie Rennie, Gretchen Coombs, Daniel Binns, Robert Crawford, Chengju Huang, Julie Bilby, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Cultural and Creative Industries","description":"This research theme focuses on the industry dynamics of the Cultural and Creative Industries. It defines the CCIs broadly - including the media industries (screen, music recording, journalism, publishing), arts and design, games and advertising - and is distinguished by a focus on industry features; such as policy and regulation: the impact of new technologies and digital platforms on production, distribution and consumption; cultural and creative work, employability and careers: creative hubs and ecosystems: social network markets and fields of creative production; cultural economy and entrepreneurship; and the history of the CCIs as modern industry and policy formations and, more recently, domains of government intervention, regulation, and industry advocacy. CCI researchers in the School have an interest in gender, labour, government policy, education, locative media, and the platform economy.","sdg":"44812","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 1904, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rob Cover, Bruno Schivinski, Emsie Arnoldi, Michaela Jackson, Catherine Gomes, Haiqing Yu, Marianne Sison, Lukas Parker, Ella Chorazy, Linda Brennan, Lisa Waller, Leah Li, Jay Daniel Thompson David Fouvy, Seth Keen","title":"Communicating for Health, Sustainable Environments and Community Wellbeing","description":"This theme encompasses research into communication and media applications in the areas of health and sustainability, especially where societal change is creating rapid transformations for communities and environments. The theme includes health and environmental communication campaigns, affective social media, gaming, crisis communications, and community advocacy. This theme includes multiple disciplinary threads from across media and communications, including journalism, social marketing for behaviour change, advertising, corporate responsibility and organisational ethics, strategic communications, and supports research in interdisciplinary teams with industry partners. The theme supports a diverse range of methodologies, including applied design and innovation, especially co-design and user experience research. Research in this theme covers a range of social issues such as equity, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, digital wellbeing, building individual, community and societal wellbeing and social change.","sdg":"40301","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rob Cover, Catherine Gomes, Emsie Arnoldi, Olivia Guntarik, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Marianne Sison, Antonio Castillo, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Leah Li, Tania Lewis, Jay Daniel Thompson","title":"Digital Inclusion, Mobility, and Activism","description":"The research program examines the challenges and potentials of digital participation as this relates to access and inclusion, connectivity, networks and political activism, gig or micro work, and mobility and migration. Possible research methods include analyses of existing data sets, digital ethnography, critical pedagogical experiments, arts-based interventions, and working with communities to understand how digital technologies are mobilised for various political and personal purposes. Research seeks to explain patterns and practices that have built up around digital communities or activist practices, and to explore the outcomes and implications of disconnections and misalignments between technology design, everyday use, policies and norms. Possible areas of investigation include experimenting with groups to adapt or hack common digital tools to preserve cultural memory; building localized rather than universal interpretations of critical data literacy; bringing together policymakers and community members to make so-called smart technology designs more usable and relevant; the politics of tech communities; the outcomes of internet use for different groups; locative technologies and place.","sdg":"3, 5, 10, 16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, Catherine Strong, Lisa French, Kim Munro, Polly Stanton, Marsha Berry, Patrick Kelly, Alexia Kannas, Alan Nguyen, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Rachel Wilson, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Rebecca Young, Djoymi Baker, Daniel Binns, Maria Stratford, Shweta Kishore, Stayci Taylor, Seth Keen, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Thinking Critically about Screen, Sound and Music as Creative Practices","description":"This theme investigates contexts, epistemologies, theories, methods, and methodologies to enrich understandings of the cultures of screen, and\/or sound and\/or music. This can be approached through a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to screen studies, popular music, filmmaking, screenwriting, history, curatorial practice, sound design, online media and other related fields, including through community, social justice or environmental lenses. Interdisciplinary approaches are also encouraged. These approaches can be applied to a range of genres, modes of engagement with content, theoretical perspectives or formats, including the digital and virtual.","sdg":"44776","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change \/ Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, Catherine Strong, Patrick Kelly, Alexia Kannas, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Maria Stratford, Shweta Kishore, Stayci Taylor, Adrian Danks, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi","title":"Performance and Identity in Screen, Sound, Music","description":"The theme aims to understand the importance of identity in screen, and\/or sound and\/or music. This includes how identity affects performance, production, dissemination and reception of cultural products. Aspects of identity that could be considered include, but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, age, dis\/ability and gender. This can incorporate the aspects of identity formation enabled through these cultural forms that are essential to community formation and positive self-reflections, as well as those that are exclusionary or that contribute to the maintenance of inequality in wider society. Projects within this theme aim to generate creative and inventive solutions to real-world problems which have the capacity to change social expectations about identity and increase representations of cultural diversity.","sdg":"44839","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2003"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, James Meese, Catherine Strong, Mark Gibson, Kim Munro, Patrick Kelly, Alan Nguyen, Alex Wake, Scott Brook, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Djoymi Baker, Daniel Binns, Leah Li, Maria Stratford, Tania Lewis, Adrian Danks, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Transforming Screen and Sound Industries in a Digital Age","description":"This theme investigates social, economic and industrial dynamics of screen, and\/or sound and\/or music culture. Research topics may include audiences, policy, labour, access, digital inclusion, participation, cultural diversity, sustainability and other issues related to the social contexts of cultural production, distribution and consumption. We invite proposals that consider one or more of these issues in relation to a specific media industry (or industries), in contemporary or historical contexts.","sdg":"44874","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Christina Scott-young, Ken Farnes, Guinevere Gilbert, Tayyab Maqsood","title":"Resilient Transformation of Eary Career Project Management professionals","description":"Project management is an exciting and rewarding career, but projects can be demanding. Unexpected challenges and stresses can leave project managers and their teams feeling overburdened, overworked, or even burnt out. Burnout is a state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress. The COVID pandemic has brought additional stresses, disrupting conventional ways of working, adversely impacting physical and mental health, and causing social disconnection in teams. In this volatile environment, burnout is a real risk for project practitioners. Project managers and their teams need transformative ways to manage their stress. One effective strategy is to focus on building both personal and team resilience that allow them to withstand and bounce back from workplace stresses and to overcome the threat of burnout. This research project will explore i.) the major stressors that project managers and their teams experience individually and collectively, and ii.) identify the effective strategies that leaders, teams and individuals use to build their resilience, transforming them both individually and as a team. This project can be adapted to the research candidate\u2019s particular interests, and can be conducted using mixed methods, or by adopting either a quantitative or a qualitative research approach.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation, Social change","forcodes":"330205"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Oswald, Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, Payam Pirzadeh","title":"A Framework for Improving Safety Performance of Construction Projects based on the Interaction of Lean Construction and BIM","description":"The construction industry's safety performance continues to be a problem across the world. There is a need for more innovative ways to reduce accidents and injury. This research explores the integration of Lean construction principles and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to improve safety performance in construction. While Lean construction and BIM can affect safety performance independently, it is hypothesized that to reach maximum safety potential, the application of Lean construction and BIM should be considered in an integrated way. There is a lack of research evidence on the interaction and integration of Lean construction and BIM for improving construction safety performance. Further research is required to bridge this knowledge gap, which is the focus of this study. This research aims to investigate the feasibility of integrating Lean construction and BIM to improve construction safety in Australia and to develop a framework featuring the interaction of lean construction and BIM from the perspective of improving construction safety. This research uses a mixed methods approach, including systematic literature review, case studies, survey, and framework development and validation. The results of this study can increase the understanding of construction practitioners about the significance of integrating lean construction and BIM for safety improvement. This innovative approach could identify a novel approach for improving construction safety practice and advancing theoretical understanding into reducing accidents in the construction industry.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Oswald, Trivess Moore","title":"The construction cladding crisis","description":"The Australian construction boom in high density residential building has put significant pressure on the industry to deliver high-quality products on time and safely. The acceleration in construction has led to new building techniques, higher resourcing requirements and policy changes to keep up with demand. This has led to a culture of significant building defects estimated to have affected most new residential buildings. Inappropriate cladding is a major defect that can detected in new medium and high-density buildings. In 2017, combustible cladding fueled the Grenfell tower fire in the UK that killed 72 people. The combustible cladding has also led to fires in Australia and overseas; with Australian authorities acting to ban such cladding. Years on from the Grenfell disaster, there is ongoing tension between policymakers, the building industry and owners about how to resolve the problem of combustible cladding. This PhD project would explore the manifestation of how defects have occurred within new residential buildings, with a focus on combustible cladding. It is envisioned a qualitative approach to the problem will be undertaken with use of interviews, observations and relevant documentation as data. The project will provide a contribution to knowledge by providing insights into the construction cladding crisis in Australia. This could help inform future construction policy and practice in order to avoid this issue recurring and to potentially save lives of the general public who are at risk living within unsafe buildings.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Property","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Karien Dekker, Judith Callanan, Andrea Sharam","title":"Social and Affordable housing in Australia","description":"Melbourne and Sydney are among the least affordable cities in the world when it comes to housing. A large majority of low income households in the private rental sector are experiencing housing stress \u2013meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. This is occurring at a time of historical under-investment in social and affordable housing. Housing price inflation has also contributed to declining home ownership rates, particularly among first home buyers. There is broad agreement that that low-income households require assistance, but no coherent, sustained policy strategy to address this need. Declining housing affordability is of intense public interest, but its causes and the preferred solutions are highly contested. To increase access to, and quality of social and affordable housing, many obstacles are to be overcome. A few examples: \n  \u2022 Land values have been inflated by competition for centrally located sites and permissive planning schemes \u2022 Most public funding goes to existing home owners \u2022 Existing residents protest the development of housing in their neighbourhood \u2022 The taxation system encourages property speculation \u2022 And multi-residential construction costs are high. We invite HDR proposals that investigate one or more of the following topics: \u2022 Underlying causes of the lack of affordable housing (planning processes; financial, economic, policy and political issues) \u2022 Underlying causes of inadequate housing supply for low to middle income households (financial, economic, policy and political issues) \u2022 Effectiveness of measures to improve the quality and cost of housing (design, environmental sustainability, materials, construction processes \u2022 Innovative approaches to solving Australia\u2019s affordable housing problem","sdg":"10- Reduced inequalities; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures\/Social Change","forcodes":"330299"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Sustainability and Urban Planning","programcode":"DR212 \/ MR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nicola Willand, Nigel Goodman, Priya Rajagopalan, Jin Woo","title":"Indoor air quality in apartment buildings","description":"In the context of the trajectory to highly energy efficient dwellings and the trend towards higher density urban living in Australia, this Area of Focus addresses the nexus of lack of understanding of exposure to chemical pollutants in higher density housing.\n  Exposure to chemical pollution in housing is a function of material qualities of the dwelling, householder practices and the outdoor environment. Chemical air pollutants have indoor and outdoor origins. Indoor exposure may come from building materials, smoking, cooking or cleaning. Outdoor exposure may be linked to traffic fumes, industrial sites or bush fires. Exposure to indoor air pollutants can be minimised by source control, removal at point of release (e.g. exhaust over stove), natural and mechanical ventilation and air purification. Although exposure to indoor pollutants is ubiquitous, there is concern that exposure may be increased in 1. highly energy efficient housing, because of its increased air tightness, and 2. In higher density housing, as apartments tend to have fewer opportunities for natural ventilation, exposure may happen in common areas and there may be involuntary air exchange between dwelling units or across balconies.\n  In the context of National Construction Code moving towards higher energy efficiency and more stringent mechanical ventilation requirements, more knowledge is needed on the following topics to ensure householder health and wellbeing:\n  \u2022 Interaction between dwelling quality, householder practices, indoor air quality and health outcomes;\n  \u2022 Perspectives and practices of building professionals around building materials, air tightness and ventilation.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 7-Affordable and clean energy; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330206"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Omid Haass, Frank Boukamp, Tiendung Le, Tayyab Maqsood","title":"Application of IOTs within Australian Construction Industry","description":"IoT, or The internet of Things, describes a series of interrelated devices with unique identifiers, which can interconnect, interact and exchange data. These devices operate autonomously - without a requirement for human intervention - and therefore project the appearance of being self-aware, and able to make decisions. The Australian Construction Industry may potentially realise significant cost savings and improved safety levels if it were to utilise and leverage some of the benefits which this technology offers. The focus of this project will be primarily to evaluate the existing body of research, with a view to bring together varying approaches and findings. These will in turn inform findings, which will aim to provide quantitative data to make a compelling case for the adoption of these technologies into the Australian Construction Industry. The Project will include analyses of recent findings and data, to ensure applicability to the Australian context. This will be evaluated against any relevant data sets from international sources, to compare and contrast divergent trends to argue the case for, or against, the adoption of this relatively recent technology.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Pauline Teo, Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, Peter Wong","title":"Mitigating Safety and Rework Incidents in Construction","description":"For several decades, rework and safety incidents are pervasive and recurring problems in construction projects (e.g., Love et al., 2016). Recent research undertaken revealed a significant positive relationship exists between quality and safety performance (Teo and Love, 2017).\n  The adverse consequences of rework have been widely reported, including damage to reputation, loss of productivity, and reduced profitability. Quality failure costs have been reported ranging from less than 1 to over 20% of a project\u2019s original contract value (e.g., Love et al., 2018).\n  The pursuit of an incident- and injury-free workplace remains an ongoing challenge even though considerable effort has been made to ensure the safety of workers. Several issues consistently contribute to this scenario including an organization\u2019s ineffective safety climate and culture, its poor absorptive capacity and an inability to subsequently learn, and the adverse behaviour of individuals.\n  Anecdotally, it has been observed that the underlying conditions that contribute to the occurrence of rework in construction projects have been recognized as the main contributors to safety incidents (Love et al., 2016). However, many contracting organizations treat rework as part of normal operations and not does focus on this symbiotic relationship or are simply ignored. Love and Teo (2017) have found that workplace injuries and accidents are more likely to occur while rectification works are being performed. If rework can be reduced, then significant improvements in safety performance can be achieved.\n  This research will provide construction organizations with the understanding, knowledge and context that is needed to mitigate rework and develop safety performance indicators to ensure projects are delivered in accordance with pre-determined objectives.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Peter Wong, Guillermo Aranda Mena, Rebecca Yang, Ron Wakefield","title":"Automation in Construction","description":"The vision of Industry 5.0 has prompted the construction sector to rethink how their practice can better align with the advanced technology to reduce the reliance on labour and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of project delivery. This project aims to devise pragmatic solutions to foster automation in construction designs and operations. It covers the implementation of technologies and concepts including Building Information Modelling (BIM), robotics, immersive technology, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), and digital twins. This involves a review of the current practice, an exploration the new approaches, and the development of the best practice guides to foster a sector-wide reform.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330201"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Priya Rajagopalan, Mary Myla Andamon, Jin Woo, Nicola Willand","title":"Strategies for energy efficient housing in Australia under changing climates","description":"This project will explore the impacts of climate change on energy consumption and thermal comfort of residential buildings in Australia under a various climate change scenarios. The candidate will work with leading sustainability scientists at RMIT and CSIRO, using cutting edge numerical simulation tools and experimental data to help deliver the next generation of efficient and healthy residential building designs for Australia. The key objectives of the research project are as follows: \u2022Using simulation tools, determine the impacts of climate change on the energy consumption and potential for summer overheating of typical residential buildings under various Australian climate conditions;\n  \u2022Identify the potential measures for reducing overheating of highly energy efficient Australian residential buildings under current and future climates; and\n  \u2022Use these findings to develop strategies to help governments and industry deliver the next generation of efficient, healthy new and retro-fitted buildings to improve performance under current and future warming climates.","sdg":"7-Affordable and clean energy; 9-Industry, Innovation and Infratsructure; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies, Informations and systems","forcodes":"330206"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Property","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rebecca Leshinski, Judith Callanan, Chris Eves, Kwabena Mintah","title":"Technology innovations and their impact and disruption in the property and Built Environment sectors","description":"This project aims to explore the extent, value, cost and disruptive impact of new and future technological innovations in the various sectors of the property industry. The project will also investigate a range of operational aspects within the property sector that are now or in the future will be influenced by Big Data, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. It is intended that the research project will contribute to the advancement of knowledge to answer the how\u2019s and why\u2019s behind adoption and failure of adoption of technical innovations and digital transformation in the property sector","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies, Informations and systems","forcodes":"330299"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tayyab Maqsood, Tiendung Le, Farshid Rahmani, Salman Shooshtarian","title":"Framework and business case for developing a market place for selling and buying Construction and Demolition waste","description":"Construction and demolition waste is an ever growing problem in Australia. Landfill sites across Australia are at capacity. The Australian Government has been discouraging dumping waste in landfills by increasing levies on waste going to landfill and encouraging reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste.\n  However, the definitions pertaining to classes of waste and the levies are not consistent across different states in Australia. There are different economic factors pertinent to a certain state that are at play which determines this levy in that state. The type of construction and demolition waste also depends on the nature of the industry. The project would focus on the waste generated by residential, commercial, rail and road infrastructure. With advances in technology, it is now possible to develop a platform that could encourage buying and selling of construction and demolition waste across different industries and across different states.\n  This project seeks to develop a framework and a business case underpinning the development of this trading platform. Using JIT (Just in Time) principles, buyers and sellers would be able engage in on-line transactions and be able to buy or sell the construction and demolition waste at various locations in a timely manner.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 12-Responsible consumption and production","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures\/Social Change","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"F&T Design","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Donna Cleveland, Rajkishoe Nayak","title":"Sustainability","description":"Vietnam\u2019s industry needs to explore more viable, and sustainable material solutions. The area of focus for this research will primarily employ an experimental approach to designing new material possibilities that will help us to overcome the environmental impacts and unethical practices of the current industry while combining the knowledge of traditional and future craftsmanship. You will be passionate about designing for a circular and sustainable economy bringing together traditional knowledge, cross cultural practices and innovative technologies to scope the scaling up of new material processes to commercialization. Possible approaches are to reimagine new material processes and propose alternative material solutions to meet increased demand for sustainable materials. Defining the specific materials and technologies used will be developed throughout the project period in collaboration with the research team. The theoretical entry point and methodology will depend on the profile of the PhD candidate. Your aim is to develop new strategies for sustainable material futures. Alignment with the implementation and\/or evaluation of the United Nations SDGs will be viewed favorably.","sdg":"SDG 11 and SDG 12","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"AM 4 Materials for sustainable living DCP 2 Playful and Material Encounters DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries STS 1 Circular Economy","forcodes":"330314 Sustainable design 330315 Textile and fashion design"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR207 \/ DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Catherine Earl, Andrew Stiff, Justin Battin","title":"Cities & Urbanism","description":"The area of focus for the research will ideally be a non-traditional research output (NTRO) or a practice-based project. It will explore the lifeworld and livability of the mega-urban region of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research aims to create new knowledge and innovative creative practice that draws on a phenomenological approach and\/or any sensory method including but not limited to visual, sonic, olfactory, tactile, culinary, affective, atmosphere, material, etc. The theoretical perspective is open, depending on the applicant\u2019s preference and track record, but note we are keen to engage with emerging and innovative approaches from the environmental humanities that rethink the dominance of humans in urban built and natural environments. You will join a growing team of dynamic researchers and designers in the School of Communication and Design at RMIT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. The sensory focused investigation will produce an exhibition, a dissertation and presentation of practice, followed by examiners questions.","sdg":"SGD 5, SDG 8, SGD 11, SDG 12, SDG 17","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"DCP 3 The social and Sustainable DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries UF 1 Urban and spatial economics UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":"330103 Architectural heritage and conservation 330110 Sustainable architecture 330405 Public participation and community engagement 330411 Urban design 430208 Intangible heritage 470202 Asian cultural studies"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"Design, Art","programcode":"DR213 \/ DR211 \/ DR208","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Stiff, Hai Phu Ho, Agnieszka Kiejziewicz, Adhvaidha Kalidasan, Rossitsa Bolgurova, Manny Ling, Nick Cope, Liem Bui, Hellmut Monz, Britta Boyer, Glenn Wyatt, Long TV Nguyen, Christopher Denis-Delacour, Quynh Le Xuan, Eriko Yamato, Duong Thi Hoang Oanh","title":"Creativity, Heritage & Society","description":"The National Strategy for the development of Vietnamese cultural industries with a vision to 2030 addresses 5 key themes: Creative Education & Skills, Governance, Investment & Regulation, Audiences & Market Development, Clustering Networking, and International Positioning. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a series of opportunities to redefine the role and development of culture industries in Vietnam, particularly with a view towards sustainability and localization. The area of research focus seeks an enthusiastic practice-based researcher to propose an investigation using an innovative methodology that addresses how the National Strategy and pertinent stakeholders are responding to the reinvigorated attention to sustainability (as informed by UNESCO) and the local, social, and vernacular character through one (or more) of the above-mentioned themes.","sdg":"SGD 5, SDG 9, SGD 11, SDG 12, SDG 17","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"DCP 2 Playful and Material Encounters DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy","forcodes":"430204 Digital heritage \n 430202 Critical heritage, museum and archive studies \n 470106 Media industry studies\n 470208 Culture, representation and identity \n 360604 Photography, video and lens-based practice \n 330306 Design practice and methods"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Data Science (CT)","programcode":"DR221\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Son Dao (son.daovutruong@rmit.edu.vn), Hung Pham (hung.phamviet2@rmit.edu.vn)","title":"Surrogate modeling and Machine Learning for science and engineering applications","description":"The research will focus on data-efficient machine learning (or surrogate modeling) techniques to solve complex problems in science and engineering. Potential research areas including extension and uses of machine learning algorithms such as generative models, neural networks, Gaussian Processes, Bayesian optimization, and more to solve challenging problems in science and engineering. The benefits of the research are as follows: (1) Fast design space exploration: compact scalable regression models for design automation, parametric studies, design space exploration, optimization, yield improvement, visualization, prototyping, and sensitivity analysis; (2) Quickly gain insight: knowledge discovery in sparse data sets, and knowledge extraction from large data sets; (3) Reduced computational time, thus, shorten time to market.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460207\r\n460501\r\n461199\r"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Songlin Ding (RMIT Melbourne) and Minh Tran (RMIT Vietnam)","title":"Digital Twin Assistance for Smart Manufacturing","description":"Digital twin is considered as an innovative and essential tool for smart industry and currently has been applied to various industries including automotive, aerospace, and maritime engineering. The project focuses on investigating the digital twin for smart manufacturing application in which the robotic system can automatically recognize the dimension variation on the stock and obstacles around its operating zone and avoid collision in real time with feedback data. This will allow safe remote control and failure prediction via preventive maintenance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"AMF 1 Manufacturing across scales and functions; AMF 2 Advanced automation research and sensor and sensor network research","forcodes":"400707 Manufacturing Robotics (25%) 401409 Machining (25%) 401402 CAD\/CAM System (25%) 400711 Simulation, Modelling, and Programming of Mechatronics System (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Alberto Bernabeo, Lin Tian, Nhan Nguyen, Associate Lecturer\u2022 Undergraduate & Postgraduate, SBM\/ RMIT Vietnam","title":"Air Quality pollution monitoring, including landfills","description":"The ability to remotely detect and map chemical pollution in open air environments is a topic of significant interest to both defence and civilian communities with regard to environment, health and safety aspects of everyday life. \r\nIn this project we propose:\r\nObjective n.1: a multitasking experimental approach based on the integrated use of remote sensing, aerosol sampling and chemical speciation together with the use of drones\/tethered balloons equipped with aerosol sensors aimed at providing all the information which so far have been collected partially. \r\nObjective n.2: The study will also collect information about the 3D distribution of all the aerosol properties described before with the aim of determining and helping the vertical resolution of data from remote sensing.\r\nObjective n.3: The project will include the testing of aerosol probes aimed at producing aerosol size distribution useful firstly for the research purposes and secondly, but not secondarily, in an attempt of devising the potential for an application as a new on-board instrumentation to integrate flight safety equipment on commercial aviation airplanes.\r\nThe consequences of climate change (UNSDG 13. Climate Action) and weather conditions associated with industrial\/fossile fuels emissions for the transport sector have received relatively little attention. Still, it is widely known that transport systems on the whole perform worse under adverse and extreme weather conditions. This is especially true in densely populated regions, such as many coastal areas around the globe such as in Vietnam, where one single event may lead to a chain of reactions that influence large parts of the transport system. In terms of Sustainable Development, SBM will contribute collecting and sharing the data of the 18 Air Visual Air Quality Monitors installed around Ho Chi Minh City.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"330413\tUrban planning and health\r\n379901\tEarth system sciences\r\n410599\tPollution and contamination not elsewhere classified \r\n059999\tEnvironmental Sciences not elsewhere classified\r\n370199\tAtmospheric sciences not elsewhere classified\r\n401101\tAir pollution modelling and control\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Khuong Nguyen, Ke Wang","title":"Wavelet Neural Network for Three\u2010Phase Power Signal Harmonic-Filtering and Extraction","description":"The integration of renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and wind turbines has significantly increased the use of inverter-connected systems in modern power grids. These inverters, however, introduce harmonic distortions into the grid, which can severely degrade power quality, cause system inefficiencies, and lead to equipment malfunctions. Harmonic oscillations, if not properly mitigated, can create instability in the grid, complicating energy distribution and management.\nTraditional methods of harmonic filtering, such as passive filters or fixed digital filters, are limited in their ability to adapt to the ever-changing nature of harmonic distortion, especially in systems with non-linear loads and variable inverter output. These methods also struggle with identifying transient disturbances or adjusting in real-time to complex harmonic profiles in three-phase power systems.\nThe use of wavelet neural networks (WNNs), which combine the time-frequency localization capability of wavelet transform with the learning and adaptive potential of neural networks, presents a novel and promising approach for filtering and harmonic extraction in three-phase power systems. Moreover, leveraging AI-based adaptive detection algorithms enables real-time dynamic adjustments to the filter parameters, thus enhancing the effectiveness of harmonic suppression in inverter-connected systems.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"(400802) Electrical circuits and systems - 25%\n(400911) Power electronics - 25%\n(461103) Deep learning - 25%\n(461104) Neural networks - 25%\n"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"AI-Enhanced Smart Grid Management ","description":"This research project aims to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of advanced smart grid management systems. The focus will be on employing AI techniques for accurate load prediction and efficient solving of dispatching problems, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of energy distribution in smart grids. Research Objectives: (1) \nTo develop AI-based models for precise short-term and long-term electrical load prediction; (2) To utilize AI algorithms for optimizing the dispatching of energy resources, balancing supply and demand effectively; (3) To integrate renewable energy sources into the smart grid more efficiently using AI-driven forecasting and management tools. The project is expected to result in a highly efficient smart grid management system that can adapt to changing energy demands and integrate renewable sources effectively. This will lead to reduced energy wastage, lower operational costs, and a more sustainable energy system. The research will also provide valuable insights into the application of AI in energy systems, setting a precedent for future innovations in smart grid technology.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Digital Twins in Advanced Manufacturing to Enhance Efficiency","description":"Digital Twins of manufacturing systems are an emerging tool for improvement, optimization, and monitoring of physical manufacturing systems. The idea of representing physical systems with digital depictions has been prevalent since the early days of Computer Aided Design (CAD), but recently the concept of a Digital Twin has been expanded to encapsulate more than just a digital model of a design. Instead, the Digital Twin offers a unique, comprehensive, and real-time toolset for analysis and improvement\nof physical systems. To validate these capabilities and assess their efficacy in a manufacturing setting, the creation, use, and analysis of Digital Twin (DT)\nsystems was recorded and assessed across real-world manufacturing use cases.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4014"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Climate-Smart, digital farming: Case Studies and Applications of IoT and AI in Agricultural setting","description":"The proposed research project aims to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing agricultural practices, focusing on the phenotyping of fruits and vegetables, ripeness prediction, and yield prediction. The project will develop and integrate advanced AI algorithms with existing agricultural technologies to create a more efficient, sustainable, and productive farming system. Research Objectives: (1) To develop AI-based models for accurate phenotyping of fruits and vegetables, enabling the identification of desirable traits for breeding and cultivation; (2) To create AI algorithms for predicting the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, facilitating optimal harvest times and reducing waste; (3) To implement AI-driven systems for precise yield prediction, aiding in better crop management and planning.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Leveraging AI \/ deep learning for predictive maintenance","description":"This research project focuses on developing advanced predictive maintenance techniques for cyber-physical systems (CPS), crucial in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and energy. The project aims to integrate cutting-edge technologies like machine learning, IoT, and big data analytics for early fault diagnosis and system health monitoring, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of CPS. Research Objectives: (1) To develop machine learning models for real-time fault diagnosis and prediction in CPS; (2) To integrate IoT sensors for continuous monitoring and data collection of system parameters; (3) To utilize big data analytics for the analysis of historical and real-time data for trend identification and maintenance prediction. This research project represents a significant step towards the intelligent and automated maintenance of cyber-physical systems. By leveraging advanced technologies, it aims to transform maintenance strategies from reactive to proactive, ensuring higher system availability and reliability.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Alexandru Constantin Fechete, Professor Anthony S Holland - School of Engineering, Electronic & Telecommunications Engineering, RMIT University, Professor Andrew Greentree, Professor of Quantum Physics, Physics, School of Science, RMIT University\r\nDr Qiang Sun, Research Fellow, Physics, School of Science, RMIT University\r\n\r\n\r\n","title":"Modelling of robustness and resilience space-based electronics","description":"The space environment is a challenging one for electronics. There are high levels of both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, combined with large changes in temperature, depending on whether they are in shade or not.  This extreme environment presents challenges for the materials and design of space-based electronics. \r\nThis project aims to model radiation response and thermal process for electronic components designed for space applications.  We will develop a new, multi-scale, multi-physical disciplinary modelling methodology, combining radiation modelling, device-level, and whole circuit simulations.  Outcomes from this research will inform the design of electronics for space applications.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"090604 Microelectronics (50%)\r\n370106 Atmospheric Radiation (25%)\r\n020199 Space (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Dao Truong Son, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Machine Learning based Control of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive Systems","description":"Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have been widely employed in a number of high-end applications, such as wind turbine generation, electric vehicles, ship propulsion and robotics thanks to its high-power density and high-efficiency. The challenges of these systems in practice are the deteriorated efficiency and control performance during the operation. So far, some methods based on the traditional control theories have been proposed to tackle these challenges. However, the performance of these methods is heavily impacted by the non-linearity of the system and the parameters variation during the operation. This project will develop a novel control scheme using the reinforcement learning algorithm to improve the control performance and efficiency of the PMSM drive system.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (40%), 404008 (30%); 404009 (30%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Dao Truong Son","title":"Sensorless Control of Induction Drive Systems applied in Electric Vehicles","description":"Induction Electric drive systems have been replacing the traditional combustion engines in the automotive industry thanks to their superior advantages such as no gas emission, low production cost, low operation and maintenance cost. The robust control scheme of this electric drive system requires the information of rotor speed and position by using the mechanical encoder or resolver. However, these mechanical devices are temperature dependent and vulnerable to the hostile environment. In order to improve the reliability as well as to reduce the size and cost of the drive system in the electric vehicles, some methods have been proposed to estimate the rotor position and speeds. However, the limitations of these methods are low estimation accuracy at low and very low operation speeds and low estimation bandwidth. This project focuses on the development of a new data driven technique to estimate the rotor speed and position of the induction motor with high accuracy, high bandwidth over the full range of operating speed from zero to the rated value.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (30); 404008(50); 404009 (20%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dao Truong Son, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Design and Control of a Novel Multiphase Electrostatic Machines","description":"The production of the electric machines requires specific natural resources, which have been raising the environmental and sustainable economic issues. So far, the electric machines have been designed based on electromagnetic principles and dominantly made of materials, such as laminated cores, permanent magnet and the metal conductors (copper or aluminum). In contrast, the electrostatic machines are made of only dielectric and electrodes. Therefore, the elimination of the costly metal conductors, permanent magnet, the laminated cores can reduce the complexity of the manufacturing process and the price of the machines. It can also reduce the carbon emission due to the production of metal conductors and permanent magnet. This project aims to develop a novel prototype and control scheme of a multiphase electrostatic machine with high efficiency, simple structure and low cost for the applications under high temperature conditions or sensitive to magnetic fields.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (20); 404008 (40%); 404017(40%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Online parameters identification of permanent magnet synchronous machine used in wind turbine generation","description":"The penetration of the wind energy into the smart power system has been encountering the technical challenges of electric quality, stability and reliability. Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have been dominantly applied in the wind-turbine generation due to their advantages of high-power density, high efficiency and high dynamic performance. However, in practice due to the variation of the machine\u2019 s parameters, such as permanent magnet flux linkage, stator resistance and inductances in relation to the variation of load and aging factor, the dynamic performance, efficiency and state estimation of this generation system deteriorate. This project proposes a novel method for fast and accurately identifying generator\u2019s parameters in real-time, so called on-line method, with the aim of enhancing the control performance of the wind-generation system and improving the stability of the integrated power system. At the same time, the generator\u2019s health can be monitored, potential electric failures of the generator can be diagnosed, thus increasing the reliability of the integrated power system.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404008 (50%); 404009 (25%); 404007(25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Digital Health\u00a0(SHBS)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Ngoc Dinh","title":"A scientific workflow for dengue outbreak forecasting","description":"Dengue is an arboviral infection that could cause severe symptoms and leave a significant influence on the general health of those patients who don\u2019t receive adequate therapeutic assistance. It thrives in tropical and subtropical countries and could overburden the local health facilities during an outbreak. The capacity to predict a dengue outbreak is therefore, of significant interest to the public health services. It has been proven that a dengue outbreak correlates highly with not only weather and climate factors but also the human behaviors. This project aims to develop a scientific workflow that handles heterogenous data from multiple modalities such as weather information (e.g. precipitation, temperature and humidity), epidemiological data and human demographics and develops a multimodal machine learning framework. The multimodal machine learning model must addresses the difference in data representation, while aligning other metrics of the data such as granularity and frequency, with the goal of transferring knowledge between modalities and their representations. Finally, this project combines the multimodal machine learning model with probabilistic machine learning framework to generate posterior prediction distributions for dengue cases. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"460501 (35%)\r\n460206 (40%)\r\n460207 (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences (Science)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar \/ Potential Co-Supervisors:\nProfessor Fabio Zambetta, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies\nProfessor Iqbal Gondal, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies\nProfessor Margaret Hamilton, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies","title":"Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence for Next Generation Educational Technology Platforms","description":"This project uses Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence to develop an educational technology platform and training programs that are challenging to offer in real-world setting. Meta-Education has the potential to radically transform the teaching and learning landscape. It\u2019s power, though rudimentary is already realised with the use of VR, AR, XR, and MR in existing educational platforms. It has been cheaper, easier, and safer to provide STEM education using these, rather than risking training in real-life scenarios. Trainee neurosurgeons and pilots are a good example. Artificial Intelligence will ensure that the Meta-Education platform follows the rules prescribed by the Teacher. Artificial Intelligence is also the enabler of simulation-based STEM training. For learners to be able to get the feel of training in the authentic world, Artificial Intelligence is needed to ensure learners are able to work and learn with intelligent NPC tutors, peers, and other learners.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%)\r\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)\r\n390405 Educational technology and computing (35%)\""},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truong, Yunus Khatri, Jayani Chandrapala","title":"Cell-based dairy fat alternatives: the metabolic engineering of oleaginous organisms","description":"The objective of this study is to produce nature-identical, cell-based cow milk fats using oil\r\nproducing microbes\/organisms. The final aim is to produce milk without using cows which\r\nhas advantages such as similar taste, healthier & low carbon footprint. Conventional dairy farming is unsustainable due to high land, animal welfare, water & greenhouse gas emissions. Plant based alternatives lack taste, texture & cooking characteristics requiring an urgent need to invest in cell-based alternatives. Fat plays a major role in providing a huge benefit towards\r\nsensorial perceptions of consumers in food products. Milk fat is considered one of the\r\nmost complex natural fats. Saturated and monosaturated fatty acid contents in milk account for ~70% and 25% by weight, respectively. Of these saturated fatty acids, ~11% are short-chain\r\nfatty acids. The proposed project aims to work on the metabolic engineering of oleaginous\r\norganisms for the accumulation and synthesis of C4-C16 (Carbon chain 4 to 16) fatty acids using\r\nTriacyl glycerides (TAGs). Oil-producing microbes will be subjected to grow under high carbon\r\nand low nitrogen conditions where cells will grow until nitrogen unavailability. The grown\r\ncells will then start to convert carbon into lipids, and cells will be ruptured via a physical\r\nprocess. The fatty acids of interest will be extracted and purified after necessary enzyme\r\ntreatments to produce fatty acids with variable chain lengths. The project will optimize the\r\nfermentation process to produce high yields, cell rupturing conditions, and enzyme treatment\r\nconditions to obtain the desired fatty acids.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"300602 Food Chemistry and food sensory sciences (50%)\r\n300607 Food Technology (40%)\r\n300606 Food sustainablity (10%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Novel Immersive Approaches to Information Seeking","description":"People search through digital information more than ever before. However, current search systems present information through a 2D search engine results page. In addition, opportunities to interact with the search results to understand underlying relationships in the retrieved data, are limited. The proposed approach will allow users to navigate information naturally and immersively, following users\u2019 interests and curiosity rather than being constrained by a search box and a ranked search results list.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to explore this unique interaction paradigm for effective and efficient interactive information retrieval through virtual or augmented reality, enabling a novel approach to defining user information needs, presenting results, and facilitating search reformulations.\r\n\r\nThe project can answer research questions, including:\r\n-What is the most effective way to visualise 3D information units (in virtual or augmented reality) to facilitate enhanced search interactions?\r\n-How do users formulate information needs, manipulate results, and navigate immersive information spaces?\r\n-How does immersive search versus traditional ranked lists impact users' navigation behaviours within an information space?\r\n-How do users with different levels of familiarity with immersive applications experience information?\r\n-How does the proposed approach compare to current search methods for exploring complex information needs?\r\n\r\nThe project will contribute to the field of interactive information retrieval by providing a novel approach to exploring information needs. Using virtual or augmented reality together with current advances in conversational interactions for information seeking will allow for more intuitive and natural navigation of information, which could lead to unexplored insights into how people interact with information.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%) ; 460806 Human-computer interaction (30%) ; 461003 Human information interaction and retrieval (30%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Towards Intelligent Data-driven Software Engineering","description":"Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown outstanding progress with impressive performance over the last decade. AI techniques have been applied to solve numerous problems such as weather forecasting, movie recommending, autonomous driving, health applications, question answering, etc. The main ingredient of an AI algorithm is the data that is mined from problems that are same or similar to the problem to be solved.\nSoftware Engineering (SE) is a highly impact area with many interesting and important challenges. Besides, the amount of data generated by SE is generally large and cheap to collect (e.g., source code, software system logs, software reports). Therefore, SE is an ideal area where AI techniques can be applied.\nIn this project, we thus aim to develop novel AI-based techniques to solve various challenging problems in SE:\n+ configurable software performance prediction with a minimal number of measured data [1]\n+ intelligent incident management for software-intensive system including incident detection, incident identification, incident triage [2]\n+ software defect and vulnerability detection [3]\n+ etc.\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the chosen topic.\nReferences:\n[1] H. Ha, H. Zhang. \u201cDeepPerf: Performance Prediction for Configurable Software with Deep Sparse Neural Network\u201d, in Proceedings of the 41st ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 1095-1106, Montr\u00e9al, Canada, 2019.\n[2] Z. Chen, Y. Kang, L. Li, X. Zhang, H. Zhang, et al., \u201cTowards intelligent incident management: why we need it and how we make it\u201d, in Proceedings of the ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC\/FSE), pages 1487-1497, 2020.\n[3] S. Omri, C. Sinz, \u201cDeep Learning for Software Defect Prediction: A Survey\u201d, in the Workshops of the 42nd ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 209-214, 2020.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461201 Automated software engineering (60%) ; 461103 Deep learning (20%) ; 461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221 ","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Further Advance Bayesian Optimization","description":"Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a powerful sample-efficient strategy for finding the global optimum of an expensive black-box functions [1]. The main idea is to fit a surrogate model on the previous function evaluations, construct an acquisition function based on the surrogate model, and then use the acquisition function to select the next data point to be evaluated. Its applications include but not limited to automated machine learning, experimental design, environmental monitoring, and robotics. Whilst being effective and efficient in solving many optimization problems, BO is still a relatively new research field and suffers various limitations [1]. For example,\n+ Existing BO algorithms do not work well with high-dimensional optimization problems\n+ Limited BO methods can be applied to solve optimization problems with discrete, categorical, and mixed variables.\n+ Limited BO methods can solve the multi-objective optimization problems.\n+ etc.\nThis project aims to advance the efficacy of BO algorithms by various techniques such as evolutionary methods (e.g., covariance matrix adaptation, particle swarm, multi-objective decomposition) [2], deep surrogate models (e.g., deep kernel, Bayesian deep learning) [3]. Apart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\nReferences:\n[1] B. Shahriari, K. Swersky, Z. Wang, R.P. Adams, N. de Freitas (2016). Taking the Human Out of the Loop: A Review of Bayesian Optimization. Proceedings of IEEE 104(1): 148-175.\n[2] A. E. Eiben, James E. Smith (2015). Introduction to Evolutionary Computing. Natural Computing Series, Springer.\n[3] Y. Gal (2016). Uncertainty in Deep Learning. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%), 460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Ke Wang, Guanghui Ren, Arnan Mitchell ","title":"Development of photonic IC and electronic IC integration","description":"This project aims to develop the capability to unite integrated electronic circuits with integrated photonic components onto a single photonic-electronic integrated chip (PEIC) through the collaboration between RMIT Melbourne InPAC team with RMIT VN and VNU. We will demonstrate this capability by integrating electronic driver circuits, biasing controllers and electronic transimpedance amplifiers with photonic circuits to form a fully integrated photonic transceivers, and demonstrate these transceivers for high-speed data transmission and signal processing. We will achieve this through device-by-device hybrid integration approach, by selectively micro-transfer printing different electronic dies to a photonic chip.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400909"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stanley Luong","title":"Navigational assisted device for the blind","description":"This project will investigate methods which derived from a multi-discipline input from Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering to formulate solutions in term of hardware, software, algorithm to realise a practical device to assist blind people in daily navigation.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"400999 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware not elsewhere classified (50%) ; 460304 Computer vision (25%) ; 460308 Pattern recognition (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Science","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Yunus Khatri, Dr. Tuyen Truong, Professor Rajaraman Eri \n","title":"Antimicrobial Bioplastics derived from Algal Biopolymers and Curcumin Additives for Active Food Containers","description":"Research on bioplastics and biocomponents to replace petroleum based plastics has been ongoing, with several potential biodegradable food packaging materials such as starch, cellulose, alginate, carrageenan, chitosan, pectin, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) being studied. While plant-based polymers show great potential, they require large areas of landfills to supply raw materials. Algae extracts, on the other hand, are highly recommended for their ability to capture large amounts of CO2 through photosynthesis, making them a sustainable solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the non-competitive land area for food security, high growth speed, and limited nutrient requirements make biopolymers extracted from algae a strong candidate for producing sustainable bioplastics, including active packaging and edible packaging. Curcumin, a polyphenol extract with the chemical formula 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione, has gained attention as a promising natural additive in food products owing to its antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer properties. Multiple studies have reported the ability turmeric extract to inhibit the growth of various pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, while also extending the shelf-life of meat products. Researchers have explored the use of curcumin as an additive in bioplastic films made from different materials, such as chitosan, pectin, soybean polysaccharides, and cellulose acetate, to create curcumin-based composite films with enhanced antimicrobial activity, film stiffness, and UV-blocking properties.\nAim:\n1.        To extract and purify algae biopolymer for use as the base material for developing food containers.\n2.        To incorporate curcumin as an antimicrobial agent in the algae biopolymer and optimize its concentration.\n3.        To evaluate the characterization of curcumin algal bioplastic \n4.        To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the developed containers against common foodborne pathogens.\n","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"300604 Food packaging, preservation and processing (75%) ;  310602 Bioprocessing, bioproduction and bioproducts (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Science","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences","programcode":"DR222","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dao, Huong Ha, Tri Dang","title":"High-dimensional Bayesian Optimization via Decomposition and Gradient Descent","description":"Systematic reviews are the gold standard in research evidence, particularly within the healthcare field. However, in the context of an ever-increasing volume of scientific literature, conducting systematic reviews has become an extremely time-consuming and arduous process. Automated tools are urgently needed to support retrieval, synthesis, quality assessment, and meta-analysis of research papers. While some progress has been made on systematic review automation and its component steps through information retrieval, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, Large Language Models (LLMs) represent a valuable technology that may support significant advancements in this arena. This project will seek to explore how best LLMs and NLP can be deployed for systematic review automation, as well as examining the capabilities and limitations of generative AI.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\n460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%) "},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Science","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences","programcode":"DR222","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Eberhard, Alex Kruger, Geetika Verma, Thao Nguyen Hieu","title":"Regularity structures for first-order optimization methods and applications in imaging problems in industry 4.0. ","description":"Qualitative and quantitative understanding of complicated physical systems is at the core of every development of modern technology. Mathematical foundations of computational optimization tools play the key role in the analysis. The last few decades have witnessed an explosion of first-order methods for solving nonconvex optimization problems arising from various practical fields. Recent literature has indicated a huge potential of the metric regularity property and its siblings in analysing convergence and complexity of first-order methods. Meticulous investigation of regularity structures with the target of improving understanding of convergence behavior of expansive fixed-point algorithms will be the first research avenue. The expected findings would include sharper analysis tools for extending the convergence theory beyond the traditional framework of convexity and monotonicity. The project also targets more delicate characterizations of regularity notions which will allow researchers to challenge open problems in optimization theory. Further applications and improvement of the convergence analysis will be another research avenue of the project. The prospective outcomes of this research direction would further bridge the gap between what can be explained by the convergence theory and what is often observed in practice. The research is driven by practical problems arising in imaging, including machine learning algorithms for computer vision systems in autonomous production lines. The new research findings in Variational analysis and optimization methods will be applied to a wide range of real-world problems in imaging science.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"010303 Optimisation\r\n0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing\r\n010203 Calculus of Variations, Systems Theory and Control Theory"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Aemen Nasir, Nhu Do","title":"Leadership Across Generations: Navigating AI Adoption in Family Businesses","description":"1. Project Aim\nThis project examines how leadership influences the speed and success of AI adoption in organisations, with a focus on family businesses navigating generational leadership transitions. Leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping organisational culture, responding to external pressures, and determining technological readiness. In family enterprises, succession challenges and differing generational perspectives on innovation can either accelerate or hinder AI adoption. This study aims to identify leadership strategies that foster successful AI integration while maintaining business continuity.\n2. Project Gap\nExisting research on AI adoption primarily focuses on technical, individual, or industry-specific factors, overlooking the complex interplay of leadership, organisational structure, and external pressures. While leadership is recognised as crucial in digital transformation, its specific role\u2014particularly in family businesses where intergenerational shifts impact decision-making\u2014remains underexplored. This project addresses this gap by integrating leadership theories with technology adoption frameworks to develop a holistic model that accounts for organisational, technological, and generational dynamics.\n3. Methodology\nAn explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach will be employed. First, a quantitative survey will assess AI adoption speed, project success, leadership styles, and contextual factors, using statistical modelling to test mediation and moderation effects. Then, qualitative multiple case studies will provide deeper insights into how leadership practices in family businesses shape AI adoption. This phase will explore generational differences in AI perceptions, implementation challenges, and leadership strategies for aligning innovation with long-term sustainability.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"2025-07-01","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350707 Leadership (40%)\n460299 Artificial Intelligence (30%)\n350716 Small business organisation and management (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trang Le, E.Y.T. Chew","title":"Exploring the Potential of Game-based Learning in Higher Education and Corporate Environments","description":"In today\u2019s educational landscape, traditional teaching methods often fail to engage learners effectively, necessitating new strategies for collaboration. Despite the rising use of gamification, its effectiveness in higher education and corporate training is under-researched, creating valuable opportunities for study.\n\nGame-based learning promotes hands-on engagement and active participation through tools like Lego\u00ae Serious Play\u00ae (LSP\u00ae), card games, and digital games, fostering creativity and problem-solving. This proposal invites PhD candidates to explore how these methodologies enhance student engagement and corporate training experiences. Potential research topics include improving knowledge retention, critical thinking, and creativity or facilitating team building within organizations.\n\nThe supervision team includes certified LSP\u00ae facilitators to support students in mastering relevant skills. Internships with partner organizations will allow candidates to implement gamification strategies, applying theoretical knowledge and gaining practical experience that benefits both their research and the organizations.\n\nIdeal candidates should have backgrounds in education, organizational development, or psychology, and possess a passion for innovative learning or corporate training methodologies. We invite forward-thinking researchers to apply for this opportunity to explore game-based learning's potential while gaining valuable hands-on experience through internships.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"2029-12-31","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350503 Human resources management\n350599 Human resources and industrial relations not elsewhere classified\n390303 Higher education\n350711 Organisational planning and management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thao Luong, Trang Le","title":"From Perceptions to Practices: Understanding Meaningful Work in Human Resource Management amidst Digital Transformation","description":"As organizations rapidly adopt digital technologies, the concept of meaningful work is evolving, presenting new challenges and opportunities for Human Resource Management (HRM). Employees increasingly seek roles that offer not just compensation but also a sense of purpose. This proposal aims to recruit HDR candidates to explore the intricacies of meaningful work within the HR context, emphasizing how digital transformation impacts employee engagement, recruitment, retention, and organizational culture in ways that align with individuals' desires for fulfillment.\r\n\r\nThe modern workplace, influenced by technological advancements, is changing the traditional employer-employee relationship. Remote work and AI-driven HR practices alter how employees connect with their roles. Understanding how these changes influence perceptions of meaningful work is crucial for HR professionals aiming to develop strategies that enhance employee satisfaction and retention.\r\n\r\nPhD candidates will investigate pressing questions at the intersection of meaningful work and HRM within the digital landscape. They may explore topics such as job design for enhanced engagement, effective recruitment strategies that communicate organizational culture, and the role of digital platforms in fostering diverse perspectives on meaningful work.\r\n\r\nIdeal candidates will have a background in HRM, organizational behavior, or a related field, along with a strong interest in advancing both quantitative and qualitative research skills. We encourage aspiring researchers to apply for this transformative opportunity to study the dynamics of meaningful work in the digital era, contributing valuable insights to both academic literature and organizational practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350503 Human resources management\r\n350504 Industrial and employee relations\r\n350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Chung Phan, Duc Tran Trinh","title":"RURAL POVERTY DYNAMICS AND LIVELIHOOD TRANSTIONS IN CENTRAL VIETNAM","description":"This PhD project will use selected waves of the Thailand Vietnam Social Economic Panel (TVSEP) to examine rural poverty dynamics and livelihood transitions in three provinces of central Vietnam. TVSEP is a long-running panel study funded by the Deutsche Forchingsgemeinschaft (DSG) and led by three German, one Thai and two Vietnamese universities. TVSEP has been following 4,400 households in three provinces in Northeast Thailand and three provinces in Central Vietnam since 2007. To date, 11 waves of household surveys have been completed under the TVSEP, with three additional migrant tracking surveys in 2010, 2018 and 2021. The most recent household survey was in 2024, with a fourth tracking survey planned for 2025. The TVSEP is regarded as high-quality household panel, which has already led to over 100 published paper and 20 completed PhD theses, and possess all requisite ethical and government clearances. \n\nThe thesis will examine the following issues using a primarily quantitative approach, supplemented by geo-spatial methods where appropriate, is envisaged:\n1.\tPoverty dynamics: which socio-economic, geographic and other factors most impact the ability of rural Vietnamese household to escape poverty and what are the factors that trap households in poverty for extended periods of time?  How has transient poverty waxed and waned over time, and are the transient poor different from the chronically poor?\n2.\tLivelihood transitions: how are rural livelihoods in central Vietnam evolving over time? Which events and policies have had most impact on these livelihood transitions?\n3.\tCOVID-19: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect poverty dynamics and livelihood transitions in the selected provinces in central Vietnam?  How did households and communities respond to the pandemic, and how long did it take them to recover, either fully or partially, from it?\n\nCandidates should have a strong background in development economics, applied statistics and econometrics. A knowledge of geographic information systems and geo-spatial methods would also be useful. The student will join an appropriate research cluster in RMIT Vietnam and the cross-campus RMIT Centre for International Development. The student will be encouraged to undertake a three-to-four-month internship at one of the three German universities (Cologne, Gottingen or Leibnitz) that have been implementing TVSEP.  S\/he will be also encouraged to present papers based on her\/his research at national and international conferences. Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals such as Agricultural Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Review of Income and Wealth and World Development. \n\nThe successful candidate, who must be based at one of RMIT\u2019s two Vietnam campuses, will be awarded a four-year tuition waiver and a stipend of approximately VND 14.5 million per month.  Receipt of this scholarship is conditional upon the candidate committing to working full-time on her\/his thesis and undertaking the RMIT College of Business and Law\u2019s PhD course sequence in their first year of study. ","sdg":"[\"1 - No Poverty\",\"10 - Reduced Inequalities \",\"13 - Climate Action\",\"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing\",\"4 - Quality Education\"]","funded":"Yes","closedate":"2026-03-31","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380101; 380204; 410199"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Anushka Siriwardana","title":"Artificial Intelligence in MarTech, Influencer Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Decision Journey","description":"This research examines the interplay between marketing technology (MarTech), influencer marketing, consumer behavior, and the customer decision journey, with a forward-looking integration of human-artificial intelligence principles. It bridges the gap between human and machine capabilities, emphasizing collaboration and augmentation rather than replacement. It offers groundbreaking potential to transform consumer interactions and decision-making in digital marketing environments. As digital platforms evolve, understanding these dimensions is essential for refining strategies, improving engagement, and fostering AI-driven hyper-performance in marketing. MarTech and influencer marketing are revolutionizing brand-consumer interactions. However, when augmented by human-AI systems, more research is needed to evaluate their combined effectiveness across the customer decision process. This research investigates how MarTech tools and influencer strategies shape consumer behavior and decision-making at each journey stage. Key questions include: How can MarTech and influencer marketing transform decision-making? What factors influence consumer acceptance and resistance, especially with AI-augmented insights? How do these integrated approaches impact purchase decisions across demographic groups? How can we foster hyper-performance in the contemporary marketing environment? This study analyzes consumer interactions with MarTech and influencer materials to build predictive consumer behavior models. The mixed-methods methodology combines qualitative interviews with experts and quantitative surveys enriched by AI-driven sentiment analysis and predictive algorithms to identify patterns and trends. This research provides critical insights for marketers, developers, and policymakers, enabling more precise, adaptive marketing strategies. By linking theoretical knowledge with practical application, the study aims to enhance understanding of how digital tools redefine consumer behavior and decision-making in transformative ways.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350607: Marketing Technology (50%)\n350601: Consumer Behaviour (30%)\n460299: Artificial Intelligence not Elsewhere Classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Anushka Siriwardana, Agnis Stibe","title":"Impact of Emerging Technologies on Hospitality Marketing and Travel Experience ","description":"This study will analyze the relationship between emerging technologies and the customer journey within Vietnam's hospitality sector, highlighting the incorporation of these technologies in the post-COVID revival of tourism. It will also focus on the significance of digital innovations in catering to the preferences of Gen Z and late millennials in urban settings for sustainable and digitally enhanced travel experiences. The research aims to improve guest experiences and decision-making from booking to payment and traveling by seamlessly integrating emerging technologies. As the hotel industry evolves with digital innovations, comprehending the interaction between these technologies and conventional consumer behavior models is essential for formulating advanced marketing tactics and improving guest engagement. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews with industry experts and quantitative consumer surveys, further enriched by AI-driven sentiment analysis and predictive algorithms to identify nuanced patterns and trends. The study seeks to evaluate the efficacy of these technological interventions throughout the entire consumer decision journey, with anticipated findings that will provide actionable insights for the sector leaders, technology developers, and policymakers, thereby enabling the development of adaptive, efficient, and guest-centric service models. This research will connect theoretical frameworks with empirical data to enhance comprehension of how digital innovations can transform consumer behavior and decision-making in the hospitality industry in Vietnam, establishing a basis for strategic marketing and operational improvements in Vietnam's developing tourism sector.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"2025-12-31","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350607: Marketing Technology (50%) \n350806: Tourist behaviour and visitor experience (30%) \n350601: Consumer Behaviour (20%) "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa","title":"Absorptive Capacity in Southeast Asian Tourism: Sustainability and Innovation","description":"Tourism is a vital economic driver in Southeast Asia especially in Vietnam, offering significant opportunities for entrepreneurship to address sustainability challenges amid rapid digital transformation. This research redefines absorptive capacity within the tourism and hospitality sectors, emphasizing its role in advancing entrepreneurial success and sustainability (Zahra and George, 2002). It examines how knowledge-sharing and social media strategies influence absorptive capacity, providing actionable insights for overcoming regional challenges and leveraging opportunities. \n\nA mixed- methods approach combines quantitative analysis of absorptive capacity\u2019s mediating effects with qualitative case studies of entrepreneurial tourism enterprises. Key drivers, including stakeholder collaboration, entrepreneurial leadership, social media engagement, and organizational culture, are explored to understand their impact on eco-friendly practices, innovative business models, and entrepreneurial outcomes. Moderating factors such as environmental dynamism and technological readiness are analyzed to assess their influence on sustainability and entrepreneurship.\n\nSocial media is identified as an activation trigger or knowledge acquisition tool within the absorptive capacity framework, exposing firms to market trends, customer demands, and competitive dynamics while aligning with its acquisition dimension (Leung et al., 2013). Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (Acs et al., 2009), the study highlights entrepreneurs as critical agents for transforming unused knowledge into innovation and growth.\n\nIntegrating this with Thomas and Wood (2014), absorptive capacity emerges as a dynamic capability enabling entrepreneurs to exploit spillover knowledge. Aligned with RMIT\u2019s sustainability and regional impact priorities, this research provides practical frameworks to foster sustainable practices, support entrepreneurship, and enhance digital transformation in Southeast Asia and Vietnam\u2019s dynamic tourism market.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350806 - Tourism Management \n350702 - Entrepreneurship \n350705 - Innovation Management \n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso,Seng Kok","title":"Digital transformation and Vietnam\u2019s niche and emerging industries","description":"This project focuses on digital transformation\u2019s impact on Vietnam\u2019s niche and emerging industries. Vietnam is both a leader and as the potential to excel in international markets. First, Vietnam ranks second in the world in coffee exports by volume (Statista, 2024a, Statista, 2024b). As documented in some cases, Vietnam is also increasingly the home of entrepreneurial firms that are adding value to coffee production, including by using technologies (Viet Nam News, 2023). Second, Vietnam is also one of the world\u2019s leaders in cashew nut production and exports (Statista, 2024c). In this industry, Vietnam is also a major cashew nut importer that, subsequently exports these products to other markets (Chi et al., 2018). Third, the potential for Vietnam\u2019s organic food production to enter lucrative markets, particularly the European Union (EU) market, is considerable (VCCI, 2023). Recent new legislation (VCCI, 2024) concerning the issuance of organic certificates to be able to export into the EU presents both challenges and opportunities for Vietnam. Moreover, with the EU seeking to promote technology transfer, digitalisation and high-tech transformation of production processes (VCCI, 2024) there are important implications for organic producers. \n\nThis project proposes various research questions (RQs), including but not limited to the following:\nRQ1: How are firms benefitting from digital transformation, including with regard to their supply chain (e.g., production, logistics, adding value, packaging, selling\/exporting).\nRQ2: What opportunities\/challenges do they perceive from a deeper involvement in digitalisation\/digital transformation practices?\nRQ3: How do they perceive their industry\u2019s future regarding the adoption of digitalisation\/digital transformation? ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management (30%)\n350711 Organisational planning and management (30%)\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified (40%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi, Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"An examination of businesses operating in smart city environments","description":"Smart cities can provide advantages to government and business entities in the form of efficiency, connectivity, smart transportation, security, cost savings or smart buildings (Wirsbinna & Grega, 2021). The smart city phenomenon is changing from a predominant focus on urban infrastructure development (2000-2015) to a stronger focus on services (Kim, 2022). This shift suggests an increasing importance of smart city maintenance and operation rather than building, where smart technologies, big data, artificial intelligence, and urban data are leveraged to offer uninterrupted and valuable services to smart city residents (Kim, 2022).\n\nHowever, an analysis or overview of the effects of smart cities, both positive and negative, is lacking (Lim et al., 2019). In addition, research focusing on smart cities\u2019 unbalanced effects of technology diffusion on various groups (e.g., residents and disadvantaged groups) and institutions, including small businesses) is limited (Zhao et al., 2021). Similarly, there is a dearth of smart city investigations focusing on the business perspective (Pa\u0161ali\u0107 et al., 2021). This gap is also obvious in the case of Vietnam and other economies, both established and emerging. The project embraces a number of foci and directions to examine research questions  that illuminate the understanding of businesses operating in smart city ecosystems, including but not limited to the following:\n\nHow has the business experienced the different phases of smart city development?\nHow has the smart city regime affected the local businesses operating in this ecosystem?\nHow do business owners\/managers perceive the future coexistence with the smart city regime?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350705 Innovation management (30%)\n350711 Organisational planning and management (30%)\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified (40%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Thi Van Anh","title":"Customer Engagement with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing Strategies","description":"Project Aims\nThis project aims to understand factors influencing customer perceptions and engagement with AI-powered tools and content currently being used by brands and marketers. The project addresses the following questions:\n\u2022 How customers perceive the information quality performance of AI-generated content and AI-powered tools?\n\u2022 Which factors contribute to customers\u2019 trust and satisfaction with information quality from AI-powered content and tools, therefore determining their engagement with the content and the tools?\n\u2022 What strategies are required to enhance customer engagement with AI-content and tools?\nProject Gap\nThe application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become more popular in marketing recently as it enables hyper-personalized experiences, predictive analytics, and real-time customer engagement. AI-driven innovations allow automated and personalised content creation with information provided to customers in real-time, prompting them to interact and engage with AI-powered tools for better service quality. However, the effectiveness of AI in engaging with customers depends on customer perception of information quality, perceived interactivity, and perceived personalization from AI-generated content and AI-powered tools. Other factors might include privacy concerns, trust, behavioural factors such as customer learning experience, or generational, cultural, or socioeconomic factors (Sura\u00f1a\u2010S\u00e1nchez and Aramendia\u2010Muneta, 2024). Understanding how these factors influence the trust and satisfaction of AI-generated content and tools can suggest better marketing strategies to enhance customer engagement and business marketing performance. \nMethodology\nThis project should employ a mixed-method approach to explore the various facets of the research questions.\nSura\u00f1a\u2010S\u00e1nchez, C. and Aramendia\u2010Muneta, M.E., 2024. Impact of artificial intelligence on customer engagement and advertising engagement: A review and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 48(2), p.e13027.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"3506 Marketing"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fiza Qureshi","title":"Sustainable Finance and Market Stability: Unveiling the Role of Green Investments","description":"The proposed project aims to explore the relationship dynamics between sustainable investments and financial market trends. The study will focus on various sustainable financial investments such as ESG securities, green bonds, social bonds, Green Loans, ESG Funds, Green Exchange-Traded Funds, Carbon Credits, Sustainable Real Estate Investment Trusts, and Green Insurance Products with regard to their impact on financial markets and economies. Given that existing literature in this domain is still developing, there is a considerable research gap regarding the comprehensive influence of sustainable investments on financial market performance. This project seeks to fill that gap by thoroughly examining the role of sustainable financial products in promoting financial market stability and understanding their impact on market dynamics.\nUtilizing a quantitative research methodology, this study will analyze data from companies and economies that issue sustainable securities, encompassing both developed and emerging markets. The project\u2019s goal is to provide valuable insights into how sustainable investments align with financial market advancements, contributing to broader sustainable development and climate action objectives. These findings will offer critical opportunities for investors and policymakers to support and capitalize on sustainable practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350202 Finance (40%)\n350204 Financial institutions (20%) \n350208 Investment and Risk management (20%)\n350201 Environment and climate finance (20%) "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Oanh Thi Kim Vu, AP Abel Duarte Alonso\nDr Santiago Velesquez ","title":"Vietnam's female entrepreneurs managing smart transition in the circular economy ","description":"(i)-Project Aims \r\nThis project will reveal opportunities and challenges in involvement in Circular Economy (CE) from\r\nfemale entrepreneurs\u2019 perspectives, operating in Vietnam\u2019s cities outside major urban centres.\r\nSpecifically, the project will address the following questions: \r\n\u2022 How do female entrepreneurs in non-major urban centres tangibly and\/or intangibly benefit from\r\nCE practices? \r\n\u2022 What challenges are they facing while pursuing these practices? \r\n\u2022 How do they perceive the future of CE pursuits? \r\n\u2022 What strategies are required to manage smart transition in CE? \r\n\r\n(ii)-Project Gap \r\nVietnam\u2019s areas outside major urban centers face pervasive challenges (including households\u2019\r\ninadequate access to financial services and gender inequality), which result in limited property\r\nownership and employment opportunities for women. These challenges are compounded by the\r\nfact that social and environmental issues in Vietnam are still inadequately addressed. Responding to\r\nthe need to reach sustainable goals and improve economic growth, the Vietnamese government\r\nhas proposed incentives to promote CE, emphasizing the extension of products\u2019 life cycles in which\r\nwomen entrepreneurs could find opportunities in CE projects.\u202fOur research is therefore timely and\r\nvaluable, especially when Vietnamese population is expected to grow leading to an increased\r\ndemand for CE projects. \r\n\r\n(iii)-Methodology \r\nThis project will first choose a qualitative method and an inductive approach, gathering data from\r\nVietnamese female entrepreneurs embracing CE principles in non-major urban cities. Subsequently,\r\nsemi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews will be conducted to address the above\r\nquestions. The interviews will entail a holistic approach, representing various regions, age groups,\r\nand industries, therefore, enabling comparative analysis across various characteristics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship\n440406 Rural community development\n440599 Gender studies not elsewhere classified\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Daisy Kanagasapapathy, Ushik Shrestha Khwakhali","title":"Permeation of robotic technology in the Vietnamese hospitality cultural norms","description":"The tourism and hospitality industry (T&H) is on the cusp of embracing robotic (AI). There are many opportunities with robotics AI which can lead to a possible change of attitudes in guest experience and service operations.  In Vietnam there is a foreseeable integration of these technologies with the current cultural norms (Chung et al., 2019).\n\nWhile these technologies are seen to be effective from an operational perspective, its proliferation can have a profound effect on a culturally rich country i.e. Vietnam (research gap).  As such it would be great interest to undertake study on the integration of such robotics technologies vis-\u00e0-vis on culturally norm in a hospitality operational trade in a defined Vietnamese city, in terms of local service standards, kinematics, time-motion functions, service design standards from a local service provider standpoint to a user perspective. No such research or study has been conducted within Vietnam yet.\n\nThe overarching research question is to determine the acceptance of robotic within the framework of Belance, Carlo and Scheper (2019)\u2019s robotic integration for Vietnamese T&H operators and its impacts on the above 4 factors vis-\u00e0-vis its cultural norms from different stakeholders.  This is in-line with RMIT\u2019s Vietnam research interest in Smart Cities and Innovative Industries.\n\nThe impacts of a research will grant T&H companies to pivot their operational functions towards a more robotic inclined industry accordingly to the users in line with industry and the nation\u2019s desire.  It will also create springboards for ancillary hospitality to navigate the use of this new technologies.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"\u2022        350307 Technology management \n\u2022        350705 Innovation management \n\u2022        35050806 Tourist behavior and visitor experience\n\u2022        350803 Tourism management\n\u2022        330305 Design Management\n\u2022        330310 Interaction and experience design\n\u2022        330312 Service Design\n\u2022        470202 Asian Cultural Studies\n\u2022        470203 Consumption and everyday life\n\u2022        470208 Culture, representation and identity\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso,Seng Kok","title":"Digitalising micro, small, and medium hospitality and tourism enterprises","description":"Although digital transformation is a much-studied research domain (Cheng et al., 2023), many knowledge gaps remain unaddressed. Studies focusing on the impact of digital transformation on hospitality\/tourism firms are still under development, particularly concerning their financing or investment decisions (Hu et al., 2024). Furthermore, the digitalisation process among hospitality and tourism firms has been under-studied; accordingly, there is a need to understand digital transformation in their context, both currently and in the future (Cheng et al., 2023). Similarly, scant research exists on business model innovation practices or processes concerning small and medium enterprises\u2019 digital venturing (Anderson et al., 2022). \n     Against this backdrop, this project, with a qualitative approach and openness to mixed methods, seeks to deepen the knowledge of the potential for digital transformation to support firms in navigating the rapidly changing business environment. The project predominantly focuses on a critical business cohort: micro, small and medium-sized (MSM), which represents most businesses in Vietnam (OECD, 2021) and considers avenues to address relevant and impactful research questions, including:\nHow could MSMs harness digital transformation to: \n\u2022        Add value to their day-to-day operations beyond social media, e-commerce or online communication?\n\u2022        Enhance their competitiveness?\n\u2022        Equip enterprises with more adaptable tools?\n\u2022        Encourage knowledge development?\n\u2022        Effectively combine digitalisation with their signature products\/services?\n     The supervisory team has conducted numerous projects since 2021, resulting in multiple peer-reviewed journal publications, and welcomes projects focusing on Vietnam\u2019s potential to develop hospitality and tourism concepts from a variety of industries utilising digital transformation to enhance their development, competitiveness and value proposition. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350402 Hospitality management \n350803 Tourism management "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa","title":"Absorptive Capacity in Southeast Asian Tourism: Sustainability and Innovation (2 positions)","description":"Tourism is a vital economic driver in Southeast Asia especially in Vietnam, offering significant opportunities for entrepreneurship to address sustainability challenges amid rapid digital transformation. This research redefines absorptive capacity within the tourism and hospitality sectors, emphasizing its role in advancing entrepreneurial success and sustainability (Zahra and George, 2002). It examines how knowledge-sharing and social media strategies influence absorptive capacity, providing actionable insights for overcoming regional challenges and leveraging opportunities.\n\nA mixed- methods approach combines quantitative analysis of absorptive capacity\u2019s mediating effects with qualitative case studies of entrepreneurial tourism enterprises. Key drivers, including stakeholder collaboration, entrepreneurial leadership, social media engagement, and organizational culture, are explored to understand their impact on eco-friendly practices, innovative business models, and entrepreneurial outcomes. Moderating factors such as environmental dynamism and technological readiness are analyzed to assess their influence on sustainability and entrepreneurship.\n\nSocial media is identified as an activation trigger or knowledge acquisition tool within the absorptive capacity framework, exposing firms to market trends, customer demands, and competitive dynamics while aligning with its acquisition dimension (Leung et al., 2013). Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (Acs et al., 2009), the study highlights entrepreneurs as critical agents for transforming unused knowledge into innovation and growth.\n\nIntegrating this with Thomas and Wood (2014), absorptive capacity emerges as a dynamic capability enabling entrepreneurs to exploit spillover knowledge. Aligned with RMIT\u2019s sustainability and regional impact priorities, this research provides practical frameworks to foster sustainable practices, support entrepreneurship, and enhance digital transformation in Southeast Asia and Vietnam\u2019s dynamic tourism market.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350806 - Tourism Management \n350702 - Entrepreneurship \n350705 - Innovation Management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Adriel Sim, Nhu Do","title":"AI Mentors in Education: Impact on Staff Behaviour, Agency, Wellbeing","description":"1. Project Aim\nThe purpose of this project is to investigate the impact of AI chatbots functioning as mentors on educational staff's behaviour, agency, and overall wellbeing. Ultimately, the study seeks to assess whether AI chatbots can serve as effective mentors and support systems for staff, thereby improving working conditions in the educational environment, where time constraints, a focus on students\u2019 results, and daily interactions with students and parents often limit teachers\u2019 agency and exhaust them emotionally.\n\n2. Project Gap\nWhile the use of AI chatbots in education has predominantly focused on student learning and support, there is a notable lack of management research examining their role in mentoring educational staff. Existing studies often overlook the potential benefits and challenges that AI chatbot mentors may present to staff members' professional development and wellbeing within organisational settings. This project addresses this gap by exploring (i) how AI chatbot mentorship affects staff behaviours and professional practices; (ii) the influence of AI chatbots on staff agency and wellbeing.\n\n3. Methodology\nA mixed-methods approach will be used. Structured questionnaires will collect quantitative data on changes in staff behaviour, perceived agency, and wellbeing as a result of interactions with AI chatbot mentors. Semi-structured interviews will provide qualitative insights into personal experiences and attitudes towards AI mentorship. Chat logs will be analysed to identify themes and patterns correlating with changes in professional practices and decision-making processes. Triangulating these data enables holistic answers to the research questions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life (45%)\n390403 Educational administration, management and leadership (30%)\n460299 Artificial Intelligence (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tran Nguyet Que, Hyenjin Park","title":"Employee wellbeing and engagement in human resource management","description":"Technology advancements and the rapid changes of socio-economic factors have implications on human resource management, particularly employee wellbeing and employee engagement. Employee well-being is strongly associated with business-unit level profitability and negatively correlated with turnover (Krekel et al., 2019). It can be noted that employees\u2019 well-being, which can be measured by job satisfaction, has been claimed to result in high productivity and low turnover. However, Krekel et al. (2019) show that emotional and cognitive elements such as happiness-enhancing treatment and employee engagement also affect employee productivity.\u00a0 Extensive training, participation and communication, sensitive selection, and incentive compensation are found positively related to employee engagement in service industry in India through employees\u2019 vigour (i.e high energy and mental resilience at work), dedication, and absorption (i.e. high concentration at work) (Goyal and Patwardhan, 2020). Work satisfaction and rewards are mainly antecedents of employee engagement at small and medium enterprises in Indonesia, while remuneration satisfaction, self-leadership, and interpersonal leadership positively influenced employee engagement in Thailand (Rakthin et al., 2021; Dyah Sugandini et al, 2018). Boccoli and colleagues (2023) reported organizations play an important role in determining the level of employee engagement when implementing policies and activities within the organizational scope. This proposal calls for PhD students who are interested in investigating employee wellbeing and employee engagement,\u00a0using either quantitative or qualitative or mixed methods to address the unanswered questions of human resource management in the contemporary workplace. \u00a0","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350503 Human Resources Management\n350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Adriel Sim. Aemin Nasir, Nhu Do","title":"The AI Awakening: Transforming Vietnam's Psychological Landscape","description":"Artificial intelligence (AI) integration into workplaces presents a transformative shift in work, impacting employees' psychological well-being and organizational dynamics. In Vietnam, where rapid technological advancements coincide with cultural nuances, understanding the relationship between AI and psychological capital is vital. Psychological capital encompasses positive psychological resources such as resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, and hope, which play a crucial role in individuals' ability to navigate challenges and thrive in the workplace. This research proposal aims to investigate how AI integration influences psychological capital among employees in Vietnam, identifying mechanisms and interventions to support their well-being and productivity.\n\nThe proposed research will employ a mixed-methods approach, utilizing surveys and semi-structured interviews to collect data from employees across various industries in Vietnam. Quantitative surveys will assess the impact of AI integration on psychological capital, measuring factors such as resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, and hope. Qualitative interviews will provide deeper insights into the mechanisms through which AI affects psychological capital, considering cultural, organizational, and individual perspectives.\n\nBy examining the relationship between AI integration and psychological capital in Vietnam, this research seeks to contribute both academically and practically. The findings will inform organizations and policymakers about the potential psychological effects of AI integration and identify strategies to cultivate a positive work environment conducive to employees' well-being and performance. Additionally, the research aims to highlight the importance of fostering psychological capital in the face of technological advancements, promoting resilience and adaptability among the Vietnamese workforces.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350507        Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life 50%\n350506        Workforce planning 25%\n350710        Organisational behaviour 25%"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Oanh Thi Kim Vu, AP Abel Duarte Alonso\nDr Santiago Velesquez ","title":"Vietnam's female entrepreneurs managing smart transition in the circular economy ","description":"(i)-Project Aims \r\nThis project will reveal opportunities and challenges in involvement in Circular Economy (CE) from\r\nfemale entrepreneurs\u2019 perspectives, operating in Vietnam\u2019s cities outside major urban centres.\r\nSpecifically, the project will address the following questions: \r\n\u2022 How do female entrepreneurs in non-major urban centres tangibly and\/or intangibly benefit from\r\nCE practices? \r\n\u2022 What challenges are they facing while pursuing these practices? \r\n\u2022 How do they perceive the future of CE pursuits? \r\n\u2022 What strategies are required to manage smart transition in CE? \r\n\r\n(ii)-Project Gap \r\nVietnam\u2019s areas outside major urban centers face pervasive challenges (including households\u2019\r\ninadequate access to financial services and gender inequality), which result in limited property\r\nownership and employment opportunities for women. These challenges are compounded by the\r\nfact that social and environmental issues in Vietnam are still inadequately addressed. Responding to\r\nthe need to reach sustainable goals and improve economic growth, the Vietnamese government\r\nhas proposed incentives to promote CE, emphasizing the extension of products\u2019 life cycles in which\r\nwomen entrepreneurs could find opportunities in CE projects.\u202fOur research is therefore timely and\r\nvaluable, especially when Vietnamese population is expected to grow leading to an increased\r\ndemand for CE projects. \r\n\r\n(iii)-Methodology \r\nThis project will first choose a qualitative method and an inductive approach, gathering data from\r\nVietnamese female entrepreneurs embracing CE principles in non-major urban cities. Subsequently,\r\nsemi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews will be conducted to address the above\r\nquestions. The interviews will entail a holistic approach, representing various regions, age groups,\r\nand industries, therefore, enabling comparative analysis across various characteristics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship\n440406 Rural community development\n440599 Gender studies not elsewhere classified\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang, Huy Truong , Van-Anh Nguyen","title":"Sustainability, not Achilles\u2019 heel of digital transformation","description":"This research project aims to reconcile the two seemingly contracting trends, \u201cdigital transformation and sustainability\u201d, exploring how digital transformation and sustainability can be synergized within business ecosystems. It will involve an extensive review and analysis of current digital transformation strategies and sustainability practices across various industries, e.g., healthcare, logistics, and marketing. The primary objective is identifying and developing integrated approaches to drive digital innovation and sustainable development. The project will propose models and frameworks encapsulating best practices, guiding businesses to leverage digital technologies to enhance their sustainability goals. Potential topic(s) can explore the synergy between digitization and sustainability, the transformative potential of digital technologies in achieving sustainability in supply chain operations, or how technologies can be integrated with sustainable practices to create resilient and eco-friendly supply chains. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (25%) , 350304 Business systems in context (25%), 350705 Innovation management (25%), 350307 Technology management (25%)\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dao Le Trang Anh, Dang Thao Quyen","title":"Gender Equality, Disability, Social Inclusion (GEDSI) and Corporate Performance of SMEs in Vietnam","description":"This research investigates the impact of Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) on firm performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. SMEs play a critical role in Vietnam\u2019s economic development, yet there is limited research on how implementing inclusive practices influences business outcomes. This study aims to fill that gap by examining how GEDSI initiatives (i.e. promoting gender equality, accommodating disabilities, and fostering social inclusion) impact firm performance measures such as productivity and profitability. \n\nBy conducting surveys and interviews with SME owners, managers, and employees across various industries, this research will use primary data and a qualitative\/ quantitative analysis approach to identify the key factors that support or hinder the adoption of GEDSI practices. If possible, secondary data will also be used to identify the GEDSI impacts on firm financial performance and productivity. The findings will provide actionable insights for SMEs on how inclusivity can enhance their competitiveness, while also contributing to broader social goals. \n\nThe research aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDG 5 - Gender Equality, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 10 - Reduced Inequality. This research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations to promote inclusivity and sustainable growth in Vietnam\u2019s SME sector. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350502 Employment equity and diversity\n350702 Corporate social responsibility"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert Baulch, Adeel Ahmed, Alrence Halibas, Anika Mishra, Simon Feeny","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Selected Asian Countries","description":"\"Applicants are sought for one or two PhD projects on poverty and polarization based at RMIT University Vietnam. Each project will consist of three papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, or Thailand since the late 1990s or early 2000s; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same time in that country; and (iii) how polarization and poverty changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues will be examined through the analysis of multiple rounds of nationally representative household survey data.   \n\nPolarization will be measured using both the Foster-Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using incomes or expenditures and a continuous measure of non-monetary wellbeing (e.g., disability adjusted life years or years of completed years of education). Monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures using incomes or expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index used for non-monetary poverty. \n\nApplicants should have a strong background in development economics and applied statistics\/econometrics. Knowledge of qualitative and mixed methods is an advantage. \nThe student selected will be based in the Business School at RMIT University Vietnam and join RMIT\u2019s Centre for International Development.  \n\nThe successful candidate will be encouraged to present papers at national and international conferences, Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals such as the Journal of Economic Inequality, the Review of Income and Wealth and World Development.  \n\nSeveral internship opportunities exist with international and non-governmental organisations.\nCountries\"\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"\"440405 (Poverty, inclusivity, and wellbeing)\n440703 (Economic development policy)\n380229 (Applied economics, not elsewhere classified)\n\"\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Richard Ramsawak","title":"Leveraging Big Data, and Machine Learning for Urban Development","description":"Urban growth among Southeast Asian countries is continuing to advance rapidly. Latest projections point to an increase in the percentage of urban population from 44% in 2010 to almost 66% by 2050 (Nations 2018).  Much of this growth has stemmed from the rapid industrialization, and economic advancement among key Asian countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand (Huff 2012, Fan, Ouyang et al. 2019). While this has brought benefits of increasing income, employment, and innovation, it has also created new challenges in urban planning and greater environmental risk to these locations.\r\nThis project aims to harness novel big data sources combined with advanced machine learning (ML) techniques to address urban development challenges in key Southeast Asian cities. For instance, data on real estate prices gathered from online sources can be combined with satellite imagery to develop elaborate random forest models, to analyze price trends, value new amenities such as green spaces, and assess the impact of policy changes. Near real-time mobility data can optimize transport networks and predict productivity and environmental benefits.  Satellite imagery combined with ecological and household data can be used to develop convolutional neural networks to evaluate the impacts of changes in built areas on the environment and to develop adaptive solutions. \r\nBy focusing on cities like Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Manila, this research contributes to our understanding of the unique socio-economic characteristics of Southeast Asian cities and leverages new big data sources and techniques to develop innovative data-driven solutions to the challenges they face. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"330404 Urban Analysis and Development\r\n460903 Machine Learning\r\n330305 Sustainable Urban Development"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Irfan Haider","title":"Corporate governance and SDGs","description":"The proposed project aims to empirically examine whether and how corporate governance mechanisms (e.g., board gender diversity, skills and education or background of the board members etc.) can be used to achieve one(s) of the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The literature in this strand is still growing to analyze the crucial role of corporate governance measures adopted by companies toward environmental sustainability. However, a comprehensive and compact research is needed to examine the role of corporate governance practices to achieve the desired outcomes. The proposed study will employ quantitative research approach using panel data of global firms (may include, developed and\/or developing countries for comparative analysis). The proposed research will contribute to wider community i.e., researchers, policymakers, corporations, investors, and society at large by providing comprehensive understanding of the interplay of corporate governance practices and SDGs achievement, thereby contributing to the advancement of corporate sustainability globally.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350201\tEnvironment and climate finance (40%)\r\n350202\tFinance (20%)\r\n350107\tSustainability accounting and reporting (40%)\r\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert McClelland, Dr. Quyen Dang","title":"Green nation branding and firms\u2019 internationalization: the case of Vietnam","description":"Nation branding is critical in the context of changing globalization. Despite conversations that surround de-globalization, international trade and foreign direct investment continue to occur with impressive figures (UNCTAD, 2023). However, there have been fundamental changes in terms of each country\u2019s roles and characteristics on the global market. Importantly, being the driver of the world\u2019s economic growth, emerging markets such as Vietnam strive to penetrate more deeply into globalization through FDI and international trade while aiming to align with sustainable development goals. Therefore, how Vietnam navigates its way through the landscape of building a green nation brand to facilitate Vietnamese firms\u2019 internationalization is an important topic that could have implications for academia, firms, and governments in other countries. \nPrevious literature has mostly explored nation branding in the political, tourism and marketing fields (Rojas-M\u00e9ndez et al. 2022). Increasing attention has been paid to nation branding and international business recently but mainly related to the outcomes of the nation branding process and effects on external stakeholders such as attracting foreign direct investment and the acceptance of firms in foreign countries (Montanari et al. 2019). The lack of research on nation branding process and internal stakeholders such as domestic businesses and citizens limits the impacts on academia and practitioners. Hence, through using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this project aims to address the following research questions: \n1.        How do Vietnamese businesses and citizens perceive the nation brand of their country?\n2.        How can Vietnam build a green nation brand in international markets?\n3.        How does a green nation branding strategy influence the strategies and actions of Vietnamese businesses to develop in international markets?\n4.        What role do moderators and mediators play in the process of building a green nation brand for Vietnam?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706        International business"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert McClelland, Dr. Quyen Dang","title":"Green nation branding and firms\u2019 internationalization: the case of Vietnam","description":"Nation branding is critical in the context of changing globalization. Despite conversations that surround de-globalization, international trade and foreign direct investment continue to occur with impressive figures (UNCTAD, 2023). However, there have been fundamental changes in terms of each country\u2019s roles and characteristics on the global market. Importantly, being the driver of the world\u2019s economic growth, emerging markets such as Vietnam strive to penetrate more deeply into globalization through FDI and international trade while aiming to align with sustainable development goals. Therefore, how Vietnam navigates its way through the landscape of building a green nation brand to facilitate Vietnamese firms\u2019 internationalization is an important topic that could have implications for academia, firms, and governments in other countries. \nPrevious literature has mostly explored nation branding in the political, tourism and marketing fields (Rojas-M\u00e9ndez et al. 2022). Increasing attention has been paid to nation branding and international business recently but mainly related to the outcomes of the nation branding process and effects on external stakeholders such as attracting foreign direct investment and the acceptance of firms in foreign countries (Montanari et al. 2019). The lack of research on nation branding process and internal stakeholders such as domestic businesses and citizens limits the impacts on academia and practitioners. Hence, through using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this project aims to address the following research questions: \n1.        How do Vietnamese businesses and citizens perceive the nation brand of their country?\n2.        How can Vietnam build a green nation brand in international markets?\n3.        How does a green nation branding strategy influence the strategies and actions of Vietnamese businesses to develop in international markets?\n4.        What role do moderators and mediators play in the process of building a green nation brand for Vietnam?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706        International business"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nuno F. Ribeiro, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran, Catherine Earl\r\nMarian Makkar, Andy Stiff","title":"Local residents\u2019 attitudes towards sustainable tourism development in post-Covid19 Vietnam: A case study from Ho Chi Minh City (project 1 of 2) ","description":"This project is part of a larger funded multidisciplinary project that addresses sustainable tourism development along the Kenh Te canal banks of Districts 4 and 7 in Saigon, Vietnam. This project seeks to address the impacts of (sustainable) tourism development in riverside areas of Saigon, concentrating on the impact on local residents\u2019 lives and livelihoods. This study will address a gap in the sustainable tourism literature by investigating the impacts of tourism development in certain areas of Ho Chi Minh City that hitherto have had little to no contact with tourism. This study will also provide an additional testing ground for relationships between attitudes and intended behavior towards tourism development in Vietnam, which thus far has not been done. Findings will support researchers, policy makers, and tourism promotion campaigns. It will also enhance Vietnam\u2019s tourism promotional efforts aimed at increasing revisits by international tourists. This study will use primarily a quantitative approach, seeking to establish the relationship between beliefs, attitudes, and intended behavior towards tourism development The study will use survey\/questionnaire instruments of data collection and structural equation modelling (SEM) and multivariate analysis towards to investigate the nature and strength of relationships between tourism development, tourism developers, and the impact that tourism has\/will have in local residents\u2019 lives and livelihoods.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350801\tImpacts of tourism \r\n350803\tTourism management \r\n350805\tTourism resource appraisal \n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204 Management","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Nhat Minh, Hiep Cong Pham","title":"The impacts of Blockchain technology adoption on supply chain performance: an empirical study from Vietnam","description":"In recent years, blockchain technology has revolutionized supply chain management, enhancing efficiency and transparency with its decentralized, immutable ledger. Most existing studies on blockchain in supply chain management focus on theoretical benefits, with insufficient empirical data on its actual impact. Previous research primarily relies on literature reviews (Azzi et al., 2019; Longo et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2023; Han and Fang, 2024) and limited empirical analysis (Alazab, 2021; Karamchandani et al., 2021). Additionally, there is a lack of research on the unique challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption in emerging markets like Vietnam. To the best of our knowledge, there are only few empirical studies that had focused on the specific context of emerging market like Vietnamese transport and logistics companies. Furthermore, existing studies either provide a composite view of supply chains or focus on individual stages, limiting detailed understanding. There is a need for stage-wise assessment of supply chain practices with blockchain integration to evaluate its direct impact on performance. Additionally, despite extensive literature on blockchain, few clear frameworks exist for deciding whether a supply chain should adopt blockchain. This study aims to develop such a framework, aiding decision-making before implementation. Given Vietnam's rapid economic growth and strategic importance in global supply chains, understanding how blockchain can enhance supply chain performance is crucial.\nResearch methodology:\n\u2022        Conduct a literature review on explore existing research on the impacts of blockchain technology adoption on supply chain performance, with a focus on the transport and logistics sectors. \n\u2022        Develop a theoretical framework, regarding to the potential of blockchain to positively affect supply chain performance in terms of several indicators. \n\u2022        Employ mixed-methods research, including qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, and quantitative surveys with Structural Equation Modelling, to test the proposed model \n\u2022        Using primary data.\nExpected outcomes:\nWe expect the study to uncover a comprehensive understanding of how blockchain technology impacts supply chain performance. It's providing valuable insights for businesses in blockchain technology adoption to enhance operational efficiency, shortens lead times, and optimizes inventory management, while also reducing transaction and operational costs. It improves supply chain visibility, ensuring product authenticity and stakeholder trust.\n\nReferences\nAlazab, M. (2021), \u201cBlockchain technology in supply chain management: an empirical study of the factors affecting user adoption\/acceptance\u201d, Cluster Computing, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 83-101\nAzzi, R., Chamoun, R.K. and Sokhn, M. (2019), \u201cThe power of a blockchain-based supply chain\u201d, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 135, pp. 582-592.\nHan, Y., & Fang, X. (2024). Systematic review of adopting blockchain in supply chain management: bibliometric analysis and theme discussion. International Journal of Production Research, 62(3), 991-1016.\nKaramchandani, A., Srivastava, S.K., Kumar, S. and Srivastava, A. (2021), \u201cAnalysing perceived role of blockchain technology in SCM context for the manufacturing industry\u201d, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 59 No. 11, pp. 3398-3429\nLongo, F., Nicoletti, L., Padovano, A., d\u2019Atri, G. and Forte, M. (2019), \u201cBlockchain-enabled supply chain: an experimental study\u201d, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 136, pp. 57-69.\nVan Nguyen, T., Cong Pham, H., Nhat Nguyen, M., Zhou, L., & Akbari, M. (2023). Data-driven review of blockchain applications in supply chain management: key research themes and future directions. International Journal of Production Research, 61(23), 8213-8235.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"3509        Transportation, logistics and supply chains (40%)\n350909        Supply chains (40%)\n3507        Strategy, management and organisational behaviour (20%)\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204 Management","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Kok Seng Kiong, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran","title":"Understanding value creation from co-production between formal and informal waste collection within the circular economic framework","description":"The waste management sector in emergent countries represents a unique and complex environmental, social and economic challenge. Within the sector there has been a long-standing co-existence between the formal and informal waste collection systems. Much of the extant research has shown that informal waste collectors and recyclers can bring economic and social benefits, especially for vulnerable communities. This is premise upon its adapted coordination structure, minimal expenditures and the embrace for socio-economic opportunities (Wilson et al., 2006, Moreno-S\u00e1nchez et al., 2006). For example, plastics within the waste stream provide a distinct case where waste pickers or scavengers engage in selective waste collection services, potentially contributing to recycling efficiency, minimizing waste discharge into the wider environment. However, there are still substantial gaps within the extant academic literature exploring this socio-economic phenomenon, given the difficulties inherent with studies of informal waste-management, namely the diverse and unstructured contexts of waste-pickers. This has become an area of imperative interest especially considering the potential benefits and opportunities in furthering the circular economy discourse and impacts within Global South economies where much of these informal waste management systems exist \u200b(C. Joshi et al., 2019; Ono et al., 2023; Zisopoulos et al., 2023)\u200b.  \r\n\r\nThus, the primary aim of this study is to better characterize and understand the plastic waste collection and recycling business model in a Global South economy, focusing on Vietnam. The study will disentangle the factors that contribute to value co-production between the informal and formal waste collection systems and its structure within a Vietnamese context. The research seeks to develop an analytical framework built on a system dynamics approach (Sterman et al., 2010; Estay-Ossandon et al., 2018) to explore (non-)market arrangements in the creation of informal and formal waste collection systems with the goal to improve the overall social, environmental and economic benefits furthering the circularity model.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"350304 Business systems in context (20%)\r\n380105 Environment and resource economics (20%)\r\n380119 Welfare economics (10%)\r\n440407 Socio-economic development (25%)\r\n460901 Business process management (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR201 BusInfoSys","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Kok Seng Kiong, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran","title":"Understanding value creation from co-production between formal and informal waste collection within the circular economic framework","description":"The waste management sector in emergent countries represents a unique and complex environmental, social and economic challenge. Within the sector there has been a long-standing co-existence between the formal and informal waste collection systems. Much of the extant research has shown that informal waste collectors and recyclers can bring economic and social benefits, especially for vulnerable communities. This is premise upon its adapted coordination structure, minimal expenditures and the embrace for socio-economic opportunities (Wilson et al., 2006, Moreno-S\u00e1nchez et al., 2006). For example, plastics within the waste stream provide a distinct case where waste pickers or scavengers engage in selective waste collection services, potentially contributing to recycling efficiency, minimizing waste discharge into the wider environment. However, there are still substantial gaps within the extant academic literature exploring this socio-economic phenomenon, given the difficulties inherent with studies of informal waste-management, namely the diverse and unstructured contexts of waste-pickers. This has become an area of imperative interest especially considering the potential benefits and opportunities in furthering the circular economy discourse and impacts within Global South economies where much of these informal waste management systems exist \u200b(C. Joshi et al., 2019; Ono et al., 2023; Zisopoulos et al., 2023)\u200b.  \r\n\r\nThus, the primary aim of this study is to better characterize and understand the plastic waste collection and recycling business model in a Global South economy, focusing on Vietnam. The study will disentangle the factors that contribute to value co-production between the informal and formal waste collection systems and its structure within a Vietnamese context. The research seeks to develop an analytical framework built on a system dynamics approach (Sterman et al., 2010; Estay-Ossandon et al., 2018) to explore (non-)market arrangements in the creation of informal and formal waste collection systems with the goal to improve the overall social, environmental and economic benefits furthering the circularity model.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"350304 Business systems in context (20%)\r\n380105 Environment and resource economics (20%)\r\n380119 Welfare economics (10%)\r\n440407 Socio-economic development (25%)\r\n460901 Business process management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Exploring User security behaviour in WFH context - A TOE Approach","description":"Many organizations around the globe have let their employees work from home, especially due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which expose these organizations to various information security risks in the employees\u2019 work environment at home. While prior research has examined the cognitive factors that influenced the information security behaviors of remote workers, little was known about the impact of the different work environments on these behaviors. Moreover, organizations and employees are abruptly forced to embrace working from home, which create unprecedented problems and inconvenience in how employees perform daily work at home that could jeopardize organizational information security. This project proposes to adapt the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to investigate the factors that influence how employees protect organizational information security while working from home during an extended period. In terms of theoretical implications, the project focuses on exploring the contextual and situational factors that influence employee information security behaviors. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"ISE 4 Cyber Security","forcodes":"460499 Cybersecurity and privacy not elsewhere classified (25%) 460904 Information security management (75%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui, Nhung Vu Thi Hong","title":"Assessing Factors Affecting Circular Economy Adoption by SMEs in Vietnam","description":"The transition to a circular economy presents a significant opportunity for Vietnam's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reduce costs, enhance competitiveness, and promote sustainable development. However, the factors affecting SMEs' adoption of the circular economy in Vietnam are poorly understood. This PhD research proposes to investigate the key drivers and barriers to circular economy adoption among SMEs in Vietnam and to identify strategies and policies to promote greater adoption and more sustainable practices.\r\n\r\nThe research will use a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze data. First, qualitative data will be collected through in-depth interviews with SME owners, government officials, and industry experts to understand the drivers and barriers to circular economy adoption in Vietnam. Then, a survey will be administered to a representative sample of SMEs in different sectors and regions of Vietnam to quantify the prevalence of circular economy practices and to explore the factors that influence their adoption. \r\n\r\nThe original contribution of this PhD project lies in its focus on SMEs, which are a critical segment of the economy in Vietnam and other developing countries. By identifying the factors that influence circular economy adoption among SMEs, the research can inform policy decisions and help to promote more sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Additionally, the project's mixed-methods approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of the issues at play, combining qualitative insights with quantitative data to provide a nuanced view of the factors affecting circular economy adoption in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350716\tSmall business organisation and management (40%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (30%)\r\n350709\tOrganisation and management theory (30%)\r"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Trung Quang Nguyen, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"Technology uptake and competitiveness among Vietnamese micro and small-sized businesses","description":"The effects of technological uptake among businesses, including micro, small, and medium\nenterprises (MSMEs), have contributed to significant changes and new opportunities (Herv\u00e9 et al.,\n2021). One demonstration is that the more a firm increases the digitalisation of its operations, the\nstronger its entrepreneurial behaviour, leading to beneficial strategic decisions in international\nactivities (Herv\u00e9 et al., 2021). Nevertheless, digital transformation also challenges MSMEs\u2019\ncompetitiveness; this burden is particularly present among micro and small enterprises (MSEs)\noperating in emerging economies, where, traditionally, pervasive inhibiting factors are limiting their\ngrowth (da Costa et al., 2022). This point has enormous implications, especially given the massive\npresence of MSEs worldwide and their socioeconomic impacts and contributions (Teka, 2022).\nAccording to Vietnam\u2019s SMS Support Law, micro-sized firms employ 10 or fewer people and small-sized firms 11-100 people; based on the 2016 GSO Enterprise Census, over 91 per cent of formal\nbusinesses fall under the MSE category in Vietnam (OECD, 2021).\n Unpacking the nexus between MSEs and technology adoption is timely and relevant. Moreover,\nPhD candidates could choose from, develop, and explore a suite of critical themes with the potential\nto benefit Vietnam\u2019s MSE industry stakeholders, including through empirical and conceptual data,\nanalyses, and models under the delivery of journal articles and workshops that, together, can deliver\na more robust understanding of technology\u2019s role and impact as a facilitator of MSEs\u2019 future\ncompetitiveness. This line of research could also be complemented and enhanced through an\ninternship at one of our partners\u2019 companies, cross-industry, or cross-national investigations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350711 Organisational planning and management\n350716 Small business organisation and management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang, Huy Truong , Van-Anh Nguyen","title":"Sustainability, not Achilles\u2019 heel of digital transformation","description":"This research project aims to reconcile the two seemingly contracting trends, \u201cdigital transformation and sustainability\u201d, exploring how digital transformation and sustainability can be synergized within business ecosystems. It will involve an extensive review and analysis of current digital transformation strategies and sustainability practices across various industries, e.g., healthcare, logistics, and marketing. The primary objective is identifying and developing integrated approaches to drive digital innovation and sustainable development. The project will propose models and frameworks encapsulating best practices, guiding businesses to leverage digital technologies to enhance their sustainability goals. Potential topic(s) can explore the synergy between digitization and sustainability, the transformative potential of digital technologies in achieving sustainability in supply chain operations, or how technologies can be integrated with sustainable practices to create resilient and eco-friendly supply chains. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (25%) , 350304 Business systems in context (25%), 350705 Innovation management (25%), 350307 Technology management (25%)\n"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert Baulch,Chung Phan","title":"Education, Skills and Employment Transitions for Millennials in Vietnam","description":"This PhD project will use Rounds 1 to 6 of Young Lives (https:\/\/www.younglives.org.uk\/) to examine transitions in education and employment for two cohorts of children born just before\/after the Millennium in Vietnam. Young Lives is unique longitudinal study coordinated Oxford University that has followed 12,000 children in four developing countries since 2001.  In Vietnam, 3000 children were selected from households in five geographically dispersed provinces. Five face-to-face questionnaire survey rounds have been completed plus five phone interviews during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a qualitative sub-sample of 200 children and two school surveys. The Young Lives\u2019 data has low attrition and is high-quality. \n\nA three to four paper thesis, using a primarily quantitative approach, to examine the following issues is envisaged: \n\n1.        Which socio-economic factors most impact the ability of Vietnamese students to progress from lower to upper secondary school and from there to tertiary education? \n2.        What are the typical pathways for young people as they progress from secondary or tertiary education to employment in Vietnam? Which events and policies have most impacted these transitions?\n3.        How well do the education qualifications and skills of young workers align with the demands of Vietnam\u2019s rapidly growing and urbanising economy? \n4.        How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the educational transitions and employment outcomes of Vietnamese youth?\n\nApplicants should have a strong background in development economics and applied statistics\/econometrics. Knowledge of education economics and qualitative methods is an advantage. \n\nSeveral internship opportunities exist with international and Vietnamese organisations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380104\n380111\n440403"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Umair Akram","title":"Metaverse Tourism service quality and customer behavior intention to use Metaverse and to visit a destination.","description":"\"The tourism industry has seen significant growth, especially with the advent of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robots, biometric technology, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), all of which enhance personalization and enrich tourist experiences. While the impact of innovative technology has been extensively explored in various sectors, its role in the tourism and hospitality industry remains underrepresented. Drawing from insights from the Holistic Technostress Model and the Flow theory, this project seeks to develop a framework that evaluates Metaverse Tourism Service Quality and its influence on tourist attitudes, experiences, and behavioral intentions. Key research questions include: What attributes define Metaverse tourism service quality? How can Metaverse tourism service quality shape customer behavior? To what extent does Metaverse tourism impact customer behavior? In terms of research design and methods, this project will employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches for data collection and analysis. The anticipated outcomes aim to elucidate the concept of Metaverse tourism service quality and its correlation with tourist attitudes, experiences, and intentions. Furthermore, the findings will provide actionable strategies for tourism stakeholders to bolster tourism initiatives and enhance tourist intentions.\"","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"350601 (50%)\r\n350806 (25%)\r\n460806 (25%)\r"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Van Ha Thi Cam, Tra Pham, Ronald Kumar","title":"Globalisation, innovation and Sustainable Development Goals: The role of institutions. ","description":"Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are among the most essential aims of most countries and it takes a lot of effort to achieve these goals. Since globalisation and technological development are widely seen as the drivers for economic growth, the role of governments appears to be equally important to attain SDGs. This proposed project aims to examine the role of institutions in the relationship between globalisation, technological development, and inequality using country-level data covering the 1990-2022 period. The project first examines the tri-dimension relationship between globalisation, technological development, and inequality  and then investigates if governance plays a role in this relationship. While there is a large body of existing literature pays attention to the relationship between globalisation and inequality, limited work has been done on the tri-dimention relationship as well as the role of institutions in this relationship. This project also considers the differences between countries by income group and location. The project takes into account the changes in the relationship after several significant economic events, for example, the Southeast Asia financial crisis (1998-2000), the Global financial crisis (2008-2010), and Covid-19 (2019-2021), and examine the role of governance in these crucial times. The majority of data for this research come from the World Bank database: World Development Indicator (WDI); World Governance Indicator (WGI) and Global Innovation Index (GII). This project is expected to provide some insights into the existing literature, such as the tri-dimension relationship, as well as provide policy recommendations for countries to consider these drivers for achieving the SDGs. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"380110\tInternational economics (50%)\r\n380113\tPublic economics - public choice (25%)\r\n380112\tMacroeconomics (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui Duy, Teck Yap Lee ","title":"Digital Banking and Financial Literacy in Vietnam","description":"Digital banking has emerged as a disruptive force in the financial industry, offering customers convenient and accessible services. However, the impact of digital banking on customers' financial literacy is still not fully understood. Financial literacy is crucial in promoting financial inclusion and economic development, and understanding the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy is essential for policymakers, digital banking providers, and customers. This study investigates the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy in Vietnam.\r\n\r\nDespite the growing popularity of digital banking in Vietnam, little is known about its impact on customers' financial literacy. Most studies on digital banking in Vietnam have focused on adoption, usage, and customer satisfaction, but the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy has been largely overlooked.\r\n\r\nThe research will begin with a review of the literature on digital banking and financial literacy, followed by in-depth interviews with digital banking customers in Vietnam. The interviews will explore customers' experiences and perceptions of digital banking, their financial knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and the extent to which they receive financial education and guidance from digital banking providers. The study will also survey digital banking customers in Vietnam to collect quantitative data on their financial literacy, digital banking usage, and demographic characteristics. The survey data will be analyzed using statistical methods to explore the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy. Finally, the study will draw on the findings from the interviews and surveys to develop recommendations for digital banking providers and policymakers in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204\tFinancial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\r\n350208\tInvestment and risk management (20%)\r\n350299\tBanking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Binh Nguyen Thanh, Diem T. H. Vo","title":"What drives the development of Cryptoeconomies?","description":"A cryptoeconomy (economy built on the Blockchain) can be viewed as an emerging economy, since it has numerous institutional characteristics of a traditional economy including money, property rights, economic transactions, production capital, products & services, legal infrastructure as well as users who seek to contribute to the cryptoeconomy and receive economic value in turn. Cryptoeconomies offer digital financial services that support small medium-sized enterprises, enables small businesses to provide services to global markets and financial settlements for cross-border payments (Jiang & Chen, 2021), and provides low-cost financial services to impoverished individuals, contributing to poverty alleviation (Ning, Ramirez, & Khuntia, 2021). Hence, accelerating the development of cryptoeconomies can help to economically empower and bring financial inclusion to businesses and individuals at a global scale which are critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, our understanding of the theory behind cryptoeconomy development is limited. The literature on this topic is in its infancy and lacks theory-driven empirical studies. Traditional economic development theories need to be adjusted to fit into the context of cryptoeconomies. Addressing this gap, this project begins by conducting a literature review and highlighting key differences between cryptoeconomies and traditional economies. This project then applies traditional economic theories on cryptoeconomies to model their economic growth and empirically test those theories. The results intend to provide insights and implications for the blockchain community and policymakers regarding developing an economy (e.g., improving productivity, reducing poverty, creating empowerment opportunities) and how to achieve SDGs. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"380302 Macroeconomic theory (30%);\u00a0380204 Panel data analysis (20%);\u00a0380112 macroeconomics (50%)\u00a0"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stanley Teck Lee Yap, Tung Bui Duy, PhD (Senior Supervisor, School of Business and Management, RMIT Vietnam)","title":"Economic policy uncertainty, market risks and farmers\u2019 welfare in Vietnam.","description":"Agricultural commodity markets are confronting more complex challenges from economic policy uncertainty and market risks. Economic policy uncertainty convoluted with market risks amplify the agricultural commodity prices volatility and negatively impacts the welfare of farmers in developing countries (FAO, 2022, p. 23). Moreover, barriers such as non-transparency agricultural pricing mechanism (Distefano et al., 2018), lack of risk management knowledge (Baffes and Nagle, 2022), and asymmetric information between farmers and local intermediaries (Park et al., 2020) hinder effective risk management. Research gap exists in examine agricultural production that considered economic policy uncertainty and local\/global market risks in the institutional context of transition and developing countries such as Vietnam. This study investigates: (1) What are the economic policy uncertainty and market risks impacting the Vietnamese farmers\u2019 welfare, and how and to what extent are the impacts; (2) What are the feasible risk management strategy and policy to sustain the Vietnamese farmers\u2019 welfare. This study contributes to how the existing Vietnamese agricultural policy can be improved to mitigate these impacts. This study consists qualitative in-depth interview with the Vietnamese farmers to identify the risks impacting their welfare, and quantitative economic analysis to explore associations between welfare, policy and market risks, commodity prices, and socioeconomic factors. The trade model by Eaton and Kortum (2002) which considers welfare, technology, and trade geography will be used as the theoretical foundation model. The potential PhD candidate should have obtained a Master's degree in the field relevant to business management, economics or finance with analytical skills foundation.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380101 Agricultural economics (40%)\r\n380202 Econometric and statistical method (30%) \r\n380304 Microeconomic theory (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Greeni Maheshwari, Manjit Singh Sandhu, Umair Akram","title":"ICT adoption among women entrepreneurs in Vietnam","description":"Entrepreneurship has been considered the primary force for developing any growing economy. Information and technology, as compared to the other developing nations, have yet to be rooted in the entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam, especially for women entrepreneurs.\u00a0 According to world bank survey (2020), new technology application is at an early stage in Vietnam, where only 6% of businesses used cloud computing for business tasks and under 2% of businesses used big data or artificial intelligence for marketing. The proportion of women-owned businesses in 2011 was 21%, significantly increasing to 31.3% in 2018, per the Mastercard Index of Women entrepreneur report. Vietnam has great potential for developing information and communications technology, which is considered a key pillar for the government in developing a digital economy. The digital economy creates excellent opportunities for stakeholders to increase production and business efficiency in the context of the rapidly developing science and technology revolution 4.0, but less than 60% of small and medium sized enterprises said they either lack information about existing technologies or lack the skills to use them (World Bank survey, 2020).\u00a0Entrepreneurial growth concerning women entrepreneurs has been regarded and given due consideration with the growth of industrialization. Women start-ups can grasp the digital economy trends to achieve their goals in the shortest time and ensure sustainable development in the face of many challenges caused by the radically changing business environment. Female entrepreneurs can play a significant role in fostering the development of the small business sector and facilitating the evolution of enterprises in transition economies. A lack of technological awareness among women and entrepreneurs makes them incapable of handling the competition set by global firms. Hence, the purpose of the project is to examine the experiences and challenges of women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial growth and the use of ICT for women entrepreneurs in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704, 350716, 350705"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen, Muhammad Safiullah (Economics, Finance, and Marketing)","title":"The real effects of climate change risks on firm sustainability outcomes","description":"Climate change poses a substantial risk to any economy and financial system (Litterman et al., 2020). Thus it has gained significant attention from the media, regulators, practitioners, and academics over the past years. Current climate finance research has offered important insights into different aspects of climate change risks. It focuses on the hedging and pricing of those risks but overlooks their real effects on firms\u2019 sustainability outcomes and the role of stakeholders in mitigating the risks (Hong et al., 2020; Hong & Shore, 2022). \r\n\r\nMotivated by such gap and informed by climate economic and finance theory, this PhD project aims to investigate (1) whether and how climate-change risks (measured by both the real risks such as sea level rise (Nguyen et al., 2022), local air pollution (Huynh et al., 2021) and climate change sentiment such as climate change news risk (Engle et al., 2020; Huynh & Xia, 2021)) influence related corporate sustainability outcomes (e.g., corporate green innovation) and (2) if such relationships are conditioned on firm media reputation, internal and external governance mechanisms (e.g., board gender diversity, institutional ownership), and engagement of stakeholders. \r\n\r\nThis PhD project will offer insights into the impact of climate change risks on corporate sustainability outcomes and channels through which that process occurs or factors affecting this process. The findings are expected to assist regulators in formulating policies that support a sustainable economy.  \r\n\r\nThe candidate is expected to have a solid background in economics\/finance, quantitative research methods, and strong analytical skills. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"353502 Banking, finance, and investment\r\n353507 Strategy, management, and organizational behaviour "},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Trung Quang Nguyen, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"Technology uptake and competitiveness among Vietnamese micro and small-sized businesses","description":"The effects of technological uptake among businesses, including micro, small, and medium\nenterprises (MSMEs), have contributed to significant changes and new opportunities (Herv\u00e9 et al.,\n2021). One demonstration is that the more a firm increases the digitalisation of its operations, the\nstronger its entrepreneurial behaviour, leading to beneficial strategic decisions in international\nactivities (Herv\u00e9 et al., 2021). Nevertheless, digital transformation also challenges MSMEs\u2019\ncompetitiveness; this burden is particularly present among micro and small enterprises (MSEs)\noperating in emerging economies, where, traditionally, pervasive inhibiting factors are limiting their\ngrowth (da Costa et al., 2022). This point has enormous implications, especially given the massive\npresence of MSEs worldwide and their socioeconomic impacts and contributions (Teka, 2022).\nAccording to Vietnam\u2019s SMS Support Law, micro-sized firms employ 10 or fewer people and small-sized firms 11-100 people; based on the 2016 GSO Enterprise Census, over 91 per cent of formal\nbusinesses fall under the MSE category in Vietnam (OECD, 2021).\n Unpacking the nexus between MSEs and technology adoption is timely and relevant. Moreover,\nPhD candidates could choose from, develop, and explore a suite of critical themes with the potential\nto benefit Vietnam\u2019s MSE industry stakeholders, including through empirical and conceptual data,\nanalyses, and models under the delivery of journal articles and workshops that, together, can deliver\na more robust understanding of technology\u2019s role and impact as a facilitator of MSEs\u2019 future\ncompetitiveness. This line of research could also be complemented and enhanced through an\ninternship at one of our partners\u2019 companies, cross-industry, or cross-national investigations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350711 Organisational planning and management\n350716 Small business organisation and management"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Success Factors and Challenges of Algorithmic Decision-Making in Healthcare","description":"As data-driven technologies are widely adopted in different settings, scholars and practitioners have recently studied aspects of algorithmic decision-making (ADM), or the process where decisions are made either directly by the algorithms or by a human decision-maker supported by algorithms. In either case, many concerns have been raised regarding the fairness, transparency, accuracy, accountability, data privacy, and security of ADM, to name a few. More importantly, these concerns need to be addressed when ADM is applied in critical contexts such as healthcare. This doctoral research project will employ a mixed-methods approach to explore the success factors and challenges associated with the existing or potential use of ADM in healthcare from the perspective of users. The project would contribute practical implications for designing ADM process and data-driven healthcare technologies that are both useful and acceptable to societies. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Systems (AISSC)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Jasper Teow","title":"Exploring human perception, acceptance, and use of emerging technologies.","description":"This research investigates the multifaceted aspects of human interactions with emerging technologies, focusing on perception, acceptance, and practical application. Understanding these elements is crucial as technological advancements reshape daily life and societal structures. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and others, are increasingly penetrating personal and professional environments. Earlier studies suggest that the success of these technologies largely depends on how well they are perceived and accepted by users. However, comprehensive research that delves into these relationships remains limited. This research explores how individuals perceive and accept emerging technologies and how these perceptions influence their usage patterns. The key research questions include: How do cognitive biases affect the perception of emerging technologies? What are the primary factors that influence the acceptance of new technological tools? How does the usage of these technologies vary across different demographic groups? This research prefers a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data. The analysis is expected to focus on identifying trends and patterns within user groups, aiming to develop predictive models for technology adoption. The research will deploy the Knowledge Behavior Gap (KBG) model as the key methodological framing. The research outcomes shall provide valuable insights for technology developers, policymakers, and educators, helping to tailor innovative solutions that meet user needs and enhance the integration of emerging technologies into society. The overall research aim is to contribute a deeper understanding of human factors driving the success and integration of new technological advancements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460806 Human-computer interaction (70%)\n460803 Collaborative and social computing (15%)\n460805 Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems (15%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Systems (AISSC)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Hoang Thuan, Robert McClelland","title":"Decisions to switch channels in multiple\/omnichannel retailers","description":"Companies have integrated multiple online and offline channels as an effective approach to improve customer experiences. Prior research suggests that the decision to switch channels cannot simply be based on perceived benefit; rather multiple factors should be considered. However, a structured account decision factors and decisions making process is still lacking. This research project fills the gap by exploring how customers make decisions to switch. We aim to identify and structure key factors influencing this decision. With these factors, we further aim to develop a decision making process\/framework concerning key activities related to the decision. A mixed method approach can be applied to identify the relevant factors and quantitatively test how these factors influencing the decision.  Based on the findings, the project will give several recommendations for managers making the crowdsourcing decision.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350601 Consumer behaviour (50%)\r\n469999 Information systems (50%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Accounting (AISSC)","programcode":"DR200","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuan Chu, Samuel Buerey, Ronald Kumar","title":"Exploring Challenges Faced by Vietnamese Firms in Sustainability Reporting","description":"There is a dearth of comprehensive studies examining the challenges hindering successful implementation of sustainability reporting practices at the organizational level in Vietnam. This PhD project will bridge this gap by providing an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by Vietnamese firms in adopting and implementing sustainable practices and reporting, assessing the impact of these challenges, and suggesting potential strategies for improvement. Hence, the project welcomes both quantitative and\/or qualitative methods. The project aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the current state of sustainability reporting in Vietnam. The research will explore developments in recent theoretical frameworks on sustainability reporting, which will be customized and applied to in an emerging country context to identify the complexities and challenges of adopting sustainability reporting. The findings will be examined for its uniqueness to Vietnamese companies, as well as the plausible uniformity that may exist across countries, the latter aspect will be based on a thorough literature review. Noting the nuances in the adoption of sustainability, the research project aims to propose an alternative framework, and hence contribute to the theoretical aspects on corporate sustainability from the perspective of developing countries. The project will aim to carefully synthesize the findings into actionable solutions, that can be considered for implementation by businesses, policymakers, and stakeholders, with the view to improve sustainability reporting practices in Vietnam. The replication of the findings to other countries in the region will further strengthen the sustainable development agenda in the region.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350107 (50%) \u2013 Sustainability accounting and reporting; \n350101 (25%) \u2013 Accounting theory and standards; \n380202 (15%) \u2013 Econometrics and statistical methods;\n441006 (10%) - Sociological methodology and research methods"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hiep Pham","title":"Social Marketing Approach in Encouraging Employee Security Compliance","description":"Understanding the behavioral change process of system users to adopt safe security practices is important to the success of an organization\u2019s cybersecurity program. Internal marketing is an effective strategy to enhance organizational capabilities and competencies, by influencing employees\u2019 attitudes and behaviors towards organizational goals. Social marketing adopts the concepts and techniques of commercial marketing to influence target audiences to adopt or sustain behavior in pursuit of social goals such as in increasing pro-environmental behavior, health related behavior, and service quality. Internal social marketing (ISM) combines social and internal marketing, applying internal marketing to influence employees\u2019 attitude and behavior towards organizational changes, but to aiming to achieve social, rather than commercial objectives. This study aims to apply 7Ps marketing mix, as part of an ISM approach, and measure its effectiveness on employee compliance behaviour. This understanding could inform the design of behavioral infrastructure to promote and maintain cybersecurity compliance. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"ISE 4 Cyber Security","forcodes":"460904 Information security management (60%) 350612 Social marketing (30% 350604 Marketing communications (10%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hiep Pham","title":"Digital transformation of logistics and supply chains in Vietnam - A Risk Focused Approach","description":"Digitalization in supply chain (SC) has emerged as a response to improve information sharing, better demand management and reduce cost. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented global SC disruptions greatly affect firms\u2019 critical operation. As many firms are trying to remain competitive by investing in digital transformation regardless of their current technology infrastructure, size, business model, or business environment, it is essential to understand key determinants of a firm\u2019s digital SC transformation decision. A firm\u2019s perceived SC disruption risk and its internal capabilities such as absorptive capacity and learning intent impact the level of digital SC transformation that it will commit to. This project can examine industry-specific risks and firm heterogeneity to identify industry-specific risk variables understanding how firms respond to disruption risks in their supply chain. Research can also be done to include more internal capabilities (asymmetric learning, open innovation, etc.) and external factors (e.g. TOE) to explore their impacts on digital SC transformation in a crisis. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy","forcodes":"350903 Logistics 350909 Supply chains 350999 Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vu Thi Hong Nhung,  Bui Duy Tung","title":"Gender Differences in Adopting Digital Technologies among SMEs in Vietnam","description":"With the rapid development of digital technologies, adopting and using these technologies have become increasingly crucial for the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. However, there is limited research on gender differences in adopting and using digital technologies among SMEs in Vietnam. This study aims to fill this research gap by examining the gender differences in the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs in Vietnam. \r\nWhile there is a growing body of literature on the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs, there is limited research on gender differences in this area. This study contributes to the literature on gender differences in the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs by focusing on the Vietnamese context. By examining the factors influencing the adoption and use of digital technologies among men and women-owned SMEs, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of how gender differences may shape technology adoption and use. Additionally, this study provides insights into how policymakers and business support organisations can better support women-owned SMEs in adopting and using digital technologies.\r\nThe quantitative component of the study will involve a survey of SMEs in Vietnam, focusing on collecting data on the adoption and use of digital technologies, as well as other relevant factors such as firm size, industry, and ownership. The qualitative component of the study will involve in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of SMEs to provide more detailed insights into the factors that influence technology adoption and use among men and women-owned SMEs. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350716\tSmall business organisation and management  (33%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (33%)\t\t\r\n440705\tGender, policy and administration\t(34%)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vicki Little","title":"Creating public value through nature-based solutions: Implanting urban farming","description":"Innovating to support social and environmental outcomes is 'sustainability-oriented' innovation (SOI). It is a broad topic, capturing ecopreneurship (people-focused), the innovations themselves (technologies, artefacts, skills and capabilities), and the nested systems they are designed to intervene in (households, neighbourhoods, communities, cities, countries and the planet itself). The goal is to create and distribute value equitably for and to quintuple helix systems stakeholders (e.g., government, civil society, academia, industry and the environment). In particular, SOI addresses the needs of silent social stakeholders - future generations.\r\n\r\nFood security is one of the most important targets for SOI. Climate change is affecting productive capacity and hence food security in multiple ways, for example sea level rise, extreme weather events destroying crops and contaminating land, and invasive species becoming more pervasive. Traditional agriculture will encounter increasing challenges from both climate and social license to operate, particularly in its current damaging, intensive forms. Therefore, we must pivot to new forms of food provisioning. We must find ways to distribute production to reduce risk, and to provide equitable access for local communities. \r\n\r\nThis topic is deliberately broad. There could be opportunities to collaborate with private or public stakeholders producing nature-based solutions, for example, or who are innovating laboratory grown meats, or who are creating communities of practice around decentralised food production, or who are finding innovative ways to turn food waste into new food solutions. Those opportunities might include industry, government or community internships, wherein the candidate gathers data as a participant observer (ethnography or action research). It could include colleagues from other schools who are working on bioscience innovations, or sustainable cities, or engineering solutions.\r\n\r\nThe key principles are:\r\n\r\n1. Addressing the impact of climate change on current food systems (SDGs 13 (climate action), 2 (zero hunger), 9 (industry innovation & infrastructure), 12 (responsible production and consumption));\r\n2. Taking a broad, transformative (vs incremental) position to conceptualising necessary change, with the implication that a critical perspective of current damaging logics would be required;\r\n3. Taking a situated systems vs individual actor perspective with the implication that the study would engage in naturalistic enquiry (case study, ethnography, action research);\r\n4. Taking an effectuation view of the topic and outputs, drawing on the skills, competencies, networks and interests of the student(s) involved and the supervisory team; recognising that the project relates to a logic of theory discovery rather than a logic of theory justification and testing; with the implication that the topic will evolve over time and in response to new information (an emergent logic).\r\n\r\nThis is not a topic for those who are uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, it is a topic for enquirers (both faculty and students) who wish to challenge current thinking, and to make the world a better place. It therefore requires candidates with an entrepreneurial mindset, and who wish to help solve 'wicked' problems.\r\n\r\nThe project could form a point of coalescence for a platform(s), or for a group of students, each tackling an aspect of the problem of improving food security. That problem is both 'wicked' and intersectional i.e., also incorporates issues around gender and wealth inequality, land rights, access to resources, indigenous knowledge and epistemological justice.  Please note that this project touches on most of the platforms.\r\n\r\nThe topic or topics would need to be refined in consultation with the student, supervisory panel (which may be transdisciplinary i.e. include industry or government representation) in line with these first principles. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"350603\r\n350605\r\n350612"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang","title":"Digital Transformation and digitalisation of healthcare in Vietnam","description":"Digital transformation and the digitalisation of processes, which leverage digital technologies to optimise existing operations and create improvements, have been rapidly taking place in organisations of all sizes and across different sectors. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact societies around the world, the healthcare sector is put under pressure to adopt digital technologies to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for citizens of all ages. Nevertheless, the extant literature has shown that digital transformation programs are often large and complex, and contextual i.e., there is no one-size-fits-all solution for digital transformation across different contexts. This doctoral research project will employ a mixed method approach to examine the success factors and challenges in the adoption of digital technologies from both the perspectives of healthcare centres (e.g., hospitals and clinics) and relevant stakeholders (e.g., doctors, nurses, professional staff, as well as patients and policy makers). Furthermore, it involves developing and delivering a comprehensive training program to enhance digital transformation capabilities of healthcare centres and staff in Vietnam. The project will put forward a validated framework that outlines the best practices for digital transformation and digitalisation in the healthcare context. The PhD candidate(s) working on this project will be mentored by experienced and senior researchers who have established research track records in the digital transformation and digitalisation areas. The candidate(s) will also have access to networks of researchers in the Managing Smart Transformation research cluster at RMIT Vietnam and RMIT Australia, as well as healthcare centres and medical professionals in Vietnam. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang","title":"From Thoughts to Actions, from Data to Insights: Understanding Humans in the Digital World","description":"Firms have created IT-enabled transformational services across industries. Local entertainment companies offer a wide range of streaming services, from video and music to gaming across devices. In the financial sector, firms promote online payment and banking services as IT-based services, including e-wallets and online savings. Meanwhile, technology firms provide IT solutions as web-based services. Healthcare physicians now deliver healthcare services through electronic platforms. As there are many new forms of business, the ways consumers interact with them all have changed. All these interactions have created a huge volume of digital data. Digital traces from consumer online activities present researchers with the opportunity to research the interplay between people, processes, and technology, since the insights extracted from such large-scale data would not be possible in traditional experiments. The Ph.D. candidate(s) working on this project need to expand their capacity to work with large, but less-than-ideal datasets, and integrate digital trace data into research designs for causal inference tasks. Potential topic(s) will explore different perspectives on marketing, consumers, and technology, e.g. consumers' adoption and usage of IT-enabled products and services, extraction of actionable insights from consumers\u2019 online activities.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;SC 4 Transformations in Work;UF 4 Applied urban analytics;","forcodes":"350301 Business analytics (40%) 350303 Business information systems (30%) 350601 Consumer behaviour (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thai Nguyen","title":"Blockchain, FinTech and transformation in banking industry","description":"Blockchain and fintech are challenging the traditional roles of the well-established banking systems. What are the impacts of blockchain and fintech on the banking industry and how is the industry responding? How effective are government policies on banking industry upon the emergence of blockchain and fintech? Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2027","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;","forcodes":"350204, 350299, 380107"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thai Nguyen, Tra Pham","title":"Central bank digital currencies, financial inclusion and financial instability","description":"Countries around the world have been pursuing the development of Central Bank Digital Currency in recent years. This has important implications for multiple aspects of the financial systems. Standard arguments claim that CBDCs promote financial inclusion through drawing the unbanked to formal financial services. However, greater financial inclusion may pose risks for financial stability through credit expansion and other factors. Prior research mostly documents a trade-off between financial inclusion and financial stability, but synergy can also occur. As both financial inclusion and financial stability are paramount to policy agenda, it is important to explore how they are related and how the introduction of CBDC will impact this nexus. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2024","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;","forcodes":"350204, 380107, 380112"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen, SPM Finance\n","title":"Corporate sustainability performance during environmental, political and technological uncertainties","description":"Corporate sustainability has emerged as a prominent business strategy that could improve a firm\u2019s reputation, with possible benefits on the firm\u2019s value and long-term development. However, we have witnessed drastic changes in the social, environmental and political landscape as well as new emerging technologies over the last few years, therefore the factors that drive corporate sustainability performance in the current literature may no longer be applicable. Thus, it is important to re-examine the determinants of corporate sustainability performance in this new landscape at the firm level. This PhD project aims to shed light on the importance of external factors such as political connections; environment, social and governance (ESG) disclosure; and blockchain-related activities on corporate sustainability performance at a global scale. As such, this project will examine the key determinants of corporate sustainability performance and investigate the effect of political connections, ESG disclosure and blockchain-related activities on corporate sustainability performance. The project will employ quantitative methods such as content analysis, multi-criteria decision-making methods and several statistical models and techniques such as OLS, GMM, probit regression, propensity score matching and other sensitivity tests. The outcomes of this project are expected to advance the understanding of the determinants of corporate sustainability performance and show how political connections, ESG voluntary disclosure and blockchain-related activities drive corporate sustainability performance. The project will also provide policy and practical implications to assist firms to achieve long-term sustainability objectives.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350202 Finance (75%) ; 350203 Financial Econometrics (25%) ; 350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trung Nguyen","title":"Moving Toward an Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Nation","description":"Vietnam has set an ambitious goal - moving toward a digital nation by 2030. The National Programme for Digital Transformation aims to \u201cdevelop a digital government, digital economy, and digital society and to establish Vietnamese digital technology enterprises capable of going global\u201d (Prime Minister of Vietnam, 2020). Although the country has taken great initiatives to excel through smart cities and industry 4.0, the actual implementation shows there were still many difficulties and challenges for city leaders, management agencies, and businesses. Potential topic(s) explore the inclusive and sustainable digital transformation of Vietnam, e.g., digital government, digital society, digital economy, international business, and benchmarking of smart and sustainable cities. These projects aim to examine drivers, barriers, and government's support for an inclusive and sustainable digital nation; to recast the new globalization and define the new meaning of 'born global'; or to benchmark smart city. The Ph.D. candidate(s) working on this project will be mentored by experienced researchers in the e-government and digitalization areas.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;UF 2 Smart cities analytics;GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance;","forcodes":"350714 Public sector organisation and management (50%) 350706 International business (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vicki Little","title":"Sustainability-oriented innovation in agrifood markets","description":"Producing sufficient food for future generations is vital, however current modes of industrial food production are unsustainable, i.e. destroy the natural capital upon which they are based. Therefore, sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI) must be purposively developed and diffused into current food systems. However, the nature of SOIs are as yet not well understood, likewise the issues and challenges of development and diffusion into current systems. Deeper insight is needed into the tensions between social, economic and environmental elements of food production from a holistic perspective. Likewise, further insight is needed into the nature and dynamics of ecopreneurship, whereby disruptive or niche innovations derive; and into the mindsets and practices of ecopreneurs who challenge the status quo. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"DCP The Social and Sustainable","forcodes":""},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"George Majo","title":"Approaches for Greener supply chain in Vietnamese fashion and textile industries","description":"The drive for sustainability is getting significant attention from various industries including fashion and textiles. These sectors are neglecting the sustainability objectives especially in developing countries for various reasons. Fashion and textile supply chain involves environmental pollution due to its inherent nature in manufacturing industries. Similarly, the social and economic aspects of sustainability is neglected in the form of not taking care of the society and resources. This project will investigate the greener supply chain aspects in Vietnamese fashion and textile industries. Various approaches taken by the industries to become green will be investigated through this project. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be implemented during the study. The study findings can provide an outline for the existing industries and the new industries steps to become sustainable.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"The Social and Sustainable","forcodes":"350909 Supply chains"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dao Le Trang Anh","title":"Financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality in the Asia-Pacific region","description":"The Asia-Pacific region is at the forefront of the global digital revolution, with developed and emerging countries that lead the adoption and advancement of new technologies. Over the past few decades, the Asia-Pacific region has also experienced impressive economic growth, with many countries in the region transitioning from low-income to middle- and high-income status. However, the digitalization level, the degree of financial development, and the quality of institutions vary greatly across the region. \nFinancial development refers to the growth of financial institutions and markets, while digitalization refers to the use of digital technologies to transform economic and social activities. Institutional quality encompasses a range of factors such as the rule of law, protection of property rights, and government efficiency, which are critical to fostering an enabling environment for sustainable economic growth and development. The interplay between financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality in the Asia-Pacific region is undiscovered, and understanding these relationships is essential for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners seeking to promote sustainable economic development in the region and in each nation.\nThis project, therefore, aims to explore the nexuses of financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality by a comparative analysis among nations in the Asia-Pacific region. From the findings, the project provides insights into the potential implications for bettering the financial sector, the digitalization process, and the broader economy in each nation as well as the entire Asia-Pacific region.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350207 International Finance\r\n380107 Financial Economics\r\n\r"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vu Thi Hong Nhung, Bui Duy Tung","title":"Financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam","description":"Digital banking has recently gained tremendous popularity, especially in developing countries like Vietnam. However, with the increasing usage of digital banking, there is a growing concern about consumers' ability to make informed choices and protect themselves against fraud and scams. As a result, financial literacy has been identified as critical in ensuring consumer protection in digital banking. However, despite the importance of financial literacy, there is a lack of empirical research on its impact on consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. Thus, this study aims to address this research gap by investigating the role of financial literacy in consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. The study's findings can have significant implications for Vietnam's policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions. By understanding the role of financial literacy in consumer protection, policymakers can design and implement more effective policies and regulations to ensure consumers' safety in digital banking.\u00a0\r\nThe qualitative phase of the research will involve in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, such as policymakers, regulators, and representatives from financial institutions. The qualitative data will be analyzed thematically to identify the key themes and patterns related to financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. The quantitative phase of the research will involve administering a survey questionnaire to a sample of digital banking customers in Vietnam. The survey will assess customers' financial literacy, their experiences with fraud and scams in digital banking, and their awareness of consumer protection policies and regulations. The data collected from the survey will be analyzed using statistical methods to identify the relationship between financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204 Financial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\n350208 Investment and risk management (20%)\n350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui","title":"Financial education and digital banking for vulnerable populations in Vietnam ","description":"Access to financial services is critical to the economic development of any country. Yet, despite efforts to promote financial inclusion, vulnerable populations in Vietnam, such as women, rural residents, and low-income households, continue to face challenges in accessing and using digital banking services. Financial education and digital banking initiatives have been identified as potential solutions to bridge the financial inclusion gap. However, the effectiveness of these initiatives is yet to be fully explored, particularly among the most vulnerable populations.\r\n\r\nThis study aims to fill that gap by examining the effectiveness of financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam. The study will identify the barriers to accessing and using digital banking services among these populations and the strategies that digital banking providers and policymakers can adopt to promote financial inclusion. The study will contribute to the literature on financial inclusion by providing insights into the effectiveness of financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam.\r\n\r\nThe study will begin with a literature review to identify the existing literature on financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam. The study will then use surveys to collect quantitative data from a sample of vulnerable populations in Vietnam, including women, rural residents, and low-income households. The survey will focus on their access to and use of digital banking services and their attitudes towards financial education. The study will also conduct in-depth interviews with a subset of the survey respondents to better understand their experiences with digital banking services and financial education.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204 - Financial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\r\n160810 - Urban and Regional Economics (20%)\r\n350299Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jasper Teow, Phuong Hoang (Emmy) (phuong.hoangai@rmit.edu.vn)","title":"Decoding the Human Element: Consumer Behaviour in Technology and Innovation","description":"The interplay between AI, digital technologies and innovative marketing has resulted in transformative changes to the consumer landscape. Candidates in this research program examine the psychological, social, and environmental factors shaping consumer behavior in this constantly evolving landscape. This project invites candidates interested in topics at the intersection of consumer psychology, technology adoption, and marketing innovation. \n\nAreas of investigation include, but are certainly not limited to: \nAI aversion, Cultural influences on risk perception and innovativeness, Judgment and decision-making processes affecting technology adoption, The digital divide and its impact on elderly consumers, Consumer psychology influencing innovative product design, Behavioral insights and nudging in intervention design, Time perception and technological resistance, Consumer creativity, Decision heuristics and biases, Prosocial and charity behavior, Choice architecture, overload and framing effects on consumption behaviour, Social influence and online behavior, Spread of mis\/disinformation across social networks, Digital transformation and its impact on consumer psychology, AR \/ VR \/ Wearable technology on consumer behaviour, etc.\n \nPh.D. candidates joining this project should possess a genuine curiosity about consumer behavior, technology, and marketing. They will be exposed to experimental research methodologies, conducting field studies, observing naturalistic consumer behavior, and harnessing the power of big data analyses. Through these, the program endeavours to generate outputs that both advance academic discourse and, importantly, yield tangible societal and managerial impact which can advance industry practices and public policies.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350601 Consumer behaviour (50%)\n350602 Consumer-oriented product or service development (30%)\n520505 Social psychology (20%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Catherine Earl & Vicki Little","title":"Enterprising women in Southeast Asia (multiple positions) ","description":"We invite proposals addressing social, political and economic aspects of women\u2019s entrepreneurship, including women-owned and women-led micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, family- and home-based businesses, and digital and emerging forms of entrepreneurship. The focus is on the voices of women entrepreneurs from any Southeast Asian context (ASEAN states plus Timor-Leste), with a particular interest in aligning to at least one of the following: sustainable livelihoods, social enterprise, women\u2019s empowerment and the COVID-19 pandemic recovery as part of a broader global agenda towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Projects should be interdisciplinary and address a current or emerging issue in Southeast Asia. Engagement with novel and innovative qualitative methodologies is encouraged. There is the opportunity to work with community groups and industry partners to generate evidence-based policy and practice reform at the interface of institutions, services and societal norms. Supervisors come from disciplines including entrepreneurship, management, marketing, tourism and hospitality management, culture industries, communications, sociology, social work and law, social policy, gender studies, leadership, international development, and education. Priority areas: \r\n- Gender equity and women\u2019s empowerment\r\n- Decent work and economic growth\r\n- Responsible production and consumption\r\n- Sustainable cities and communities\r\n- Digital transformation","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"35074 (marketing)\r\n1605-12 (policy and administration)\r\n200212 - South-East Asian Cultural Studies."},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"MANJIT SINGH SANDHU, Burkhard Schrage, Santiago Velasquez","title":"Understanding Family Firm internationalization: Insights from Vietnam\r","description":"Family firms refer to businesses where multiple family members from the same firm have ownership and management control of the organization to sustain its continuation across generations (Chua et al, 1999; Arregle et al,2021; Chua et al, 1999).Recent data shows that family firms own and control more than 70% of  businesses globally and contribute 70\u201390% of the world\u2019s GDP (Family Firm Institute,2021). In recent years, the advent of globalization, rapid technological development and increasing competition has forced  many family firms to pursue internationalization strategies. This has attracted deep interest among family business  research scholars with an increasing number of publications in the last decade. However,  the field is still very much at its infancy stage as the current body of knowledge is highly heterogeneous and has provided mixed findings on how family ownership, \u2018familiness\u2019 and management influence internationalization (Alayo, Iturralde, Maseda, & Aparicio, 2020; Arregle, 2021). This project intends to examine the influence of family ownership on family firm internationalization in Vietnam. Family firms play an important role in the economic development of Vietnam. Data shows that 25% of Vietnam\u2019s GDP is contributed by the 100 largest Vietnamese family firms. In addition, 50 of the top listed public companies in Vietnam (such as Kido, Vietjet, Vingroup)  are family firm\u2019s.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350704\r\n350706\r\n350718"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trung Quang Nguyen, Ngoc Pham, Research Fellow, Melanie Davern Centre for Urban Research, RMIT (Melbourne) ","title":"Urban liveability for a city in a low-to-middle-income country: The case of Vietnam   ","description":"Building cities that are \"liveable\" has become a priority for many governments and sectors, including those working to improve population health and reduce inequities. With two-thirds of the world's population projected to live in cities by 2050, urbanisation is happening at an unprecedented pace, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is limited guidance on what constitutes a liveable city from an LMIC perspective, with most of the evidence relating to high-income countries such as Australia, Singapore, and European countries. Existing liveability frameworks typically include features such as public transport, affordable housing, and public open space, but these may not capture all the liveability considerations for LMICs.\r\nThe objectives of the study are three-fold: first, to conceptualise and prioritise components of urban liveability that are specific to Ho Chi Minh City in the Vietnam context; second, to identify how these components align with or diverge from existing liveability frameworks; and third, to identify potential indicators and data sources that could be used to develop a Pilot Ho Chi Minh Liveability Framework. \r\nThe study theoretically provides a comprehensive understanding of what makes a city liveable in the context of an LMIC. Practically, it could help guide policymakers and urban planners in their decision-making. By identifying the specific components of urban liveability that are important in Ho Chi Minh City, the study could also help other cities in similar contexts in Vietnam and other LMICs facing rapid urbanisation.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"330413 Urban planning & Health (50%); \r\n330314 Sustainable design (25%); \r\n200207 Social structure & Health (25%)\u00a0"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Giang Hoang, Duy Dang","title":"The impacts of leadership on innovation in Vietnamese firms","description":"Innovation is critical for sustaining firms' competitive advantage and business performance. Although leadership has been identified as playing a key role in fostering innovation, little is known about how this factor plays out in the Vietnamese context. This study investigates the relationship between leadership and innovation and its underlying mechanisms (i.e., mediation and moderation effects) using data from Vietnamese firms. This study employs a sequential confirmatory research design to examine these relationships. It starts with a quantitative study to test a theoretical model that links leadership to innovation. Then, a qualitative study will be conducted to confirm the findings of the quantitative study. This study not only provides deeper understanding of innovation management practices in Vietnamese firms, but also advances the research streams of innovation and leadership. The research results will also offer important practical implications for Vietnamese organizations that are investing in innovation activities and are seeking ways to enhance their innovation performance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350707\tLeadership (50%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (50%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Jasper Teow","title":"Exploring human perception, acceptance, and use of emerging technologies.","description":"This research investigates the multifaceted aspects of human interactions with emerging technologies, focusing on perception, acceptance, and practical application. Understanding these elements is crucial as technological advancements reshape daily life and societal structures. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and others, are increasingly penetrating personal and professional environments. Earlier studies suggest that the success of these technologies largely depends on how well they are perceived and accepted by users. However, comprehensive research that delves into these relationships remains limited. This research explores how individuals perceive and accept emerging technologies and how these perceptions influence their usage patterns. The key research questions include: How do cognitive biases affect the perception of emerging technologies? What are the primary factors that influence the acceptance of new technological tools? How does the usage of these technologies vary across different demographic groups? This research prefers a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data. The analysis is expected to focus on identifying trends and patterns within user groups, aiming to develop predictive models for technology adoption. The research will deploy the Knowledge Behavior Gap (KBG) model as the key methodological framing. The research outcomes shall provide valuable insights for technology developers, policymakers, and educators, helping to tailor innovative solutions that meet user needs and enhance the integration of emerging technologies into society. The overall research aim is to contribute a deeper understanding of human factors driving the success and integration of new technological advancements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460806 Human-computer interaction (70%)\n460803 Collaborative and social computing (15%)\n460805 Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems (15%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Long Nguyen","title":"Digital transformation for sustainable tourism destinations: A post-pandemic study in an emerging country","description":"The sustainable tourism SMEs operated by minority group communities in Vietnam were among the most vulnerable groups for survival due to Covid-19. With the rich cultural heritage, lots of minority groups applied sustainable tourism practices for years. However, due to limited development in infrastructure, and lack of digital knowledge and skills, they have limited resources to appeal to the traveler's market for business recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, digital transformation is required for them to promote their sustainable tourism activities effectively. The research aims to explore the possible practices of the digital transformation of their sustainable tourism business. Research design & methods: A mixed method will be adopted for this study. First, qualitative observation and interviews will be conducted to explore the challenge, barriers, and opportunities for the practice of digital transformation to develop the conceptual model. Second, the survey will be conducted to test the conceptual model for digital transformation. Outcomes & implications: Developing a framework of how digitalization can be implemented for sustainable tourism among minority group community could benefit the underprivileged population group. This research aims to provide suggestions for local authorities through the framework and contribute to the inclusive investment decisions from both the tourism service providers and the government.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"DCP 3 The Social and Sustainable; GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"460907 Information systems for sustainable development and the public good (50%) 350611 Service Marketing (25%) 350803 Tourism Management 25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nuno da Costa Cardoso Dantas Ribeiro","title":"Culture, destination image, and intention to revisit tourism destinations: The case of Vietnam","description":"This project will investigate the relationship between cultural perceptions (specifically along Hofstede\u2019s cultural dimensions of Identity, Power, and Uncertainty Avoidance), destination image and intention to revisit a tourism destination focusing on the case of Vietnam. While \u201cculture\u201d is one of the most referenced motivations for visiting Vietnam among international tourists, little is known about how cultural perceptions, namely of Vietnam pre-visit impact tourists\u2019 pre- and post-image of Vietnam as a tourism destination. Research questions include but are not limited to: \u201cHow do cultural perceptions of Vietnam influence its image as a tourism destination?\u201d and \u201cWhich cultural perceptions about Vietnam have a positive\/negative impact on Vietnam\u2019s destination image and intention to revisit among international tourists?\u201d  Research design & methods: This study will use a mixed-methods approach, combining intercept surveys conducted at Tan Son Nhat (SGS) and Noi Bai (HN) airports with arriving and departing international tourists (with the assistance of VNAT). Following the initial quantitative analysis, follow-up focus groups will be conducted with a smaller sample. Outcomes & implications: This study will seek to test for relationships between culture, destination image, and intention to revisit. It will also provide an additional testing ground for Hofstede\u2019s theory of cultural dimensions across national identities within a tourism setting, which thus far has not been explored in Vietnam. Findings will support researchers, policy makers, and Vietnamese tourism promotion campaigns. It will also seek to suggest strategies aimed at increasing revisits by international tourists to Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; STS 2 Food;","forcodes":"350806 Tourist behaviour and visitor experience"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bob Baulch","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Vietnam","description":"In Vietnam, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to greater socio-economic differentiation between the rich and the poor. Conventional measures of inequality (e.g., the Gini coefficient) understate the effects of both short-term shocks (such as COVID-19) and longer-run trends (such as the structural transformation of the Vietnamese economy) by giving most weight to those located towards the middle of the income distribution. Polarization measures (e.g, Foster & Wolfson and Esteban, Duclos & Ray measures) avoid this difficulty by allowing for sub-groups to emerge across the entire distribution, thereby shedding light on the gap(s) between the rich and poor. Using the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys, this PhD project will consist of three (or four) papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in Vietnam between1998 and 2018; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same period; and, once the VHLSS 2022 becomes available, (iii) how polarization and poverty changed between 2018 and 2022 in response to COVID-19  A fourth paper comparing changes in polarization and poverty in Vietnam with other countries in Southeast Asia, using the grouped distribution data available from the international sources, could also be written. Polarization would be measured using the Foster & Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using both per capita expenditures and continuous measures of non-monetary wellbeing (such as disability adjusted life years or years or completed years of education. Similarly, monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures for per capita expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index (HPI) used for non-monetary measures. A range of national and international poverty lines\/thresholds would be considered, with stochastic dominance tests conducted to assess the sensitivity of the poverty estimates to the choice of poverty line or threshold.  The data used would be selected years of the VHLSS (mostly probably 1998, 2008, 2018 and 2022).  The project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the distributional consequences of rapid economic growth and of COVID-19 in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, with a focus on polarization and (absolute) poverty.  Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals including the Journal of Economic Inequality, Review of Income and Wealth, and World Development.  We will encourage the student to present papers based on the thesis at national and international conferences (such as the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, and the annual conferences of the Development Studies Association, International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, and Vietnam Economic Association).  ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy; UF 3 Transformative urban governance;","forcodes":"380199 Applied Economics: not elsewhere classified. (40%) 440405 Poverty, inclusivity and well-being (40%) 380119 Welfare Economics (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Simon Feeny","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Asian Countries","description":"These three-year PhD projects will consist of papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in India, Indonesia and\/or the Philippines; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same time period; and (iii) how polarization and poverty changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. \n\nThese issues will be examined through the analysis of several waves of nationally representative household survey data.   \n\nPolarization would be measured using both the Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using both per capita expenditures and one or two (continuous) measures of non-monetary wellbeing (such as disability adjusted life years or years of completed years of education for those entering the labour force). Similarly, monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures for per capita expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index (HPI) used for non-monetary measures. A range of national and international poverty lines\/thresholds would be used, with stochastic dominance tests conducted to assess the sensitivity of the poverty estimates to the choice of poverty line or threshold. \n\nThe student selected would join the Centre for International Development in Melbourne. \n\nThe successful candidate will be encouraged to present papers at national and international conferences, such as those of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, Development Studies Association, International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, Vietnam Economic Association, and Vietnam Economic Research Network.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380119"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Nguyen","title":"Blockchain Governance: taking stock and moving forward","description":"Governance is critical to the sustainability and success of a blockchain project as it facilitates adoption and contribution of blockchain stakeholders to advance the cause of the blockchain (e.g., Beck et al., 2018; Pelt et al., 2021). However, what we know about blockchain governance is very limited as this literature is in its infancy (Xu et al., 2019) and atheoretical (Hofman et al., 2021), and lacks theory-driven empirical studies (Toufaily et al., 2021). Addressing this limitation, the present project aims to examine the predictors and outcomes of blockchain governance via the lens of economic and management theories like signaling, transaction cost, and\/or resource-based theory. We will first conduct a literature review on blockchain governance. We then draw on management and economic theories to develop a theoretical model regarding the antecedents and outcomes of blockchain governance. We rely on quantitative research methods: hierarchical regression, multilevel and\/or panel data analysis and secondary data to test the proposed model. The data might be collected from such websites as Coinmarketcap, Coincheckup, Glassnode, and IntoTheBlock. We expect this project to extend the theoretical understanding and concepts of blockchain governance via the lens of management and economic theories. The project offers implications for the blockchain community regarding the governance structures or protocols that transfer into favorable outcomes (e.g., innovation) and how to achieve and sustain those governance structures. ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy","forcodes":"350701 Corporate governance (50%) 350718 Strategy (25%) 441004 Social change (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen Thi My","title":"Social finance as a predictor of firm economic outcomes and asset prices: A review of emerging markets","description":"Social finance is a generative research area examining the \u201cstudy of how social processes shape economic outcomes\u201d (Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020, p. 1). The proposed project focuses on scrutinising the numerous types of social interactions and their impacts on asset prices\/firm economic outcomes within an emerging markets setting, of which there is currently a paucity of empirical examinations (Kuchler et al., 2021; Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020). This project extends the recent line of literature on the social dynamics\/interactions of economic agents, and their influences on investor behavior\/economic activity within emerging market finance (Bailey et al., 2021; Ferris et al., 2017; Kuchler et al., 2021; Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020; Maturana & Nickerson, 2019). This project aims to examine ASEAN countries. Research shows a remarkable economic growth of ASEAN economies which contributes significantly to the economic development in the region (Das & Lin, 2018; Nasir et al., 2019). More importantly, the socio-economic dynamics of financing and human capital development is a generative area of examination with many aspects still not well understood, especially within an emerging market context, and is widely considered as a key focus for policy makers in the ASEAN region (WorldBank, 2019). A growing number of studies have also examined various aspects of the ASEAN markets (e.g., Dogah, 2021; Nasir et al., 2019; Sohag et al., 2021; Tang et al., 2022). Following the extant literature, the research methodology will adopt a mixed methods approach including both quantitative and qualitative methods. The student can use available indices such as the social connectedness index (Bailey et al., 2018), macro\/firm data, and\/or collect primary data on the social interactions\/dynamics and other necessary data. Utilising economic and sociological lenses allows for a richer understanding of the embeddedness of social processes within firm behaviour furthering the extent of academic neo-institutionalist literature. This greater disambiguation of social processes as predictors of firm asset pricing and economic outcomes will provide insight to policy-makers enabling them to derive more targeted mechanisms.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy;","forcodes":"350202 Finance (40%) 350203 Financial Econometrics (30%) 441005 Social theory (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Management","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thuan Nguyen Hoang","title":"Roles of Design Thinking in Entrepreneurship","description":"Design thinking refers to the process of identifying unsolved problems, generating innovative ideas, building prototypes, test prototypes, which all together propose solutions for the related problems. Recent research shows that design thinking is important for startups and entrepreneurship, as it enables entrepreneurs to generate and test innovative ideas and select the most promising ones for developing new products and services (Mohammadi et al., 2021; Klenner et al, 2022). Although the benefits of design thinking have been widely agreed upon in the context of innovations, a few studies explore the roles of design thinking for entrepreneurship for SMEs. Fulfilling this gap, the current project aims to study the roles of design thinking in SME entrepreneurship, and consider how design thinking can be applied to support entrepreneurship in these companies. The research adopts mixed methods. It starts with a qualitative method to explore the different roles and impacts of design thinking in entrepreneurship. Then, a quantitative method will be used to confirm these roles and impacts. From a research perspective, the study fulfills the current research gap in the literature regarding the roles and impact of design thinking in entrepreneurship. From a practical perspective, the study provides a framework for how design thinking can be applied to support entrepreneurship to the best effect.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement;","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship (50%) 460912 Knowledge and information management (50%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Management","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Managing digital transformation implementation with dynamic capabilities and organisational paradoxes: development of a process model","description":"Digital transformation refers to the technology-induced changes necessary for digital business, in which organisations experience a fundamental and sociotechnical transformation. Nevertheless, practitioners struggle to grasp how digital transformation programs should be executed. This PhD project aims to shed light on the process of implementing digital transformation, especially by adopting the theoretical lens of the dynamic capability framework and theory of organisational paradoxes. The research questions explore the under-researched relationships between dynamic capabilities and organisational paradoxes in the digital transformation context, and how they inform tactics and strategies for implementing the firms\u2019 digital transformation across organisational levels. This PhD project aims to study digital transformation implementation in the services and tourism sectors, including healthcare\/medical services. There are various research approaches that are suitable for this research. A mixed-method design, which comprises qualitative and quantitative methods, is commonly used. An action research design, in combination with applied methods such as social network analysis, may also be considered. In terms of practical implications, this project aims to inform current practices of implementing digital transformation and strategies for developing the firms\u2019 digital maturity. The research will develop a process model for digital transformation implementation and advance understanding of the under-researched relationships between dynamic capabilities, organisational paradoxes, and digital transformation. ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Nguyen","title":"Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) Management in Vietnam: A Reverse Logistics Platform","description":"Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) generated annually in Vietnam has sharply increased since 2004, from 1.9 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes in 2015 while the rate of recycling is only around 1% to 2%, the lowest indicator in the region (Monre, 2016). The government aims to collect 90% and recycle 60% of C&DW by 2030, which creates an emerging need for the evaluation of possible logistic platforms to address the shortfalls. The project uses stakeholder analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify and quantify C&DW collection pathways and the environmental implications of C&DW recycling in Vietnam. The study addresses the lack of published statistics and limited coordination among different supply chain actors (government agencies, construction builders and 3PL partners). Besides, the project evaluates scenarios related to bottlenecks and reverse transport and logistics designs, through quantifying and mapping C&DW to track final flows to landfill and recycling. The outcomes will serve to develop the C&DW logistic management platform, inform policy relating to changing current recycling practices and extend the opportunity for the development of the preliminary life cycle inventory database in Vietnam. The study also serves as a seeding point for future research funding opportunities, which will provide Vietnam\u2019s academia, industry, and consultancy with the underpinning comprehensive data to engage in LCA for policy decision-making.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; SC 4 Transformations in Work; STS 5 Pollution Mitigation; UF 2 Smart cities analytics; UF 4 Applied urban analytics;","forcodes":"350909 Supply chains (40%) 350999 Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified (40%) 330499 Urban and regional planning not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Nguyen","title":"Blockchain and supply chain integration: Agri-food industry in Vietnam","description":" The Vietnamese Agri-food sector made a contribution to GDP worth USD 86.4 billion, in 2020 and represents 26% of the whole Vietnamese economy, but is also vulnerable to global risks. The recent cases of Vietnamese cashew nut scams highlight the need to ensure governance structure and digitalization transformation to avoid opportunistic behaviours and help food processing firms integrate better into global supply chain networks. To maintain supply chain visibility, there is a need to ensure food quality and safety standards to foster more collaboration and integration among farmers, food processors and other partners. While digital transformation plays a critical role in supply chain integration and firm competitiveness, however, how can the agriculture industry, where firms often have a diverse background, and limited access to technological and commercial markets, can strengthen and at the same time protect itself from global supply chain risks? This study will use mixed methods, adopting different operations theories such as transaction cost and value chain analysis to identify appropriate pathways for small and medium Vietnamese food processors in adopting selected blockchain and AI technologies. The research will examine the management of technological applications, such as credit verification and smart contracts, in enhancing supply chain integration to provide recommendations for food quality and safety. The outcomes from such projects can inform and enhance the Agri-food industry, through various workshops and training materials and guidelines, in digitalization to limit opportunistic behaviour and enhance quality and food safety in the light of environmental and behavioural uncertainty.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"350302 Business information management (incl. records, knowledge and intelligence) (40%) 350909 Supply chains (40%) 309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Quyen Dang, Robert McClelland","title":"Vietnamese fashion industry: Internationalization in the context of sustainable development ","description":"Garment and textile have continuously led the list of top export commodities in Vietnam, ranking fourth in the list as of 2022 (Statista, 2023). In recent years, Vietnam\u2019s fashion industry has shown significant growth and exposure to the global markets. Having once been the workshop of global fashion brands, the industry now witnesses the upgrade in the global value chain with the emergence of local brands which penetrate international fashion hubs such as the US, EU and Japan. Leveraging on sustainability and digitalization, the international expansion of Vietnam\u2019s fashion industry has been undergoing interesting journeys that have not been captured or conceptualized in the international business literature which has long been dominated by models from Western and more developed countries. Hence, it is relevant to conduct research on this topic to advance international business theories and provide practical lessons for different stakeholders including governments, local and global businesses. This project will address significant theoretical gaps by focusing on the internationalization of the Vietnamese fashion industry. ","sdg":"8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, 10 - Reduced Inequalities, 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, 17 - Partnerships for the Goals","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/24","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706 International business"}],"college":{"1":"Design & Social Context","5":"STEM","64":"Science, Engineering & Health","169":"Business and Law","199":"Business & Law"},"school":{"1":"Architecture & Urban Design","5":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","54":"Engineering","60":"Computing Technologies","68":"Design","80":"Education","85":"Fashion & Textiles","91":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","111":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","115":"Media & Communication","131":"Property, Construction & Project Management","142":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","145":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","167":"Science","169":"The Business School (Vietnam)"},"discipline":{"1":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","5":"Computer Science","12":"Cloud, Systems & Security (CT)","13":"Information Technology (CT)","14":"Artificial Intelligence","16":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","17":"Data Science (CT)","33":"Cyber Security (CT)","34":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","44":"Food Technology (Science)","46":"Biotechnology & Biological Sciences (Science)","48":"Software Engineering (CT)","54":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","58":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","59":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (Engineering)","64":"Cloud, Systems & Security","68":"Digital Design","69":"Communication Design","70":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","73":"Digital Design; Industrial Design","80":"Health and Physical Education","81":"Creativity Education; STEAM; Teacher Education","82":"Education Studies; Sociology of Education","83":"Educational Studies; Mathematics Education; Science Education; STEM","84":"Civil and Infrastructure Engineering","85":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise; Textiles Technology","86":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation; Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering","87":"Textiles Technology","89":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise","91":"Global and Language Studies","92":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","105":"Criminology and Justice Studies; Global and Language Studies","108":"Digital Design; Social Work and Human Services","111":"Psychology","114":"Chinese Medicine","115":"Writing &Publishing, Media","116":"Writing & Publishing","118":"Communication, Media","131":"Project management","132":"Construction Management","134":"Property","135":"Sustainability and Urban Planning","142":"F&T Design","144":"Design, Art","146":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics","148":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","149":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","158":"Digital Health\u00a0(SHBS)","159":"Mathematical Sciences (Science)","160":"Food Technology","164":"Engineering","166":"Food Science","167":"Mathematical Sciences","169":"Management (MGMT)","172":"Economics (EFM)","173":"Marketing (EFM)","174":"Business (GSBL)","179":"Finance (EFM)","196":"Management","199":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","204":"Business","213":"Information Systems (AISSC)","215":"Accounting (AISSC)","217":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","223":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","239":"Economics","242":"Finance","243":"Information Management","245":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management"}},{"status":1,"result":[{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Jan van Schaik, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew; Landscape Supervisors: Katrina Simon, Charles Anderson, Quentin Stevens, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Alice Lewis, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, John Fien, Esther Charlesworth, Leila Irajifar; Interior Design Supervisors: Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Olivia Hamilton, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash","title":"Cities and Environments","description":"Design research in this field can incorporate both generative and applied research modes to propose and produce designed propositions for cities and environments. Such design research investigates how existing environments can be reimagined to offer sustainable, resilient and inclusive urban futures, explores the ways and means of understanding and designing alternative solutions to configuring the urban\/biosphere fabric, and considers how these alternative configurations might benefit a multi-species ecology of inhabitants. In this domain, design research projects can also consider how designers can collaborate with other development and built environment professionals to contribute to improved well-being and resilience in marginalized and displaced communities and in what ways and under what conditions the design of habitation and settlement infrastructure can contribute to wider education, health and livelihood goals for such communities. In addition, research can include the exploration of the intersection between the economic, environmental and cultural dynamics of spatial production and engage with the politics of urban and rural transformation through design practice and modes of advocacy. This may include (but is not limited to): Transitional Economies - collaborations with community and stakeholders; Disrupted Landscapes - temporal \/ dynamic master planning; Landscape driven development models; and the development of evidence-based practice in shelter, infrastructure and settlement design for communities marginalized by the increasing frequency and severity of conflict, poverty, disasters and climate change. This field of enquiry also encompasses an engagement with and the exploration of Indigenous Knowledges and associated vernacular \/ ethno-architectures and place-making practices, as well as the development of sovereign relationships and alternative governance models","sdg":"2,3,6,7,9,11,12,13,14,15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Urban Futures, Social Change, Information Systems","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew Interior Design Supervisors: Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash Landscape Supervisors: Charles Anderson, Katrina Simon, Quentin Stevens, Anton James, Heike Rahmann, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, Alice Lewis","title":"Generative Design Practice Research","description":"The Generative Design Practice Research mode of creative research crosses boundaries between professional and academic\/university-based research practices, and often between disciplines. This practice research approach enables practitioners to generate new kinds of practices - within a discipline, or through establishing new fields of practice - in response to challenges and concerns emerging in a changing world. Candidates might be early career, seeking to enter into a period of deep enquiry that transforms a set of practice-based interests into a more developed practice with a well-articulated emphasis, set of agendas and approaches. They might equally be mid- or later-career practitioners seeking to generate a new practice trajectory through a transformation of their established mastery. They demonstrate their findings publicly in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their practice research, usually through an exhibit, a written dissertation, and a presentation to examiners. This mode offers new knowledge in the form of previously unarticulated approaches to practice, informed by specific issues and challenges that direct their generative action.","sdg":"2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Architecture Supervisors: Martyn Hook, Vivian Mitsogianni, Carey Lyon, Alisa Andrasek, Tom Kovac, Tom Holbrook, Nicholas Boyarsky, Eva Prats, Sand Helsel, Roland Snooks, Richard Black, Graham Crist, Paul Minifie, Anna Johnson, Jan van Schaik, Christine Phillips, Michael Spooner, Leanne Zilka, John Doyle, Emma Jackson, Ben Milbourne, Peter Brew Interior Design Supervisors:Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash Landscape Supervisors: Charles Anderson, Katrina Simon, Quentin Stevens, Heike Rahmann, Kate Church, Bridget Keane, Heike Rahmann, Yazid Ninsalem, Philip Belesky, Ata Tara, Alice Lewis","title":"Reflective Industry Design Practice Research","description":"Reflective Industry Design Practice Research involves practitioners operating largely in a professional environment, generally with a peer-reviewed and award-winning body of work developed over 10 years or more. These practitioners have already developed recognised mastery in their field. They are invited to reflect upon the nature of that mastery within a critical framework, engaging them in reviewing the nature of their mastery, defining its enabling structures, its knowledge bases, and the implications of the nexus between these for emerging forms of research-led practice. They conclude by speculating through design on the nature of their future practice. They demonstrate their finding publicly, through an exhibit, a presentation to the examiners, and a written dissertation. Two kinds of knowledge are created by the research. One concerns the ways in which designers marshal their intelligence, to construct the mental space within which they practice design. The other reveals how public behaviours are invented and used to support design practice. This mode of research extends and develops the knowledge base of their profession, and thus its ability to serve society.","sdg":"2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Architecture & Urban Design","discipline":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","programcode":"DR207","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"John Fien, Esther Charlesworth, Leila Irajifar, Harriet Edquist, Christine Phillips, Charles Anderson, Nicholas Boyarsky, Alice Lewis, Suzie Attiwill, James Carey, Leslie Eastman, Olivia Hamilton, Roger Kemp, Adam Nash","title":"Cultural and Social Spatial Practices","description":"Research within this field engages with practices from the Arts, Ethnography, Design History and Theory, with a particular exploration of design for social change and cultural production. Major projects can be identified in the areas of design diplomacy, design for democracy, design for diversity and inclusion, design for affordable housing, ecological design, design for community development and cultural production. Design for social change encompasses working with social enterprises, NGOs, foundations, corporations and governments and includes concepts and processes such as social innovation, collaborative systems, co-design, co-production, curatorial practice and systemic change. A range of questions for research can underpin this field. In what ways and under what conditions can design and design thinking contribute to social change most effectively? How can collaboration across the spectrum of design methodologies and genres generate deeper and longer-lasting transformations? How could such collaborations be organized, funded, and implemented? How can the effectiveness of such collaborations be measured? What are the range of quantitative and qualitative metrics available for gauging sustained impact and value? How can programs and solutions be designed at a scale commensurate with the scale of the actual problems being confronted? What discourses within the design professions facilitate and\/or constrain the practice of design for social change? In what ways can design education contribute to positive discourses and discursive practices in design for social change? Research in this area may be undertaken through both thesis and\/or practice-based approaches, with lead supervision offered by staff with expertise in design for post-conflict and post\u2013disaster settings, design with remote and Indigenous communities, sustainability and resliency policy and practices, social transformation processes, public participation and cultural production.","sdg":"1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Urban Futures, Design & Creative Practice","forcodes":"Architectural Design 330102, Interior Design 330108, Landscape Architecture 330109, Urban Design 330411, Architectural History, Theory and criticism 330104, Sustainable Architecture 330110"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Kang, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Revolutionizing Healthcare with AI-Driven Personalized Life Expectancy Predictions and Wearable Technologies","description":"Life expectancy (LE) prediction is a critical problem in computational science, requiring the integration of diverse and dynamic variables. Traditional methods rely on generalized population statistics, limiting accuracy and individual relevance. This project proposes a computational framework for Personalized Life Expectancy (PLE) prediction, leveraging wearable technology, mobile health applications, and advanced machine learning. The framework processes real-time health metrics such as calorie expenditure, sleep patterns, and heart rate, collected via wearable devices and processed through cloud computing. Machine learning algorithms analyze this data to provide individuals with dynamic, personalized LE predictions. The project also emphasizes scalability, enabling the aggregation of anonymized health data to uncover population-level trends and inform healthcare resource allocation. This research addresses core challenges in computer science, including real-time data streaming, predictive modeling accuracy, and user-specific customization. Additionally, it explores the integration of edge computing to enhance data processing efficiency and ensure privacy in large-scale applications. The project aligns computational tools with societal needs, supporting preventive healthcare and encouraging healthier behaviors. Its scalable design can reduce healthcare costs and inform public health policies through actionable insights. Collaboration with industry stakeholders ensures practical implementation and real-world impact. By advancing the methodologies for data analytics, wearable integration, and predictive modeling, this project contributes to personalized healthcare, health informatics, and big data applications. It aims to establish a foundation for computational innovations that improve health outcomes and address global healthcare challenges.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2027","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"080702 - Health Informatics (50%)\n080110 - Simulation and Modelling (25%)\n111799 - Public Health and Health Services (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Kang, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Health Data Wrangling for Identification and Privacy Protection","description":"Biometrics, such as retina, voice, and fingerprints, are commonly used for identification and authentication. However, these methods are unsuitable for remote authentication. Health data, often sensitive and containing personal information, poses significant privacy concerns, especially in electronic health (eHealth) and Internet of Health Things (IoHT) technologies. While individual health metrics like heart rate may seem insignificant, their combination with other data can reveal unique patterns for individuals. \n\nThis project explores the feasibility of using health data for secure identification. It will evaluate health data to determine meaningful traits and assess activity recognition for trait verification. Key outcomes include (1) assessing the accuracy of health data traits with measurable and standardized metrics, and (2) creating a structured model of attributes that influence the effectiveness of health data in identification. \n\nThe project will also involve developing an application to collect input data from users with health issues. This application aims to generate identification mechanisms capable of triggering automatic alarm notifications in emergencies. By integrating health data for remote authentication, this research addresses critical privacy concerns while advancing secure, user-centered IoHT solutions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461304"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Hai Dong","title":"Threat Modeling and Impact Assessment for Digital Currency Vulnerabilities Using Agent-Based Simulations","description":"The cryptocurrency ecosystem continues to be plagued by security breaches and exploits, with billions of dollars lost to hackers each year. In 2022, the Ronin Network suffered a $625 million hack, while Binance saw $570 million stolen in a single incident. These attacks highlight critical vulnerabilities in blockchain protocols, smart contracts, and exchange infrastructure. Traditional security approaches have struggled to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape in the cryptocurrency industry. There is an urgent need for more sophisticated threat modeling techniques that can anticipate novel attack vectors and simulate complex adversarial behaviors. Agent-based modeling offers a promising approach to capture the dynamic and decentralized nature of cryptocurrency systems and their potential vulnerabilities. RQs: How can agent-based models effectively simulate the behavior of different types of attackers (e.g. nation-state actors, organized crime groups, individual hackers) in cryptocurrency ecosystems? What are the most critical vulnerabilities in current cryptocurrency architectures as revealed through agent-based threat modeling, and how do these compare to real-world exploits? How can agent-based simulations be used to evaluate the effectiveness of different security measures and protocols in mitigating cryptocurrency vulnerabilities? Impact: The findings have potential to inform the development of more robust protocols and security measures, ultimately contributing to safeguard billions of dollars in digital assets.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460202 Autonomous agents and multiagent systems (50%)\n460402 Data and information privacy (25%)\n461101 Adversarial machine learning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse","title":"Security by Design for Central Bank Digital Currencies ","description":"As central banks worldwide race to develop digital currencies, cybersecurity has emerged as a critical concern. The potential launch of CBDCs represents one of the most significant changes to the global financial system in decades. However, recent high-profile hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance protocols have highlighted the immense security challenges facing digital assets. A report by Chainalysis found that crypto hacks reached an all-time high of $3.8 billion stolen in 2022, with North Korean hackers alone accounting for over $1 billion in theft. These incidents underscore the urgent need for robust security measures to be integrated into CBDC designs from the ground up. However, there are few studies examining the comprehensive security services required for widespread acceptance of digital currencies. Without addressing the risks comprehensively, hasty deployment can undermine public trust and financial stability. The research will employ a mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"31\/12\/2026","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460407 System and network security (50%)\n460406 Software and application security (25%)\n350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Son Hoang Dau, Huong Ha","title":"Crypto Scams Uncovered: Analyzing the Tactics and Trends of Digital Fraud","description":"The total crypto scam revenue from 2019 to 2023 reached a staggering amount of nearly US $40 billion [Chainalysis]. Immunefi also reported a global loss of $1.2B to hacks and rug pulls in August 2024 alone.\nIn this project, to contribute to the global effort in combating digital fraud, we take a deep dive into the dark land of crypto scammers. The first and most crucial step is to perform a systematic investigation to understand how the scammers of each type of scam operated and laundered their scam money via privacy-protecting services such as mixers and bridges and centralized exchanges. The next step is to develop rule-based and machine learning algorithms including graph neural networks and large language models like GPT to detect and track various scam activities among the vast publicly available on-chain data. We will build various scam datasets for popular chains such as Ethereum, BNB, Arbitrum, and Solana, to address the lack of up-to-date and well-curated datasets in crypto scam and facilitate future research. We will also build visualization tools that will not only assist our research but also potentially help community and law enforcement in tracking crypto scammers in real time.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461106 Semi- and unsupervised learning (50%)\n460404 Digital forensics (25%)\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Minh Dinh, Maria Spichkova","title":"Enhancing Gamified Learning Environments with AI for Personalized Engagement ","description":"This project aims to enhance gamified learning environments by integrating AI technologies. The system will use AI to adapt educational games based on students\u2019 progress, learning styles, and preferences, making the experience more interactive and engaging. The platform will offer personalized challenges, rewards, and feedback, encouraging motivation and deepening understanding. The integration of AI will provide real-time insights into student performance, enabling educators to tailor the gaming experience to improve learning outcomes while making education enjoyable and immersive.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (40%)\n4612 Software engineering (40%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Tuan-Anh Hoang, Maria Spichkova","title":"AI-Driven Adaptive Learning for Personalized Education","description":"This project aims to explore the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in personalizing educational content to address the diverse needs and learning styles of individual students. By leveraging machine learning algorithms to analyze student behavior, performance, and preferences, the research will investigate how AI can dynamically adjust lessons, exercises, and assessments to enhance the learning experience. The objective is to develop a technological-pedagogical combined approach that maximizes student engagement and achievement while accommodating varied learning preferences. \n\nAdditionally, the study will examine methods for providing continuous, real-time feedback, ensuring that students receive targeted support to improve their understanding and retention of the material. This research will contribute to the development of adaptive learning technologies and inform best practices for integrating AI in education.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (40%)\n4612 Software engineering (40%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Cloud, Systems & Security (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Effective And Efficient Situation Awareness In Big Social Media Data","description":"Situation awareness helps understand the elements in the environment, the current situation, and project the future actions. Real applications like crisis management require the real time awareness of the critical situations. However, the services using traditional methods like phone calls can be easily delayed due to busy lines, transfer delays or limited communication ability in the disaster area. Social media-based situation awareness provides another feasible channel for crisis management, since critical events that cause great loss in live are commonly identified in social media.\nThis project aims to develop advanced techniques to analyse big social media data and more efficiently conduct critical situation awareness over online services. By enhancing the services and capabilities of crisis management users and reducing the loss in disasters, significant economic and social benefits will be brought to government, society, enterprises and social users.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460506 Graph, social and multimedia data (50%)\n460807 Information visualization (25%)\n460902 Decision support and group support systems (25%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Technology (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Ke Deng","title":"Classification for multiple data streams spatiotemporally and\/or logically associated","description":"Coming with 5G networks, it's not just going to be one stream of data but it's a flood of streams from an almost uncountable number of sensors. This enables the continuous information being collected in the finer spatiotemporal granularity such that the physical world change can be captured remarkably more smoothly. However, the scope of these stream data, the complexity of their relationship to describe a system or systems, the diversity of information collected by different sensors, the incorrect or missing readings of numerous sensors, and the higher expectation of data value and quicker responses requires new approaches. We will anticipate exploring the stronger correlation between data instances across streams if spatiotemporally and\/or logically coupled in spaces or in systems.\nThis project investigates the problem of classification on multiple data streams which are spatiotemporally and\/or logically associated in some spaces or systems, e.g., the data streams generated by social media users in a city, by the sensors deployed in different rooms of a smart home or in different stages of a production line. The multiple data streams may be homogenous or heterogenous (i.e., different streams contain different information and labels), static or dynamic (i.e., data sources are moving objects).  Each data stream has its own classification problem, e.g., emotion detection of social media users, condition detection of a room for light on\/off, and the working state detection of a system","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460511 Stream and sensor data (60%)\n460502 Data mining and knowledge discovery (40%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fabio Zambetta","title":"Next-Generation Augmented Training and Assistive Systems","description":"Computer based simulation and virtual reality systems have been used for developing training environments in areas such as emergency evacuation, military training, aircraft pilot training and others [1]. Although virtual reality provides an immersive environment, it has several limitations. The users cannot interact with the physical environment, and the training environment is not easily adapted to different physical spaces. Further, there is a significant cost in developing the physical models that the virtual reality system would require. In this project, we propose the use of augmented and mixed reality [2] to develop the next generation of training systems and present a framework for developing a fire evacuation training system that incorporates augmented reality, techniques for modelling human behaviour in such situations, intelligent virtual characters controlled by various artificial intelligence techniques, and interactive narrative generation to form the training scenarios.\nThe aim of this research project is developing a prototypical implementation of a next-generation training and\/or assistive system posed to solve critical problems in complex learning scenarios requiring physical interaction with the real world [3][6].\n\nThe key issues being addressed are:\n1. Reducing complexity in preparing and delivering real-world training sessions.\n2. Engaging trainees for extended periods of time, hence increasing the overall quantity of their learning experience at a reduced cognitive load [7].\n3. Immersing trainees deeper in their training experience, hence improving the quality and of their learning experience and\/or providing means to assist them in whichever task they might be engaging in.\n\nThe trainees will be wearing mixed reality (holographic) headsets [4], which will allow virtual reality objects not only to be superimposed to real objects, but to interact with them. This means that we would be able to model realistic physical interactions throughout existing rooms once the simulation of the scenario starts. The significance of such a next-generation training system will be enormous as it will apply to any domain or scenario where real-world training is required, but for which virtual reality is too expensive or problematic. Scenarios of interest include for instance evacuations, rescue and emergency situations; military and police operations rehearsals; exploration of dangerous or unknown locations; interplanetary missions [5]. References:\n\n[1. The VR book. J. Jerald, ACM Press (2016).\n[2] Augmented Reality: Principles and Practice. Schmalstieg et al., Addison-Wesley (2016).\n[3] Tangible Holograms: Towards Mobile Physical Augmentation of Virtual Objects. Available online at https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1703.08288.\n[4] Microsoft Hololens device, see https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-au\/hololens.\n[5] NASA\u2019s Destination Mars. See https:\/\/blogs.windows.com\/devices\/2016\/09\/19\/hololens-experiencedestination-mars-now-open-at kennedy-space-center-visitor-complex\/#OVT4Pb4YlVwDtjVb.97.\n[6] Evoking empathy with visually impaired people through an augmented reality embodiment experience. Guarese, et al. Proceedings of the IEEE VR conference (2023).\n[7] The Evolution of Cognitive Load Theory and the Measurement of Its Intrinsic, Extraneous and Germane Loads: A Review. Orru & Longo. International Symposium on Human Mental Workload: Models and Applications (2019).","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708        Virtual and mixed reality (50%)\n460806        Human-computer interaction (25%)\n460202        Autonomous agents and multiagent systems (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fabio Zambetta, John Thamgarajah, Michael Dann","title":"Learning optimal control of games and machines in real-time","description":"Learning to control agents directly from high-dimensional sensory inputs is one of the long-standing challenges of reinforcement learning (RL) and machine learning in general. Most successful RL applications that operate on these domains have relied on hand-crafted features combined with linear value functions or policy representations. \n\nMore recently, several deep neural learning techniques have been proposed to automate feature representation at the cost of increased training times [1]. Video games represent an ideal testbed for (deep) RL techniques due to the high complexity and randomness of the environments and of the interactions presented to a player and their real-time nature. The challenge posed by video games has not been lost on the major ICT companies, such as Google and Microsoft, which have been researching and investing\nin games AI research [2][3]. \n\nIn addition to that, Elon Musk (founder of Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX) had invested in an OpenAI foundation [4] whose mission is to improve state-of-the-art machine learning research using several hundreds of videogames as testbeds. OpenAI has released Gym and Universe, open source software that can be used to benchmark new machine learning algorithms. \n\nThe aim of this project is to investigate novel approaches to reinforcement learning and, specifically, investigate the limitations and the advantages of combining deep learning with RL. Another important line of inquiry will concern whether specific class of games are more suited to deep\nreinforcement learning, and which other classes of algorithms could be combined with RL if deep learning is found to be not suitable.\n\nOur previous work in the area has included investigations of similar algorithms in a variety of different games, including classic arcades Super Mario [5], Pacman [6] and first-person shooters [7]. We intend to apply our work out on optimal control of video games to physical devices and machines including UAVs, drones, selfdriving cars and humanoid robots. In fact, preliminary results on the use of those techniques in auditory implants has led to positive results [8].\n\nReferences\n[1]. Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning. Mnih et al., Nature 518, 529\u2013533 (2015).\n[2]. Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search. Silver et al. 529, 484\u2013489 (2016).\n[3]. Hybrid Reward Architecture for Reinforcement Learning. Van Seijen et al., available online at https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/1706.04208 (2017).\n[4]. OpenAI software systems, available online at https:\/\/openai.com\/systems\/.\n[5]. Integrating skills and simulation to solve complex navigation tasks in infinite Mario. Dann et al., IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 1-7 (2017).\n[6]. Learning options from demonstrations: A Pac-Man case study. Tamassia et al., IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, 1-7 (2017).\n[7]. Combining Monte Carlo tree search and apprenticeship learning for capture the flag. Ivanovic et al., Proceedings of IEEE CIG (2015).\n[8]. Utilising reinforcement learning to develop strategies for driving auditory neural implants. Lee et al., Journal of Neural Engineering, 13, 1 \u2013 13 (2016).","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461105        Reinforcement learning (70%)\n460703        Entertainment and gaming (15%)\n460205        Intelligent robotics (15%)\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Fabio Zambetta","title":"Novel Immersive Approaches to Information Seeking","description":"People search through digital information more than ever before. However, current search systems present information through a 2D search engine results page. In addition, opportunities to interact with the search results to understand underlying relationships in the retrieved data, are limited. The proposed approach will allow users to navigate information naturally and immersively, following users\u2019 interests and curiosity rather than being constrained by a search box and a ranked search results list.\n\nThis project aims to explore this unique interaction paradigm for effective and efficient interactive information retrieval through virtual or augmented reality, enabling a novel approach to defining user information needs, presenting results, and facilitating search reformulations.\n\nThe project can answer research questions, including:\n-What is the most effective way to visualise 3D information units (in virtual or augmented reality) to facilitate enhanced search interactions?\n-How do users formulate information needs, manipulate results, and navigate immersive information spaces?\n-How does immersive search versus traditional ranked lists impact users' navigation behaviours within an information space?\n-How do users with different levels of familiarity with immersive applications experience information?\n-How does the proposed approach compare to current search methods for exploring complex information needs?\n\nThe project will contribute to the field of interactive information retrieval by providing a novel approach to exploring information needs. Using virtual or augmented reality together with current advances in conversational interactions for information seeking will allow for more intuitive and natural navigation of information, which could lead to unexplored insights into how people interact with information.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%)\n460806 Human-computer interaction (30%)\n461003 Human information interaction and retrieval (30%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Data Science (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Truong Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Detecting complex emotions from texts","description":"Textual emotion detection is a critical area of study with significant applications in business, education, and healthcare. Despite substantial theoretical advancements over the years, there are notable gaps in the practical implementation of these methods in the aforementioned fields. The techniques currently available do not yet seem ready for real-world application. This study's primary objective is to identify the challenges faced in both current literature and practical applications in this area.  There is also a pressing need for improved models that can accurately categorize a wider range of emotional states distinctly. Finally, there is a demand for techniques capable of dimensionally detecting valence, arousal, and dominance scores from emotional experiences. These challenges stem not only from the models and applications themselves but also from the readiness of current approaches and datasets in the rapidly evolving fields of machine learning and affective computing which required more attention from the research community.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4609, 4611, 4605, 4612, 4613"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Dynamic Disaster Relief Distribution Modelling with AI based Fuzzy Petri Net","description":"Relief distribution during natural or man-made disasters is a collection of support actions that assist people in returning to their everyday lives after it has been disrupted. Its goal is to mitigate the effects of disasters by delivering needed relief goods to the right people at the right time and in the right place. One of the most critical aspects to consider is uncertainties related to changes in the relief distribution system, as minor disruptions could have severe consequences for planning outcomes. The failure of a single essential route, for example, might cause significant disruptions in resource allocation strategy. This project outlines a research project which applies formal methods for modelling the dynamic circumstances of a disaster-affected region based on artificial intelligence based fuzzy Petri nets, fuzzy set theory and stochastic modelling techniques.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460204 Fuzzy Computation (50%)\n460207 Modelling and Simulation (30%)\n460605 Distributed Systems and Algorithms (20%) "},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Secure, Equitable, and Energy Efficient Protocol for Cryptocurrency Networks","description":"Cryptocurrencies are going mainstream and becoming an acceptable form for payments and other financial transactions (US Government\u2019s Republican Policy Committee, 2022; Hougan, Forbes.Com, 2022). However, ever since its introduction via the Satoshi Nakamoto white paper in 2008, it has been plagued with high energy consumption, security risks, scalability issues, slow processing speed, and high transaction costs. Many protocols have been proposed to overcome these issues. Most cryptocurrency networks use Proof-of-Work (PoW) or Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The problem with these two protocols is that PoW gives preference to users who have spent a lot of money to setup their supercomputers, while PoS gives preferences to users that have more coins. Therefore, the rich getting richer paradox. We propose a secure, equitable and energy efficient protocol called Proof-of-Evidence (PoE). Our protocol keeps the users secure by keeping them inside a perimeter network within the DMZ. We ensure that everyone on our proposed network gets a chance to add a block of transactions and get rewarded. Because there is no competition to add transactions, normal computers are used and therefore the energy requirements are low and efficient.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"FinTech Applications and GDPR Privacy Requirements: How Do We Comply?","description":"Blockchain based FinTech applications are transparent, trusted and based on consensus. Nothing is hidden, kept secret or private. Public blockchains emphasize openness as a key characteristic that enables auditability. However, users still value the ability to keep information that is non-relevant to the transaction private, such as their identity. There are two main concerns around privacy for users: identity privacy and transaction privacy. In order to comply with regulations in Fintech industry, for example, Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT), when required, the transactions\u2019 information must be revealed to authorized agencies. What frameworks are needed to maintain privacy and comply with authorities seeking information? In what format do we send, receive, and do transactions so that is satisfies the above?","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Analysing Brainwaves for Prevention and Treatment of Mental Illness using Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things","description":"We propose to design a device that can detect signs of mental illness at initial stages so that the person could start the treatment as soon as possible. Regular analysis of the  brainwaves will be uploaded at a central location and will be compared with previous readings as well as from the standard analysis that will be fed into the system to detect signs for various illnesses. The privacy of the patient and security of the data will be taken into consideration while developing the device and the application. The device would be based on IoT (Internet of Things) along with the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The IoT part would take care of his connection with devices such as mobile, etc. or to a cloud server. Whereas ML and AI would be used for its background functioning that would be training the data and predicting the disease.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Blockchain-based Multi Factor Authentication for Securing Cloud Servers","description":"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been digitally transformed without being aware of it (Prybylski, 2022: Forbes; Stackpole, 2021: MIT). This means Internet traffic has increased by 60% (OECD, 2020), and 30% more people are now working from home (McKinsey, 2021). Cyber threats have increased by 81% (McAfee, 2021). There is a need to enhance cyber security with blockchain technology and multi factor authentication. We aim to enhance cyber security by hashing the public cloud servers. Additionally, we are going to require users to login via blockchain and use a centralised multi factor authentication. These enhancements will be significant because it will keep the users secure from cyber-attacks. It will contribute towards SDG 3, 8, 9, and 11. Blockchain technology provides trust, transparent and immutable transactions. Our expected outcomes would be the design specifications of servers with their conceptual models to protect our digital economy and keep everyone cyber secured.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Resolving the Current Skills Gaps in Cyber Security Education \u2013 A Vietnam Survey","description":"The recent escalation in the number of cyber-attacks and online crime has made cybersecurity an increasingly urgent challenge at a time when digital technologies are transforming national economies and the daily lives of citizens. It is important that national and regional strategies which address these risks to digital security are supported by tertiary education and training programmes that provide graduates and trainees with the necessary knowledge and expertise about cyber security. As society is becoming increasingly dependent on digital technology, cybersecurity is an issue of great concern to governments, industry, and organisations of all types. This project aims to better understand the gaps that exist between the knowledge and skills of the young graduates entering the cybersecurity workforce and the cyber security needs of the industry.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Blockchain Smart Contracts for Autonomous Supply Chain Management and Operation","description":"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a disruption in the global and local supply chain as the supply chain was managed with humans in charge of the supply chain system. Although almost all supply chains are controlled with Supply Chain Management systems, it still requires human intervention and participation. With the lockdown, the humans couldn\u2019t participate or intervene to manage the supply chain and therefore the lock down disrupted the supply chain and, in some cases, it came to complete shutdown. This project proposes to develop a fully automated supply chain management system running on blockchains and self-managed and monitored with smart contracts as a solution to prevent any future disruptions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Transparent, Distributed, and Secure Platform for Crowdfunding based on Blockchain","description":"Online crowdfunding platform powered through blockchain brings transparency and accountability. This could possibly improve the scale of business since more and more people would now like to fund the ventures as each individual is aware of the utilization of the funds. The blockchain technology builds upon the Industrial Internet (Industry 4.0), a transparent and secure environment for the people and the transactions. This project intends to develop an application based on blockchain that has the potential to improve the security and reliability of the transactions. Since the control in blockchain based technology is decentralized, it will effectively address the monopoly over the funds and improve accountability.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Modified Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (MPBFT) Algorithm - A Novel Protocol for Achieving Consensus in Blockchain Networks","description":"This project proposes to develop a novel protocol for achieving consensus in blockchain networks. The proposed protocol intends to overcome the disadvantages of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism by overcoming issues like high usage of computing resources and delay in confirmation of new blocks over the blockchain. Simulations will be run, and our proposed algorithm modified until we come up with the modified algorithm that reduces the CPU utilization by a defined percentage and confirms the twice number of blocks when compared with the original Proof-of-Work algorithm. The Modified Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (MPBFT) Algorithm will then be suitable for consortium based blockchain networks.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Zero-Day Threat Detection and Prevention of Cyber Attacks in Data Centre Power Grids using AI","description":"The main objective of the project is to protect the power grid and UPS of digital data warehouses and data centres from cyber-attacks by framing an AI based multi-level cyber shield. The system design is collaborative of multi-agents to monitor various activities, an agent for network infrastructure surveillance, a software agent to detect malicious viruses, agent to filter the network traffic, agent to secure data backup monitoring, agent to update security policies etc. Multi-agent based algorithm is designed to handle data regression, clustering of similar data items, classification of untrusted data, vulnerable management, Thread hunting, internal temperature monitoring, backup power monitoring, and analysing massive quantities of risk data.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"A Secure Framework to Mitigate IoT Environment against Security Vulnerabilities","description":"This project proposes implementing IoT ecosystem and then performing hardware and firmware attacks to determine security holes. Middleware interactions from the IoT hardware to cloud would also be reviewed for cloud-network specific vulnerabilities for further attacks. Finally, an audit methodology would be proposed with relevant and exhaustive reports on vulnerabilities identified. IoT is a growing market and will be the future of our daily lives. Because of its emergence, there is no standard to guide the development process, there are many protocols and custom solutions to connect a hardware device to the cloud. The project outcomes can be used to help IoT device makers to develop secure IoT devices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"AI-based Smart IoT Processing of Images & Videos during Surveillance","description":"Smart IoT devices and Surveillance cameras capture images and videos, sending them directly to the Cloud-based servers for analysis. Globally, visual data generated from IoT Surveillance cameras are overwhelming and there is a drastic need for re-designing the devices for the video and image data gets converted automatically into relevant, timely, actionable intelligence and more importantly redefine the device health and life of that device to operate with the highest efficiency, optimum processing, consume low power. Artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms can be adopted to work on the data captured, power consumed, computing performed, storage used to provide efficient processing and performance, and low data transmission.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Using blockchain to control and monitor shared information.","description":"Protecting privacy is a big concern in today's digital world. When a person visits a website or uses a software application, she must accept its privacy policy either explicitly or implicitly. In addition to agreeing with the stated policy, users also trust that the data collectors only do what they wrote. However, more often than not, this trust has no grounds and is based on personal perception only. To mitigate that problem, this project proposes blockchain-based protocols and techniques users can apply to control and monitor their individual and private information without the need of cooperation from the data collectors.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460402 Data and information privacy (50%)\n460504 Data quality (25%)\n460605 Distributed systems and algorithms (25%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh","title":"Machine-Learning Based Reverse Engineering Technique for Binary Analysis","description":"Reverse engineering (RE) of binaries has useful applications in improving and debugging legacy programs, in refactoring code, and in analyzing and classifying malware. Binary analysis using machine learning-based frameworks, such as Gaussian-based process or support vector machine, has shown the power to automate feature extraction tasks while significantly reduced manual analysis efforts required for large-scale programs. Furthermore, if one views a binary as a collection of bit patterns then it is possible to employ a computer vision framework such as Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs) to recognize known features in a binary. This project aims to develop a binary reserve engineering framework that explores the power of deep neural architectures such as CNN and RNN to identify local features and assemble them to develop a global understanding of the inspected executable.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh","title":"Swarm Learning with Blockchain network to facilitate scalable distributed machine learning on the edge","description":"Traditional distributed machine learning (ML) makes use of a decentralized data pipeline but a central server to host the trained model. Consequently, raw data created on the edge must be sent to and from the central server for processing, thus limits scalability. This project investigates the Swarm Learning approach in which blockchain technology is leveraged to facilitates the exchanging of model training attributes such as weights and biases, that are explored by the individual nodes in the network, without sharing the raw data itself. The project will focus on data exchanging protocols to ensure privacy preservation and to improve the accuracy of the ML model being built independently at each edge node.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"","forcodes":""},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Cyber Security (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jonathan Crellin, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Fake-news Alerts: Developing Personalized News Recommendation for Fake News Mitigation","description":"This PhD research aims to tackle the widespread issue of fake news by developing a tool that helps users identify false information more effectively. Existing methods, like automated detectors and fact-checkers, often don\u2019t provide personalized support for individual users. To address this, the research will create a system that offers customized, accurate news recommendations to help users spot and correct fake news. The plan includes improving the Rec4Mit [9] model with human feedback using techniques like Reinforcement Learning (RL) or generative AI, and designing a user-friendly browser plug-in called \u201cFake News Alerts.\u201d This plug-in will assist users in evaluating news accuracy and alert them to potential risks. By applying usability and explainable AI principles, the tool will be both practical and easy to understand. The effectiveness of the \u201cFake News Alerts\u201d tool will be tested through user studies to see how well it helps users differentiate between fake and real news.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460499, 460208, 460299"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216 PhD (Mech & Manu Eng)\/ DR219 PhD (Environmental Eng)","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"HCMC Traffic Simuation for Improved Air Quality: A Novel Approach","description":"Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) faces severe air quality challenges due to rapid urbanisation and a growing vehicle fleet. Vehicle emissions significantly contribute to pollution, posing health risks to the population. While policies aim to improve air quality, the city's complex urban layout complicates traffic management.\n\nThis project will leverage data from over 600 live-feed traffic cameras to develop Al computer vision algorithms that extract insights such as traffic density, vehicle types, and driver behaviour. These insights will parameterise urban traffic simulations (using tools like VISSIM or SUMO), integrated with vehicle emission models, to assess emission reduction strategies.\n\nFocusing on key intersections, the project will simulate road layouts, signage, and vehicle types to facilitate generation of realistic drive cycles. Emission models will evaluate the impact of various changes in infrastructure and vehicle composition, providing actionable insights into mitigation strategies. This research aims to support sustainable urban planning and enhance public health through data-driven policy recommendations\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n373701 Atmospheric Sciences (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (30%)\n464601 Applied Computing (30%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"Digital twin model development for fleet management of automated guided vehicles in indoor applications","description":"Digital twin technology is recognised as a groundbreaking and indispensable tool for smart manufacturing, which utilises the advanced technology from emerging domains of robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things. In the context of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) used widely used in indoor applications such as manufacturing or farming, a digital twin is a virtual replica that leverages data and simulation to enable real-time prediction, optimization, monitoring, control, and enhanced decision-making processes.\n\nThe aim of this PhD project is to develop and optimise a digital twin to enhance the performance of the fleet of AGVs in operation, which ultimately increases the safety and quality of automation process. The project's core focus is on developing a digital twin\u2014a dynamic and real-time simulation that accurately represents the vehicle's physical characteristics and operational processes of multiple vehicles. This advanced model incorporates real-time data on system performance resulting in helpful insights to facilitate data-drive decisions on AGV management. The impact of the project includes cost efficiency, energy efficiency, safety, and advancement in digital twin technology. This research project has potential applications in smart manufacturing and smart farming, where automated guided vehicle or ground mobile robots are widely\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (30%)\n404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics (50%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu","title":"Electric Motorbike Battery-Swap System Optimisation for Sustainability and the Creation of a Circular Economy 20241031","description":"With 8.5 million motorcycles (89% of the vehicle fleet), electrification in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) offers significant potential to improve air quality and public health. However, deploying charging infrastructure presents challenges, particularly given the city's limited space and electrical infrastructure. Battery-swap systems-where users exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones-offer a promising solution. This project focuses on designing and optimising such a system tailored to HCMC's unique needs, ensuring battery longevity and exploring circular economy opportunities for repurposing or recycling used batteries.\n\nThe first phase of the project will use digital-twin simulations and battery-aging models to optimise deployment strategies, balancing battery use across diverse duty cycles to maximise their lifespan. The second phase will explore technologies to enable a circular economy, using synthetic data to predict recycling and redeployment yields specific to HCMC's conditions. A new battery design will be proposed to align with local capabilities and future recycling requirements, fostering sustainable urban electrification.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404017 Mechanical Engineering (40%)\n464602 Artificial Intelligence (20%)\n464611 Machine Learning (20%)\n404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Byron Mason, Minh Tran, Dinh-Son Vu, Liuping Wang","title":"Model predictive control for improving electric vehicle thermal regulation and efficiency","description":"This project will investigate the opportunities for the use of nonlinear model predictive control in battery electric vehicle thermal management to improve system efficiency. The research challenge is the system level coordination of local controllers (battery, electric machine, cabin) to maximise overall vehicle energy efficiency. An added constraint is the distributed computational architecture on the vehicle. The main research question to be investigated is how the local controllers can be coordinated without compromising the advantages that predictive control provides at subsystem level. A stretch target is the incorporation of model adaption at the local level to further improve performance. The project will be simulation based making use of plant models from a vehicle OEM. Time-allowing the resulting controller will be validated on SPACE rapid control prototyping hardware, made available by the OEM.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 Control Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nhat-Quang Tran, Minh Dinh, Huong Ha","title":"FaRMIT \u2013 A Vietnamese Foundation Model for Agricultural Forecasting","description":"The research aims to develop a foundation model to predict the prices of Vietnam's key agricultural products, such as coffee, rice, durian, rubber, cashew, and pepper. \n\nThe main objectives include:\n\u2022        Building a zero-shot forecasting framework by distilling pretrained models (Moirai, Chronos, \u2026). \n\u2022        Exploring cost-effective foundation model development through evolutionary merging (CME-ES, TIES-Merging with DARE algorithms, \u2026).\n\u2022        Exploring the contribution of price forecasting in crop planning, as reliable forecasts help farmers and policymakers make informed decisions about which crops to plant and how to allocate resources. \n\nBy improving forecast accuracy and reliability, this research aims to support better crop planning and may benefit 15.4 million farmers in Vietnam, contributing to an agricultural sector that generated over $53 billion in export revenue in 2023.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"300210        Sustainable agricultural development (20%)\n461103        Deep learning (40%)\n461199        Machine learning not elsewhere classified (45%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Huong Ha","title":"Further Advance Bayesian Optimization","description":"Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a powerful sample-efficient strategy for finding the global optimum of an expensive black-box functions [1]. The main idea is to fit a surrogate model on the previous function evaluations, construct an acquisition function based on the surrogate model, and then use the acquisition function to select the next data point to be evaluated. Its applications include but not limited to automated machine learning, experimental design, environmental monitoring, and robotics. Whilst being effective and efficient in solving many optimization problems, BO is still a relatively new research field and suffers various limitations [1]. For example,\r\n+ Existing BO algorithms do not work well with high-dimensional optimization problems\r\n+ Limited BO methods can be applied to solve optimization problems with discrete, categorical, and mixed variables.\r\n+ Limited BO methods can solve the multi-objective optimization problems.\r\n+ etc.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to advance the efficacy of BO algorithms by various techniques such as evolutionary methods (e.g., covariance matrix adaptation, particle swarm, multi-objective decomposition) [2], deep surrogate models (e.g., deep kernel, Bayesian deep learning) [3]. \r\n\r\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\r\n460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang, Huong Ha","title":"Towards the Trustworthiness of Machine Learning Systems After Deployment","description":"Machine learning (ML) systems are employed across sectors to assist humans in making important decisions. However, it is well-known that ML systems can be unreliable. ML systems work based on the assumption that the system's training data come from the same distribution with the data encountered in the deployment. But this assumption does not always hold in real life [1]. Thus, there is no guarantee that an ML system, which had an impressive performance during the development process, still performs well after deployment. It is therefore crucial that the trustworthiness of the ML systems need to be ensured after deployment, so as to prevent potential failures that may have severe unintended consequences.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to develop various techniques to ensure the trustworthiness of ML systems after deployment. Some directions that we're aiming towards:\r\n+ active testing of ML systems so that only a minimal number of ground-truth need to be used to evaluate the correctness of ML systems [2]\r\n+ monitoring ML systems performance so as to detect any issues with the ML systems' performance\r\n+ automatic retraining ML systems so as to ensure their performance always satisfying users' requirements\r\n+ etc.\r\n\r\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\n461103 Deep learning (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar","title":"Leveraging IoT, AI, and Satellites for Precision Agriculture in Vietnamese Tea Plantations","description":"This research project is at optimizing tea cultivation practices in Vietnam through the integration of IoT, AI, and Satellites. By deploying IoT devices, analysing satellite imagery, and developing AI models, the project seeks to enhance productivity and sustainability in tea plantations. Collaboration with local farmers will ensure the practical implementation of technological solutions, ultimately improving the efficiency and profitability of tea cultivation in Vietnam. The proposed IoT infrastructure will consist of a network of sensors deployed across tea fields to monitor soil moisture, nutrient levels, temperature, humidity, and pest activity. This data will be transmitted to a centralized platform where AI algorithms will analyze the information, providing actionable insights and predictive models for optimal crop management. Additionally, satellite imagery will be utilized to assess large-scale environmental conditions, detect crop health anomalies, and guide resource allocation with high spatial and temporal resolution. The contribution of this project lies in its holistic approach to precision agriculture, tailored specifically for the unique climatic and geographical conditions of Vietnamese tea plantations. By leveraging these cutting-edge technologies, the research will enable farmers to make data-driven decisions, reduce resource waste, and improve crop yield and quality. Furthermore, this project will provide a scalable model that can be adapted to other regions and crops, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural practices on a broader scale. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, this study aspires to set a new standard for agricultural productivity and environmental stewardship in Vietnam's tea industry.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"100507 Smart Technologies - Internet of Things (35%)\n080602 Computational Intelligence (40%)\n090905 Agricultural Remote Sensing (25%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeff Nijsse, Nalin Arachchilage","title":"Data-Driven Machine Learning Framework for Blockchain Security","description":"The intersection of Artificial intelligence and blockchain technology has the potential to enhance the security of blockchain systems. As blockchain networks become increasingly integrated into various sectors, there is a need for robust security measures to counteract potential vulnerabilities. This research aims to develop a machine learning data-driven framework to analyze and enhance blockchain security. By deriving a comprehensive approach to detect anomalies and assess risks within blockchain environments, this study seeks to address existing limitations in data analysis for security purposes. Objectives: This research aims to: Derive a data-driven modelling approach to security in blockchain networks, Apply machine learning techniques to detect blockchain system anomalies, And create a comprehensive framework for blockchain security analysis and enhancement. Impact: This research will provide practitioners and researchers with basis for enhancing the security of blockchain systems, contributing to the integrity and reliability of decentralized technologies which can reduce risk and harm to end users.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460406 Software and application security (50%)\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)\n461106 Semi- and unsupervised learning (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Duc Tran, Arthur Tang","title":"Development of Immersive AR\/VR Environments Utilizing LLMs and Voice Processing","description":"This project aims to develop an advanced immersive virtual environment that integrates Large Language Models (LLMs), voice processing, and Augmented\/Virtual Reality (AR\/VR) to create a dynamic, interactive learning and training platform. By combining these cutting-edge technologies, the project will offer users realistic, voice-based interactions with both AI-driven Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and other participants in a virtual world designed to simulate real-life scenarios. This immersive environment will provide hands-on experiences that can be applied to various fields, including nursing, mental health treatment, and beyond. \n\nResearch areas include but are not limited to: (1) Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Investigate how users interact with AI-driven NPCs and how the system can enhance the realism and natural flow of conversation; (2) Emotion and Sentiment Analysis: Explore integrating emotion recognition to make NPC interactions more dynamic and responsive to user emotions; (3) Immersion and Engagement: Study the impact of AR\/VR immersion on learning effectiveness, user retention, and engagement compared to traditional learning methods; (4) AI Personalization: Research how to make NPCs more adaptive and responsive based on user behaviour and learning progression.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602 Artificial Intelligence (30%)\n4612 Software engineering (30%)\n4608 Human-Centred Computing (20%)\n4607 Graphics, Augmented Reality and Games (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Khuong Nguyen, Yunus Khatri","title":"Deep Learning in the Measurement of Microplastics in Fish","description":"The presence of microplastics in marine ecosystems is an escalating global concern, especially as they infiltrate the food chain, with fish\u2014a significant source of human nutrition\u2014being particularly affected. Recent reports, such as those from CNN and DW [1, 2], emphasize the potential health risks that microplastics pose to both aquatic life and humans. However, the accurate detection and measurement of microplastics in fish remains a complex and time-consuming process, primarily due to the varied sizes, shapes, and compositions of these particles. Traditional methods like manual microscopy and spectroscopy are labor-intensive and prone to error, limiting their practical application in large-scale monitoring.\nThe integration of deep learning offers an innovative solution to these challenges, enabling automation and improving accuracy in detecting microplastic contamination in fish. This PhD project aims to develop a deep learning model that will not only automate but also enhance the precision of identifying microplastics in fish tissues, addressing current limitations and offering a scalable solution for food safety monitoring.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"(300607) Food Technology - 30% \n(300606) Food sustainablity - 30%\n(461103) Deep learning - 20%\n(461104) Neural networks - 20%"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR231 \/ DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truong, Hoang Phan, Yunus Khatri","title":"Gene Expression for Biosensor Development in Food Quality Control","description":"Ability to detect food spoilage helps food producers comply with stringent safety regulations. This project aims to develop a biosensor using the gene expression approach to enhance food quality control of perishable food. By researching the response to contaminants and quality indicators, the project will create a biosensor capable of real-time, accurate detection. The biosensor will be optimized for sensitivity and specificity, providing a cost-effective and rapid solution for monitoring food safety. The novelty lies in integrating advanced genetic expression techniques(s) with practical applications, offering a groundbreaking approach to monitor food quality and ensure higher standards for consumers.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300607 Food technology (30%)\n300605 Food safety, traceability, certification and authenticity (30%)\n310505 Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches) (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Biotechnology & Biological Sciences (Science)","programcode":"DR231\/ DR232\/ DR219 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Popovich, Hoang Phan, Nathan Bott","title":"Evaluating Bioactive Accumulation and Agroeconomic Benefits of Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Microalgae, and Probiotics in Organic Byproduct and Waste Management","description":"This interdisciplinary project investigates the bioactive accumulation capabilities of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), microalgae, and probiotics as a mutual supportive model in converting organic byproducts and waste into valuable resources. By analyzing the bioactive compounds accumulated for pharmaceutical\/cosmetic applications, the study aims to optimize waste management practices and enhance the economic viability of organic recycling. The project employs both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess efficiency and profitability, providing insights into sustainable agricultural practices and contributing to a circular economy. This novel approach promises to set new standards and insights in organic transformation and emission mitigation.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified\n401106 Waste management, reduction, reuse and recycling\n410199 Climate change impacts and adaptation not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","programcode":"DR221\/DR232\/DR231","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dinh, Hoang Phan","title":"Addressing potential conflicts in collaborative human-AI agent environments for agri-food sustainability","description":"The research aims to enhance the synergy between human and AI agents in the agri-food sector. By identifying and addressing potential conflicts, the project seeks to improve decision-making processes, optimize resource use, and promote sustainable practices. A significant technical challenge in this field is the integration of diverse data sources and ensuring unstructured data interoperability. Key objectives include developing a conflict resolution algorithm\/framework, integrating and balancing AI-driven insights with human expertise, and fostering a collaborative environment that supports a harmonious human-AI partnership that drives efficiency and sustainability in agri-food systems. Additionally, it emphasizes the inclusion of disadvantaged groups to ensure equitable benefits and participation in sustainable practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460202 Autonomous agents and multiagent systems\n300606 Food Sustainability\n460299 Artificial Intelligence not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Maria Spichkova","title":"Employability Perspectives on Entry-Level Software Testing Skills","description":"Quality assurance (QA) is one of the major concerns in software development. There are many reasons for it, including a significant gap between industry needs and academic preparation. This PhD research project will focus on identification of essential QA competencies - testing, soft, and technical skills - expected from novice software testers and assesses their importance. Focusing on the Vietnamese and Australian software industries, this research project aims are (1) to outline the currently critical skill set for entry-level testers, to provide guidelines for integrating these competencies into university-level software testing curricula and (2) to analyze students\u2019 perceptions regarding QA to better prepare them for entry-level positions and ensure they meet industry standards and expectations.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (60%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Tuan-Anh Hoang, Vinh Dang","title":"Testing and Verification of Smart Contracts","description":"This research focuses on ensuring the reliability, security, and correctness of smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements with terms encoded directly in code, commonly used in blockchain technology. Given the irreversible nature of smart contracts, any bugs or vulnerabilities can lead to significant financial and security risks. The study explores software testing techniques to detect bugs and errors in smart contract code, including functional, security, and performance testing. Software verification methods, such as formal verification, are used to mathematically prove that the contract behaves as intended. Incorporating AI into this process can enhance testing and verification by automating bug detection, generating test cases, and predicting potential vulnerabilities. AI-driven tools can improve both the efficiency and accuracy of testing smart contracts, ultimately contributing to more secure and robust blockchain ecosystems.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461208 Software testing, verification and validation (50%)\n461104 Neural networks (25%)\n460406 Software and application security (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Maria Spichkova","title":"Cultural and Organizational Influences on Vietnam's Software Testing Practices","description":"Software testing constitutes a critical facet within the software development life cycle, especially in light of emerging AI-driven tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. On the other hand, software testing activities might be influenced by organizational culture and the nature of software development projects. This PhD research project endeavors to explore the intricacies of software testing practices within the Vietnamese context, seeking to elucidate insights of significant import to professionals globally. Employing a comparative approach, we endeavor to juxtapose our findings with analogous studies, notably those conducted in Australia, thereby aiming to present a comprehensive understanding. The ramifications of this investigation transcend the geographical confines of Vietnam, offering insights into overarching global testing trends. Moreover, this study serves as a conduit for researchers to discern the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the industry, thereby fostering enhanced industry-academia collaborations.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (60%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Automated generation of test oracles","description":"During software testing, a test oracle is commonly used to verify whether the behaviour of the system under test is correct. It enables the determination of whether the system is functioning as expected. With the increasing use of machine learning solutions in areas such as software testing, there is a possibility of developing an automated test oracle for many applications. However, machine learning-based test oracles' reliability is questionable, as software failure misclassification may occur. This could lead to inaccurate labelling of a class, which undermines the usefulness of the machine learning-based test oracle. Despite this concern, the behaviour of machine learning-based test oracles depends on the dataset and algorithms used for training. It is important to note that the challenge of identifying correct and incorrect behaviour in software testing is known as the \"Test Oracle Problem\", which exists beyond machine learning applications. This implies that machine learning methods can be used to develop a robust and reliable automated test oracle. Furthermore, the application of automated test oracles can also improve the efficiency of industry-specific workflows related to validation and verification.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (40%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)\r\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Software Engineering (CT)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Ngo, Golnoush Abaei","title":"Improving Software Fault Prediction for Imbalanced Data","description":"Allocating a sufficient budget for software testing is crucial to ensure that the software is defect-free. However, as software grows in size and complexity, testing becomes more expensive, and some companies may not have enough resources to allocate toward it. To address this issue, many researchers have turned to machine learning methods to create software fault prediction models that can detect defect-prone modules, allowing for more efficient resource allocation during testing. While this is a viable solution, the effectiveness of machine learning models depends on various factors, such as data imbalance. There are several techniques in class imbalance research that can potentially enhance the performance of prediction models by processing the dataset before inputting it. However, not all methods are compatible with each other.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (40%)\r\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\r\n461205 Requirements engineering (20%)\r\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Sensor Fusion and Active Vision for mobile robots","description":"Many smart mobility and industrial automation applications rely on object detection and tracking. Examples include mobile robots, autonomous vehicles, smart traffic infrastructure, security & surveillance. Sensor fusion is essential for safety-critical systems, both to ensure robustness (through considering redundant information) and accuracy (through considering complementary information).\r\nTo really empower machine vision both in terms of accuracy and efficiency, sensor fusion and scene analytics must go beyond passive interpretation of the scene. Sensing and computing power must be directed to where it is most essential for task performance (called active sensing), based on cues from earlier observations or from different sensors. This may be achieved by analytics feeding back information to the sensors, which can then, for example, adjust their sensitivity, field of view, resolution or power setting to this information. This feedback will require the development of novel, flexible AI architectures that combine the power of deep learning with a high degree of reconfigurability and adaptability to changing sensor dynamics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4002"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Engineering","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216\/DR216P23","campus":"RMIT VIetnam","teamleader":"Thanh Tran, Vi Nguyen","title":"Topology optimization for metal 3D manufacturing technology","description":"Metal 3D printing technology plays an important role in advanced manufacturing technology, especially in the strategy of sustainable manufacturing. In this project, modeling of structure-property characterization and structural design optimization are centered. The utilization of topology optimization is investigated for structural design in metal additive manufacturing. The goal is to answer the question if there is a relationship between topology optimization and metal 3D printing technology in medical, dental, or aerospace. From the expectedly achieved model and structure design, a multiple objective optimization problem will be solved for finding effectiveness of the process parameters on strengthen of mechanical properties and optimal weight of finished parts. Simulation and experimental studies are implemented to validate the proposed research.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"401707 Solid mechanics (40%)\r\n401401 Additive manufacturing (40%)\r\n401408 Manufacturing processes and technologies (excl. textiles) (20%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ehsan Asadi, Thanh T Tran","title":"A robust control design method for web transport system in flexible printed solar panel manufacturing technology","description":"Dynamic analysis, system design, and control synthesis play an important role in machine design with high-performance and reliability. The research starts with solving an optimization problem for selecting optimally the system parameters via dynamic analysis, and then several assumptions on roll-to-roll (R2R) web dynamics are analyzed to provide a physically closer model for the nonlinear R2R web dynamic system. The achieved model may not be a good candidate for applying a new control method, Thus, some assumptions are proposed to transform the achieved model into a standard strict-feedback form of the R2R web dynamics. Then, robust control analysis and synthesis methods are proposed to for the strict-feedback form to improve the performance and stability in the presence of disturbance. Finally, control software development for R2R web system is provided for simulation and experimental studies. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"400799 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics not elsewhere classified\n400705 Control engineering"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215P23\/ DR216P23\/DR220\/DR221 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hai-Nguyen (Hann) Nguyen","title":"Towards Physically Capable Aerial Robots for Environmental and Infrastructure Applications","description":"The demand for aerial robots is rapidly growing in fields such as ecological monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and disaster response. While current aerial robots excel at reaching and observing hard-to-access locations, their capabilities are limited by short endurance and a lack of meaningful physical interaction (i.e., restricted to passive observation). Equipping these robots with new manipulation capabilities, such as precise sensor placement for environmental monitoring, structural contact inspections over time, and complex physical interventions (e.g., firefighting, object manipulation), would greatly broaden their range of applications.\n\nDespite recent progress, current aerial robots typically manage only basic interactions\u2014such as single-point contacts or predefined action sequences\u2014due to the complexities of floating-base dynamics, aerodynamics, and the absence of accurate proprioceptive sensing. These limitations make aerial robots vulnerable to disturbances and uncertainties in unstructured environments. This research will address these challenges by focusing on the interconnected design and control aspects, which should be tackled holistically. The objective is to design innovative aerial platforms along with efficient control and planning algorithms that leverage the design, inspired by real-world applications in environmental monitoring, infrastructure assessment, and disaster response.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400702 Automation engineering (50%)\n400706 Field robotics (50%)\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215P23\/ DR216P23\/ DR220\/ DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hai-Nguyen (Hann) Nguyen, ","title":"Autonomy for Aerial Robots in Complex Ecological and Agricultural Environments","description":"Aerial robots, or simply drones, hold great potential for gathering important data in challenging environments, such as under dense forest canopies, in ecologically sensitive areas with limited ground access, or in dynamic settings like greenhouses. With their ability to fly and hover, aerial robots can efficiently collect data distributed across space and time. However, navigating such complex and dynamic environments requires high levels of autonomy and adaptability. Dense vegetation, varying light conditions, changing features, and moving obstacles present significant challenges to maintaining safe and efficient navigation for data collection, underscoring the need for advanced autonomous navigation capabilities.\n\nCurrent literature highlights the limitations of aerial robots\u2019 ability to navigate complex, unstructured environments without human intervention. This research lies at the intersection of control and perception, focusing on the use of new sensing modalities and developing tighter integration between the two, such as an end-to-end approach with differentiable control and perception elements. The work will contribute essential advancements to autonomous navigation in aerial robotics for ecological and agricultural applications.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400702 Automation engineering (50%)\n400706 Field robotics (50%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215\/DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thanh Tran, Ehsan Asadi","title":"A new robust control design method for a nonlinear flight dynamics","description":"This project investigates a nonlinear robust control algorithm for flight dynamics of aircraft. The project focuses on two points: i) A new idea is proposed to formulate a robust control law of the nonlinear flight dynamics System. This process of control design is implemented by using the Lyapunov-function based design. ii) Flight-path angle control of longitudinal dynamics of F-16 aircraft model is applied in a form of nonlinear dynamic system under a series of less restrictive assumptions. A direct applicability of the proposed control theoretic framework is used to derive robust control laws for the achieved model. To show advancement, improvement, and validation of the proposed control method, In-door experimental studies are implemented, where numerical data or flight path angle control of longitudinal motion of F-16 aircraft model is investigated finally to validate the proposed control approach.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"4001 Aerospace engineering (40%)\r\n4007 Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics (40%)\r\n4009 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware (20%)\r\n\r\n\r"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Real-time monitoring of the remaining useful life of an industrial\/electronic system with a data-based approach","description":"The aim of this PhD track is to develop an AI methodology, using machine learning (ML) approaches, to predict the remaining useful lifetime of electronic systems by fusing data obtained from both sensors and simulations. The idea is to use the ML-based approach to compensate for the limitations of an approach that relies solely on simulations (uncertainty on the material parameters etc.). Experimental validation of the methodology will also be carried out.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nalin Arachchilage, Matthew Warren","title":"Enhancing privacy awareness of individuals in social media: an internal social marketing approach","description":"Understanding the behavioural change process of social media users to adopt safe privacy practices is vital to protect them from data breaches. This research project explores how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. This understanding could inform the design of social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to promote and maintain online privacy compliance. This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with social media users in Vietnam. Responses are then categorized under the 7Ps marketing mix framework. Discussions are centred on social media users' experiences, their perceptions of privacy behaviour and awareness initiatives, and the impact of initiatives on compliance behaviour. \nThe key objectives of the project are:\n1.        Background and literature study on how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. \n2.        Developing a framework, based on the 7Ps marketing mix, to understand and enhance individuals' privacy awareness of social media usage. \n3.        Evaluate the users' understanding and enhancement of privacy awareness of their social media usage through the developed framework. \n4.    Develop informed design guidelines for social media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram) to promote and maintain online privacy compliance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460904 Information security management (50%)\n460402 Data and information privacy (25%)\n460910 Information systems user experience design and development (25%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Golnoush Abaei","title":"Improving Software Fault Prediction for Imbalanced Data","description":"Allocating a sufficient budget for software testing is crucial to ensure that the software is defect-free. However, as software grows in size and complexity, testing becomes more expensive, and some companies may not have enough resources to allocate toward it. To address this issue, many researchers have turned to machine learning methods to create software fault prediction models that can detect defect-prone modules, allowing for more efficient resource allocation during testing. While this is a viable solution, the effectiveness of machine learning models depends on various factors, such as data imbalance. There are several techniques in class imbalance research that can potentially enhance the performance of prediction models by processing the dataset before inputting it. However, not all methods are compatible with each other.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461208 Software testing, verification and validation (30%)\n461207 Software quality, processes and metrics (30%)\n461202 Empirical software engineering (20%)\n460299 Artificial intelligence not elsewhere classified (10%)\n461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (10%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232\/DR231","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yunus Khatri, Hoang Phan, Tuyen Truong","title":"Transcriptomic profiling of Pseudomonas fluorescens in pasteurized milk for further developing a rapid and portable detection method ","description":"Psychrotrophic bacteria are a major concern in the milk industry due to their ability to grow well at low temperatures and produce heat-stable enzymes which subsequently alter milk quality and safety. Pseudomonas fluorescens (P. fluorescens) is the most prevalent species of Pseudomonas detected in High Temperature Short Time pasteurized milk. Milk spoilage can be significantly exacerbated by heat-stable extracellular proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes synthesized by P. fluorescens. Dufour et al (2008) demonstrated that P. fluorescens produced AprX \u2013 a thermal-resistant alkaline metallopeptidase, is responsible for casein deterioration in milk.\nSeveral methods have been applied to detect contamination levels post-pasteurization. However, these traditional methods have some limitations, specifically labour intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a rapid, accurate method to detect microbes in a timely manner to cope with contamination in the pasteurization and filling units.\nIMPACT - The outcomes of this research will inform the design for a rapid, accurate and portable method to detect P. fluorescens in milk. Thus, the knowledge created will assist in resolving milk spoilage and assist in preventing significant losses in the dairy industry","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300607 Food technology (30%)\n300605 Food safety, traceability, certification and authenticity (30%)\n310505 Gene expression (incl. microarray and other genome-wide approaches) (40%)"},{"college":"STEM","school":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology (Science)","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truon, Rajaraman Eri","title":"The Impact of Nutritional Intervention on Gestational Diabetes in Vietnamese Patients","description":"Gestational diabetes has emerged as a significant public health concern in Vietnam, impacting both the healthcare sector and the general population. Notably, clinical studies conducted in Vietnam reveal varying prevalence rates, ranging from 8% to 32%, depending upon geographic regions and diagnostic criteria. Complications associated with gestational diabetes include preeclampsia, miscarriage, stillbirth, and an increased likelihood of cesarean sections.\r\nIn the current healthcare landscape of Vietnam, pregnant women undergo gestational diabetes screening between the 24th and 28th weeks of pregnancy. However, once diagnosed, patients often receive rudimentary instructions from obstetricians and gynecologists, typically centered on reducing sugar and starch consumption. Furthermore, there is a lack of coordination with dietitians for comprehensive nutritional assessments and interventions. Concurrently, existing studies and clinical guidelines underscore the pivotal role of dietary therapy in managing blood sugar levels during pregnancy, potentially reducing the need for insulin.\r\nCompounding these challenges is the nascent state of the nutrition industry in Vietnam, particularly within the realm of clinical nutrition. This infancy translates to a dearth of recommendations and guidelines tailored to nutritional interventions for the Vietnamese populace.\r\nGiven this landscape, this research project seeks to address these pressing issues by evaluating the efficacy of nutritional interventions for Vietnamese patients with gestational diabetes through randomized controlled trials and metabolomics studies. The ultimate aim is to bridge the gap in nutritional guidance and recommendations, offering targeted nutrition programs that hold immense promise for improving the management of gestational diabetes in Vietnamese patients, with far-reaching implications for maternal and fetal health.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"300603: Food Nutritional Balance (65%)\r\n321001: Clinical Nutrition (20%)\r\n310205: Proteomics and Metabolics (15%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Cloud, Systems & Security","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fengling Han, Huo Chong Ling (RMIT Vietnam)","title":"CSIRO Data61 Next Generation Emerging Technologies: Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning","description":"To address the increasingly striking discordance between its rapid growth and renewed awareness of privacy protection in this era of intelligence, this project focuses on the security of private and protection of sensitive information carried by the data with machine learning methods.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460403 Data security and protection\r\n330204 Building information modelling and management\r\n330206 Building science, technologies and systems"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jeffery Chan","title":"Social Network Analysis Research for Studying Technology Adoption in Organisations and Society","description":"Technology adoption in companies and society is a complex process, but involves peer influences and other co-founding factors. In this project\/co-supervisor, we would like to extend upon initial work in using social network analysis and diffusion models to study technology adoption in companies and research advanced models that combines node information, background influences and other information. This will be combined with user studies to gather further datasets about technology adoption in a company based in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460502"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Xiuzhen Jenny Zhang","title":"summarization of opinions on social media","description":"This project will explore generative language technologies for generating unbiased opinion summaries. The project is related to sentiment analysis of conversations on social media and is related to topics such as deep learning, NLP and text mining. It also relates to bias for machine learning for social media \u2013 a way to address bias in summarization is to include a diverse set of contrastive viewpoints in the summary of social media posts.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460502 Data Mining and Knowledge discovery"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Computing Technologies","discipline":"Computer Science","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Xiuzhen Jenny Zhang","title":"Trust of misinformation on social media","description":"Misinformation is a recognised as a grand challenge in the 21st century. Contrary to our belief, recent research published in Science shows that humans plays significant roles in the propagation of misinformation. This project aims to study the human behaviour towards misinformation generated by human or machine. Research questions include understand user behaviour (trust\/distrust) for misinformation, classification of user behaviour for misinformation behaviour; characterise mistrust communities. We will use a data analytics approach, combined with qualitative methods.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"30\/09\/2021","ecp":"Information and Systems (Engineering);","forcodes":"460506"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Digital Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ben Byrne, Jonathan Duckworth, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Laurene Vaughan, Darrin Verhagen, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski","title":"Digital Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Digital Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to games, animation, interaction design and user experience design. Specific areas of digital design research include cinematic Virtual Reality, Esports, embodied interaction, creative coding, audio essays, computational culture and performance. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in digital design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120303 Digital and Interaction Design\n  190202 Computer Gaming and Animation\n  190203 Electronic Media Art\n  190504 Performance and Installation Art\n  200102 Communication Technology and Digital Media Studies\n  200212 Screen and Media Culture"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brad Haylock, Stephen Banham, Jenny Grigg, Neal Haslem, Andy Simionato, Laurene Vaughan, Noel Waite","title":"Typography and Design for Publishing","description":"The School of Design at RMIT welcomes candidates seeking to undertake research in Typography and Design for Publishing. Research in this area spans practice-based and theoretical approaches, and applied and speculative approaches. Studies broadly address matters of book typography, editorial design, type design and lettering, and commercial, independent or speculative publishing. Topics might include but are not limited to: the future of the book; book design methodology; innovations in publishing processes or modes of publishing; typography in the public sphere; and publishing as a critical practice. Researchers in this area might also take a design-led approach to questions relating to the sociology of books, publishing and reading, or to small-press and artist-book publishing. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"4,11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Auger, Olivier Cotsaftis, Liam Fennessy, Pirjo Haikola, Brad Haylock, Scott Mitchell, Andy Simionato, Laurene Vaughan, Oliver Vodeb, Jaz Choi, Toni Roberts, Sarah Teasley","title":"Speculative and Critical Design","description":"Speculative Design and Critical Design projects and practices interrogate the status quo in various ways, or propose variously unorthodox future scenarios. These modes of practice often explicitly challenge the current state of design itself: its narrowing pathways, prevailing assumptions, and corporate agendas. In this area of focus, RMIT School of Design welcomes researchers who deploy the principles, methods or ethics of critical and speculative design to interrogate received assumptions and practices in domains ranging from governance, politics, technological development, human interactions, and design practice itself. Research candidates in this area demonstrate their findings in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their research. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Auger, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Simon Lockrey, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Juan Sanin, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Malte Wagenfeld","title":"Industrial Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Industrial Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to product design, furniture design, ergonomics and product-service systems. Research in this area might extend from an industrial design perspective into topics and domains such as service design, design for social innovation, design for social change, safeness by design, human-centred design, sustainable design, and inclusive design. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in industrial design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120305 Industrial Design, \n  120302 Design Innovation"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jaz Choi, Jonathan Duckworth, Troy Innocent, Rohit Khot, Gina Moore, Matthew Riley","title":"Design for Playful Interaction","description":"Play is a methodology for creative practice that traverses diverse disciplines, materials, spaces and modes of interaction. Knowledge and techniques from games and interaction design inform research on innovative cyber-physical systems that are captivating, transformative and productive. Application areas at RMIT School of Design include Human-Food Interaction (HFI), playable cities and care-full design. Contemporary concerns with food include technological, environmental, and social disruptions, ranging from food security to agricultural sustainability to rising obesity and diminishing commensality. Playable cities use creative technologies to situate citizens within experiences that allow them to re-imagine, reconnect and reinvent their world. Care-fully designing playful engagement embodies care as a matter of concern; its ethics and logic guides conceptual, methodological, and translational undertakings. We seek research candidates in this area who are passionate about exploring design for playful engagement through transdisciplinary research and practice in\/across different fields of design \u2013 including but not limited to interaction \/ experience \/ service. Interests and experience in co-creative, trans-disciplinary, practice-based methods are highly valued.","sdg":"2,3,11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Digital and Interaction Design\n  190203 Electronic Media Art"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lawrence Harvey, Darrin Verhagen, Ben Byrne, Jordan Lacey, Scott Mitchell, Joshua Batty, Frank Feltham, Jeffrey Hannam","title":"Sound, Music and Acoustics","description":"Developments in spatial sound technology from the mid- to late-20th century enabled the creation, delivery and research of complex acoustic environments. Whereas music and concert halls were once the privileged location of advanced human auditory experience, digital technology has greatly expanded the potential for new types of spatial sound and soundscapes. Applicants are invited to consider contributions to research areas that include: urban soundscape designs for multi-channel systems; evaluating urban soundscape designs and urban soundscape planning models; software projects for spatialised performance, installations or gesture control; spatialised performance\/electroacoustic performance practise; analysis of contemporary spatial compositions and installation practice; integrating 3D design softwares within spatial sound designs; and experimental acoustic design. Applicants must have intermediate to advanced skills in studio production to realise their research.","sdg":"3,9,11,12,13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Urban Futures, Information and Systems","forcodes":"120104 Architectural Science and Technology\n  120302 Design innovation\n  190203 Electronic Media Art\n  190504 Performance and Installation Art"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Teasley, Brad Haylock, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite, Jenny Grigg","title":"Critical, Historical and Theoretical Studies in Design","description":"This area of focus supports researchers undertaking studies in design history, theory and criticism. Topics might include: new modes of design criticism, new regional design histories, critical design historiography, and new theories of design. Critical design studies might take regional, feminist, decolonising, Indigenous, LGBTIQA+, or other, or variously intersectional standpoints to contribute to emergent discourses in design. New design histories may focus on people, places, themes or modes of practice that have been overlooked or under-recognised by research to date. Research in this area might also examine the modes by which design histories or theories are produced and reproduced, for example in education or publishing. Candidates in this area will typically present a thesis for examination, but may also undertake practice-based research, for example through curatorial practice. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12,13,16,17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120301 Design History and Theory"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stephen Banham, Marius Foley, Jenny Grigg, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, James Oliver, Toni Roberts, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Laurene Vaughan, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite","title":"Communication Design Research","description":"The School of Design at RMIT supports specialist research in the discipline of Communication Design and its subdomains or related fields, including but not limited to graphic design, interpretation design, branding, packaging and data visualisation. Research in this area might extend from a communication design standpoint into topics and domains such as design strategy, service design, design for social innovation, design for social change, design for community building, human-centred design, and inclusive design. Studies in this area may also examine discipline-specific pedagogies and practice methods. Candidates with a specialist focus in communication design research might conduct practice-based research or might deploy traditional research methods. Candidates might present practice artefacts and an exegetical dissertation for examination, or they may write a traditional thesis, subject to the particular focus of the individual research. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design), \n  120302 Design Innovation, \n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Stephen Banham, Chris Barker, Joshua Batty, Ben Byrne, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Jonathan Duckworth, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Jenny Grigg, Pirjo Haikola, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Leah Heiss, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen, Oliver Vodeb, Malte Wagenfeld, Noel Waite, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Sarah Teasley, Deb Polson","title":"Reflective Industry Practice Research in Design","description":"Reflective Industry Practice Research in Design involves practitioner-researchers operating largely in a professional environment, generally with a peer-reviewed and award-winning body of work developed over 10 years or more. These practitioners-researchers have already developed recognised mastery in their field. In this area of research focus in RMIT School of Design, experienced practitioners become practitioner-ressearchers who interrogate their own practices in order to explicate and disseminate their disciplinary knowledge, defining its enabling structures, its knowledge bases, and the implications of the nexus between these for emerging forms of research-led practice. They conclude by speculating through design on the nature of their future practice. They demonstrate their findings publicly, through an exhibit, a presentation to examiners, and a written dissertation. This mode of research extends and develops the knowledge base of the design professions, and thus their ability to serve society.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Areli Avendano Franco, Stephen Banham, Chris Barker, Joshua Batty, Ben Byrne, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Mick Douglas, Jonathan Duckworth, Frank Feltham, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Jenny Grigg, Pirjo Haikola, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Leah Heiss, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Andy Simionato, Nicola St John, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen, Oliver Vodeb, Malte Wagenfeld, Noel Waite, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Ian de Vere","title":"Generative Practice Research in Design","description":"The Generative Practice Research mode of practice research in design crosses boundaries between professional and academic research. This practice-based research approach enables practitioner-researchers to generate new kinds of practices \u2014 within a discipline or across disciplines \u2014 in response to challenges and concerns emerging in a changing world and amidst transformations across practice domains. Candidates in this area might be early-career practitioners seeking to enter into a period of deep inquiry that transforms a set of practice-based interests into a more developed practice with well-articulated emphases, agendas and approaches. They might equally be mid- or later-career practitioners seeking to generate a new practice trajectory through a transformation of their established mastery. Research candidates in this area demonstrate their findings publicly in ways most appropriate to the particularities of their practice research, usually through an exhibit, a written dissertation and a presentation to examiners. This area of research focusses on the generation of new knowledge in the form of previously unarticulated approaches to practice, informed by specific issues and challenges that direct researchers' generative inquiries.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Jaz Choi, Olivier Cotsaftis, Simon Curlis, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Neal Haslem, Brad Haylock, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Ross McLeod, Scott Mitchell, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, James Oliver, Toni Roberts, Michael Trudgeon, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Oliver Vodeb, Noel Waite, Juan Sanin, Sarah Teasley, Deb Polson","title":"Ben Byrne, Jonathan Duckworth, Jeff Hannam, Lawrence Harvey, Chris Henschke, Troy Innocent, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Mark Lycette, James Manning, Marcia Nancy Mauro-Flude, Christian McCrea, Jules Moloney, Gina Moore, Thomas Penney, John Power, Matthew Riley, Helen Stuckey, Li Ping Thong, Dan Torre, Laurene Vaughan, Darrin Verhagen, Douglas Wilson, Shaun Wilson, Emma Witkowski, Deb Polson","description":"Social impact relates to the capacity to create positive social change for communities, individuals and ecologies. In recent years, designers have been moving beyond engaging with consumer culture, instead exploring new forms of practice, including design for social innovation. In response to these informed narratives, designers must realise the potential of design as an agent of change to make a broader contribution to society, rather than to enhance marketability by influencing consumer behaviour. This area of research focus also responds to pressing concerns surrounding sustainability, arising from current rapid extinction of species, habitat loss and displacement of more-than-human communities, and recognises the moral and practical crises in design that have contributed to such conditions. Established research in the School of Design in this area of focus includes fighting food waste, design to support natural ecologies in the face of climate change, and designing against crime. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"All","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Design","discipline":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","programcode":"DR235 \/ MR235","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Yoko Akama, James Auger, Jaz Choi, Simon Curlis, Jonathan Duckworth, Liam Fennessy, Marius Foley, Judith Glover, Pirjo Haikola, Neal Haslem, Rohit Ashok Khot, Jordan Lacey, Simon Lockrey, Scott Mitchell, Toni Roberts, Juan Sanin, Soumitri Varadarajan, Laurene Vaughan, Karli Verghese, Darrin Verhagen","title":"Design for Health, Wellbeing and Aging","description":"Design research has an active role to play in how society changes the ways people access and experience services and engagements, from the organisational through to the socio-political level. This area of research focus emphasises the importance of design in relation to health, wellbeing and aging. Researchers in this area explore the deployment of design to reimagine health, resilience and care. Candidates might draw on generative or applied practice research approaches in human-centred design, or upon product design, ethnographic approaches, co-creatives processes and iterative and reflective practices. Specific themes and areas of inquiry might include but are not limited to: serious games for health; interaction design for health applications; design innovation for sexual health; design for dementia treatment; and interaction design for mindful eating. Most researchers in this area of focus undertake practice-based research but theoretical inquiries in this field are also welcome. This area of focus welcomes researchers at all career stages.","sdg":"1,2,3,4,5,8,11,16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice, Social Change, Urban Futures","forcodes":"120302 Design Innovation\n  120303 Design Management and Studio and Professional Practice\n  120304 Digital and Interaction Design\n  120305 Industrial Design\n  120307 Visual Communication Design (incl. Graphic Design)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Health and Physical Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Amanda Telford, Toni Hilland, Melanie Nash, Carl Ridgeway","title":"Health, Physical Education and Wellbeing","description":"We invite proposals for candidates interested in Health and Physical Education un Primary, Secondary and \/or Higher Education (PSTs) to explore ways in which Health and Physical educators can enhance health and physical activity opportunities in learning environments. This project recognises the multi-faceted nature of the influences on the health, wellbeing and learning. Therefore, there is a necessity to support teacher education and professional development to enhance students\u2019 health, well- being and learning within a school context. Candidates may be interested in exploring the use of creative student-centred pedagogies, curricular initiatives, assessment tools and other 21st Century learning skills to understand and promote health, well-being, physical activity opportunities and learning within school Health and Physical Education. The primary research designs of the project may employ a combination of descriptive research (namely Survey, Developmental research, Case Study, Focus group, Observational and Correlational), quasi-experimental, mixed methods and quantitative research. The project will draw from a wide range of sociocultural, behavioural and educational theoretical perspectives to explore the potential of Health and Physical Educators\u2019 capacity to positively influence students\u2019 health, well-being, physical activity and learning within a school context. International comparisons of PISA data for student outcomes relating to a range of academic performance indicators ranked Australia among the lowest in the world. Research has shown the direct links between school leadership and student achievements (Barber, Whelan & Clark, 2010). In addition, the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance report in 38 countries across 6 continents found that overall physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Australia are low\/poor (graded D-). This project recognises that school Health and Physical Education programs, co-curricular initiatives and environments play vital roles in shaping young people\u2019s experiences, health, well-being, learning and development which impacts on these achievements. Overall, the project will use this empirical base to contribute to scholarship on the impact of student-centred pedagogies, school-based health and well-being programs on teacher capabilities to positively influence students\u2019 health, well-being and achievements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"3 Good Health and Wellbieng, 4 Quality Education","forcodes":"130103 Higher Education, 130104 Primary Education, 130106 Secondary Education, 130210 Physical Education and Development Curriculum and Pedagogy, 130303 Education Assessment and Evaluation,130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators, 111712 Health Promotion"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Creativity Education; STEAM; Teacher Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Daniel Harris, David Rousell, Patricia McLaughlin, Linda Knight, Aleksandra Acker","title":"Creativity Education","description":"We invite proposals for candidates interested in diverse engagements with creativity and creative ecologies, including but not limited to: gallery and museum spaces, community and activist spaces, higher education spaces, urban and regional public spaces, art, architecture, design spaces, creative industries spaces, in addition to more formal compulsory schooling spaces. We are interested in all forms of transdisciplinary (e.g STEAM) creative ecologies, including those that potentially contribute to the re-imagining of formal schooling in synergistic ways. Additionally, we invite engagement from those in the cultural and creative industries whose work doesn't necessarily focus on K-12 schooling. There is a large body of evidence-based research supporting creativity as an economic and educational imperative, not only in workplace preparation, but for addressing global and local inequities, the climate crisis, and for crafting fulfilling lives and communities. This need for creative change is addressed in the Australian Government\u2019s Inquiry into Innovation and Creativity (Commonwealth of Australia 2017), Recommendation 10 (2.94), which \u201crecommends that the National Innovation and Science Agenda explicitly recognise the importance of STEAM, creative digital skills, the creative industries and the arts more generally\u201d (p. 40). We believe, as does the Victorian Department of Education and other governing bodies, that 21st century sociality demands the development of a highly flexible skill set, critical for navigating the complexities of digital life and an evolving economy. 21st century skills involve ways of thinking, working and living under rapidly changing conditions, including but not limited to critical and creative thinking. While these skills align with current national and international agendas for education policy reform, we also invite proposals interested in skills of creative subversion and insurrection with respect to neo-liberal governance and control. Recent turns toward \u2018hacktivism\u2019, \u2018undercommons study\u2019 (Harney & Moten, 2013), the \u2018hashtag syllabus\u2019 (Graziano et al, 2019), Strikes4ClimateAction, and Extinction Rebellion are just a few examples of creative activism in the educational sphere. We do not see these varied applications of creativity studies as mutually-exclusive. We invite proposals that address governmental \u2018creative skills\u2019 economic agendas, but may also critically challenge and reroute these creative skills toward alternative political and ethical imaginaries. Our \u2018creative ecologies\u2019 approach draws on critical theoretical frameworks, including new materialisms, affect studies and posthumanism. We encourage creative\/experimental methods, including research-creation and arts-based approaches, and design-based research. We celebrate the real-world ways in which people learn and apply their learning through socially just, project-based and collaborative means.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality education; 8 Decent wprk and economic growth, 17 Partnerships for the goals","forcodes":"390101 - Creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy; 390303 - higher education; 390406 - gender, sexuality and education; 39201 - Education Policy; 390307"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Education Studies; Sociology of Education","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Seth Brown, Emily Gray, Annette Gough","title":"Education and Skills for Sustainable Development","description":"UNEVOC@RMIT is located in the School of Education, RMIT University. \n \n UNEVOC@RMIT is part of a global network, co-ordinated from UNESCO\u2010UNEVOC headquarters in Bonn, Germany. \n Positioning RMIT and Australia as a leader and enabler in the region (Asia Pacific, North Asia and South Asia) in applied research, network building and evidenced\u2010based interventions and policy\u2010making in VET. Leveraging the work being conducted at other UNEVOC Centres around the world for the benefit of Australia and Australian future workforces and industry. \n \n Contributing, through concrete, applied, and research-based activities, to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The research focus for UNEVOC @ RMIT is multidisciplinary, and is framed, in part, by the UNESCO UNEVOC priorities for VET: 1. Fostering youth employment and entrepreneurship; 2. Promoting equality and gender equality; 3. Facilitating the transition to green economies and sustainable societies. In this framework our work is initially focused on three key areas: 1. Young people, 21st Century capabilities, wellbeing, pathways and the future of work; 2. Building a networked approach to enabling and capturing social value in learning and training; 3. Exploring educational ecologies of well-being, resilience, and enterprise in times of crisis and disruption. \n This work is informed by the sense that at the start of the 21st century \u2018we are currently situated in a posthuman convergence between the Fourth industrial Age and the Sixth Extinction, between an advanced knowledge economy, which perpetuates patterns of discrimination and exclusion, and the threat of climate change devastation for both human and non-human entities\u2019.\n \n We welcome expressions of interest for PhD and Masters by research projects that align with this program.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality Education; 5 Gender Equality; 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth","forcodes":"390203 Sociology of education; 390201 Education policy; 390114 Vocational education and training curriculum and pedagogy;390308 Technical, further and workplace education"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Education","discipline":"Educational Studies; Mathematics Education; Science Education; STEM","programcode":"DR209 \/ MR209","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tasos Barkatsas, Di Siemon, Rebecca Seah, Angela Rogers, Dan Jazby, Marj Horne, Daniel Harris, Tricia McLaughlin","title":"STEM and STEAM Education","description":"1. Refining disciplinary models of STEM education: There are debates that argue that the term STEM is too diffuse and ill-defined and that there should be a return to the individual disciplines (Siekmann, 2017); debates that current conceptualisations of STEM should be expanded to include a wider range of disciplines, such as Art (Spoehr, Barnett, Molly, Dev & Hordacre, 2010); and debates that STEM education should reflect a more integrated, problem-based learning approach geared towards solving societal problems.\n 2. Research on the development, teaching and learning of reasoning, problem solving, creativity and collaboration in the domains of science, technology, engineering and mathematics considered separately or in combination as appropriate.\n 3. Participation and equity - considerations related to access and participation in STEM education by under-represented groups, including indigenous students, students from socio-economically disadvantaged groups, women\/girls.\n 4. How STEM education is enacted at different levels of education, including: how education institutions engage with industry and community to develop STEM education to contribute to how society grapples with 21st century problems and trends; and how STEM education is positioned as a vehicle for curriculum and pedagogical renewal (inquiry, problem-based learning and 21stcentury skills) and student re-engagement.\n \n 5. How teacher education institutions are preparing new graduate teachers to engage with the STEM education agenda in their practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"4 Quality education","forcodes":"390113 Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy; 390302 Curriculum and Pedagogy Theory and Development; 390303 Higher Education; 390304 Primary education; 390306 Secondary education; 390307 Teacher education and professional development of educators; 390308 Learning Analytics; 390309 Learning Sciences; 390109 Mathematics and Numeracy curriculum and development; 390405 Educational Assessment and Evaluation; 390405 Educational Technology and Computers"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Engineering","discipline":"Civil and Infrastructure Engineering","programcode":"DR218","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sara Moridpour, Minh Dinh","title":"Tourist bus route planning in Urban Areas","description":"Finding the shortest route in urban space for tourist buses is a complicated problem in the temporary world. Therefore, the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a problem that is essential that I need to research and apply the existing optimal solution. In my study, I investigate one solution, the Genetic Algorithm (GA), to solve the problem. Moreover, when this algorithm is implemented in Python language programming and combined with Google APIs to calculate the optimal distance between multiple locations, and then I consider the real-time traffic condition to solve TSP effectively and efficiently via Google Maps.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"400512 (100%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise; Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lijing Wang, Rajiv Padhye, Scott Mayson, Ricarda Bigolin, Jenny Underwood, Sean Ryan, Angela Finn, Rebecca van Amber, Peter Boyd, Andrea Eckersley, Tarryn Handcock, Pia Interlandi, Georgia McCorkill, Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Alex Sherlock, Denise Sprynskyj","title":"Wearable Body Space","description":"Textile materials and fashion garments occupy a liminal space connecting and separating the body to and from its physical, technological, social and cultural environments. The investigation of the role of textiles and fashion in this relationship is multidisciplinary and covers several fields, including textile engineering and technologies, materials sciences, electrical and software engineering, design theory and practice, visual communication, and the sociology and phenomenology of dress.\n \n Research in this field crosses the disciplines of technology, enterprise and design, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Smart textiles systems and wearable electronics connecting technologies and textiles, in order to harvest and store energy, embed batteries, sensors and actuators, monitor health, monitor the environment, provide communication, etc, including, for example, the development of fibre-based RFID tags, nanocellulose aerogel for energy generation, and stretchable conducting polymer-coated textile electrodes for supercapacitors;\n Garment technology and smart wearables that monitor health and well-being, provide communication or entertainment, enhance user experience, and connect with the Internet of Things and industry 4.0, without compromising clothing performance and functionality;\n Physiological and\/or psychological responses to textile materials in the context of health, comfort and well-being;\n The personal, social and cultural role of fashion and clothing, and of its communicative and performative potential, in the context of an increasingly urbanised and\/or technologized environment;\n The personal, social and cultural place of fashion in the context of an increasingly fluid political, cultural and gender-diverse world.","sdg":"3; 9; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication; BHI","forcodes":"0906, 0910, 0912, 1203,1608, 1701, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation; Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Scott Mayson, Jenny Underwood, Stephen Wigley, Rebecca van Amber, Angela Finn, Pia Interlandi, Saniyat Islam, Georgia McCorkill, Kate Sala","title":"Sustainable Fashion and Textile Systems","description":"The fashion and textile industry is currently undergoing a green revolution, driven by a concern for the environmental and social impact of fashion and textile materials, products, processes and systems.\n \n Research in this field crosses the disciplines of technology, enterprise and design, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Performance and properties of sustainable materials including natural fibre biomaterials, natural dye colouration, and\/or the development of alternatives to traditional, polluting materials;\n Fibre recycling technologies, textile waste technologies, life-cycle analysis of materials, and\/or environmental management frameworks;\n Sustainable fashion and textile business models, including textile manufacturing practices, circular economy development models, and\/or sustainable industry supply chains;\n Sustainable fashion retail and consumption models, including the future of retail spaces and\/or the impact of technological innovations;\n The role of consumer psychology, social movements (e.g. veganism), changing social values and social policy frameworks;\n The marketing of sustainability in the context of so-called greenwashing;\n Sustainable fashion and textile design practice models, from commercial large-scale to independent micro-practices.","sdg":"3; 5; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation; Design and Creative Practice; Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"0910, 0912, 1203, 1503, 1505, 1608"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Steve Michielsen, Xin Wang","title":"Nanotextiles and Scalability","description":"The use of nanoparticles has been a promising way to develop performance textiles, although durability and comfort remain issues in the potential application of the technology. Similarly, the scaling up of nanofibres continues to present a challenge to their application. This project has a number of aims, including the growing of nanoparticles on textiles and the development of novel methods of synthesis, and the theory and method of electrospinning in the fabrication of nanofibres.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n The development of carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites;\n The development of spacer fabric with CNT-reinforced nanofibres for impact protection;\n Novel electrospinning systems for the scalable production of nanofibres;\n Nanomaterials\/fibrous nanocomposite systems for multiple applications;\n The use of nanodiamond\/selenium within fibrous systems for the development of medical textiles;\n The design, modelling and engineering of compression garments;\n Braided 3D pre-form structures for fibre-reinforced composites;\n Modelling of the protection and thermal comfort of semi-permeable PPE.","sdg":"3; 9","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials; Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication: BHI","forcodes":"0910, 1007"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rajiv Padhye, Lijing Wang, Steve Michielsen, Xin Wang, Scott Mayson, Rebecca van Amber, Pia Interlandi, Saniyat Islam","title":"Materials for Extreme Conditions","description":"Innovations in advanced materials and performance textiles are required to confront a range of extreme environments, from the heat encountered in firefighting, to chemical, biological and other hazardous materials, to the stresses involved in space travel, to protective garments for law enforcement officers.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n The development of compression garments and gloves for astronauts;\n The design and evaluation, including through the use of the school\u2019s new flame mannikin, of functional firefighting garments;\n The development of CBRN protective textiles;\n The design of body armour for stab and ballistic protection;\n Ergonomic performance evaluation of garments;\n The improvement of UV-blocking and antibacterial properties of protective materials;\n The coating of textiles with nanomaterials for multiple applications\n The development of nanodiamond\/textile composites.","sdg":"3; 9; 13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials","forcodes":"0910, 0912"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robyn Healy, Scott Mayson, Ricarda Bigolin, Jenny Underwood, Stephen Wigley, Sean Ryan, Peter Boyd, Andrea Eckersley, Angela Finn, Laura Gardner, Tarryn Handcock, Georgia McCorkill, Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, Tarun Panwar, Alex Sherlock, Denise Sprynskyj, Carol Tan","title":"Fashion and Textiles Communication, Enterprise and Pedagogy","description":"Research in this field lies at the intersection of the disciplines of design and enterprise, and proposals are sought that address one of the following topics\n \n Practice-based and practice-led investigations of diverse forms of fashion and textile practice;\n Innovations in the communication of fashion though image, writing and performance, including its recent adoption of innovative technologies such as VR and AR and\/or its increasingly diverse forms of dissemination through publication;\n Contemporary self-critical reflection upon and engagement with fashion by practitioners and writers both within and outside the academy;\n New models for the teaching and communication of fashion and textile design practice, including the foregrounding of practice-based thinking and\/or the social and environmental responsibility of fashion and textile practices;\n Recent developments in the relationship between local and global systems of fashion, in its cultural, political and economic aspects;\n New forms of collaborative and cross-disciplinary relationships between practitioners in fashion and textiles and practitioners in fields such as industrial and product design, architecture and urban design, performance, photography, film and the visual arts, and\/or actors and critics working in fields such as public policy or social activism.","sdg":"3; 4; 5; 9; 11; 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice; Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"1203, 1302, 1901, 1904, 1905, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Fashion & Textiles","discipline":"Textiles Technology","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Steve Michielsen, Lijing Wang, Rajiv Padhye, Xin Wang, Rebecca van Amber","title":"Textile Identification and Analysis","description":"The identification and analysis of textile composition and behaviour has important applications in a range of areas including defence and forensics and as protection against fraud and counterfeiting.\n \n Research proposals are sought that address one of the following topics:\n \n Hyperspectral analysis of fibre material and textile digital signal processing, with applications for the development and detection of camouflage and counterfeit materials;\n Bloodstain pattern analysis, with applications in the field of forensic science;\n Analysis of fabric wetting and the wicking of liquids, in the development of innovative materials for comfort and\/or for forensic fibre identification;\n Artificial intelligence tools and developing technologies to provide forensic evidence and to identify the origin of textiles, including, for example, the identification of Australian wool, the origin of animal furs and skins, the DNA analysis of textile fibres, and\/or the integration of fibre-based RFID technology for individual textile identification, life cycle studies, and supply chain tracking.","sdg":"9; 11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials; ISE","forcodes":"0303, 0801, 0906, 0910"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"Melbourne City","teamleader":"Chris Ziguras, Kerry Mullan, Alexis Bergantz, Chantal Crozet, Ana Maria Ducasse, Lynne Li, Glenda Mejia, Jindan Li, Jing Qi, Maki Yoshida, Miranda Lai, Caroline Norma, Erika Gonzalez, Georgina Heydon","title":"Language, Culture & International Education ","description":"We invite proposals that investigate language processes and apply knowledge of language and culture to issues such as multilingualism, culture and identity, intercultural communication, language and culture education (particularly international education), language policy and planning, applied linguistics, forensic linguistics, and interpreting and translating. Projects should engage systematically with language data using a range of established theories, including discourse analysis, to provide a critical perspective that problematises linguistic, historical, social, political and educational questions in a global context.\nSupervisors come from diverse disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Cultural History, Gender, Migration, Film and Literary Studies, Education and Psychology.                                                                         \n Priority areas:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             - Language in applied settings (e.g. classroom,forensic, health, security)\n- Language, culture and humour\n- Intercultural communication\n- International Education ","sdg":"4, 10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"130103, 130207, 2002, 2003, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Butt, Lucy Gunn","title":"Evidence and Impact for health determinants of the urban environment","description":"The development of a health determinants of the urban environment research agenda has led to a wide ranging reassessment of the production of urban places in Australian cities, including in relation to walkability, open space provision, urban shade and access to quality food at the local level. While this literature has informed policy agenda, such as Melbourne's \"20-minute Neighbourhood\u201d policy objective, and similar approaches elsewhere, the distinct changes in urban form, urban design and infrastructure or service delivery that are required to deliver the evidence-based indicators is not apparent in the growth areas of Australia's largest cities. This project will use the example of recent and proposed development and settlement patterns in an Australian context to investigate urban development pathways and points in those processes where divergence from identified objectives of health determinants occur. The research will utilise case studies and engage with policy makers and the producers of urban\/suburban development (public and private sector). \n Various project directions may be possible depending on the project proposal and the skills and interests of a successful candidate. The project may include a focus in areas such as (but not limited to); Spatial Analysis, Design Evaluation or Policy and Practitioner Focused Research, or elements of each of these, with appropriate methods used, including mixed methodologies.","sdg":"44868","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"UF 1 Urban and spatial economics; UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":""},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Belen Zapata-Diomedi","title":"Health and environmental impacts of urban liveability","description":"Cities now house the majority of the world\u2019s population, with city planning shown to influence population health and wellbeing and environmental sustainability. For example, transport systems may support the use of the car as opposed to sustainable modes such as walking, cycling and public transport. Such approaches to city planning are detrimental to human health and the environment because they encourage people to drive leading to sedentary behaviour and transport related air pollution issues. In Australia, significant progress has been made in measuring domains of city planning that impact on health and wellbeing framed according to the concept of liveability.5 Given the significant health and environmental consequences of city planning, a priori health and environmental impact assessment of city planning policies and initiatives are fundamental to support sustainable city planning that protects human health.\n This PhD forms part of an NHMRC\/UK RI project called JIBE. It will involve a qualitative and quantitative Health Impact Assessment (HIAs) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs) of liveability in Australia and\/or the UK. This study will investigate how HIAs and EIAs are used in decision making processes; develop case studies quantifying the health and environmental impacts of liveability. The PhD candidate will join the international research team but will be in Australia working with a team with expertise in studying the health benefits of urban liveability. The PhD candidate will greatly benefit from working the Australian and UK JIBE team of experts in transport, planning, and public health.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"111706 Epidemiology (20%)\n 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified (30%)\n 129999 Built Environment and Design not elsewhere classified (30%)\n 059999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Billie Giles-Corti, Lucy Gunn, Bel\u00e9n Zapata-Diomedi, Gavin Turrell, Tayebeh Saghapour, Alan Both","title":"Healthy Liveable Cities","description":"Creating healthy, liveable and sustainable cities is a major challenge in the face of population growth, social inequalities, traffic congestion, peak oil and increases in non-communicable diseases. Planning and delivering better cities is a local, national and global priority.\n \n Healthy and liveable communities provide the basis for social equity, harmony, economic resilience and environmental and social sustainability. Our work contributes to academic scholarship and aims to inform policies and practices to create healthy liveable communities.\n \n Bringing together a multidisciplinary research team, this program examines the influence of city design and planning on health and wellbeing.\n \n The research is developed in partnership with stakeholders to inform best practice policy and planning through the creation of evidence-based liveability indicators.\n \n The team draws from experience in epidemiology, behavioural science, geography, geomatics, psychology and public health. They use a variety of quantitative and qualitative analyses including geospatial analyses, policy analysis and economic evaluation.\n \n Our priority areas are to:\n \n 1)Explore the nexus between place, health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on locational disadvantage.\n 2)Examine the extent to which local and state planning policies, including transport, land use and health impact on the social determinants of health.\n 3)Influence future policies to improve population outcomes.\n 4)We have a strong focus on research translation and engagement, collaborating with communities, government, non-government organisations and the private sector in health, planning, housing and transport.","sdg":"1, 3, 10, 11, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"11117, 12508"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"C Maller, B Cooke, L Mumaw","title":"People, nature and place","description":"The People, Nature, Place (PNP) research program focuses on urban human-nature relationships, how these are understood, and their impacts on people and sustainability. In particular it seeks to develop, sustain and promote impactful research on the complexities of achieving the tri-fold goals of sustainability, nature protection and human flourishing in cities. This interest encapsulates urban greening, placemaking, edible cities, and other enhancements. PNP takes a broad definition of what nature(s) and associated representations encompass, including plants, animals, ecosystems, air, soil, water and fire. PNP will seek to strengthen the research capacity for exploring these topics from an environmentally-engaged social science perspective. \n Aims:\n 1) Connect PNP with a growing national and international research agenda on human-environmental relations in a range of disciplines including planning, geography and environmental studies\n 2) Develop theoretically informed yet empirically grounded applied research, with a key objective to translate new theoretical insights on changing urban human-nature relations into practical solutions, and think through the governance and policy implications for urban and urbanising environments\n 3) Provide an opportunity to connect current and emerging activity into a coherent form that would enable interdisciplinary cross-fertilisation, mutually beneficial sharing and growing of resources and knowledge across research, community, industry and government\n 4) Bring both people and nature into shared focus through use of a range of methods and approaches, including: critical social science, urban political ecology, environmental justice, equity and mapping\/digital technologies","sdg":"3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"160404, 160510, 160403"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Chris Ziguras, Kerry Mullan, Alexis Bergantz, Chantal Crozet, Ana Maria Ducasse, Lynne Li, Glenda Mejia, Jindan Li, Jing Qi, Maki Yoshida, Miranda Lai, Caroline Norma, Erika Gonzalez, Georgina Heydon","title":"Language, Culture & International Education","description":"We invite proposals that investigate language processes and apply knowledge of language and culture to issues such as multilingualism, culture and identity, intercultural communication, language and culture education (particularly international education), language policy and planning, applied linguistics, forensic linguistics, and interpreting and translating. Projects should engage systematically with language data using a range of established theories, including discourse analysis, to provide a critical perspective that problematises linguistic, historical, social, political and educational questions in a global context.\n Supervisors come from diverse disciplines including Applied Linguistics, Cultural History, Gender, Migration, Film and Literary Studies, Education and Psychology. \n  Priority areas: - Language in applied settings (e.g. classroom,forensic, health, security)\n - Language, culture and humour\n - Intercultural communication\n - International Education","sdg":"43012","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"130103, 130207, 2002, 2003, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"I McShane, J Boyd, B Middha,","title":"Urban Cultures and Technologies","description":"Researchers in this program focus on cultural heritage, cultural policy and cultural institutions (especially museums and libraries and their collections, urban digital networks , 'smart' cities, and the uses of digital platforms in local governance, and local-level community infrastructure, including schools and community hubs, as well as more informal public spaces and 'bottom-up' infrastructure. Our work is multi-disciplinary and informed by critical theorists working in historical and heritage studies, public policy and infrastructure studies, cultural diversity and gender.","sdg":"3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1205, 1605, 2103"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jago Dodson, Ralph Horne, Libby Porter, Megan Nethercote, Sarah Foster, Louise Dorignon, David Kelly, Wendy Steele, Todd Denham","title":"Housing and Urban Economies","description":"The Housing and Urban Economics research program encompasses projects and initiatives which seek to understand:\n \n 1) Political and sociological theories of social and environmental justice and their application to housing systems and policies 2) How housing operates as aninstitutional system through mechanisms of markets, policy and behaviour 3) Emerging and innovative institutional arrangements for the supply of affordable housing 4) The role of housing as a site of environmental consumption and approaches to improve the supply and uptake of environmnetally efficient housing 5) Housing systems as spatial configurations of differentiated populations and the dynamics that underpin these patterns 6) The sociology of housing, including demography, age, class, race, and gender 7) Housing and health, including relationships between dwelling structures and individual and community outcomes. The housing and urban economies group is open to a diversity of methodological approaches to housing recognising the cross-disciplinary nature of the program and the Centre, as well as the long tradition of critical and theoretical housing inquiry at RMIT including comparative approaches. CUR is also a major contributor to the RMIT AHURI Centre, which links with the national AHURI network and provides wide opportunities for HDRs to participate in collaborative projects including eligibility for AHURI top-up scholarships.","sdg":"1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1205"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jago Dodson, Robin Goodman, Chris de Gruyter, Terry Li, Andrew Butt, Anthony Kent, Marco Amati","title":"Planning and Transport in City Regions","description":"The Planning and Transport in City Regions Program seeks to understand processes of urban development and patterns of mobility at the metro-regional scale, and the policy measures needed to improve the productivity, livability and sustainability of city-regions. While the program has a focus on Australian cities (including Melbourne for its local context) the problems and challenges faced by planners in grappling with urban transformation have international resonance and the program\u2019s work is positioned within a national and international context and experience in metropolitan scale land-use and transport planning to inform its research agenda. Building and maintain partnerships with communities, industry and givernement in areas of policy, evidence-based decision making and regulatory systems is a core focus on the program.","sdg":"8, 9 11, 13, 15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"120504, 120506"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Judith Bessant, Katherine Johnson, Robyn Martin, Kat Daley, Bawa Kuyini, Belinda Johnson, Chris Maylea, Christina David, Sharlene Nipperess, Ronnie Egan, Sonia Martin, Paul Ramcharan, Angelika Papadopolous, John Whyte, Guy Johnson, Juliet Watson, Renata Kokanovic, Kate Johnston-Ataata, Jacinthe Flore, Anna Urbanowicz, Crystal MacKinnon, Kim Humphrey, Paul Scriven, Suellen Murray","title":"Citizenship, Care & Health","description":"Giving and receiving support and care is intensely personal yet its provision is entrenched in systemic and structural processes. Through a focus on \u2018voice\u2019, lived experience and end-user participation, researchers in Citizenship, Care & Health aim to influence policy, practice and education that benefits citizens and communities in situations of vulnerability and precarity by reducing social inequalities, promoting health and mental health, and improving participation in society.\n We welcome proposals that work with gender, sexuality, cultural and generational communities in the contexts of mental and physical health, housing and homelessness, disability and the NDIS, social and community service provision and design, and their intersections. We offer the potential to collaboration with our partners in health, housing and community service organisations and consumer advocacy groups, and a supervisory team from a range of disciplinary areas, including social work, social policy, youth work, medical and health sociology, community psychology and disability studies. We are particularly interested in projects with the potential to address intersectional disadvantage and vulnerability using innovative and participatory research methods. \n  Priority area: - Homelessness and housing\n - Lived experience of health and mental health\n - Disability\n - Youth work\n - Aged Care\n - Critical perspectives on trauma","sdg":"1, 3, 10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change; Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"160512, 160702, 170103"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"L Porter, W Steele, B Coffey, P Mayfield, D Kelly, L Dorignon","title":"Critical Urban Governance","description":"The Critical Urban Governance program brings together urban researchers and educators at RMIT to focus critical attention on how cities are governed, and for whom. Through our research and engagement we aim to shape public debate, create new knowledge and provide an inclusive space for discussion and the development of new governance practices to address the challenges facing contemporary cities. \n The Critical Urban Governance program seeks to work with PhD candidates who bring critical attention to how cities are governed, how, why, to what ends and for whom. Questions of urban equity, justice, fairness and inclusion lie at the heart of our research program agenda.\n In particular we acknowledge the unceded sovereignty of the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung \/ Bunurong speaking peoples on the land where we are located and respectfully acknowledge Ancestors and Elders in all of the places where we conduct our work.\n We acknowledge that systems of governance and law have always been present in the country now called Australia. Both the scholarship and practice of urban governance have historically worked to obscure and deny Indigenous sovereignties. We commit to learning how to practice our scholarship and education on Country in relationship with Indigenous sovereignty, for a more just and sustainable urban future.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"1604, 160510, 160403, 120502,160514"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"L Rickards, M Vahanvati, E Kuligowski","title":"Climate Change Transformations","description":"The CCT research group works to understand and address the far-reaching challenges that climate change poses in the context of other complex societal and environmental changes and issues. Committed to social, environmental and climate justice, our work aims to foster positive transformational change towards more genuine sustainable development at multiple scales and in cities and regions. It facilitates critically reflexive, trans-disciplinary exchange between theory and practice by coproducing research with practitioners, policymakers and communities. We work across four broad themes. 1. Adaptation governance and practice: Climate change adaptation requires adaptation of governance, institutions and policies across all sectors and levels of government. CCT researchers work at the research-policy interface to help policy-makers, organisations, businesses and communities make sense of and act effectively on the adaptation challenge. \n 2. Sustainable and just transitions: CCT researchers are working with stakeholders to transition energy systems onto a lower carbon basis and reconfigure production systems using circular economy principles in a way that improves social justice, climate adaptation and other sustainable development outcomes. 3. Disasters, development, and resilience: Focused on the social drivers of disasters, CCT researchers use qualitative and quantitative analytical tools and insights to position Disaster Risk Reduction within climate change adaptation, foster socio-ecological resilience, justice and the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals. 4. Regenerative social-ecological systems: CCT researchers are working with stakeholders to help rethink, reboot and redesign agriculture and natural resource management in ambitious ways that celebrate the turn to catchment and landscape scale interventions, soil health, resilience thinking, strengthened rural-urban relations and transformational climate change adaptation.","sdg":"1,2,3,5,6,7, 8,11,12,13,15,16,17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures and\/or Social Change","forcodes":"160404, 160510, 160403"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lauren Rickards","title":"Assembling a biosolids value chain","description":"Transforming biosolids from waste to resource achieves multiple goals, but actually transforming biosolids into usable innovations is realised is not straight forward. The overall project that this PhD is part of aims to better understand and synthesise the socioeconomic dimensions of biosolids uptake in agriculture in order to provide a conceptual framework of potential barriers and enablers. It will leverage scientific and technical work in the Centre to help scale biosolids innovation where appropriate and ensure it provides genuine value for all involved. Academically, it will bring together: innovation studies; socioeconomic research on recycled water and biosolids use, particularly public perceptions of and cultural attitudes towards sewerage and odour management; and place-based socioeconomic studies of attitudes, practices and needs of stakeholders. It will help develop a deeper understanding of potential biosolids users and their problems, priorities and context in order to generate the strategic and empirical knowledge necessary to ensure the Centre\u2019s biosolids research is genuinely impactful. \n \n The overall project will be conducted in four work packages incorporating literature reviews, broad scale empirical research with potential and existing end-users and other stakeholders, focused research on two value chains, and synthesis and knowledge translation. This particular PhD project will contribute to all work packages and the wider Centre, but focus on mixed methods analysis of an emerging biosolids value chain in Victoria. The particular focus and case studies will be developed in conjunction with the successful applicant, but will analyse existing, emerging and possible biosolids uses and associated stakeholder relations","sdg":"6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 - Climate Action; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"160404 Urban and Regional Studies (excl. Planning)\n  160401 Economic Geography"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Lauren Rickards","title":"The sociocultural work of transforming biosolids into a valued resource","description":"This social science PhD helps explore the sociocultural work involved in transforming the \u2018biosolids\u2019 from water treatment processes into an appealing resource for farmers and other end users. Drawing on Science and Technology studies, human geography, science communication studies and related fields, the project will complement the scientific and technical work of biosolids management with a close exploration of the labours involved in assembling biosolids into a resource such as biochar or fertiliser that others want, value and use. Empirically focused on an emerging biosolids value chain in Victoria, the project will examine cultural factors such as discourses about the \u2018circular economy\u2019, sociopolitical factors such as new alliances and risk communications, and material factors such as lived experience of climatic disruptions. Overall, the project will help develop a conceptual social science framework about the work involved in contemporary biosolids management, the agendas, hopes and social relationships involved, and the apparent barriers and enablers. \n \n This PhD offers an unusual combination of sophisticated social science and applied industry research. It is part of one of ten projects in the ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australia\u2019s Biosolids Resource. Part of the Sustainability theme, the broader project this PhD is part of focuses on the stakeholders involved in biosolids management and use and involves three Chief Investigators (Prof Lauren Rickards, Prof Matthew Kearnes and A\/Prof Michael Burton), two postdoctoral fellows (Pat Bonney and James Haye) and two PhD students.","sdg":"2 - Zero Hunger; 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation; 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production; 13 - Climate Action","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"STS 5 Pollution Mitigation; STS 1 Circular Economy; STS 4 Water","forcodes":"440610 (social geography)\n 441002 (environmental sociology)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Criminology and Justice Studies; Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Michele Ruyters, Crystal MacKinnon, Stuart Thomas, Monica Barratt, Nicola Henry, Georgina Heydon, Aiden Warren, Charlie Hunt, Anastasia Powell, Larissa Sandy, Brianna Chesser, Gemma Hamilton, Lisa Harris, Suzi Hutchings, Binoy Kampmark, Marg Lidell, Marietta Martinovic, Rob Watts, Pete Chambers, Rajesh Sharma, Russell Solomon, Robin Cameron, Greg Stratton, Lucy Maxwell, Peta Malins, Sharon Andrews, James Rowe","title":"Crime, Justice & Security","description":"We invite proposals addressing social, political and inter-personal conflict, including family and gender violence, policing and consequences of transnational crime, borders and national security, the impact of terrorism, crime and digital technology, shifting political conditions and relationships, gender and race inequalities in criminal justice systems and forensic mental health settings.\n Projects can focus on the voices of those who are persecuted and discriminated against for their identity, beliefs or circumstances and\/or legal, policy and practice reforms for institutions and services, as part of a broader global agenda towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Supervisors come from disciplines including social work and law, justice and legal studies, psychology and forensic mental health, Indigenous studies, international development and political science, criminology and education.\n There is the opportunity to work with community groups and industry partners to generate an evidence-based for policy and practice reform at the interface of institutions, services and societal norms. Priority areas: - Digital Criminology\n - Gender and Family Violence\n - Indigenous and critical race perspectives on law and justice\n - Forensic mental health\n - Proposals related to Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative\n - International Peacekeeping and Security","sdg":"5, 10, 16, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1602, 160604"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Global and Language Studies","programcode":"DR210 \/ MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Paul Battersby, Hariz Halilovich, Val Colic-Peisker, Damian Grenfell, Robbie Guevara, Vandra Harris, Julian Lee, Yaso Nadarajah, Ceridwen Spark, Kaye Quek, Elizabeth Kath, Bruce Wilson, Emma Shortis, Reina Ichii, Peter Phipps, Gemma Sou","title":"Humanitarianism, Migration & Development","description":"Mass migration as a result of humanitarian crises is a key contemporary global challenge shaped by the impact of global financial institutions and governance structures, environmental threats from climate change, ideological contestations and the changing nature of conflicts, generating new forms of precarity and vulnerability. Innovations in social media are impacting on cultural understandings of migration, identity and belonging, while ongoing digital transformations create challenges and opportunities for intervention approaches in the humanitarian and international development sector.\n We welcome proposals that address issues in the fields of humanitarianism, migration and development by focusing on new and entrenched vulnerabilities locally or internationally, including the impact on women and children and indigenous groups. Candidates may have the opportunity to work with our partners including Australian Red Cross and Oxfam. Supervisors come from a background in anthropology, international development, political science, social work, gender studies, criminology, and global studies. \n Priority areas: \n 1. Indigenous and decolonisation perspectives in development\n 2. Digital transformations in the Humanitarian Sector\n 3. Gender, sexuality and development\n 4. Migrant communities, belonging and social \n 5. Critical engagements with UN Sustainable Development Goals","sdg":"1, 5,10, 17","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"160104, 160606, 160607, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Professor Paul Carter","title":"Deep Timetable: A Noongar Rail History","description":"The invisible history of Indigenous peoples and Country in building Australia\u2019s rail infrastructure is slowly being recognised. Noongar Country \u2013 south-western Western Australia \u2013 has been profoundly impacted by such development. Yet this story has never been told and it is a story that Noongar community wishes to be heard. This project, auspiced by the Noongar community, will clarify the impact of the railway on Noongar people and Country. Working closely with Noongar knowledge custodians, the project aims to reconstruct the hitherto overlooked history using a Noongar narrative framework \u2013 where storytelling actively maps Country and kinship relations \u2013 to plot the relationship with the emergent rail network. The project aims to help mature an understanding of the foundational relationship between infrastructure development and Indigenous peoples and Country.","sdg":"11","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":"210301"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Digital Design; Social Work and Human Services","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Renata Kokanovic","title":"Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena","description":"PhD scholarship attached to the Australian Research Council Linkage Project \u2013 Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena.\n \n We have an exciting and unique opportunity for a highly motivated student to undertake a PhD as part of a large Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project entitled Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena. The team is comprised of an international research group with expertise in critical mental health research, medical humanities, cultural studies, psychiatry and qualitative and arts-based research in mental health. The project is also is guided by collaborators with lived experiences and an Advisory Group. \n \n The focus of the PhD project will be to explore experiences of borderline personality among young people. The student will be panel supervised and trained in advanced qualitative and critical methodologies, and the production of digital resources. They will also be mentored to develop their expertise in critical social research on mental health. \n \n Value and duration\n $31,000 per annum for three years with a possible extension of six months (full time).\n \n Number of scholarships available\n One\n \n Eligibility\n Candidates with backgrounds in critical mental health and health sociology are encouraged to apply.\n To be eligible for this scholarship you must:\n \u2022 have first-class honours or equivalent in a relevant discipline;\n \u2022 be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident;\n \u2022 provide evidence of good oral and written communication skills;\n \u2022 demonstrable interest to work as part of a multi-disciplinary research team;\n \u2022 meet RMIT\u2019s entry requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy.\n \n How to apply\n To apply, please submit the following documents:\n \u2022 a cover letter, including a research statement\n \u2022 a copy of electronic academic transcripts\n \u2022 a CV that includes details of any publications\/awards and the contact details of 2 academic referees.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"441011 - Sociology of health (70%) 920410 - Mental Health (30%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210 & MR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Bekessy, Ascelin Gordon, Georgia Garrard, Matthew Selinske, Holly Kirk, Alex Kusmanoff","title":"Interdisciplinary Conservation Science","description":"Managing biodiversity demands a multidisciplinary approach that reconciles ecological, social and economic dimensions. The ICON Science Research Group examines these diverse drivers of change, particularly in urban and semi-rural environments. We are looking for HDR PhD students for 6 specific projects:\n \n 1) Effective biodiversity behaviour change across supply chains\n Work with project partner Zoos Victoria on a sustainable coffee engagement project, designing interventions, collaborating with coffee industry partners, and evaluating intervention outcomes. 2) Message framing for improved biodiversity conservation\n How we say things can be as important as what we say when trying to change behaviours that affect biodiversity conservation. We have numerous partners from state and federal government agencies and non-government organisation interested in exploring the topic of communication and message framing in various contexts \n 3) Onsets not offsets for real biodiversity gains\n Work with us on an ARC Discovery project investigating an alternative approach to biodiversity offsetting that delivers positive on-site benefits to biodiversity and industry. By requiring proponents to demonstrate how they will retain, protect, restore and improve biodiversity on their site, onsetting will drive creative thinking and much-needed innovation within industry. \n 4) Designing green spaces for biodiversity and human well-being\n Interested in maintaining and encouraging more biodiversity into the cities? We have an established research program looking at social and ecological factors involved with urban greening, that specifically focuses on how people perceive different types of green spaces in cities, unpacking the elements of 'green' in green space design and delving into city floral visitor networks (like native bees!). \n 5) Understanding the synergies and trade-offs between conservation and ecosystem service supply and demand in rural and urban areas There has been significant progress in understanding how we value and measure ecosystem services. However, much of this work has been focused on the supply of services, with a less research on understanding the dynamics of the demand for services. In addition, more work is needed to properly understand the likely synergies and tradeoffs that may occur between prioritizing ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. 6) Biodiversity sensitive urban design (BSUD)\n \n We work with government agencies, certification bodies, non-government organisations and urban developers to improve urban design in cities to enhance biodiversity within the urban fabric. PhD projects could focus on the intersection of architecture and BSUD, the measurement of biodiversity outcomes, urban design that enhances connectivity for target species or techniques for engaging stakeholders in setting compelling biodiversity objectives.","sdg":"6,9,11,12,14,15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":""},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sarah Foster","title":"Apartment Living, Green space and Well-being","description":"We are seeking a motivated student to undertake a PhD on the interplay between apartment design, exposure to green space (including views of green\/blue space, building communal spaces, and public parks) and health and wellbeing. \n  Studies link natural views and access to greenspace and nature with a range of positive health and wellbeing outcomes. Alternatively, environments dominated by concrete can have a negative impact on resident health. Thus, stakeholder decisions on siting apartment buildings, the orientation of apartments and the location and design of communal green space, including deep soil zones to accommodate large trees, could have implications for residents\u2019 health. \n  This project focuses on apartment living, green-space and mental wellbeing to better understand apartment residents\u2019 exposure to and use of green space (i.e., within the building and neighbourhood), and whether this impacts on mental wellbeing. A key component of the study could include the development of a Green Floor View Index in GIS, a novel technique which quantifies the area of urban vegetation that can be observed from an apartment, based on floor level and apartment orientation. \n  The PhD is part of an ARC Discovery Grant on creating evidence-based public open space standards for apartment residents (the \u2018High Life\u2019 Study). The candidate will work with investigators in Melbourne and Perth to develop a project on the interplay between apartment design, green space and wellbeing.","sdg":"40819","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"120507 - Urban Analysis and Development 40\n 120508 - Urban Design 35\n 120304 - Digital and Interaction Design 25"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Katrina Phillips, Pawel Mankiewicz, Merv Jackson","title":"Understanding disability and mental health through a Vietnamese lens to overcome stigma","description":"Disabled people are far from a homogenous group, with the term often being an umbrella term covering disabled people with additional support needs that are physical, sensory (e.g. Deaf or Blind), mental health, intellectual, or neurodivergent related. Disabled people comprise 7.8% of the Vietnamese population (this statistic captures only physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities due to definitional differences). The number of people with mental health support needs or who are neurodivergent is unknown. What is known is that people in all these subgroups of disability face marginalisation in many aspects of life, including education, employment, relationships and child-raising, recreation, accessibility to information, public transportation, politics, and health. There are a number of reasons for this marginalisation, including stigma and misunderstanding from the wider community. While the research is clear that marginalisation and stigma exist, it is unclear the extent to which it varies between different types of disabilities and support needs.   The aim of the current project is to work with the community to explore how these subgroups experience marginalisation and stigma and then create interventions to change perceptions of family, communities, and high-level systems. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"2027-01-01","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"420318 - People with disability 90%\n529999        Other psychology not elsewhere classified 10%\n\n\n"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Gordon Ingram, Anh Nguyen, Mary Lam, Yang Yap","title":"Mental health risks and coping strategies in Vietnamese medical students ","description":"Students in high-pressure educational careers, such as medicine, can be at risk of mental health problems that adversely affect their studies and continue causing them problems later in life. They are often lacking in effective institutional support that can help them deal with these problems, especially in under-resourced countries like Vietnam. This research project aims to understand the experiences of medical students in Vietnam who suffer from stress, depression, and anxiety due to academic, financial, and social pressures, and provide concrete solutions for helping them achieve a balanced level of mental and physical health. The first step will include longitudinal mixed-methods research to understand the drivers of these mental health problems in Vietnamese medical students. The outcome variables of stress, depression, anxiety, and wellbeing will be measure using scales such as DASS-21, WHO-5, MHC-SF and CSI [physiological  measures too, e.g. wearables for sleep etc.] A wide range of moderating factors will be examined, including lack of economic resources, family pressure, lack of social support due to dislocation, health problems, alcohol and other lifestyle risk factors, time demands, sleep problems, and media use. We will also investigate the coping strategies that students have developed and develop ways of utilizing advice from members of the cohort who cope better with these problems. The results will feed into the development of a technology-based intervention to improve students' mental health, using positive psychological concepts such as self-compassion, gratitude and patience, and techniques such as mindful concentration, meditation and self-regulation.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"525203 Clinical & Health Psychology\n424206 Public Health \n393904 Specialist Studies in Education"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Psychology","programcode":"DR226","campus":"Melbourne City; Bundoora; Brunswick; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Leila Karimi, Chris Powell","title":"Psychometric Assessment of a New Measurement of Belongingness","description":"A review of belongingness as a construct is vital, as even after three decades the concept has been described as \u201cbroad, vague and under-theorised\u201d (Ward, 2022). A precise and shared understanding of belongingness will facilitate the operationalisation of the construct as an entity distinct from the outcomes and antecedents with which it is closely related. This in turn may facilitate the refinement of both belongingness-centred theoretical perspectives and practical interventions. This study, therefore, will develop a new measure of belongingness and will examine the main predictors and outcomes of belongingness in work settings.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"520104 (50%)\r\n520304 (50%)\r"},{"college":"STEM","school":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","discipline":"Chinese Medicine","programcode":"DR237","campus":"Melbourne City; Bundoora; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"George Lenon, Angela Yang, Andrew Hung","title":"The effects of Fucoidan and Lingzhi on Lung cancer cells","description":"Cancer is a significant global disease burden, with 14.1 million cases annually and a mortality of approx. 8.2 million each year. Globally, 57% of new cases (8 million) and 65% of mortality (5.3 million) occur in underdeveloped regions, with approximately half of these happening in Asia. Furthermore, the cancer-associated costs to the global economy are estimated at $3.66 trillion annually. In various studies, fucoidan has been found to slow tumour metastasis, and enhance the therapeutic effects of conventional Therapy, reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, defend against treatment-related weight loss and muscle loss.  Fucoidan has been shown to directly affect cancer cells in vitro via cellular pathways that involve the activation of NF-\u03ba\u03b2. This activation is mediated by PI3K\/ Akt and ERK signalling pathways. Recent research indicates that fucoidan may also induce programmed cell death (known as apoptosis) in breast and colon cancer cells by modulating the endoplasmic reticulum stress cascades. Fucoidan has been shown to cause cell cycle arrest in the first growth phase (G1) of an HCT116 human colon cancer cell line. By halting the cell cycle process this way, the colon cancer cells could not divide and spread. The direct cytotoxic and anti-angiogenesis mechanisms of Lingzhi have been established by in vitro studies. Lingzhi or its products can be classified as an anticancer agent when current and more direct scientific evidence becomes available. It is proposed that combining these two compounds helps strengthen the immune system to treat and prevent cancer formation as well as metastasis.\r\nThe objective of this project is to use computational analysis to investigate the effects of fucoidan, Lingzhi and combination on cancer cells, especially Lung cancer cells.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"420803"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing &Publishing, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brigid Magner, Polly Stanton, Olivia Guntarik, Rebecca Hill, Rachel Wilson, Bonny Cassidy, Leah Li, Adrian Danks, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Place, Location, Sovereignties and the Transnational","description":"This theme aims to explore the possibilities of place, belonging, language and the transnational, including Indigenous language revival and maintenance, through literary, screen and other creative works. Questions include: how can creative writing, screen and sound, and allied literary and creative practices, be used explore the complex relationships between place and sovereignty? How do place-stories and mediations contribute to a shared sense of identity, and how might they work to recalibrate settler-Indigenous relations? How do creative works authored by Indigenous writers and media-makers articulate and perform sovereignty? And how can literary\/screen\/sound practice transform how geographic places are experienced and defined?","sdg":"11, 15","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 1904, 2005"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Brigid Magner, Ronnie Scott, Jessica Wilkinson, Olivia Guntarik, Rose Michael, Peta Murray, Zoe Dzunko, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Stayci Taylor","title":"Playful and Experimental Approaches to Creative Writing Methods","description":"How can creative writing methods including play, immersive practice, observation and deep listening reshape creative reinterpretations of the material world? Alternatively, how might formal methodological experimentation in creative writing contribute to new ways of knowing, doing or understanding contemporary realities? This theme encourages engagement with interdisciplinary ways of knowing, including play scholarship from ludology, psychology, literary studies or biology. By foregrounding playful and experimental research practices with poetry, fiction, nonfiction, digital literatures and performance writing, this research will enable innovative investigations of pressing material, social, ecological and cultural issues, as well as offer new insight into innovative methods and applications of creative writing and\/or literary studies.","sdg":"44868","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Carlin; Francesca Rendle-Short; Michelle Aung Thin; Melody Ellis","title":"Connecting Asia-Pacific Literary Cultures: Grounds for Encounter and Exchange","description":"This project aims to analyse and develop innovative creative practices to connect writers and evolve literary cultures in the Asia-Pacific region. It will elaborate, test, evaluate and communicate an evolving model for best practice in intercultural and transnational exchange, based on principles and processes of ethical encounter and exchange through creative practice. It looks at and builds upon the work of a successful pilot program, Writers\u2019 Immersion and Cultural Exchange (WrICE), which has developed an organic network of 59 writers across 13 countries. The model, premised on situating creative writing as a way of thinking, being and learning collectively, centres on methods of curating and facilitating collaborative residencies. The project asks: how might writers be supported to develop intercultural and international relationships that augment and transform their creative practices, and produce networks of cooperation across the Asia-Pacific? The PhD project is an opportunity for a creative writer with an established or emerging track record to extend their practice through collaborative and intercultural engagement with creative peers from across the Asia-Pacific. \n  \n  The PhD researcher will conduct creative practice-based fieldwork as a writer\/participant in the project, extending and challenging their existing creative practice. This is an opportunity to participate in and co-design a range of innovative exercises in creative and intercultural collaboration, alongside creative peers from across the Asia-Pacific, and to theorise and apply the collaborative and intercultural creative writing methods developed and explored through the project.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"190402 - Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) (80%)\n  (360201 Creative and Professional Writing (Creative Writing))\n  200209 - Multicultural, Intercultural and Cross-cultural Studies (20%)"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Haiqing Yu, Annette Markham, Leah Li, Tania Lewis, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Digital Domesticity, Sustainability, and the Everyday","description":"Digital Domesticity, Sustainability, and the Everyday examines the role of everyday life practices and homes as increasingly central hubs of digital engagement and smart infrastructure, and the implications of this for post-human experience and climate change. This research will centre on and in people\u2019s homes, lives and communities, using a range of possible approaches\u2014from digital methods to ethnography and beyond\u2014to foreground the rich and shifting relationships between practices, beliefs, technology and environments. Projects tend to focus on particular domains or interrelations, such as environmental activism online, e-waste and digital sustainability; the politics of smart homes and domestic robotics; the characteristics and complexities of relationships between humans and their digital personal assistants; the digitisation of food, and games, YouTube, post-television cultures and streaming services.","sdg":"44906","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Mark Gibson, Emsie Arnoldi, Rob Cover, Bruno Schivinski, Alex Wake, Scott Brook, Catherine Gomes, Michaela Jackson, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Cathy Greenfield, Marianne Sison, Annette Markham, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan, Ramon Lobato, Michelle Aung Thin, Ella Chorazy, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Daniel Binns, Leah Li, Maria Stratford, Tania Lewis, Jay Daniel Thompson, David Fouvy, Chengju Huang, John Postill, Julie Bilby, Lucy Morieson, Annette Markham","title":"Digital media and the social","description":"This theme focuses on the ways in which digital media is an intrinsic part of the social. From the new forms of articulating and experiencing identity and community through social media and mobile devices, to the role of analytics and big data in the management of organisations and populations, research in this theme focuses on the emergent issues of trust, ethics, publics, planning, technology, and power. It is concerned with the role of digital media and communications technologies in articulating publics and communities, as well as the actions of agencies that would seek to manage, inform, influence, and listen to such groups. It has a further interest in critical methodologies across a range of interdisciplinary fields that have been used to explore the ways in which the social is reproduced and transformed by digital communications, including digital ethnography, sociology of the internet, science and technology studies, governmentality studies, and mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) network analysis.","sdg":"42684","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Ingrid Richardson, Marsha Berry, Rachel Wilson, Rebecca Young, Daniel Binns, Jay Daniel Thompson, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Natalie Hendry, Seth Keen","title":"Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design","description":"Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design positions research participants as \u2018creative agents\u2019 and authors of their own experience. This programme takes the question of research translation as a point of departure and creates experiences, artefacts, resources and texts through which participant\u2019s stories, perspectives, desires and subjectivities are presented in affective and accessible ways. Creativity, Learning, Digital Arts, and Design explores the potential of social practice and co-designed arts across a range of disciplinary spaces. Researchers explore issues relating to visibility, agency, voice, care, educational experience, screen and performance-based methods for progressive and transformational ethnographic research. This program places a strong emphasis on accessibility and social inclusion. Methods employed are designed to be inclusive, relevant in inter-cultural and cross-cultural contexts and ensure to facilitate distributed agency in ways that support and encourage participants. Research is both a vehicle for social change and a means of collaborative knowledge production.","sdg":"38445","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Meese, Bruno Schivinski, Alex Wake, Michaela Jackson, Catherine Gomes, Haiqing Yu, Marianne Sison, Lukas Parker, Ella Chorazy, Linda Brennan, Lisa Waller, Leah Li, Robert Crawford David Fouvy, Chengju Huang, Julie Bilby","title":"Social, Public and Marketing Communications","description":"This theme focuses on all forms of social, public and commercial communications; from advertising campaigns through organisational communications to news media and citizen journalism. It focuses on normative and critical accounts of the effects and efficacy of media communications projects and industries subject to processes of digital disruption, including the tensions between public, community and commercial interests and values. Research in this theme is often interdisciplinary and encompasses institutions, industries, stakeholders and individuals with a focus on contributing to the creation of public value, including building citizenship and public participation with mainstream as well as diverse groups. Topics and disciplines include Indigenous media, branding, public relations and strategic communications, social marketing and public value, organisational ethics, fact-checking and misinformation, public and citizen journalism, consumer activism and community advocacy; and media and communications for community development.","sdg":"41191","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"James Meese, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Cathy Greenfield, Annette Markham, Ramon Lobato, Ellie Rennie, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca, Tania Lewis","title":"Automation and Social Futures","description":"Automation and Social Futures engages with the ethical, political, social, organisational, cultural and governance implications of machine learning, algorithmic decision-making and digital infrastructures. The research will investigate the intersection of technology and the human experience, using methods ranging from data analytics to close level ethnographic approaches. Possible areas of investigation include the complex interrelations between technology design and technologies in use; social media platforms; ethics and future automation of memory and heritage practices; impact of algorithms on identity; deep fakes and disinformation campaigns; autonomous vehicles; smart city infrastructures; blockchain as infrastructure; supply chain systems. This program places strong focus on building better potential futures for our communities by critically examining the politics and ethics behind both norms and governance around automated decision-making systems, especially important in times of continuous and rapid change.","sdg":"8","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Josie Vine, Brigid Magner, Ronnie Scott, Kim Munro, Jessica Wilkinson. Marsha Berry, Rebecca Hill, Bonny Cassidy, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Stayci Taylor, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetics: Creative Ecologies and Imaginative Futures","description":"This theme looks at how writing and publishing can engage with other disciplines and knowledges to create new imaginings of histories, ecologies and futures. It invites a range of approaches, deploying fiction, nonfiction, poetry and\/or performance writing, along with hybrid forms such as the audio essay or poetic biography that complicate generic boundaries. It explores and interrogates how devices of speculation, imagination, poetry and fabulation can generate new perspectives and approaches to critical issues. These include questions of work and care, ecological and ethical futures, and the politics and poetics of fact and fiction as they relate to the way stories are told, policies devised, and worlds imagined.","sdg":"11, 13","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Writing & Publishing","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Josie Vine, Ronnie Scott, Rebecca Hill, Michelle Aung Thin, Bonny Cassidy, Antonio Castillo, David Carlin, Gretchen Coombs, Leah Li, Linda Daley, Rose Michael, Peta Murray","title":"Voice, Ethics and Power in Writing and Publishing","description":"This theme looks at how dynamics of power play out across bodies, time, narratives and institutions. Its focus is on ethical relations and how these may form the basis for socially grounded creative practices. Through practice-based and allied creative methods, it asks how stories come to matter: whose stories, what stories, how stories are shaped, framed and circulated. It invites critical engagement with theories of difference and relationality, including Indigenous, feminist, queer, critical race, decolonial theory and posthumanist theory. Equally, it is open to the bending of genres to explore transgressive and performative contours and cartographies. The theme invites and implicates diverse modes of creative practice, including the essayistic, poetic, performative and fictional","sdg":"5, 16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1904, 2005"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Mark Gibson, Lisa French, Emsie Arnoldi, Scott Brook, Rachel Wilson, Ramon Lobato, Cathy Greenfield, Ellie Rennie, Gretchen Coombs, Daniel Binns, Robert Crawford, Chengju Huang, Julie Bilby, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Cultural and Creative Industries","description":"This research theme focuses on the industry dynamics of the Cultural and Creative Industries. It defines the CCIs broadly - including the media industries (screen, music recording, journalism, publishing), arts and design, games and advertising - and is distinguished by a focus on industry features; such as policy and regulation: the impact of new technologies and digital platforms on production, distribution and consumption; cultural and creative work, employability and careers: creative hubs and ecosystems: social network markets and fields of creative production; cultural economy and entrepreneurship; and the history of the CCIs as modern industry and policy formations and, more recently, domains of government intervention, regulation, and industry advocacy. CCI researchers in the School have an interest in gender, labour, government policy, education, locative media, and the platform economy.","sdg":"44812","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 1904, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rob Cover, Bruno Schivinski, Emsie Arnoldi, Michaela Jackson, Catherine Gomes, Haiqing Yu, Marianne Sison, Lukas Parker, Ella Chorazy, Linda Brennan, Lisa Waller, Leah Li, Jay Daniel Thompson David Fouvy, Seth Keen","title":"Communicating for Health, Sustainable Environments and Community Wellbeing","description":"This theme encompasses research into communication and media applications in the areas of health and sustainability, especially where societal change is creating rapid transformations for communities and environments. The theme includes health and environmental communication campaigns, affective social media, gaming, crisis communications, and community advocacy. This theme includes multiple disciplinary threads from across media and communications, including journalism, social marketing for behaviour change, advertising, corporate responsibility and organisational ethics, strategic communications, and supports research in interdisciplinary teams with industry partners. The theme supports a diverse range of methodologies, including applied design and innovation, especially co-design and user experience research. Research in this theme covers a range of social issues such as equity, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, digital wellbeing, building individual, community and societal wellbeing and social change.","sdg":"40301","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Global Business Innovation, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1505, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rob Cover, Catherine Gomes, Emsie Arnoldi, Olivia Guntarik, Haiqing Yu, Lisa Dethridge, Marianne Sison, Antonio Castillo, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Leah Li, Tania Lewis, Jay Daniel Thompson","title":"Digital Inclusion, Mobility, and Activism","description":"The research program examines the challenges and potentials of digital participation as this relates to access and inclusion, connectivity, networks and political activism, gig or micro work, and mobility and migration. Possible research methods include analyses of existing data sets, digital ethnography, critical pedagogical experiments, arts-based interventions, and working with communities to understand how digital technologies are mobilised for various political and personal purposes. Research seeks to explain patterns and practices that have built up around digital communities or activist practices, and to explore the outcomes and implications of disconnections and misalignments between technology design, everyday use, policies and norms. Possible areas of investigation include experimenting with groups to adapt or hack common digital tools to preserve cultural memory; building localized rather than universal interpretations of critical data literacy; bringing together policymakers and community members to make so-called smart technology designs more usable and relevant; the politics of tech communities; the outcomes of internet use for different groups; locative technologies and place.","sdg":"3, 5, 10, 16","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change, Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, Catherine Strong, Lisa French, Kim Munro, Polly Stanton, Marsha Berry, Patrick Kelly, Alexia Kannas, Alan Nguyen, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Rachel Wilson, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Rebecca Young, Djoymi Baker, Daniel Binns, Maria Stratford, Shweta Kishore, Stayci Taylor, Seth Keen, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Thinking Critically about Screen, Sound and Music as Creative Practices","description":"This theme investigates contexts, epistemologies, theories, methods, and methodologies to enrich understandings of the cultures of screen, and\/or sound and\/or music. This can be approached through a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to screen studies, popular music, filmmaking, screenwriting, history, curatorial practice, sound design, online media and other related fields, including through community, social justice or environmental lenses. Interdisciplinary approaches are also encouraged. These approaches can be applied to a range of genres, modes of engagement with content, theoretical perspectives or formats, including the digital and virtual.","sdg":"44776","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change \/ Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2002"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, Catherine Strong, Patrick Kelly, Alexia Kannas, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Huck Ying Ch'ng, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Maria Stratford, Shweta Kishore, Stayci Taylor, Adrian Danks, Jaz Hee-jeong Choi","title":"Performance and Identity in Screen, Sound, Music","description":"The theme aims to understand the importance of identity in screen, and\/or sound and\/or music. This includes how identity affects performance, production, dissemination and reception of cultural products. Aspects of identity that could be considered include, but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, age, dis\/ability and gender. This can incorporate the aspects of identity formation enabled through these cultural forms that are essential to community formation and positive self-reflections, as well as those that are exclusionary or that contribute to the maintenance of inequality in wider society. Projects within this theme aim to generate creative and inventive solutions to real-world problems which have the capacity to change social expectations about identity and increase representations of cultural diversity.","sdg":"44839","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Design and Creative Practice","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2003"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Media & Communication","discipline":"Communication, Media","programcode":"MR 211\/ DR211","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Shelley Brunt, James Meese, Catherine Strong, Mark Gibson, Kim Munro, Patrick Kelly, Alan Nguyen, Alex Wake, Scott Brook, Steve Gaunson, Tami Gadir, Ramon Lobato, Glen Donnar, Smiljana Glisovic, Djoymi Baker, Daniel Binns, Leah Li, Maria Stratford, Tania Lewis, Adrian Danks, Lucy Morieson, Sebastian Diaz-Gasca","title":"Transforming Screen and Sound Industries in a Digital Age","description":"This theme investigates social, economic and industrial dynamics of screen, and\/or sound and\/or music culture. Research topics may include audiences, policy, labour, access, digital inclusion, participation, cultural diversity, sustainability and other issues related to the social contexts of cultural production, distribution and consumption. We invite proposals that consider one or more of these issues in relation to a specific media industry (or industries), in contemporary or historical contexts.","sdg":"44874","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"1902, 2001, 2004"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Christina Scott-young, Ken Farnes, Guinevere Gilbert, Tayyab Maqsood","title":"Resilient Transformation of Eary Career Project Management professionals","description":"Project management is an exciting and rewarding career, but projects can be demanding. Unexpected challenges and stresses can leave project managers and their teams feeling overburdened, overworked, or even burnt out. Burnout is a state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress. The COVID pandemic has brought additional stresses, disrupting conventional ways of working, adversely impacting physical and mental health, and causing social disconnection in teams. In this volatile environment, burnout is a real risk for project practitioners. Project managers and their teams need transformative ways to manage their stress. One effective strategy is to focus on building both personal and team resilience that allow them to withstand and bounce back from workplace stresses and to overcome the threat of burnout. This research project will explore i.) the major stressors that project managers and their teams experience individually and collectively, and ii.) identify the effective strategies that leaders, teams and individuals use to build their resilience, transforming them both individually and as a team. This project can be adapted to the research candidate\u2019s particular interests, and can be conducted using mixed methods, or by adopting either a quantitative or a qualitative research approach.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation, Social change","forcodes":"330205"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Oswald, Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, Payam Pirzadeh","title":"A Framework for Improving Safety Performance of Construction Projects based on the Interaction of Lean Construction and BIM","description":"The construction industry's safety performance continues to be a problem across the world. There is a need for more innovative ways to reduce accidents and injury. This research explores the integration of Lean construction principles and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to improve safety performance in construction. While Lean construction and BIM can affect safety performance independently, it is hypothesized that to reach maximum safety potential, the application of Lean construction and BIM should be considered in an integrated way. There is a lack of research evidence on the interaction and integration of Lean construction and BIM for improving construction safety performance. Further research is required to bridge this knowledge gap, which is the focus of this study. This research aims to investigate the feasibility of integrating Lean construction and BIM to improve construction safety in Australia and to develop a framework featuring the interaction of lean construction and BIM from the perspective of improving construction safety. This research uses a mixed methods approach, including systematic literature review, case studies, survey, and framework development and validation. The results of this study can increase the understanding of construction practitioners about the significance of integrating lean construction and BIM for safety improvement. This innovative approach could identify a novel approach for improving construction safety practice and advancing theoretical understanding into reducing accidents in the construction industry.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"David Oswald, Trivess Moore","title":"The construction cladding crisis","description":"The Australian construction boom in high density residential building has put significant pressure on the industry to deliver high-quality products on time and safely. The acceleration in construction has led to new building techniques, higher resourcing requirements and policy changes to keep up with demand. This has led to a culture of significant building defects estimated to have affected most new residential buildings. Inappropriate cladding is a major defect that can detected in new medium and high-density buildings. In 2017, combustible cladding fueled the Grenfell tower fire in the UK that killed 72 people. The combustible cladding has also led to fires in Australia and overseas; with Australian authorities acting to ban such cladding. Years on from the Grenfell disaster, there is ongoing tension between policymakers, the building industry and owners about how to resolve the problem of combustible cladding. This PhD project would explore the manifestation of how defects have occurred within new residential buildings, with a focus on combustible cladding. It is envisioned a qualitative approach to the problem will be undertaken with use of interviews, observations and relevant documentation as data. The project will provide a contribution to knowledge by providing insights into the construction cladding crisis in Australia. This could help inform future construction policy and practice in order to avoid this issue recurring and to potentially save lives of the general public who are at risk living within unsafe buildings.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Property","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Karien Dekker, Judith Callanan, Andrea Sharam","title":"Social and Affordable housing in Australia","description":"Melbourne and Sydney are among the least affordable cities in the world when it comes to housing. A large majority of low income households in the private rental sector are experiencing housing stress \u2013meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. This is occurring at a time of historical under-investment in social and affordable housing. Housing price inflation has also contributed to declining home ownership rates, particularly among first home buyers. There is broad agreement that that low-income households require assistance, but no coherent, sustained policy strategy to address this need. Declining housing affordability is of intense public interest, but its causes and the preferred solutions are highly contested. To increase access to, and quality of social and affordable housing, many obstacles are to be overcome. A few examples: \n  \u2022 Land values have been inflated by competition for centrally located sites and permissive planning schemes \u2022 Most public funding goes to existing home owners \u2022 Existing residents protest the development of housing in their neighbourhood \u2022 The taxation system encourages property speculation \u2022 And multi-residential construction costs are high. We invite HDR proposals that investigate one or more of the following topics: \u2022 Underlying causes of the lack of affordable housing (planning processes; financial, economic, policy and political issues) \u2022 Underlying causes of inadequate housing supply for low to middle income households (financial, economic, policy and political issues) \u2022 Effectiveness of measures to improve the quality and cost of housing (design, environmental sustainability, materials, construction processes \u2022 Innovative approaches to solving Australia\u2019s affordable housing problem","sdg":"10- Reduced inequalities; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures\/Social Change","forcodes":"330299"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Sustainability and Urban Planning","programcode":"DR212 \/ MR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nicola Willand, Nigel Goodman, Priya Rajagopalan, Jin Woo","title":"Indoor air quality in apartment buildings","description":"In the context of the trajectory to highly energy efficient dwellings and the trend towards higher density urban living in Australia, this Area of Focus addresses the nexus of lack of understanding of exposure to chemical pollutants in higher density housing.\n  Exposure to chemical pollution in housing is a function of material qualities of the dwelling, householder practices and the outdoor environment. Chemical air pollutants have indoor and outdoor origins. Indoor exposure may come from building materials, smoking, cooking or cleaning. Outdoor exposure may be linked to traffic fumes, industrial sites or bush fires. Exposure to indoor air pollutants can be minimised by source control, removal at point of release (e.g. exhaust over stove), natural and mechanical ventilation and air purification. Although exposure to indoor pollutants is ubiquitous, there is concern that exposure may be increased in 1. highly energy efficient housing, because of its increased air tightness, and 2. In higher density housing, as apartments tend to have fewer opportunities for natural ventilation, exposure may happen in common areas and there may be involuntary air exchange between dwelling units or across balconies.\n  In the context of National Construction Code moving towards higher energy efficiency and more stringent mechanical ventilation requirements, more knowledge is needed on the following topics to ensure householder health and wellbeing:\n  \u2022 Interaction between dwelling quality, householder practices, indoor air quality and health outcomes;\n  \u2022 Perspectives and practices of building professionals around building materials, air tightness and ventilation.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing; 7-Affordable and clean energy; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330206"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Omid Haass, Frank Boukamp, Tiendung Le, Tayyab Maqsood","title":"Application of IOTs within Australian Construction Industry","description":"IoT, or The internet of Things, describes a series of interrelated devices with unique identifiers, which can interconnect, interact and exchange data. These devices operate autonomously - without a requirement for human intervention - and therefore project the appearance of being self-aware, and able to make decisions. The Australian Construction Industry may potentially realise significant cost savings and improved safety levels if it were to utilise and leverage some of the benefits which this technology offers. The focus of this project will be primarily to evaluate the existing body of research, with a view to bring together varying approaches and findings. These will in turn inform findings, which will aim to provide quantitative data to make a compelling case for the adoption of these technologies into the Australian Construction Industry. The Project will include analyses of recent findings and data, to ensure applicability to the Australian context. This will be evaluated against any relevant data sets from international sources, to compare and contrast divergent trends to argue the case for, or against, the adoption of this relatively recent technology.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Pauline Teo, Helen Lingard, Rita Zhang, Peter Wong","title":"Mitigating Safety and Rework Incidents in Construction","description":"For several decades, rework and safety incidents are pervasive and recurring problems in construction projects (e.g., Love et al., 2016). Recent research undertaken revealed a significant positive relationship exists between quality and safety performance (Teo and Love, 2017).\n  The adverse consequences of rework have been widely reported, including damage to reputation, loss of productivity, and reduced profitability. Quality failure costs have been reported ranging from less than 1 to over 20% of a project\u2019s original contract value (e.g., Love et al., 2018).\n  The pursuit of an incident- and injury-free workplace remains an ongoing challenge even though considerable effort has been made to ensure the safety of workers. Several issues consistently contribute to this scenario including an organization\u2019s ineffective safety climate and culture, its poor absorptive capacity and an inability to subsequently learn, and the adverse behaviour of individuals.\n  Anecdotally, it has been observed that the underlying conditions that contribute to the occurrence of rework in construction projects have been recognized as the main contributors to safety incidents (Love et al., 2016). However, many contracting organizations treat rework as part of normal operations and not does focus on this symbiotic relationship or are simply ignored. Love and Teo (2017) have found that workplace injuries and accidents are more likely to occur while rectification works are being performed. If rework can be reduced, then significant improvements in safety performance can be achieved.\n  This research will provide construction organizations with the understanding, knowledge and context that is needed to mitigate rework and develop safety performance indicators to ensure projects are delivered in accordance with pre-determined objectives.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Construction Management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Peter Wong, Guillermo Aranda Mena, Rebecca Yang, Ron Wakefield","title":"Automation in Construction","description":"The vision of Industry 5.0 has prompted the construction sector to rethink how their practice can better align with the advanced technology to reduce the reliance on labour and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of project delivery. This project aims to devise pragmatic solutions to foster automation in construction designs and operations. It covers the implementation of technologies and concepts including Building Information Modelling (BIM), robotics, immersive technology, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), and digital twins. This involves a review of the current practice, an exploration the new approaches, and the development of the best practice guides to foster a sector-wide reform.","sdg":"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing;11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies","forcodes":"330201"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Priya Rajagopalan, Mary Myla Andamon, Jin Woo, Nicola Willand","title":"Strategies for energy efficient housing in Australia under changing climates","description":"This project will explore the impacts of climate change on energy consumption and thermal comfort of residential buildings in Australia under a various climate change scenarios. The candidate will work with leading sustainability scientists at RMIT and CSIRO, using cutting edge numerical simulation tools and experimental data to help deliver the next generation of efficient and healthy residential building designs for Australia. The key objectives of the research project are as follows: \u2022Using simulation tools, determine the impacts of climate change on the energy consumption and potential for summer overheating of typical residential buildings under various Australian climate conditions;\n  \u2022Identify the potential measures for reducing overheating of highly energy efficient Australian residential buildings under current and future climates; and\n  \u2022Use these findings to develop strategies to help governments and industry deliver the next generation of efficient, healthy new and retro-fitted buildings to improve performance under current and future warming climates.","sdg":"7-Affordable and clean energy; 9-Industry, Innovation and Infratsructure; 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies, Informations and systems","forcodes":"330206"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Property","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Rebecca Leshinski, Judith Callanan, Chris Eves, Kwabena Mintah","title":"Technology innovations and their impact and disruption in the property and Built Environment sectors","description":"This project aims to explore the extent, value, cost and disruptive impact of new and future technological innovations in the various sectors of the property industry. The project will also investigate a range of operational aspects within the property sector that are now or in the future will be influenced by Big Data, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. It is intended that the research project will contribute to the advancement of knowledge to answer the how\u2019s and why\u2019s behind adoption and failure of adoption of technical innovations and digital transformation in the property sector","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure;","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures, Sustainable Development Systems and Technologies, Informations and systems","forcodes":"330299"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"Property, Construction & Project Management","discipline":"Project management","programcode":"DR212","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tayyab Maqsood, Tiendung Le, Farshid Rahmani, Salman Shooshtarian","title":"Framework and business case for developing a market place for selling and buying Construction and Demolition waste","description":"Construction and demolition waste is an ever growing problem in Australia. Landfill sites across Australia are at capacity. The Australian Government has been discouraging dumping waste in landfills by increasing levies on waste going to landfill and encouraging reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste.\n  However, the definitions pertaining to classes of waste and the levies are not consistent across different states in Australia. There are different economic factors pertinent to a certain state that are at play which determines this levy in that state. The type of construction and demolition waste also depends on the nature of the industry. The project would focus on the waste generated by residential, commercial, rail and road infrastructure. With advances in technology, it is now possible to develop a platform that could encourage buying and selling of construction and demolition waste across different industries and across different states.\n  This project seeks to develop a framework and a business case underpinning the development of this trading platform. Using JIT (Just in Time) principles, buyers and sellers would be able engage in on-line transactions and be able to buy or sell the construction and demolition waste at various locations in a timely manner.","sdg":"11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities ;9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 12-Responsible consumption and production","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures\/Social Change","forcodes":"330202"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"F&T Design","programcode":"DR213","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Donna Cleveland, Rajkishoe Nayak","title":"Sustainability","description":"Vietnam\u2019s industry needs to explore more viable, and sustainable material solutions. The area of focus for this research will primarily employ an experimental approach to designing new material possibilities that will help us to overcome the environmental impacts and unethical practices of the current industry while combining the knowledge of traditional and future craftsmanship. You will be passionate about designing for a circular and sustainable economy bringing together traditional knowledge, cross cultural practices and innovative technologies to scope the scaling up of new material processes to commercialization. Possible approaches are to reimagine new material processes and propose alternative material solutions to meet increased demand for sustainable materials. Defining the specific materials and technologies used will be developed throughout the project period in collaboration with the research team. The theoretical entry point and methodology will depend on the profile of the PhD candidate. Your aim is to develop new strategies for sustainable material futures. Alignment with the implementation and\/or evaluation of the United Nations SDGs will be viewed favorably.","sdg":"SDG 11 and SDG 12","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"AM 4 Materials for sustainable living DCP 2 Playful and Material Encounters DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries STS 1 Circular Economy","forcodes":"330314 Sustainable design 330315 Textile and fashion design"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","programcode":"DR207 \/ DR210","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Catherine Earl, Andrew Stiff, Justin Battin","title":"Cities & Urbanism","description":"The area of focus for the research will ideally be a non-traditional research output (NTRO) or a practice-based project. It will explore the lifeworld and livability of the mega-urban region of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research aims to create new knowledge and innovative creative practice that draws on a phenomenological approach and\/or any sensory method including but not limited to visual, sonic, olfactory, tactile, culinary, affective, atmosphere, material, etc. The theoretical perspective is open, depending on the applicant\u2019s preference and track record, but note we are keen to engage with emerging and innovative approaches from the environmental humanities that rethink the dominance of humans in urban built and natural environments. You will join a growing team of dynamic researchers and designers in the School of Communication and Design at RMIT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. The sensory focused investigation will produce an exhibition, a dissertation and presentation of practice, followed by examiners questions.","sdg":"SGD 5, SDG 8, SGD 11, SDG 12, SDG 17","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"DCP 3 The social and Sustainable DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries UF 1 Urban and spatial economics UF 3 Transformative urban governance","forcodes":"330103 Architectural heritage and conservation 330110 Sustainable architecture 330405 Public participation and community engagement 330411 Urban design 430208 Intangible heritage 470202 Asian cultural studies"},{"college":"Design & Social Context","school":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","discipline":"Design, Art","programcode":"DR213 \/ DR211 \/ DR208","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Stiff, Hai Phu Ho, Agnieszka Kiejziewicz, Adhvaidha Kalidasan, Rossitsa Bolgurova, Manny Ling, Nick Cope, Liem Bui, Hellmut Monz, Britta Boyer, Glenn Wyatt, Long TV Nguyen, Christopher Denis-Delacour, Quynh Le Xuan, Eriko Yamato, Duong Thi Hoang Oanh","title":"Creativity, Heritage & Society","description":"The National Strategy for the development of Vietnamese cultural industries with a vision to 2030 addresses 5 key themes: Creative Education & Skills, Governance, Investment & Regulation, Audiences & Market Development, Clustering Networking, and International Positioning. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a series of opportunities to redefine the role and development of culture industries in Vietnam, particularly with a view towards sustainability and localization. The area of research focus seeks an enthusiastic practice-based researcher to propose an investigation using an innovative methodology that addresses how the National Strategy and pertinent stakeholders are responding to the reinvigorated attention to sustainability (as informed by UNESCO) and the local, social, and vernacular character through one (or more) of the above-mentioned themes.","sdg":"SGD 5, SDG 9, SGD 11, SDG 12, SDG 17","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/26","ecp":"DCP 2 Playful and Material Encounters DCP 4 Design and Creative Practice Industries SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy","forcodes":"430204 Digital heritage \n 430202 Critical heritage, museum and archive studies \n 470106 Media industry studies\n 470208 Culture, representation and identity \n 360604 Photography, video and lens-based practice \n 330306 Design practice and methods"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Data Science (CT)","programcode":"DR221\/DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Son Dao (son.daovutruong@rmit.edu.vn), Hung Pham (hung.phamviet2@rmit.edu.vn)","title":"Surrogate modeling and Machine Learning for science and engineering applications","description":"The research will focus on data-efficient machine learning (or surrogate modeling) techniques to solve complex problems in science and engineering. Potential research areas including extension and uses of machine learning algorithms such as generative models, neural networks, Gaussian Processes, Bayesian optimization, and more to solve challenging problems in science and engineering. The benefits of the research are as follows: (1) Fast design space exploration: compact scalable regression models for design automation, parametric studies, design space exploration, optimization, yield improvement, visualization, prototyping, and sensitivity analysis; (2) Quickly gain insight: knowledge discovery in sparse data sets, and knowledge extraction from large data sets; (3) Reduced computational time, thus, shorten time to market.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"460207\r\n460501\r\n461199\r"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics","programcode":"DR216","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Songlin Ding (RMIT Melbourne) and Minh Tran (RMIT Vietnam)","title":"Digital Twin Assistance for Smart Manufacturing","description":"Digital twin is considered as an innovative and essential tool for smart industry and currently has been applied to various industries including automotive, aerospace, and maritime engineering. The project focuses on investigating the digital twin for smart manufacturing application in which the robotic system can automatically recognize the dimension variation on the stock and obstacles around its operating zone and avoid collision in real time with feedback data. This will allow safe remote control and failure prediction via preventive maintenance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"AMF 1 Manufacturing across scales and functions; AMF 2 Advanced automation research and sensor and sensor network research","forcodes":"400707 Manufacturing Robotics (25%) 401409 Machining (25%) 401402 CAD\/CAM System (25%) 400711 Simulation, Modelling, and Programming of Mechatronics System (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","programcode":"DR215","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Alberto Bernabeo, Lin Tian, Nhan Nguyen, Associate Lecturer\u2022 Undergraduate & Postgraduate, SBM\/ RMIT Vietnam","title":"Air Quality pollution monitoring, including landfills","description":"The ability to remotely detect and map chemical pollution in open air environments is a topic of significant interest to both defence and civilian communities with regard to environment, health and safety aspects of everyday life. \r\nIn this project we propose:\r\nObjective n.1: a multitasking experimental approach based on the integrated use of remote sensing, aerosol sampling and chemical speciation together with the use of drones\/tethered balloons equipped with aerosol sensors aimed at providing all the information which so far have been collected partially. \r\nObjective n.2: The study will also collect information about the 3D distribution of all the aerosol properties described before with the aim of determining and helping the vertical resolution of data from remote sensing.\r\nObjective n.3: The project will include the testing of aerosol probes aimed at producing aerosol size distribution useful firstly for the research purposes and secondly, but not secondarily, in an attempt of devising the potential for an application as a new on-board instrumentation to integrate flight safety equipment on commercial aviation airplanes.\r\nThe consequences of climate change (UNSDG 13. Climate Action) and weather conditions associated with industrial\/fossile fuels emissions for the transport sector have received relatively little attention. Still, it is widely known that transport systems on the whole perform worse under adverse and extreme weather conditions. This is especially true in densely populated regions, such as many coastal areas around the globe such as in Vietnam, where one single event may lead to a chain of reactions that influence large parts of the transport system. In terms of Sustainable Development, SBM will contribute collecting and sharing the data of the 18 Air Visual Air Quality Monitors installed around Ho Chi Minh City.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"330413\tUrban planning and health\r\n379901\tEarth system sciences\r\n410599\tPollution and contamination not elsewhere classified \r\n059999\tEnvironmental Sciences not elsewhere classified\r\n370199\tAtmospheric sciences not elsewhere classified\r\n401101\tAir pollution modelling and control\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Khuong Nguyen, Ke Wang","title":"Wavelet Neural Network for Three\u2010Phase Power Signal Harmonic-Filtering and Extraction","description":"The integration of renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and wind turbines has significantly increased the use of inverter-connected systems in modern power grids. These inverters, however, introduce harmonic distortions into the grid, which can severely degrade power quality, cause system inefficiencies, and lead to equipment malfunctions. Harmonic oscillations, if not properly mitigated, can create instability in the grid, complicating energy distribution and management.\nTraditional methods of harmonic filtering, such as passive filters or fixed digital filters, are limited in their ability to adapt to the ever-changing nature of harmonic distortion, especially in systems with non-linear loads and variable inverter output. These methods also struggle with identifying transient disturbances or adjusting in real-time to complex harmonic profiles in three-phase power systems.\nThe use of wavelet neural networks (WNNs), which combine the time-frequency localization capability of wavelet transform with the learning and adaptive potential of neural networks, presents a novel and promising approach for filtering and harmonic extraction in three-phase power systems. Moreover, leveraging AI-based adaptive detection algorithms enables real-time dynamic adjustments to the filter parameters, thus enhancing the effectiveness of harmonic suppression in inverter-connected systems.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"(400802) Electrical circuits and systems - 25%\n(400911) Power electronics - 25%\n(461103) Deep learning - 25%\n(461104) Neural networks - 25%\n"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"AI-Enhanced Smart Grid Management ","description":"This research project aims to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the development of advanced smart grid management systems. The focus will be on employing AI techniques for accurate load prediction and efficient solving of dispatching problems, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of energy distribution in smart grids. Research Objectives: (1) \nTo develop AI-based models for precise short-term and long-term electrical load prediction; (2) To utilize AI algorithms for optimizing the dispatching of energy resources, balancing supply and demand effectively; (3) To integrate renewable energy sources into the smart grid more efficiently using AI-driven forecasting and management tools. The project is expected to result in a highly efficient smart grid management system that can adapt to changing energy demands and integrate renewable sources effectively. This will lead to reduced energy wastage, lower operational costs, and a more sustainable energy system. The research will also provide valuable insights into the application of AI in energy systems, setting a precedent for future innovations in smart grid technology.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Digital Twins in Advanced Manufacturing to Enhance Efficiency","description":"Digital Twins of manufacturing systems are an emerging tool for improvement, optimization, and monitoring of physical manufacturing systems. The idea of representing physical systems with digital depictions has been prevalent since the early days of Computer Aided Design (CAD), but recently the concept of a Digital Twin has been expanded to encapsulate more than just a digital model of a design. Instead, the Digital Twin offers a unique, comprehensive, and real-time toolset for analysis and improvement\nof physical systems. To validate these capabilities and assess their efficacy in a manufacturing setting, the creation, use, and analysis of Digital Twin (DT)\nsystems was recorded and assessed across real-world manufacturing use cases.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4014"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Climate-Smart, digital farming: Case Studies and Applications of IoT and AI in Agricultural setting","description":"The proposed research project aims to harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing agricultural practices, focusing on the phenotyping of fruits and vegetables, ripeness prediction, and yield prediction. The project will develop and integrate advanced AI algorithms with existing agricultural technologies to create a more efficient, sustainable, and productive farming system. Research Objectives: (1) To develop AI-based models for accurate phenotyping of fruits and vegetables, enabling the identification of desirable traits for breeding and cultivation; (2) To create AI algorithms for predicting the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, facilitating optimal harvest times and reducing waste; (3) To implement AI-driven systems for precise yield prediction, aiding in better crop management and planning.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Pham, Son Dao","title":"Leveraging AI \/ deep learning for predictive maintenance","description":"This research project focuses on developing advanced predictive maintenance techniques for cyber-physical systems (CPS), crucial in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and energy. The project aims to integrate cutting-edge technologies like machine learning, IoT, and big data analytics for early fault diagnosis and system health monitoring, thereby enhancing the reliability and efficiency of CPS. Research Objectives: (1) To develop machine learning models for real-time fault diagnosis and prediction in CPS; (2) To integrate IoT sensors for continuous monitoring and data collection of system parameters; (3) To utilize big data analytics for the analysis of historical and real-time data for trend identification and maintenance prediction. This research project represents a significant step towards the intelligent and automated maintenance of cyber-physical systems. By leveraging advanced technologies, it aims to transform maintenance strategies from reactive to proactive, ensuring higher system availability and reliability.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"4602"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Alexandru Constantin Fechete, Professor Anthony S Holland - School of Engineering, Electronic & Telecommunications Engineering, RMIT University, Professor Andrew Greentree, Professor of Quantum Physics, Physics, School of Science, RMIT University\r\nDr Qiang Sun, Research Fellow, Physics, School of Science, RMIT University\r\n\r\n\r\n","title":"Modelling of robustness and resilience space-based electronics","description":"The space environment is a challenging one for electronics. There are high levels of both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, combined with large changes in temperature, depending on whether they are in shade or not.  This extreme environment presents challenges for the materials and design of space-based electronics. \r\nThis project aims to model radiation response and thermal process for electronic components designed for space applications.  We will develop a new, multi-scale, multi-physical disciplinary modelling methodology, combining radiation modelling, device-level, and whole circuit simulations.  Outcomes from this research will inform the design of electronics for space applications.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"090604 Microelectronics (50%)\r\n370106 Atmospheric Radiation (25%)\r\n020199 Space (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Dao Truong Son, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Machine Learning based Control of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive Systems","description":"Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have been widely employed in a number of high-end applications, such as wind turbine generation, electric vehicles, ship propulsion and robotics thanks to its high-power density and high-efficiency. The challenges of these systems in practice are the deteriorated efficiency and control performance during the operation. So far, some methods based on the traditional control theories have been proposed to tackle these challenges. However, the performance of these methods is heavily impacted by the non-linearity of the system and the parameters variation during the operation. This project will develop a novel control scheme using the reinforcement learning algorithm to improve the control performance and efficiency of the PMSM drive system.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (40%), 404008 (30%); 404009 (30%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Dao Truong Son","title":"Sensorless Control of Induction Drive Systems applied in Electric Vehicles","description":"Induction Electric drive systems have been replacing the traditional combustion engines in the automotive industry thanks to their superior advantages such as no gas emission, low production cost, low operation and maintenance cost. The robust control scheme of this electric drive system requires the information of rotor speed and position by using the mechanical encoder or resolver. However, these mechanical devices are temperature dependent and vulnerable to the hostile environment. In order to improve the reliability as well as to reduce the size and cost of the drive system in the electric vehicles, some methods have been proposed to estimate the rotor position and speeds. However, the limitations of these methods are low estimation accuracy at low and very low operation speeds and low estimation bandwidth. This project focuses on the development of a new data driven technique to estimate the rotor speed and position of the induction motor with high accuracy, high bandwidth over the full range of operating speed from zero to the rated value.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (30); 404008(50); 404009 (20%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dao Truong Son, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Design and Control of a Novel Multiphase Electrostatic Machines","description":"The production of the electric machines requires specific natural resources, which have been raising the environmental and sustainable economic issues. So far, the electric machines have been designed based on electromagnetic principles and dominantly made of materials, such as laminated cores, permanent magnet and the metal conductors (copper or aluminum). In contrast, the electrostatic machines are made of only dielectric and electrodes. Therefore, the elimination of the costly metal conductors, permanent magnet, the laminated cores can reduce the complexity of the manufacturing process and the price of the machines. It can also reduce the carbon emission due to the production of metal conductors and permanent magnet. This project aims to develop a novel prototype and control scheme of a multiphase electrostatic machine with high efficiency, simple structure and low cost for the applications under high temperature conditions or sensitive to magnetic fields.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404007 (20); 404008 (40%); 404017(40%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Dr. Dinh Ngoc Minh, Dr. Nguyen Hieu Thao, Dr. Tran Quang Minh","title":"Online parameters identification of permanent magnet synchronous machine used in wind turbine generation","description":"The penetration of the wind energy into the smart power system has been encountering the technical challenges of electric quality, stability and reliability. Permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSM) have been dominantly applied in the wind-turbine generation due to their advantages of high-power density, high efficiency and high dynamic performance. However, in practice due to the variation of the machine\u2019 s parameters, such as permanent magnet flux linkage, stator resistance and inductances in relation to the variation of load and aging factor, the dynamic performance, efficiency and state estimation of this generation system deteriorate. This project proposes a novel method for fast and accurately identifying generator\u2019s parameters in real-time, so called on-line method, with the aim of enhancing the control performance of the wind-generation system and improving the stability of the integrated power system. At the same time, the generator\u2019s health can be monitored, potential electric failures of the generator can be diagnosed, thus increasing the reliability of the integrated power system.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"404008 (50%); 404009 (25%); 404007(25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Digital Health\u00a0(SHBS)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Ngoc Dinh","title":"A scientific workflow for dengue outbreak forecasting","description":"Dengue is an arboviral infection that could cause severe symptoms and leave a significant influence on the general health of those patients who don\u2019t receive adequate therapeutic assistance. It thrives in tropical and subtropical countries and could overburden the local health facilities during an outbreak. The capacity to predict a dengue outbreak is therefore, of significant interest to the public health services. It has been proven that a dengue outbreak correlates highly with not only weather and climate factors but also the human behaviors. This project aims to develop a scientific workflow that handles heterogenous data from multiple modalities such as weather information (e.g. precipitation, temperature and humidity), epidemiological data and human demographics and develops a multimodal machine learning framework. The multimodal machine learning model must addresses the difference in data representation, while aligning other metrics of the data such as granularity and frequency, with the goal of transferring knowledge between modalities and their representations. Finally, this project combines the multimodal machine learning model with probabilistic machine learning framework to generate posterior prediction distributions for dengue cases. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"460501 (35%)\r\n460206 (40%)\r\n460207 (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences (Science)","programcode":"DR221","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Sam Goundar \/ Potential Co-Supervisors:\nProfessor Fabio Zambetta, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies\nProfessor Iqbal Gondal, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies\nProfessor Margaret Hamilton, STEM College, School of Computing Technologies","title":"Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence for Next Generation Educational Technology Platforms","description":"This project uses Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence to develop an educational technology platform and training programs that are challenging to offer in real-world setting. Meta-Education has the potential to radically transform the teaching and learning landscape. It\u2019s power, though rudimentary is already realised with the use of VR, AR, XR, and MR in existing educational platforms. It has been cheaper, easier, and safer to provide STEM education using these, rather than risking training in real-life scenarios. Trainee neurosurgeons and pilots are a good example. Artificial Intelligence will ensure that the Meta-Education platform follows the rules prescribed by the Teacher. Artificial Intelligence is also the enabler of simulation-based STEM training. For learners to be able to get the feel of training in the authentic world, Artificial Intelligence is needed to ensure learners are able to work and learn with intelligent NPC tutors, peers, and other learners.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%)\r\n460206 Knowledge representation and reasoning (25%)\r\n390405 Educational technology and computing (35%)\""},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Technology","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuyen Truong, Yunus Khatri, Jayani Chandrapala","title":"Cell-based dairy fat alternatives: the metabolic engineering of oleaginous organisms","description":"The objective of this study is to produce nature-identical, cell-based cow milk fats using oil\r\nproducing microbes\/organisms. The final aim is to produce milk without using cows which\r\nhas advantages such as similar taste, healthier & low carbon footprint. Conventional dairy farming is unsustainable due to high land, animal welfare, water & greenhouse gas emissions. Plant based alternatives lack taste, texture & cooking characteristics requiring an urgent need to invest in cell-based alternatives. Fat plays a major role in providing a huge benefit towards\r\nsensorial perceptions of consumers in food products. Milk fat is considered one of the\r\nmost complex natural fats. Saturated and monosaturated fatty acid contents in milk account for ~70% and 25% by weight, respectively. Of these saturated fatty acids, ~11% are short-chain\r\nfatty acids. The proposed project aims to work on the metabolic engineering of oleaginous\r\norganisms for the accumulation and synthesis of C4-C16 (Carbon chain 4 to 16) fatty acids using\r\nTriacyl glycerides (TAGs). Oil-producing microbes will be subjected to grow under high carbon\r\nand low nitrogen conditions where cells will grow until nitrogen unavailability. The grown\r\ncells will then start to convert carbon into lipids, and cells will be ruptured via a physical\r\nprocess. The fatty acids of interest will be extracted and purified after necessary enzyme\r\ntreatments to produce fatty acids with variable chain lengths. The project will optimize the\r\nfermentation process to produce high yields, cell rupturing conditions, and enzyme treatment\r\nconditions to obtain the desired fatty acids.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"300602 Food Chemistry and food sensory sciences (50%)\r\n300607 Food Technology (40%)\r\n300606 Food sustainablity (10%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Novel Immersive Approaches to Information Seeking","description":"People search through digital information more than ever before. However, current search systems present information through a 2D search engine results page. In addition, opportunities to interact with the search results to understand underlying relationships in the retrieved data, are limited. The proposed approach will allow users to navigate information naturally and immersively, following users\u2019 interests and curiosity rather than being constrained by a search box and a ranked search results list.\r\n\r\nThis project aims to explore this unique interaction paradigm for effective and efficient interactive information retrieval through virtual or augmented reality, enabling a novel approach to defining user information needs, presenting results, and facilitating search reformulations.\r\n\r\nThe project can answer research questions, including:\r\n-What is the most effective way to visualise 3D information units (in virtual or augmented reality) to facilitate enhanced search interactions?\r\n-How do users formulate information needs, manipulate results, and navigate immersive information spaces?\r\n-How does immersive search versus traditional ranked lists impact users' navigation behaviours within an information space?\r\n-How do users with different levels of familiarity with immersive applications experience information?\r\n-How does the proposed approach compare to current search methods for exploring complex information needs?\r\n\r\nThe project will contribute to the field of interactive information retrieval by providing a novel approach to exploring information needs. Using virtual or augmented reality together with current advances in conversational interactions for information seeking will allow for more intuitive and natural navigation of information, which could lead to unexplored insights into how people interact with information.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460708 Virtual and mixed reality (40%) ; 460806 Human-computer interaction (30%) ; 461003 Human information interaction and retrieval (30%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Towards Intelligent Data-driven Software Engineering","description":"Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown outstanding progress with impressive performance over the last decade. AI techniques have been applied to solve numerous problems such as weather forecasting, movie recommending, autonomous driving, health applications, question answering, etc. The main ingredient of an AI algorithm is the data that is mined from problems that are same or similar to the problem to be solved.\nSoftware Engineering (SE) is a highly impact area with many interesting and important challenges. Besides, the amount of data generated by SE is generally large and cheap to collect (e.g., source code, software system logs, software reports). Therefore, SE is an ideal area where AI techniques can be applied.\nIn this project, we thus aim to develop novel AI-based techniques to solve various challenging problems in SE:\n+ configurable software performance prediction with a minimal number of measured data [1]\n+ intelligent incident management for software-intensive system including incident detection, incident identification, incident triage [2]\n+ software defect and vulnerability detection [3]\n+ etc.\nApart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the chosen topic.\nReferences:\n[1] H. Ha, H. Zhang. \u201cDeepPerf: Performance Prediction for Configurable Software with Deep Sparse Neural Network\u201d, in Proceedings of the 41st ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 1095-1106, Montr\u00e9al, Canada, 2019.\n[2] Z. Chen, Y. Kang, L. Li, X. Zhang, H. Zhang, et al., \u201cTowards intelligent incident management: why we need it and how we make it\u201d, in Proceedings of the ACM Joint European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC\/FSE), pages 1487-1497, 2020.\n[3] S. Omri, C. Sinz, \u201cDeep Learning for Software Defect Prediction: A Survey\u201d, in the Workshops of the 42nd ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), pages 209-214, 2020.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461201 Automated software engineering (60%) ; 461103 Deep learning (20%) ; 461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Artificial Intelligence","programcode":"DR221 ","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tri Dang","title":"Further Advance Bayesian Optimization","description":"Bayesian Optimization (BO) is a powerful sample-efficient strategy for finding the global optimum of an expensive black-box functions [1]. The main idea is to fit a surrogate model on the previous function evaluations, construct an acquisition function based on the surrogate model, and then use the acquisition function to select the next data point to be evaluated. Its applications include but not limited to automated machine learning, experimental design, environmental monitoring, and robotics. Whilst being effective and efficient in solving many optimization problems, BO is still a relatively new research field and suffers various limitations [1]. For example,\n+ Existing BO algorithms do not work well with high-dimensional optimization problems\n+ Limited BO methods can be applied to solve optimization problems with discrete, categorical, and mixed variables.\n+ Limited BO methods can solve the multi-objective optimization problems.\n+ etc.\nThis project aims to advance the efficacy of BO algorithms by various techniques such as evolutionary methods (e.g., covariance matrix adaptation, particle swarm, multi-objective decomposition) [2], deep surrogate models (e.g., deep kernel, Bayesian deep learning) [3]. Apart from the principal supervisor, the student will be involved with internal and external supervisors who have strong expertise in the topic.\nReferences:\n[1] B. Shahriari, K. Swersky, Z. Wang, R.P. Adams, N. de Freitas (2016). Taking the Human Out of the Loop: A Review of Bayesian Optimization. Proceedings of IEEE 104(1): 148-175.\n[2] A. E. Eiben, James E. Smith (2015). Introduction to Evolutionary Computing. Natural Computing Series, Springer.\n[3] Y. Gal (2016). Uncertainty in Deep Learning. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%), 460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bui Xuan Minh, Ke Wang, Guanghui Ren, Arnan Mitchell ","title":"Development of photonic IC and electronic IC integration","description":"This project aims to develop the capability to unite integrated electronic circuits with integrated photonic components onto a single photonic-electronic integrated chip (PEIC) through the collaboration between RMIT Melbourne InPAC team with RMIT VN and VNU. We will demonstrate this capability by integrating electronic driver circuits, biasing controllers and electronic transimpedance amplifiers with photonic circuits to form a fully integrated photonic transceivers, and demonstrate these transceivers for high-speed data transmission and signal processing. We will achieve this through device-by-device hybrid integration approach, by selectively micro-transfer printing different electronic dies to a photonic chip.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"400909"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","programcode":"DR220","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stanley Luong","title":"Navigational assisted device for the blind","description":"This project will investigate methods which derived from a multi-discipline input from Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering to formulate solutions in term of hardware, software, algorithm to realise a practical device to assist blind people in daily navigation.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/2023","ecp":"Biomedical and Health Innovation","forcodes":"400999 Electronics, sensors and digital hardware not elsewhere classified (50%) ; 460304 Computer vision (25%) ; 460308 Pattern recognition (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","discipline":"Food Science","programcode":"DR232","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Yunus Khatri, Dr. Tuyen Truong, Professor Rajaraman Eri \n","title":"Antimicrobial Bioplastics derived from Algal Biopolymers and Curcumin Additives for Active Food Containers","description":"Research on bioplastics and biocomponents to replace petroleum based plastics has been ongoing, with several potential biodegradable food packaging materials such as starch, cellulose, alginate, carrageenan, chitosan, pectin, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) being studied. While plant-based polymers show great potential, they require large areas of landfills to supply raw materials. Algae extracts, on the other hand, are highly recommended for their ability to capture large amounts of CO2 through photosynthesis, making them a sustainable solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the non-competitive land area for food security, high growth speed, and limited nutrient requirements make biopolymers extracted from algae a strong candidate for producing sustainable bioplastics, including active packaging and edible packaging. Curcumin, a polyphenol extract with the chemical formula 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione, has gained attention as a promising natural additive in food products owing to its antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer properties. Multiple studies have reported the ability turmeric extract to inhibit the growth of various pathogenic bacteria including Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, while also extending the shelf-life of meat products. Researchers have explored the use of curcumin as an additive in bioplastic films made from different materials, such as chitosan, pectin, soybean polysaccharides, and cellulose acetate, to create curcumin-based composite films with enhanced antimicrobial activity, film stiffness, and UV-blocking properties.\nAim:\n1.        To extract and purify algae biopolymer for use as the base material for developing food containers.\n2.        To incorporate curcumin as an antimicrobial agent in the algae biopolymer and optimize its concentration.\n3.        To evaluate the characterization of curcumin algal bioplastic \n4.        To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the developed containers against common foodborne pathogens.\n","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Fabrication","forcodes":"300604 Food packaging, preservation and processing (75%) ;  310602 Bioprocessing, bioproduction and bioproducts (25%)"},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Science","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences","programcode":"DR222","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Minh Dao, Huong Ha, Tri Dang","title":"High-dimensional Bayesian Optimization via Decomposition and Gradient Descent","description":"Systematic reviews are the gold standard in research evidence, particularly within the healthcare field. However, in the context of an ever-increasing volume of scientific literature, conducting systematic reviews has become an extremely time-consuming and arduous process. Automated tools are urgently needed to support retrieval, synthesis, quality assessment, and meta-analysis of research papers. While some progress has been made on systematic review automation and its component steps through information retrieval, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, Large Language Models (LLMs) represent a valuable technology that may support significant advancements in this arena. This project will seek to explore how best LLMs and NLP can be deployed for systematic review automation, as well as examining the capabilities and limitations of generative AI.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"461199 Machine learning not elsewhere classified (60%)\n460209 Planning and Decision Making (40%) "},{"college":"Science, Engineering & Health","school":"Science","discipline":"Mathematical Sciences","programcode":"DR222","campus":"Melbourne City; RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Andrew Eberhard, Alex Kruger, Geetika Verma, Thao Nguyen Hieu","title":"Regularity structures for first-order optimization methods and applications in imaging problems in industry 4.0. ","description":"Qualitative and quantitative understanding of complicated physical systems is at the core of every development of modern technology. Mathematical foundations of computational optimization tools play the key role in the analysis. The last few decades have witnessed an explosion of first-order methods for solving nonconvex optimization problems arising from various practical fields. Recent literature has indicated a huge potential of the metric regularity property and its siblings in analysing convergence and complexity of first-order methods. Meticulous investigation of regularity structures with the target of improving understanding of convergence behavior of expansive fixed-point algorithms will be the first research avenue. The expected findings would include sharper analysis tools for extending the convergence theory beyond the traditional framework of convexity and monotonicity. The project also targets more delicate characterizations of regularity notions which will allow researchers to challenge open problems in optimization theory. Further applications and improvement of the convergence analysis will be another research avenue of the project. The prospective outcomes of this research direction would further bridge the gap between what can be explained by the convergence theory and what is often observed in practice. The research is driven by practical problems arising in imaging, including machine learning algorithms for computer vision systems in autonomous production lines. The new research findings in Variational analysis and optimization methods will be applied to a wide range of real-world problems in imaging science.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"010303 Optimisation\r\n0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing\r\n010203 Calculus of Variations, Systems Theory and Control Theory"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Aemen Nasir, Nhu Do","title":"Leadership Across Generations: Navigating AI Adoption in Family Businesses","description":"1. Project Aim\nThis project examines how leadership influences the speed and success of AI adoption in organisations, with a focus on family businesses navigating generational leadership transitions. Leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping organisational culture, responding to external pressures, and determining technological readiness. In family enterprises, succession challenges and differing generational perspectives on innovation can either accelerate or hinder AI adoption. This study aims to identify leadership strategies that foster successful AI integration while maintaining business continuity.\n2. Project Gap\nExisting research on AI adoption primarily focuses on technical, individual, or industry-specific factors, overlooking the complex interplay of leadership, organisational structure, and external pressures. While leadership is recognised as crucial in digital transformation, its specific role\u2014particularly in family businesses where intergenerational shifts impact decision-making\u2014remains underexplored. This project addresses this gap by integrating leadership theories with technology adoption frameworks to develop a holistic model that accounts for organisational, technological, and generational dynamics.\n3. Methodology\nAn explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach will be employed. First, a quantitative survey will assess AI adoption speed, project success, leadership styles, and contextual factors, using statistical modelling to test mediation and moderation effects. Then, qualitative multiple case studies will provide deeper insights into how leadership practices in family businesses shape AI adoption. This phase will explore generational differences in AI perceptions, implementation challenges, and leadership strategies for aligning innovation with long-term sustainability.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"2025-07-01","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350707 Leadership (40%)\n460299 Artificial Intelligence (30%)\n350716 Small business organisation and management (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trang Le, E.Y.T. Chew","title":"Exploring the Potential of Game-based Learning in Higher Education and Corporate Environments","description":"In today\u2019s educational landscape, traditional teaching methods often fail to engage learners effectively, necessitating new strategies for collaboration. Despite the rising use of gamification, its effectiveness in higher education and corporate training is under-researched, creating valuable opportunities for study.\n\nGame-based learning promotes hands-on engagement and active participation through tools like Lego\u00ae Serious Play\u00ae (LSP\u00ae), card games, and digital games, fostering creativity and problem-solving. This proposal invites PhD candidates to explore how these methodologies enhance student engagement and corporate training experiences. Potential research topics include improving knowledge retention, critical thinking, and creativity or facilitating team building within organizations.\n\nThe supervision team includes certified LSP\u00ae facilitators to support students in mastering relevant skills. Internships with partner organizations will allow candidates to implement gamification strategies, applying theoretical knowledge and gaining practical experience that benefits both their research and the organizations.\n\nIdeal candidates should have backgrounds in education, organizational development, or psychology, and possess a passion for innovative learning or corporate training methodologies. We invite forward-thinking researchers to apply for this opportunity to explore game-based learning's potential while gaining valuable hands-on experience through internships.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"2029-12-31","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350503 Human resources management\n350599 Human resources and industrial relations not elsewhere classified\n390303 Higher education\n350711 Organisational planning and management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thao Luong, Trang Le","title":"From Perceptions to Practices: Understanding Meaningful Work in Human Resource Management amidst Digital Transformation","description":"As organizations rapidly adopt digital technologies, the concept of meaningful work is evolving, presenting new challenges and opportunities for Human Resource Management (HRM). Employees increasingly seek roles that offer not just compensation but also a sense of purpose. This proposal aims to recruit HDR candidates to explore the intricacies of meaningful work within the HR context, emphasizing how digital transformation impacts employee engagement, recruitment, retention, and organizational culture in ways that align with individuals' desires for fulfillment.\r\n\r\nThe modern workplace, influenced by technological advancements, is changing the traditional employer-employee relationship. Remote work and AI-driven HR practices alter how employees connect with their roles. Understanding how these changes influence perceptions of meaningful work is crucial for HR professionals aiming to develop strategies that enhance employee satisfaction and retention.\r\n\r\nPhD candidates will investigate pressing questions at the intersection of meaningful work and HRM within the digital landscape. They may explore topics such as job design for enhanced engagement, effective recruitment strategies that communicate organizational culture, and the role of digital platforms in fostering diverse perspectives on meaningful work.\r\n\r\nIdeal candidates will have a background in HRM, organizational behavior, or a related field, along with a strong interest in advancing both quantitative and qualitative research skills. We encourage aspiring researchers to apply for this transformative opportunity to study the dynamics of meaningful work in the digital era, contributing valuable insights to both academic literature and organizational practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350503 Human resources management\r\n350504 Industrial and employee relations\r\n350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Chung Phan, Duc Tran Trinh","title":"RURAL POVERTY DYNAMICS AND LIVELIHOOD TRANSTIONS IN CENTRAL VIETNAM","description":"This PhD project will use selected waves of the Thailand Vietnam Social Economic Panel (TVSEP) to examine rural poverty dynamics and livelihood transitions in three provinces of central Vietnam. TVSEP is a long-running panel study funded by the Deutsche Forchingsgemeinschaft (DSG) and led by three German, one Thai and two Vietnamese universities. TVSEP has been following 4,400 households in three provinces in Northeast Thailand and three provinces in Central Vietnam since 2007. To date, 11 waves of household surveys have been completed under the TVSEP, with three additional migrant tracking surveys in 2010, 2018 and 2021. The most recent household survey was in 2024, with a fourth tracking survey planned for 2025. The TVSEP is regarded as high-quality household panel, which has already led to over 100 published paper and 20 completed PhD theses, and possess all requisite ethical and government clearances. \n\nThe thesis will examine the following issues using a primarily quantitative approach, supplemented by geo-spatial methods where appropriate, is envisaged:\n1.\tPoverty dynamics: which socio-economic, geographic and other factors most impact the ability of rural Vietnamese household to escape poverty and what are the factors that trap households in poverty for extended periods of time?  How has transient poverty waxed and waned over time, and are the transient poor different from the chronically poor?\n2.\tLivelihood transitions: how are rural livelihoods in central Vietnam evolving over time? Which events and policies have had most impact on these livelihood transitions?\n3.\tCOVID-19: How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect poverty dynamics and livelihood transitions in the selected provinces in central Vietnam?  How did households and communities respond to the pandemic, and how long did it take them to recover, either fully or partially, from it?\n\nCandidates should have a strong background in development economics, applied statistics and econometrics. A knowledge of geographic information systems and geo-spatial methods would also be useful. The student will join an appropriate research cluster in RMIT Vietnam and the cross-campus RMIT Centre for International Development. The student will be encouraged to undertake a three-to-four-month internship at one of the three German universities (Cologne, Gottingen or Leibnitz) that have been implementing TVSEP.  S\/he will be also encouraged to present papers based on her\/his research at national and international conferences. Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals such as Agricultural Economics, Journal of Development Studies, Review of Income and Wealth and World Development. \n\nThe successful candidate, who must be based at one of RMIT\u2019s two Vietnam campuses, will be awarded a four-year tuition waiver and a stipend of approximately VND 14.5 million per month.  Receipt of this scholarship is conditional upon the candidate committing to working full-time on her\/his thesis and undertaking the RMIT College of Business and Law\u2019s PhD course sequence in their first year of study. ","sdg":"[\"1 - No Poverty\",\"10 - Reduced Inequalities \",\"13 - Climate Action\",\"3 - Good Health and Wellbeing\",\"4 - Quality Education\"]","funded":"Yes","closedate":"2026-03-31","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380101; 380204; 410199"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Anushka Siriwardana","title":"Artificial Intelligence in MarTech, Influencer Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and Decision Journey","description":"This research examines the interplay between marketing technology (MarTech), influencer marketing, consumer behavior, and the customer decision journey, with a forward-looking integration of human-artificial intelligence principles. It bridges the gap between human and machine capabilities, emphasizing collaboration and augmentation rather than replacement. It offers groundbreaking potential to transform consumer interactions and decision-making in digital marketing environments. As digital platforms evolve, understanding these dimensions is essential for refining strategies, improving engagement, and fostering AI-driven hyper-performance in marketing. MarTech and influencer marketing are revolutionizing brand-consumer interactions. However, when augmented by human-AI systems, more research is needed to evaluate their combined effectiveness across the customer decision process. This research investigates how MarTech tools and influencer strategies shape consumer behavior and decision-making at each journey stage. Key questions include: How can MarTech and influencer marketing transform decision-making? What factors influence consumer acceptance and resistance, especially with AI-augmented insights? How do these integrated approaches impact purchase decisions across demographic groups? How can we foster hyper-performance in the contemporary marketing environment? This study analyzes consumer interactions with MarTech and influencer materials to build predictive consumer behavior models. The mixed-methods methodology combines qualitative interviews with experts and quantitative surveys enriched by AI-driven sentiment analysis and predictive algorithms to identify patterns and trends. This research provides critical insights for marketers, developers, and policymakers, enabling more precise, adaptive marketing strategies. By linking theoretical knowledge with practical application, the study aims to enhance understanding of how digital tools redefine consumer behavior and decision-making in transformative ways.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350607: Marketing Technology (50%)\n350601: Consumer Behaviour (30%)\n460299: Artificial Intelligence not Elsewhere Classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Anushka Siriwardana, Agnis Stibe","title":"Impact of Emerging Technologies on Hospitality Marketing and Travel Experience ","description":"This study will analyze the relationship between emerging technologies and the customer journey within Vietnam's hospitality sector, highlighting the incorporation of these technologies in the post-COVID revival of tourism. It will also focus on the significance of digital innovations in catering to the preferences of Gen Z and late millennials in urban settings for sustainable and digitally enhanced travel experiences. The research aims to improve guest experiences and decision-making from booking to payment and traveling by seamlessly integrating emerging technologies. As the hotel industry evolves with digital innovations, comprehending the interaction between these technologies and conventional consumer behavior models is essential for formulating advanced marketing tactics and improving guest engagement. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews with industry experts and quantitative consumer surveys, further enriched by AI-driven sentiment analysis and predictive algorithms to identify nuanced patterns and trends. The study seeks to evaluate the efficacy of these technological interventions throughout the entire consumer decision journey, with anticipated findings that will provide actionable insights for the sector leaders, technology developers, and policymakers, thereby enabling the development of adaptive, efficient, and guest-centric service models. This research will connect theoretical frameworks with empirical data to enhance comprehension of how digital innovations can transform consumer behavior and decision-making in the hospitality industry in Vietnam, establishing a basis for strategic marketing and operational improvements in Vietnam's developing tourism sector.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"2025-12-31","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350607: Marketing Technology (50%) \n350806: Tourist behaviour and visitor experience (30%) \n350601: Consumer Behaviour (20%) "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa","title":"Absorptive Capacity in Southeast Asian Tourism: Sustainability and Innovation","description":"Tourism is a vital economic driver in Southeast Asia especially in Vietnam, offering significant opportunities for entrepreneurship to address sustainability challenges amid rapid digital transformation. This research redefines absorptive capacity within the tourism and hospitality sectors, emphasizing its role in advancing entrepreneurial success and sustainability (Zahra and George, 2002). It examines how knowledge-sharing and social media strategies influence absorptive capacity, providing actionable insights for overcoming regional challenges and leveraging opportunities. \n\nA mixed- methods approach combines quantitative analysis of absorptive capacity\u2019s mediating effects with qualitative case studies of entrepreneurial tourism enterprises. Key drivers, including stakeholder collaboration, entrepreneurial leadership, social media engagement, and organizational culture, are explored to understand their impact on eco-friendly practices, innovative business models, and entrepreneurial outcomes. Moderating factors such as environmental dynamism and technological readiness are analyzed to assess their influence on sustainability and entrepreneurship.\n\nSocial media is identified as an activation trigger or knowledge acquisition tool within the absorptive capacity framework, exposing firms to market trends, customer demands, and competitive dynamics while aligning with its acquisition dimension (Leung et al., 2013). Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (Acs et al., 2009), the study highlights entrepreneurs as critical agents for transforming unused knowledge into innovation and growth.\n\nIntegrating this with Thomas and Wood (2014), absorptive capacity emerges as a dynamic capability enabling entrepreneurs to exploit spillover knowledge. Aligned with RMIT\u2019s sustainability and regional impact priorities, this research provides practical frameworks to foster sustainable practices, support entrepreneurship, and enhance digital transformation in Southeast Asia and Vietnam\u2019s dynamic tourism market.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350806 - Tourism Management \n350702 - Entrepreneurship \n350705 - Innovation Management \n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso,Seng Kok","title":"Digital transformation and Vietnam\u2019s niche and emerging industries","description":"This project focuses on digital transformation\u2019s impact on Vietnam\u2019s niche and emerging industries. Vietnam is both a leader and as the potential to excel in international markets. First, Vietnam ranks second in the world in coffee exports by volume (Statista, 2024a, Statista, 2024b). As documented in some cases, Vietnam is also increasingly the home of entrepreneurial firms that are adding value to coffee production, including by using technologies (Viet Nam News, 2023). Second, Vietnam is also one of the world\u2019s leaders in cashew nut production and exports (Statista, 2024c). In this industry, Vietnam is also a major cashew nut importer that, subsequently exports these products to other markets (Chi et al., 2018). Third, the potential for Vietnam\u2019s organic food production to enter lucrative markets, particularly the European Union (EU) market, is considerable (VCCI, 2023). Recent new legislation (VCCI, 2024) concerning the issuance of organic certificates to be able to export into the EU presents both challenges and opportunities for Vietnam. Moreover, with the EU seeking to promote technology transfer, digitalisation and high-tech transformation of production processes (VCCI, 2024) there are important implications for organic producers. \n\nThis project proposes various research questions (RQs), including but not limited to the following:\nRQ1: How are firms benefitting from digital transformation, including with regard to their supply chain (e.g., production, logistics, adding value, packaging, selling\/exporting).\nRQ2: What opportunities\/challenges do they perceive from a deeper involvement in digitalisation\/digital transformation practices?\nRQ3: How do they perceive their industry\u2019s future regarding the adoption of digitalisation\/digital transformation? ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management (30%)\n350711 Organisational planning and management (30%)\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified (40%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi, Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"An examination of businesses operating in smart city environments","description":"Smart cities can provide advantages to government and business entities in the form of efficiency, connectivity, smart transportation, security, cost savings or smart buildings (Wirsbinna & Grega, 2021). The smart city phenomenon is changing from a predominant focus on urban infrastructure development (2000-2015) to a stronger focus on services (Kim, 2022). This shift suggests an increasing importance of smart city maintenance and operation rather than building, where smart technologies, big data, artificial intelligence, and urban data are leveraged to offer uninterrupted and valuable services to smart city residents (Kim, 2022).\n\nHowever, an analysis or overview of the effects of smart cities, both positive and negative, is lacking (Lim et al., 2019). In addition, research focusing on smart cities\u2019 unbalanced effects of technology diffusion on various groups (e.g., residents and disadvantaged groups) and institutions, including small businesses) is limited (Zhao et al., 2021). Similarly, there is a dearth of smart city investigations focusing on the business perspective (Pa\u0161ali\u0107 et al., 2021). This gap is also obvious in the case of Vietnam and other economies, both established and emerging. The project embraces a number of foci and directions to examine research questions  that illuminate the understanding of businesses operating in smart city ecosystems, including but not limited to the following:\n\nHow has the business experienced the different phases of smart city development?\nHow has the smart city regime affected the local businesses operating in this ecosystem?\nHow do business owners\/managers perceive the future coexistence with the smart city regime?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350705 Innovation management (30%)\n350711 Organisational planning and management (30%)\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified (40%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Thi Van Anh","title":"Customer Engagement with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Marketing Strategies","description":"Project Aims\nThis project aims to understand factors influencing customer perceptions and engagement with AI-powered tools and content currently being used by brands and marketers. The project addresses the following questions:\n\u2022 How customers perceive the information quality performance of AI-generated content and AI-powered tools?\n\u2022 Which factors contribute to customers\u2019 trust and satisfaction with information quality from AI-powered content and tools, therefore determining their engagement with the content and the tools?\n\u2022 What strategies are required to enhance customer engagement with AI-content and tools?\nProject Gap\nThe application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become more popular in marketing recently as it enables hyper-personalized experiences, predictive analytics, and real-time customer engagement. AI-driven innovations allow automated and personalised content creation with information provided to customers in real-time, prompting them to interact and engage with AI-powered tools for better service quality. However, the effectiveness of AI in engaging with customers depends on customer perception of information quality, perceived interactivity, and perceived personalization from AI-generated content and AI-powered tools. Other factors might include privacy concerns, trust, behavioural factors such as customer learning experience, or generational, cultural, or socioeconomic factors (Sura\u00f1a\u2010S\u00e1nchez and Aramendia\u2010Muneta, 2024). Understanding how these factors influence the trust and satisfaction of AI-generated content and tools can suggest better marketing strategies to enhance customer engagement and business marketing performance. \nMethodology\nThis project should employ a mixed-method approach to explore the various facets of the research questions.\nSura\u00f1a\u2010S\u00e1nchez, C. and Aramendia\u2010Muneta, M.E., 2024. Impact of artificial intelligence on customer engagement and advertising engagement: A review and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 48(2), p.e13027.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"3506 Marketing"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Fiza Qureshi","title":"Sustainable Finance and Market Stability: Unveiling the Role of Green Investments","description":"The proposed project aims to explore the relationship dynamics between sustainable investments and financial market trends. The study will focus on various sustainable financial investments such as ESG securities, green bonds, social bonds, Green Loans, ESG Funds, Green Exchange-Traded Funds, Carbon Credits, Sustainable Real Estate Investment Trusts, and Green Insurance Products with regard to their impact on financial markets and economies. Given that existing literature in this domain is still developing, there is a considerable research gap regarding the comprehensive influence of sustainable investments on financial market performance. This project seeks to fill that gap by thoroughly examining the role of sustainable financial products in promoting financial market stability and understanding their impact on market dynamics.\nUtilizing a quantitative research methodology, this study will analyze data from companies and economies that issue sustainable securities, encompassing both developed and emerging markets. The project\u2019s goal is to provide valuable insights into how sustainable investments align with financial market advancements, contributing to broader sustainable development and climate action objectives. These findings will offer critical opportunities for investors and policymakers to support and capitalize on sustainable practices.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350202 Finance (40%)\n350204 Financial institutions (20%) \n350208 Investment and Risk management (20%)\n350201 Environment and climate finance (20%) "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Oanh Thi Kim Vu, AP Abel Duarte Alonso\nDr Santiago Velesquez ","title":"Vietnam's female entrepreneurs managing smart transition in the circular economy ","description":"(i)-Project Aims \r\nThis project will reveal opportunities and challenges in involvement in Circular Economy (CE) from\r\nfemale entrepreneurs\u2019 perspectives, operating in Vietnam\u2019s cities outside major urban centres.\r\nSpecifically, the project will address the following questions: \r\n\u2022 How do female entrepreneurs in non-major urban centres tangibly and\/or intangibly benefit from\r\nCE practices? \r\n\u2022 What challenges are they facing while pursuing these practices? \r\n\u2022 How do they perceive the future of CE pursuits? \r\n\u2022 What strategies are required to manage smart transition in CE? \r\n\r\n(ii)-Project Gap \r\nVietnam\u2019s areas outside major urban centers face pervasive challenges (including households\u2019\r\ninadequate access to financial services and gender inequality), which result in limited property\r\nownership and employment opportunities for women. These challenges are compounded by the\r\nfact that social and environmental issues in Vietnam are still inadequately addressed. Responding to\r\nthe need to reach sustainable goals and improve economic growth, the Vietnamese government\r\nhas proposed incentives to promote CE, emphasizing the extension of products\u2019 life cycles in which\r\nwomen entrepreneurs could find opportunities in CE projects.\u202fOur research is therefore timely and\r\nvaluable, especially when Vietnamese population is expected to grow leading to an increased\r\ndemand for CE projects. \r\n\r\n(iii)-Methodology \r\nThis project will first choose a qualitative method and an inductive approach, gathering data from\r\nVietnamese female entrepreneurs embracing CE principles in non-major urban cities. Subsequently,\r\nsemi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews will be conducted to address the above\r\nquestions. The interviews will entail a holistic approach, representing various regions, age groups,\r\nand industries, therefore, enabling comparative analysis across various characteristics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship\n440406 Rural community development\n440599 Gender studies not elsewhere classified\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Daisy Kanagasapapathy, Ushik Shrestha Khwakhali","title":"Permeation of robotic technology in the Vietnamese hospitality cultural norms","description":"The tourism and hospitality industry (T&H) is on the cusp of embracing robotic (AI). There are many opportunities with robotics AI which can lead to a possible change of attitudes in guest experience and service operations.  In Vietnam there is a foreseeable integration of these technologies with the current cultural norms (Chung et al., 2019).\n\nWhile these technologies are seen to be effective from an operational perspective, its proliferation can have a profound effect on a culturally rich country i.e. Vietnam (research gap).  As such it would be great interest to undertake study on the integration of such robotics technologies vis-\u00e0-vis on culturally norm in a hospitality operational trade in a defined Vietnamese city, in terms of local service standards, kinematics, time-motion functions, service design standards from a local service provider standpoint to a user perspective. No such research or study has been conducted within Vietnam yet.\n\nThe overarching research question is to determine the acceptance of robotic within the framework of Belance, Carlo and Scheper (2019)\u2019s robotic integration for Vietnamese T&H operators and its impacts on the above 4 factors vis-\u00e0-vis its cultural norms from different stakeholders.  This is in-line with RMIT\u2019s Vietnam research interest in Smart Cities and Innovative Industries.\n\nThe impacts of a research will grant T&H companies to pivot their operational functions towards a more robotic inclined industry accordingly to the users in line with industry and the nation\u2019s desire.  It will also create springboards for ancillary hospitality to navigate the use of this new technologies.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"\u2022        350307 Technology management \n\u2022        350705 Innovation management \n\u2022        35050806 Tourist behavior and visitor experience\n\u2022        350803 Tourism management\n\u2022        330305 Design Management\n\u2022        330310 Interaction and experience design\n\u2022        330312 Service Design\n\u2022        470202 Asian Cultural Studies\n\u2022        470203 Consumption and everyday life\n\u2022        470208 Culture, representation and identity\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205\/DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Abel Duarte Alonso,Seng Kok","title":"Digitalising micro, small, and medium hospitality and tourism enterprises","description":"Although digital transformation is a much-studied research domain (Cheng et al., 2023), many knowledge gaps remain unaddressed. Studies focusing on the impact of digital transformation on hospitality\/tourism firms are still under development, particularly concerning their financing or investment decisions (Hu et al., 2024). Furthermore, the digitalisation process among hospitality and tourism firms has been under-studied; accordingly, there is a need to understand digital transformation in their context, both currently and in the future (Cheng et al., 2023). Similarly, scant research exists on business model innovation practices or processes concerning small and medium enterprises\u2019 digital venturing (Anderson et al., 2022). \n     Against this backdrop, this project, with a qualitative approach and openness to mixed methods, seeks to deepen the knowledge of the potential for digital transformation to support firms in navigating the rapidly changing business environment. The project predominantly focuses on a critical business cohort: micro, small and medium-sized (MSM), which represents most businesses in Vietnam (OECD, 2021) and considers avenues to address relevant and impactful research questions, including:\nHow could MSMs harness digital transformation to: \n\u2022        Add value to their day-to-day operations beyond social media, e-commerce or online communication?\n\u2022        Enhance their competitiveness?\n\u2022        Equip enterprises with more adaptable tools?\n\u2022        Encourage knowledge development?\n\u2022        Effectively combine digitalisation with their signature products\/services?\n     The supervisory team has conducted numerous projects since 2021, resulting in multiple peer-reviewed journal publications, and welcomes projects focusing on Vietnam\u2019s potential to develop hospitality and tourism concepts from a variety of industries utilising digital transformation to enhance their development, competitiveness and value proposition. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350402 Hospitality management \n350803 Tourism management "},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Justin Matthew Pang, Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa","title":"Absorptive Capacity in Southeast Asian Tourism: Sustainability and Innovation (2 positions)","description":"Tourism is a vital economic driver in Southeast Asia especially in Vietnam, offering significant opportunities for entrepreneurship to address sustainability challenges amid rapid digital transformation. This research redefines absorptive capacity within the tourism and hospitality sectors, emphasizing its role in advancing entrepreneurial success and sustainability (Zahra and George, 2002). It examines how knowledge-sharing and social media strategies influence absorptive capacity, providing actionable insights for overcoming regional challenges and leveraging opportunities.\n\nA mixed- methods approach combines quantitative analysis of absorptive capacity\u2019s mediating effects with qualitative case studies of entrepreneurial tourism enterprises. Key drivers, including stakeholder collaboration, entrepreneurial leadership, social media engagement, and organizational culture, are explored to understand their impact on eco-friendly practices, innovative business models, and entrepreneurial outcomes. Moderating factors such as environmental dynamism and technological readiness are analyzed to assess their influence on sustainability and entrepreneurship.\n\nSocial media is identified as an activation trigger or knowledge acquisition tool within the absorptive capacity framework, exposing firms to market trends, customer demands, and competitive dynamics while aligning with its acquisition dimension (Leung et al., 2013). Drawing on the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship (Acs et al., 2009), the study highlights entrepreneurs as critical agents for transforming unused knowledge into innovation and growth.\n\nIntegrating this with Thomas and Wood (2014), absorptive capacity emerges as a dynamic capability enabling entrepreneurs to exploit spillover knowledge. Aligned with RMIT\u2019s sustainability and regional impact priorities, this research provides practical frameworks to foster sustainable practices, support entrepreneurship, and enhance digital transformation in Southeast Asia and Vietnam\u2019s dynamic tourism market.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350806 - Tourism Management \n350702 - Entrepreneurship \n350705 - Innovation Management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Adriel Sim, Nhu Do","title":"AI Mentors in Education: Impact on Staff Behaviour, Agency, Wellbeing","description":"1. Project Aim\nThe purpose of this project is to investigate the impact of AI chatbots functioning as mentors on educational staff's behaviour, agency, and overall wellbeing. Ultimately, the study seeks to assess whether AI chatbots can serve as effective mentors and support systems for staff, thereby improving working conditions in the educational environment, where time constraints, a focus on students\u2019 results, and daily interactions with students and parents often limit teachers\u2019 agency and exhaust them emotionally.\n\n2. Project Gap\nWhile the use of AI chatbots in education has predominantly focused on student learning and support, there is a notable lack of management research examining their role in mentoring educational staff. Existing studies often overlook the potential benefits and challenges that AI chatbot mentors may present to staff members' professional development and wellbeing within organisational settings. This project addresses this gap by exploring (i) how AI chatbot mentorship affects staff behaviours and professional practices; (ii) the influence of AI chatbots on staff agency and wellbeing.\n\n3. Methodology\nA mixed-methods approach will be used. Structured questionnaires will collect quantitative data on changes in staff behaviour, perceived agency, and wellbeing as a result of interactions with AI chatbot mentors. Semi-structured interviews will provide qualitative insights into personal experiences and attitudes towards AI mentorship. Chat logs will be analysed to identify themes and patterns correlating with changes in professional practices and decision-making processes. Triangulating these data enables holistic answers to the research questions.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life (45%)\n390403 Educational administration, management and leadership (30%)\n460299 Artificial Intelligence (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tran Nguyet Que, Hyenjin Park","title":"Employee wellbeing and engagement in human resource management","description":"Technology advancements and the rapid changes of socio-economic factors have implications on human resource management, particularly employee wellbeing and employee engagement. Employee well-being is strongly associated with business-unit level profitability and negatively correlated with turnover (Krekel et al., 2019). It can be noted that employees\u2019 well-being, which can be measured by job satisfaction, has been claimed to result in high productivity and low turnover. However, Krekel et al. (2019) show that emotional and cognitive elements such as happiness-enhancing treatment and employee engagement also affect employee productivity.\u00a0 Extensive training, participation and communication, sensitive selection, and incentive compensation are found positively related to employee engagement in service industry in India through employees\u2019 vigour (i.e high energy and mental resilience at work), dedication, and absorption (i.e. high concentration at work) (Goyal and Patwardhan, 2020). Work satisfaction and rewards are mainly antecedents of employee engagement at small and medium enterprises in Indonesia, while remuneration satisfaction, self-leadership, and interpersonal leadership positively influenced employee engagement in Thailand (Rakthin et al., 2021; Dyah Sugandini et al, 2018). Boccoli and colleagues (2023) reported organizations play an important role in determining the level of employee engagement when implementing policies and activities within the organizational scope. This proposal calls for PhD students who are interested in investigating employee wellbeing and employee engagement,\u00a0using either quantitative or qualitative or mixed methods to address the unanswered questions of human resource management in the contemporary workplace. \u00a0","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350503 Human Resources Management\n350507 Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life\n350799 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Adriel Sim. Aemin Nasir, Nhu Do","title":"The AI Awakening: Transforming Vietnam's Psychological Landscape","description":"Artificial intelligence (AI) integration into workplaces presents a transformative shift in work, impacting employees' psychological well-being and organizational dynamics. In Vietnam, where rapid technological advancements coincide with cultural nuances, understanding the relationship between AI and psychological capital is vital. Psychological capital encompasses positive psychological resources such as resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, and hope, which play a crucial role in individuals' ability to navigate challenges and thrive in the workplace. This research proposal aims to investigate how AI integration influences psychological capital among employees in Vietnam, identifying mechanisms and interventions to support their well-being and productivity.\n\nThe proposed research will employ a mixed-methods approach, utilizing surveys and semi-structured interviews to collect data from employees across various industries in Vietnam. Quantitative surveys will assess the impact of AI integration on psychological capital, measuring factors such as resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, and hope. Qualitative interviews will provide deeper insights into the mechanisms through which AI affects psychological capital, considering cultural, organizational, and individual perspectives.\n\nBy examining the relationship between AI integration and psychological capital in Vietnam, this research seeks to contribute both academically and practically. The findings will inform organizations and policymakers about the potential psychological effects of AI integration and identify strategies to cultivate a positive work environment conducive to employees' well-being and performance. Additionally, the research aims to highlight the importance of fostering psychological capital in the face of technological advancements, promoting resilience and adaptability among the Vietnamese workforces.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350507        Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life 50%\n350506        Workforce planning 25%\n350710        Organisational behaviour 25%"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dr Oanh Thi Kim Vu, AP Abel Duarte Alonso\nDr Santiago Velesquez ","title":"Vietnam's female entrepreneurs managing smart transition in the circular economy ","description":"(i)-Project Aims \r\nThis project will reveal opportunities and challenges in involvement in Circular Economy (CE) from\r\nfemale entrepreneurs\u2019 perspectives, operating in Vietnam\u2019s cities outside major urban centres.\r\nSpecifically, the project will address the following questions: \r\n\u2022 How do female entrepreneurs in non-major urban centres tangibly and\/or intangibly benefit from\r\nCE practices? \r\n\u2022 What challenges are they facing while pursuing these practices? \r\n\u2022 How do they perceive the future of CE pursuits? \r\n\u2022 What strategies are required to manage smart transition in CE? \r\n\r\n(ii)-Project Gap \r\nVietnam\u2019s areas outside major urban centers face pervasive challenges (including households\u2019\r\ninadequate access to financial services and gender inequality), which result in limited property\r\nownership and employment opportunities for women. These challenges are compounded by the\r\nfact that social and environmental issues in Vietnam are still inadequately addressed. Responding to\r\nthe need to reach sustainable goals and improve economic growth, the Vietnamese government\r\nhas proposed incentives to promote CE, emphasizing the extension of products\u2019 life cycles in which\r\nwomen entrepreneurs could find opportunities in CE projects.\u202fOur research is therefore timely and\r\nvaluable, especially when Vietnamese population is expected to grow leading to an increased\r\ndemand for CE projects. \r\n\r\n(iii)-Methodology \r\nThis project will first choose a qualitative method and an inductive approach, gathering data from\r\nVietnamese female entrepreneurs embracing CE principles in non-major urban cities. Subsequently,\r\nsemi-structured, open-ended, in-depth interviews will be conducted to address the above\r\nquestions. The interviews will entail a holistic approach, representing various regions, age groups,\r\nand industries, therefore, enabling comparative analysis across various characteristics.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship\n440406 Rural community development\n440599 Gender studies not elsewhere classified\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang, Huy Truong , Van-Anh Nguyen","title":"Sustainability, not Achilles\u2019 heel of digital transformation","description":"This research project aims to reconcile the two seemingly contracting trends, \u201cdigital transformation and sustainability\u201d, exploring how digital transformation and sustainability can be synergized within business ecosystems. It will involve an extensive review and analysis of current digital transformation strategies and sustainability practices across various industries, e.g., healthcare, logistics, and marketing. The primary objective is identifying and developing integrated approaches to drive digital innovation and sustainable development. The project will propose models and frameworks encapsulating best practices, guiding businesses to leverage digital technologies to enhance their sustainability goals. Potential topic(s) can explore the synergy between digitization and sustainability, the transformative potential of digital technologies in achieving sustainability in supply chain operations, or how technologies can be integrated with sustainable practices to create resilient and eco-friendly supply chains. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (25%) , 350304 Business systems in context (25%), 350705 Innovation management (25%), 350307 Technology management (25%)\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dao Le Trang Anh, Dang Thao Quyen","title":"Gender Equality, Disability, Social Inclusion (GEDSI) and Corporate Performance of SMEs in Vietnam","description":"This research investigates the impact of Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) on firm performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. SMEs play a critical role in Vietnam\u2019s economic development, yet there is limited research on how implementing inclusive practices influences business outcomes. This study aims to fill that gap by examining how GEDSI initiatives (i.e. promoting gender equality, accommodating disabilities, and fostering social inclusion) impact firm performance measures such as productivity and profitability. \n\nBy conducting surveys and interviews with SME owners, managers, and employees across various industries, this research will use primary data and a qualitative\/ quantitative analysis approach to identify the key factors that support or hinder the adoption of GEDSI practices. If possible, secondary data will also be used to identify the GEDSI impacts on firm financial performance and productivity. The findings will provide actionable insights for SMEs on how inclusivity can enhance their competitiveness, while also contributing to broader social goals. \n\nThe research aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDG 5 - Gender Equality, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 10 - Reduced Inequality. This research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations to promote inclusivity and sustainable growth in Vietnam\u2019s SME sector. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350502 Employment equity and diversity\n350702 Corporate social responsibility"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert Baulch, Adeel Ahmed, Alrence Halibas, Anika Mishra, Simon Feeny","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Selected Asian Countries","description":"\"Applicants are sought for one or two PhD projects on poverty and polarization based at RMIT University Vietnam. Each project will consist of three papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, or Thailand since the late 1990s or early 2000s; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same time in that country; and (iii) how polarization and poverty changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues will be examined through the analysis of multiple rounds of nationally representative household survey data.   \n\nPolarization will be measured using both the Foster-Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using incomes or expenditures and a continuous measure of non-monetary wellbeing (e.g., disability adjusted life years or years of completed years of education). Monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures using incomes or expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index used for non-monetary poverty. \n\nApplicants should have a strong background in development economics and applied statistics\/econometrics. Knowledge of qualitative and mixed methods is an advantage. \nThe student selected will be based in the Business School at RMIT University Vietnam and join RMIT\u2019s Centre for International Development.  \n\nThe successful candidate will be encouraged to present papers at national and international conferences, Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals such as the Journal of Economic Inequality, the Review of Income and Wealth and World Development.  \n\nSeveral internship opportunities exist with international and non-governmental organisations.\nCountries\"\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"\"440405 (Poverty, inclusivity, and wellbeing)\n440703 (Economic development policy)\n380229 (Applied economics, not elsewhere classified)\n\"\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Richard Ramsawak","title":"Leveraging Big Data, and Machine Learning for Urban Development","description":"Urban growth among Southeast Asian countries is continuing to advance rapidly. Latest projections point to an increase in the percentage of urban population from 44% in 2010 to almost 66% by 2050 (Nations 2018).  Much of this growth has stemmed from the rapid industrialization, and economic advancement among key Asian countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand (Huff 2012, Fan, Ouyang et al. 2019). While this has brought benefits of increasing income, employment, and innovation, it has also created new challenges in urban planning and greater environmental risk to these locations.\r\nThis project aims to harness novel big data sources combined with advanced machine learning (ML) techniques to address urban development challenges in key Southeast Asian cities. For instance, data on real estate prices gathered from online sources can be combined with satellite imagery to develop elaborate random forest models, to analyze price trends, value new amenities such as green spaces, and assess the impact of policy changes. Near real-time mobility data can optimize transport networks and predict productivity and environmental benefits.  Satellite imagery combined with ecological and household data can be used to develop convolutional neural networks to evaluate the impacts of changes in built areas on the environment and to develop adaptive solutions. \r\nBy focusing on cities like Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Manila, this research contributes to our understanding of the unique socio-economic characteristics of Southeast Asian cities and leverages new big data sources and techniques to develop innovative data-driven solutions to the challenges they face. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"330404 Urban Analysis and Development\r\n460903 Machine Learning\r\n330305 Sustainable Urban Development"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Irfan Haider","title":"Corporate governance and SDGs","description":"The proposed project aims to empirically examine whether and how corporate governance mechanisms (e.g., board gender diversity, skills and education or background of the board members etc.) can be used to achieve one(s) of the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The literature in this strand is still growing to analyze the crucial role of corporate governance measures adopted by companies toward environmental sustainability. However, a comprehensive and compact research is needed to examine the role of corporate governance practices to achieve the desired outcomes. The proposed study will employ quantitative research approach using panel data of global firms (may include, developed and\/or developing countries for comparative analysis). The proposed research will contribute to wider community i.e., researchers, policymakers, corporations, investors, and society at large by providing comprehensive understanding of the interplay of corporate governance practices and SDGs achievement, thereby contributing to the advancement of corporate sustainability globally.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350201\tEnvironment and climate finance (40%)\r\n350202\tFinance (20%)\r\n350107\tSustainability accounting and reporting (40%)\r\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert McClelland, Dr. Quyen Dang","title":"Green nation branding and firms\u2019 internationalization: the case of Vietnam","description":"Nation branding is critical in the context of changing globalization. Despite conversations that surround de-globalization, international trade and foreign direct investment continue to occur with impressive figures (UNCTAD, 2023). However, there have been fundamental changes in terms of each country\u2019s roles and characteristics on the global market. Importantly, being the driver of the world\u2019s economic growth, emerging markets such as Vietnam strive to penetrate more deeply into globalization through FDI and international trade while aiming to align with sustainable development goals. Therefore, how Vietnam navigates its way through the landscape of building a green nation brand to facilitate Vietnamese firms\u2019 internationalization is an important topic that could have implications for academia, firms, and governments in other countries. \nPrevious literature has mostly explored nation branding in the political, tourism and marketing fields (Rojas-M\u00e9ndez et al. 2022). Increasing attention has been paid to nation branding and international business recently but mainly related to the outcomes of the nation branding process and effects on external stakeholders such as attracting foreign direct investment and the acceptance of firms in foreign countries (Montanari et al. 2019). The lack of research on nation branding process and internal stakeholders such as domestic businesses and citizens limits the impacts on academia and practitioners. Hence, through using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this project aims to address the following research questions: \n1.        How do Vietnamese businesses and citizens perceive the nation brand of their country?\n2.        How can Vietnam build a green nation brand in international markets?\n3.        How does a green nation branding strategy influence the strategies and actions of Vietnamese businesses to develop in international markets?\n4.        What role do moderators and mediators play in the process of building a green nation brand for Vietnam?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706        International business"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert McClelland, Dr. Quyen Dang","title":"Green nation branding and firms\u2019 internationalization: the case of Vietnam","description":"Nation branding is critical in the context of changing globalization. Despite conversations that surround de-globalization, international trade and foreign direct investment continue to occur with impressive figures (UNCTAD, 2023). However, there have been fundamental changes in terms of each country\u2019s roles and characteristics on the global market. Importantly, being the driver of the world\u2019s economic growth, emerging markets such as Vietnam strive to penetrate more deeply into globalization through FDI and international trade while aiming to align with sustainable development goals. Therefore, how Vietnam navigates its way through the landscape of building a green nation brand to facilitate Vietnamese firms\u2019 internationalization is an important topic that could have implications for academia, firms, and governments in other countries. \nPrevious literature has mostly explored nation branding in the political, tourism and marketing fields (Rojas-M\u00e9ndez et al. 2022). Increasing attention has been paid to nation branding and international business recently but mainly related to the outcomes of the nation branding process and effects on external stakeholders such as attracting foreign direct investment and the acceptance of firms in foreign countries (Montanari et al. 2019). The lack of research on nation branding process and internal stakeholders such as domestic businesses and citizens limits the impacts on academia and practitioners. Hence, through using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this project aims to address the following research questions: \n1.        How do Vietnamese businesses and citizens perceive the nation brand of their country?\n2.        How can Vietnam build a green nation brand in international markets?\n3.        How does a green nation branding strategy influence the strategies and actions of Vietnamese businesses to develop in international markets?\n4.        What role do moderators and mediators play in the process of building a green nation brand for Vietnam?\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706        International business"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nuno F. Ribeiro, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran, Catherine Earl\r\nMarian Makkar, Andy Stiff","title":"Local residents\u2019 attitudes towards sustainable tourism development in post-Covid19 Vietnam: A case study from Ho Chi Minh City (project 1 of 2) ","description":"This project is part of a larger funded multidisciplinary project that addresses sustainable tourism development along the Kenh Te canal banks of Districts 4 and 7 in Saigon, Vietnam. This project seeks to address the impacts of (sustainable) tourism development in riverside areas of Saigon, concentrating on the impact on local residents\u2019 lives and livelihoods. This study will address a gap in the sustainable tourism literature by investigating the impacts of tourism development in certain areas of Ho Chi Minh City that hitherto have had little to no contact with tourism. This study will also provide an additional testing ground for relationships between attitudes and intended behavior towards tourism development in Vietnam, which thus far has not been done. Findings will support researchers, policy makers, and tourism promotion campaigns. It will also enhance Vietnam\u2019s tourism promotional efforts aimed at increasing revisits by international tourists. This study will use primarily a quantitative approach, seeking to establish the relationship between beliefs, attitudes, and intended behavior towards tourism development The study will use survey\/questionnaire instruments of data collection and structural equation modelling (SEM) and multivariate analysis towards to investigate the nature and strength of relationships between tourism development, tourism developers, and the impact that tourism has\/will have in local residents\u2019 lives and livelihoods.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350801\tImpacts of tourism \r\n350803\tTourism management \r\n350805\tTourism resource appraisal \n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204 Management","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Nhat Minh, Hiep Cong Pham","title":"The impacts of Blockchain technology adoption on supply chain performance: an empirical study from Vietnam","description":"In recent years, blockchain technology has revolutionized supply chain management, enhancing efficiency and transparency with its decentralized, immutable ledger. Most existing studies on blockchain in supply chain management focus on theoretical benefits, with insufficient empirical data on its actual impact. Previous research primarily relies on literature reviews (Azzi et al., 2019; Longo et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2023; Han and Fang, 2024) and limited empirical analysis (Alazab, 2021; Karamchandani et al., 2021). Additionally, there is a lack of research on the unique challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption in emerging markets like Vietnam. To the best of our knowledge, there are only few empirical studies that had focused on the specific context of emerging market like Vietnamese transport and logistics companies. Furthermore, existing studies either provide a composite view of supply chains or focus on individual stages, limiting detailed understanding. There is a need for stage-wise assessment of supply chain practices with blockchain integration to evaluate its direct impact on performance. Additionally, despite extensive literature on blockchain, few clear frameworks exist for deciding whether a supply chain should adopt blockchain. This study aims to develop such a framework, aiding decision-making before implementation. Given Vietnam's rapid economic growth and strategic importance in global supply chains, understanding how blockchain can enhance supply chain performance is crucial.\nResearch methodology:\n\u2022        Conduct a literature review on explore existing research on the impacts of blockchain technology adoption on supply chain performance, with a focus on the transport and logistics sectors. \n\u2022        Develop a theoretical framework, regarding to the potential of blockchain to positively affect supply chain performance in terms of several indicators. \n\u2022        Employ mixed-methods research, including qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, and quantitative surveys with Structural Equation Modelling, to test the proposed model \n\u2022        Using primary data.\nExpected outcomes:\nWe expect the study to uncover a comprehensive understanding of how blockchain technology impacts supply chain performance. It's providing valuable insights for businesses in blockchain technology adoption to enhance operational efficiency, shortens lead times, and optimizes inventory management, while also reducing transaction and operational costs. It improves supply chain visibility, ensuring product authenticity and stakeholder trust.\n\nReferences\nAlazab, M. (2021), \u201cBlockchain technology in supply chain management: an empirical study of the factors affecting user adoption\/acceptance\u201d, Cluster Computing, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 83-101\nAzzi, R., Chamoun, R.K. and Sokhn, M. (2019), \u201cThe power of a blockchain-based supply chain\u201d, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 135, pp. 582-592.\nHan, Y., & Fang, X. (2024). Systematic review of adopting blockchain in supply chain management: bibliometric analysis and theme discussion. International Journal of Production Research, 62(3), 991-1016.\nKaramchandani, A., Srivastava, S.K., Kumar, S. and Srivastava, A. (2021), \u201cAnalysing perceived role of blockchain technology in SCM context for the manufacturing industry\u201d, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 59 No. 11, pp. 3398-3429\nLongo, F., Nicoletti, L., Padovano, A., d\u2019Atri, G. and Forte, M. (2019), \u201cBlockchain-enabled supply chain: an experimental study\u201d, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 136, pp. 57-69.\nVan Nguyen, T., Cong Pham, H., Nhat Nguyen, M., Zhou, L., & Akbari, M. (2023). Data-driven review of blockchain applications in supply chain management: key research themes and future directions. International Journal of Production Research, 61(23), 8213-8235.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"3509        Transportation, logistics and supply chains (40%)\n350909        Supply chains (40%)\n3507        Strategy, management and organisational behaviour (20%)\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204 Management","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Kok Seng Kiong, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran","title":"Understanding value creation from co-production between formal and informal waste collection within the circular economic framework","description":"The waste management sector in emergent countries represents a unique and complex environmental, social and economic challenge. Within the sector there has been a long-standing co-existence between the formal and informal waste collection systems. Much of the extant research has shown that informal waste collectors and recyclers can bring economic and social benefits, especially for vulnerable communities. This is premise upon its adapted coordination structure, minimal expenditures and the embrace for socio-economic opportunities (Wilson et al., 2006, Moreno-S\u00e1nchez et al., 2006). For example, plastics within the waste stream provide a distinct case where waste pickers or scavengers engage in selective waste collection services, potentially contributing to recycling efficiency, minimizing waste discharge into the wider environment. However, there are still substantial gaps within the extant academic literature exploring this socio-economic phenomenon, given the difficulties inherent with studies of informal waste-management, namely the diverse and unstructured contexts of waste-pickers. This has become an area of imperative interest especially considering the potential benefits and opportunities in furthering the circular economy discourse and impacts within Global South economies where much of these informal waste management systems exist \u200b(C. Joshi et al., 2019; Ono et al., 2023; Zisopoulos et al., 2023)\u200b.  \r\n\r\nThus, the primary aim of this study is to better characterize and understand the plastic waste collection and recycling business model in a Global South economy, focusing on Vietnam. The study will disentangle the factors that contribute to value co-production between the informal and formal waste collection systems and its structure within a Vietnamese context. The research seeks to develop an analytical framework built on a system dynamics approach (Sterman et al., 2010; Estay-Ossandon et al., 2018) to explore (non-)market arrangements in the creation of informal and formal waste collection systems with the goal to improve the overall social, environmental and economic benefits furthering the circularity model.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"350304 Business systems in context (20%)\r\n380105 Environment and resource economics (20%)\r\n380119 Welfare economics (10%)\r\n440407 Socio-economic development (25%)\r\n460901 Business process management (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR201 BusInfoSys","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Kok Seng Kiong, Robert McClelland, Duc Trinh Tran","title":"Understanding value creation from co-production between formal and informal waste collection within the circular economic framework","description":"The waste management sector in emergent countries represents a unique and complex environmental, social and economic challenge. Within the sector there has been a long-standing co-existence between the formal and informal waste collection systems. Much of the extant research has shown that informal waste collectors and recyclers can bring economic and social benefits, especially for vulnerable communities. This is premise upon its adapted coordination structure, minimal expenditures and the embrace for socio-economic opportunities (Wilson et al., 2006, Moreno-S\u00e1nchez et al., 2006). For example, plastics within the waste stream provide a distinct case where waste pickers or scavengers engage in selective waste collection services, potentially contributing to recycling efficiency, minimizing waste discharge into the wider environment. However, there are still substantial gaps within the extant academic literature exploring this socio-economic phenomenon, given the difficulties inherent with studies of informal waste-management, namely the diverse and unstructured contexts of waste-pickers. This has become an area of imperative interest especially considering the potential benefits and opportunities in furthering the circular economy discourse and impacts within Global South economies where much of these informal waste management systems exist \u200b(C. Joshi et al., 2019; Ono et al., 2023; Zisopoulos et al., 2023)\u200b.  \r\n\r\nThus, the primary aim of this study is to better characterize and understand the plastic waste collection and recycling business model in a Global South economy, focusing on Vietnam. The study will disentangle the factors that contribute to value co-production between the informal and formal waste collection systems and its structure within a Vietnamese context. The research seeks to develop an analytical framework built on a system dynamics approach (Sterman et al., 2010; Estay-Ossandon et al., 2018) to explore (non-)market arrangements in the creation of informal and formal waste collection systems with the goal to improve the overall social, environmental and economic benefits furthering the circularity model.  ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"350304 Business systems in context (20%)\r\n380105 Environment and resource economics (20%)\r\n380119 Welfare economics (10%)\r\n440407 Socio-economic development (25%)\r\n460901 Business process management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Exploring User security behaviour in WFH context - A TOE Approach","description":"Many organizations around the globe have let their employees work from home, especially due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which expose these organizations to various information security risks in the employees\u2019 work environment at home. While prior research has examined the cognitive factors that influenced the information security behaviors of remote workers, little was known about the impact of the different work environments on these behaviors. Moreover, organizations and employees are abruptly forced to embrace working from home, which create unprecedented problems and inconvenience in how employees perform daily work at home that could jeopardize organizational information security. This project proposes to adapt the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to investigate the factors that influence how employees protect organizational information security while working from home during an extended period. In terms of theoretical implications, the project focuses on exploring the contextual and situational factors that influence employee information security behaviors. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"ISE 4 Cyber Security","forcodes":"460499 Cybersecurity and privacy not elsewhere classified (25%) 460904 Information security management (75%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui, Nhung Vu Thi Hong","title":"Assessing Factors Affecting Circular Economy Adoption by SMEs in Vietnam","description":"The transition to a circular economy presents a significant opportunity for Vietnam's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reduce costs, enhance competitiveness, and promote sustainable development. However, the factors affecting SMEs' adoption of the circular economy in Vietnam are poorly understood. This PhD research proposes to investigate the key drivers and barriers to circular economy adoption among SMEs in Vietnam and to identify strategies and policies to promote greater adoption and more sustainable practices.\r\n\r\nThe research will use a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyze data. First, qualitative data will be collected through in-depth interviews with SME owners, government officials, and industry experts to understand the drivers and barriers to circular economy adoption in Vietnam. Then, a survey will be administered to a representative sample of SMEs in different sectors and regions of Vietnam to quantify the prevalence of circular economy practices and to explore the factors that influence their adoption. \r\n\r\nThe original contribution of this PhD project lies in its focus on SMEs, which are a critical segment of the economy in Vietnam and other developing countries. By identifying the factors that influence circular economy adoption among SMEs, the research can inform policy decisions and help to promote more sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Additionally, the project's mixed-methods approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of the issues at play, combining qualitative insights with quantitative data to provide a nuanced view of the factors affecting circular economy adoption in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350716\tSmall business organisation and management (40%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (30%)\r\n350709\tOrganisation and management theory (30%)\r"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Trung Quang Nguyen, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"Technology uptake and competitiveness among Vietnamese micro and small-sized businesses","description":"The effects of technological uptake among businesses, including micro, small, and medium\nenterprises (MSMEs), have contributed to significant changes and new opportunities (Herv\u00e9 et al.,\n2021). One demonstration is that the more a firm increases the digitalisation of its operations, the\nstronger its entrepreneurial behaviour, leading to beneficial strategic decisions in international\nactivities (Herv\u00e9 et al., 2021). Nevertheless, digital transformation also challenges MSMEs\u2019\ncompetitiveness; this burden is particularly present among micro and small enterprises (MSEs)\noperating in emerging economies, where, traditionally, pervasive inhibiting factors are limiting their\ngrowth (da Costa et al., 2022). This point has enormous implications, especially given the massive\npresence of MSEs worldwide and their socioeconomic impacts and contributions (Teka, 2022).\nAccording to Vietnam\u2019s SMS Support Law, micro-sized firms employ 10 or fewer people and small-sized firms 11-100 people; based on the 2016 GSO Enterprise Census, over 91 per cent of formal\nbusinesses fall under the MSE category in Vietnam (OECD, 2021).\n Unpacking the nexus between MSEs and technology adoption is timely and relevant. Moreover,\nPhD candidates could choose from, develop, and explore a suite of critical themes with the potential\nto benefit Vietnam\u2019s MSE industry stakeholders, including through empirical and conceptual data,\nanalyses, and models under the delivery of journal articles and workshops that, together, can deliver\na more robust understanding of technology\u2019s role and impact as a facilitator of MSEs\u2019 future\ncompetitiveness. This line of research could also be complemented and enhanced through an\ninternship at one of our partners\u2019 companies, cross-industry, or cross-national investigations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350711 Organisational planning and management\n350716 Small business organisation and management"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang, Huy Truong , Van-Anh Nguyen","title":"Sustainability, not Achilles\u2019 heel of digital transformation","description":"This research project aims to reconcile the two seemingly contracting trends, \u201cdigital transformation and sustainability\u201d, exploring how digital transformation and sustainability can be synergized within business ecosystems. It will involve an extensive review and analysis of current digital transformation strategies and sustainability practices across various industries, e.g., healthcare, logistics, and marketing. The primary objective is identifying and developing integrated approaches to drive digital innovation and sustainable development. The project will propose models and frameworks encapsulating best practices, guiding businesses to leverage digital technologies to enhance their sustainability goals. Potential topic(s) can explore the synergy between digitization and sustainability, the transformative potential of digital technologies in achieving sustainability in supply chain operations, or how technologies can be integrated with sustainable practices to create resilient and eco-friendly supply chains. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (25%) , 350304 Business systems in context (25%), 350705 Innovation management (25%), 350307 Technology management (25%)\n"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Robert Baulch,Chung Phan","title":"Education, Skills and Employment Transitions for Millennials in Vietnam","description":"This PhD project will use Rounds 1 to 6 of Young Lives (https:\/\/www.younglives.org.uk\/) to examine transitions in education and employment for two cohorts of children born just before\/after the Millennium in Vietnam. Young Lives is unique longitudinal study coordinated Oxford University that has followed 12,000 children in four developing countries since 2001.  In Vietnam, 3000 children were selected from households in five geographically dispersed provinces. Five face-to-face questionnaire survey rounds have been completed plus five phone interviews during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a qualitative sub-sample of 200 children and two school surveys. The Young Lives\u2019 data has low attrition and is high-quality. \n\nA three to four paper thesis, using a primarily quantitative approach, to examine the following issues is envisaged: \n\n1.        Which socio-economic factors most impact the ability of Vietnamese students to progress from lower to upper secondary school and from there to tertiary education? \n2.        What are the typical pathways for young people as they progress from secondary or tertiary education to employment in Vietnam? Which events and policies have most impacted these transitions?\n3.        How well do the education qualifications and skills of young workers align with the demands of Vietnam\u2019s rapidly growing and urbanising economy? \n4.        How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the educational transitions and employment outcomes of Vietnamese youth?\n\nApplicants should have a strong background in development economics and applied statistics\/econometrics. Knowledge of education economics and qualitative methods is an advantage. \n\nSeveral internship opportunities exist with international and Vietnamese organisations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380104\n380111\n440403"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Umair Akram","title":"Metaverse Tourism service quality and customer behavior intention to use Metaverse and to visit a destination.","description":"\"The tourism industry has seen significant growth, especially with the advent of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robots, biometric technology, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), all of which enhance personalization and enrich tourist experiences. While the impact of innovative technology has been extensively explored in various sectors, its role in the tourism and hospitality industry remains underrepresented. Drawing from insights from the Holistic Technostress Model and the Flow theory, this project seeks to develop a framework that evaluates Metaverse Tourism Service Quality and its influence on tourist attitudes, experiences, and behavioral intentions. Key research questions include: What attributes define Metaverse tourism service quality? How can Metaverse tourism service quality shape customer behavior? To what extent does Metaverse tourism impact customer behavior? In terms of research design and methods, this project will employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches for data collection and analysis. The anticipated outcomes aim to elucidate the concept of Metaverse tourism service quality and its correlation with tourist attitudes, experiences, and intentions. Furthermore, the findings will provide actionable strategies for tourism stakeholders to bolster tourism initiatives and enhance tourist intentions.\"","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"350601 (50%)\r\n350806 (25%)\r\n460806 (25%)\r"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Van Ha Thi Cam, Tra Pham, Ronald Kumar","title":"Globalisation, innovation and Sustainable Development Goals: The role of institutions. ","description":"Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are among the most essential aims of most countries and it takes a lot of effort to achieve these goals. Since globalisation and technological development are widely seen as the drivers for economic growth, the role of governments appears to be equally important to attain SDGs. This proposed project aims to examine the role of institutions in the relationship between globalisation, technological development, and inequality using country-level data covering the 1990-2022 period. The project first examines the tri-dimension relationship between globalisation, technological development, and inequality  and then investigates if governance plays a role in this relationship. While there is a large body of existing literature pays attention to the relationship between globalisation and inequality, limited work has been done on the tri-dimention relationship as well as the role of institutions in this relationship. This project also considers the differences between countries by income group and location. The project takes into account the changes in the relationship after several significant economic events, for example, the Southeast Asia financial crisis (1998-2000), the Global financial crisis (2008-2010), and Covid-19 (2019-2021), and examine the role of governance in these crucial times. The majority of data for this research come from the World Bank database: World Development Indicator (WDI); World Governance Indicator (WGI) and Global Innovation Index (GII). This project is expected to provide some insights into the existing literature, such as the tri-dimension relationship, as well as provide policy recommendations for countries to consider these drivers for achieving the SDGs. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"380110\tInternational economics (50%)\r\n380113\tPublic economics - public choice (25%)\r\n380112\tMacroeconomics (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui Duy, Teck Yap Lee ","title":"Digital Banking and Financial Literacy in Vietnam","description":"Digital banking has emerged as a disruptive force in the financial industry, offering customers convenient and accessible services. However, the impact of digital banking on customers' financial literacy is still not fully understood. Financial literacy is crucial in promoting financial inclusion and economic development, and understanding the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy is essential for policymakers, digital banking providers, and customers. This study investigates the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy in Vietnam.\r\n\r\nDespite the growing popularity of digital banking in Vietnam, little is known about its impact on customers' financial literacy. Most studies on digital banking in Vietnam have focused on adoption, usage, and customer satisfaction, but the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy has been largely overlooked.\r\n\r\nThe research will begin with a review of the literature on digital banking and financial literacy, followed by in-depth interviews with digital banking customers in Vietnam. The interviews will explore customers' experiences and perceptions of digital banking, their financial knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and the extent to which they receive financial education and guidance from digital banking providers. The study will also survey digital banking customers in Vietnam to collect quantitative data on their financial literacy, digital banking usage, and demographic characteristics. The survey data will be analyzed using statistical methods to explore the relationship between digital banking and financial literacy. Finally, the study will draw on the findings from the interviews and surveys to develop recommendations for digital banking providers and policymakers in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204\tFinancial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\r\n350208\tInvestment and risk management (20%)\r\n350299\tBanking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Binh Nguyen Thanh, Diem T. H. Vo","title":"What drives the development of Cryptoeconomies?","description":"A cryptoeconomy (economy built on the Blockchain) can be viewed as an emerging economy, since it has numerous institutional characteristics of a traditional economy including money, property rights, economic transactions, production capital, products & services, legal infrastructure as well as users who seek to contribute to the cryptoeconomy and receive economic value in turn. Cryptoeconomies offer digital financial services that support small medium-sized enterprises, enables small businesses to provide services to global markets and financial settlements for cross-border payments (Jiang & Chen, 2021), and provides low-cost financial services to impoverished individuals, contributing to poverty alleviation (Ning, Ramirez, & Khuntia, 2021). Hence, accelerating the development of cryptoeconomies can help to economically empower and bring financial inclusion to businesses and individuals at a global scale which are critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, our understanding of the theory behind cryptoeconomy development is limited. The literature on this topic is in its infancy and lacks theory-driven empirical studies. Traditional economic development theories need to be adjusted to fit into the context of cryptoeconomies. Addressing this gap, this project begins by conducting a literature review and highlighting key differences between cryptoeconomies and traditional economies. This project then applies traditional economic theories on cryptoeconomies to model their economic growth and empirically test those theories. The results intend to provide insights and implications for the blockchain community and policymakers regarding developing an economy (e.g., improving productivity, reducing poverty, creating empowerment opportunities) and how to achieve SDGs. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"380302 Macroeconomic theory (30%);\u00a0380204 Panel data analysis (20%);\u00a0380112 macroeconomics (50%)\u00a0"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Stanley Teck Lee Yap, Tung Bui Duy, PhD (Senior Supervisor, School of Business and Management, RMIT Vietnam)","title":"Economic policy uncertainty, market risks and farmers\u2019 welfare in Vietnam.","description":"Agricultural commodity markets are confronting more complex challenges from economic policy uncertainty and market risks. Economic policy uncertainty convoluted with market risks amplify the agricultural commodity prices volatility and negatively impacts the welfare of farmers in developing countries (FAO, 2022, p. 23). Moreover, barriers such as non-transparency agricultural pricing mechanism (Distefano et al., 2018), lack of risk management knowledge (Baffes and Nagle, 2022), and asymmetric information between farmers and local intermediaries (Park et al., 2020) hinder effective risk management. Research gap exists in examine agricultural production that considered economic policy uncertainty and local\/global market risks in the institutional context of transition and developing countries such as Vietnam. This study investigates: (1) What are the economic policy uncertainty and market risks impacting the Vietnamese farmers\u2019 welfare, and how and to what extent are the impacts; (2) What are the feasible risk management strategy and policy to sustain the Vietnamese farmers\u2019 welfare. This study contributes to how the existing Vietnamese agricultural policy can be improved to mitigate these impacts. This study consists qualitative in-depth interview with the Vietnamese farmers to identify the risks impacting their welfare, and quantitative economic analysis to explore associations between welfare, policy and market risks, commodity prices, and socioeconomic factors. The trade model by Eaton and Kortum (2002) which considers welfare, technology, and trade geography will be used as the theoretical foundation model. The potential PhD candidate should have obtained a Master's degree in the field relevant to business management, economics or finance with analytical skills foundation.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380101 Agricultural economics (40%)\r\n380202 Econometric and statistical method (30%) \r\n380304 Microeconomic theory (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Greeni Maheshwari, Manjit Singh Sandhu, Umair Akram","title":"ICT adoption among women entrepreneurs in Vietnam","description":"Entrepreneurship has been considered the primary force for developing any growing economy. Information and technology, as compared to the other developing nations, have yet to be rooted in the entrepreneurial activities in Vietnam, especially for women entrepreneurs.\u00a0 According to world bank survey (2020), new technology application is at an early stage in Vietnam, where only 6% of businesses used cloud computing for business tasks and under 2% of businesses used big data or artificial intelligence for marketing. The proportion of women-owned businesses in 2011 was 21%, significantly increasing to 31.3% in 2018, per the Mastercard Index of Women entrepreneur report. Vietnam has great potential for developing information and communications technology, which is considered a key pillar for the government in developing a digital economy. The digital economy creates excellent opportunities for stakeholders to increase production and business efficiency in the context of the rapidly developing science and technology revolution 4.0, but less than 60% of small and medium sized enterprises said they either lack information about existing technologies or lack the skills to use them (World Bank survey, 2020).\u00a0Entrepreneurial growth concerning women entrepreneurs has been regarded and given due consideration with the growth of industrialization. Women start-ups can grasp the digital economy trends to achieve their goals in the shortest time and ensure sustainable development in the face of many challenges caused by the radically changing business environment. Female entrepreneurs can play a significant role in fostering the development of the small business sector and facilitating the evolution of enterprises in transition economies. A lack of technological awareness among women and entrepreneurs makes them incapable of handling the competition set by global firms. Hence, the purpose of the project is to examine the experiences and challenges of women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial growth and the use of ICT for women entrepreneurs in Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350704, 350716, 350705"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen, Muhammad Safiullah (Economics, Finance, and Marketing)","title":"The real effects of climate change risks on firm sustainability outcomes","description":"Climate change poses a substantial risk to any economy and financial system (Litterman et al., 2020). Thus it has gained significant attention from the media, regulators, practitioners, and academics over the past years. Current climate finance research has offered important insights into different aspects of climate change risks. It focuses on the hedging and pricing of those risks but overlooks their real effects on firms\u2019 sustainability outcomes and the role of stakeholders in mitigating the risks (Hong et al., 2020; Hong & Shore, 2022). \r\n\r\nMotivated by such gap and informed by climate economic and finance theory, this PhD project aims to investigate (1) whether and how climate-change risks (measured by both the real risks such as sea level rise (Nguyen et al., 2022), local air pollution (Huynh et al., 2021) and climate change sentiment such as climate change news risk (Engle et al., 2020; Huynh & Xia, 2021)) influence related corporate sustainability outcomes (e.g., corporate green innovation) and (2) if such relationships are conditioned on firm media reputation, internal and external governance mechanisms (e.g., board gender diversity, institutional ownership), and engagement of stakeholders. \r\n\r\nThis PhD project will offer insights into the impact of climate change risks on corporate sustainability outcomes and channels through which that process occurs or factors affecting this process. The findings are expected to assist regulators in formulating policies that support a sustainable economy.  \r\n\r\nThe candidate is expected to have a solid background in economics\/finance, quantitative research methods, and strong analytical skills. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"353502 Banking, finance, and investment\r\n353507 Strategy, management, and organizational behaviour "},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Oanh Thi Kim Vu, Trung Quang Nguyen, Abel Duarte Alonso","title":"Technology uptake and competitiveness among Vietnamese micro and small-sized businesses","description":"The effects of technological uptake among businesses, including micro, small, and medium\nenterprises (MSMEs), have contributed to significant changes and new opportunities (Herv\u00e9 et al.,\n2021). One demonstration is that the more a firm increases the digitalisation of its operations, the\nstronger its entrepreneurial behaviour, leading to beneficial strategic decisions in international\nactivities (Herv\u00e9 et al., 2021). Nevertheless, digital transformation also challenges MSMEs\u2019\ncompetitiveness; this burden is particularly present among micro and small enterprises (MSEs)\noperating in emerging economies, where, traditionally, pervasive inhibiting factors are limiting their\ngrowth (da Costa et al., 2022). This point has enormous implications, especially given the massive\npresence of MSEs worldwide and their socioeconomic impacts and contributions (Teka, 2022).\nAccording to Vietnam\u2019s SMS Support Law, micro-sized firms employ 10 or fewer people and small-sized firms 11-100 people; based on the 2016 GSO Enterprise Census, over 91 per cent of formal\nbusinesses fall under the MSE category in Vietnam (OECD, 2021).\n Unpacking the nexus between MSEs and technology adoption is timely and relevant. Moreover,\nPhD candidates could choose from, develop, and explore a suite of critical themes with the potential\nto benefit Vietnam\u2019s MSE industry stakeholders, including through empirical and conceptual data,\nanalyses, and models under the delivery of journal articles and workshops that, together, can deliver\na more robust understanding of technology\u2019s role and impact as a facilitator of MSEs\u2019 future\ncompetitiveness. This line of research could also be complemented and enhanced through an\ninternship at one of our partners\u2019 companies, cross-industry, or cross-national investigations.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350307 Technology management\n350711 Organisational planning and management\n350716 Small business organisation and management"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Success Factors and Challenges of Algorithmic Decision-Making in Healthcare","description":"As data-driven technologies are widely adopted in different settings, scholars and practitioners have recently studied aspects of algorithmic decision-making (ADM), or the process where decisions are made either directly by the algorithms or by a human decision-maker supported by algorithms. In either case, many concerns have been raised regarding the fairness, transparency, accuracy, accountability, data privacy, and security of ADM, to name a few. More importantly, these concerns need to be addressed when ADM is applied in critical contexts such as healthcare. This doctoral research project will employ a mixed-methods approach to explore the success factors and challenges associated with the existing or potential use of ADM in healthcare from the perspective of users. The project would contribute practical implications for designing ADM process and data-driven healthcare technologies that are both useful and acceptable to societies. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Systems (AISSC)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Jasper Teow","title":"Exploring human perception, acceptance, and use of emerging technologies.","description":"This research investigates the multifaceted aspects of human interactions with emerging technologies, focusing on perception, acceptance, and practical application. Understanding these elements is crucial as technological advancements reshape daily life and societal structures. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and others, are increasingly penetrating personal and professional environments. Earlier studies suggest that the success of these technologies largely depends on how well they are perceived and accepted by users. However, comprehensive research that delves into these relationships remains limited. This research explores how individuals perceive and accept emerging technologies and how these perceptions influence their usage patterns. The key research questions include: How do cognitive biases affect the perception of emerging technologies? What are the primary factors that influence the acceptance of new technological tools? How does the usage of these technologies vary across different demographic groups? This research prefers a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data. The analysis is expected to focus on identifying trends and patterns within user groups, aiming to develop predictive models for technology adoption. The research will deploy the Knowledge Behavior Gap (KBG) model as the key methodological framing. The research outcomes shall provide valuable insights for technology developers, policymakers, and educators, helping to tailor innovative solutions that meet user needs and enhance the integration of emerging technologies into society. The overall research aim is to contribute a deeper understanding of human factors driving the success and integration of new technological advancements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460806 Human-computer interaction (70%)\n460803 Collaborative and social computing (15%)\n460805 Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems (15%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Systems (AISSC)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nguyen Hoang Thuan, Robert McClelland","title":"Decisions to switch channels in multiple\/omnichannel retailers","description":"Companies have integrated multiple online and offline channels as an effective approach to improve customer experiences. Prior research suggests that the decision to switch channels cannot simply be based on perceived benefit; rather multiple factors should be considered. However, a structured account decision factors and decisions making process is still lacking. This research project fills the gap by exploring how customers make decisions to switch. We aim to identify and structure key factors influencing this decision. With these factors, we further aim to develop a decision making process\/framework concerning key activities related to the decision. A mixed method approach can be applied to identify the relevant factors and quantitatively test how these factors influencing the decision.  Based on the findings, the project will give several recommendations for managers making the crowdsourcing decision.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350601 Consumer behaviour (50%)\r\n469999 Information systems (50%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Accounting (AISSC)","programcode":"DR200","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tuan Chu, Samuel Buerey, Ronald Kumar","title":"Exploring Challenges Faced by Vietnamese Firms in Sustainability Reporting","description":"There is a dearth of comprehensive studies examining the challenges hindering successful implementation of sustainability reporting practices at the organizational level in Vietnam. This PhD project will bridge this gap by providing an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by Vietnamese firms in adopting and implementing sustainable practices and reporting, assessing the impact of these challenges, and suggesting potential strategies for improvement. Hence, the project welcomes both quantitative and\/or qualitative methods. The project aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the current state of sustainability reporting in Vietnam. The research will explore developments in recent theoretical frameworks on sustainability reporting, which will be customized and applied to in an emerging country context to identify the complexities and challenges of adopting sustainability reporting. The findings will be examined for its uniqueness to Vietnamese companies, as well as the plausible uniformity that may exist across countries, the latter aspect will be based on a thorough literature review. Noting the nuances in the adoption of sustainability, the research project aims to propose an alternative framework, and hence contribute to the theoretical aspects on corporate sustainability from the perspective of developing countries. The project will aim to carefully synthesize the findings into actionable solutions, that can be considered for implementation by businesses, policymakers, and stakeholders, with the view to improve sustainability reporting practices in Vietnam. The replication of the findings to other countries in the region will further strengthen the sustainable development agenda in the region.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"350107 (50%) \u2013 Sustainability accounting and reporting; \n350101 (25%) \u2013 Accounting theory and standards; \n380202 (15%) \u2013 Econometrics and statistical methods;\n441006 (10%) - Sociological methodology and research methods"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hiep Pham","title":"Social Marketing Approach in Encouraging Employee Security Compliance","description":"Understanding the behavioral change process of system users to adopt safe security practices is important to the success of an organization\u2019s cybersecurity program. Internal marketing is an effective strategy to enhance organizational capabilities and competencies, by influencing employees\u2019 attitudes and behaviors towards organizational goals. Social marketing adopts the concepts and techniques of commercial marketing to influence target audiences to adopt or sustain behavior in pursuit of social goals such as in increasing pro-environmental behavior, health related behavior, and service quality. Internal social marketing (ISM) combines social and internal marketing, applying internal marketing to influence employees\u2019 attitude and behavior towards organizational changes, but to aiming to achieve social, rather than commercial objectives. This study aims to apply 7Ps marketing mix, as part of an ISM approach, and measure its effectiveness on employee compliance behaviour. This understanding could inform the design of behavioral infrastructure to promote and maintain cybersecurity compliance. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"ISE 4 Cyber Security","forcodes":"460904 Information security management (60%) 350612 Social marketing (30% 350604 Marketing communications (10%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hiep Pham","title":"Digital transformation of logistics and supply chains in Vietnam - A Risk Focused Approach","description":"Digitalization in supply chain (SC) has emerged as a response to improve information sharing, better demand management and reduce cost. During the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented global SC disruptions greatly affect firms\u2019 critical operation. As many firms are trying to remain competitive by investing in digital transformation regardless of their current technology infrastructure, size, business model, or business environment, it is essential to understand key determinants of a firm\u2019s digital SC transformation decision. A firm\u2019s perceived SC disruption risk and its internal capabilities such as absorptive capacity and learning intent impact the level of digital SC transformation that it will commit to. This project can examine industry-specific risks and firm heterogeneity to identify industry-specific risk variables understanding how firms respond to disruption risks in their supply chain. Research can also be done to include more internal capabilities (asymmetric learning, open innovation, etc.) and external factors (e.g. TOE) to explore their impacts on digital SC transformation in a crisis. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy","forcodes":"350903 Logistics 350909 Supply chains 350999 Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business (GSBL)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vu Thi Hong Nhung,  Bui Duy Tung","title":"Gender Differences in Adopting Digital Technologies among SMEs in Vietnam","description":"With the rapid development of digital technologies, adopting and using these technologies have become increasingly crucial for the success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. However, there is limited research on gender differences in adopting and using digital technologies among SMEs in Vietnam. This study aims to fill this research gap by examining the gender differences in the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs in Vietnam. \r\nWhile there is a growing body of literature on the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs, there is limited research on gender differences in this area. This study contributes to the literature on gender differences in the adoption and use of digital technologies in SMEs by focusing on the Vietnamese context. By examining the factors influencing the adoption and use of digital technologies among men and women-owned SMEs, this study provides a more nuanced understanding of how gender differences may shape technology adoption and use. Additionally, this study provides insights into how policymakers and business support organisations can better support women-owned SMEs in adopting and using digital technologies.\r\nThe quantitative component of the study will involve a survey of SMEs in Vietnam, focusing on collecting data on the adoption and use of digital technologies, as well as other relevant factors such as firm size, industry, and ownership. The qualitative component of the study will involve in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of SMEs to provide more detailed insights into the factors that influence technology adoption and use among men and women-owned SMEs. \r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350716\tSmall business organisation and management  (33%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (33%)\t\t\r\n440705\tGender, policy and administration\t(34%)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vicki Little","title":"Creating public value through nature-based solutions: Implanting urban farming","description":"Innovating to support social and environmental outcomes is 'sustainability-oriented' innovation (SOI). It is a broad topic, capturing ecopreneurship (people-focused), the innovations themselves (technologies, artefacts, skills and capabilities), and the nested systems they are designed to intervene in (households, neighbourhoods, communities, cities, countries and the planet itself). The goal is to create and distribute value equitably for and to quintuple helix systems stakeholders (e.g., government, civil society, academia, industry and the environment). In particular, SOI addresses the needs of silent social stakeholders - future generations.\r\n\r\nFood security is one of the most important targets for SOI. Climate change is affecting productive capacity and hence food security in multiple ways, for example sea level rise, extreme weather events destroying crops and contaminating land, and invasive species becoming more pervasive. Traditional agriculture will encounter increasing challenges from both climate and social license to operate, particularly in its current damaging, intensive forms. Therefore, we must pivot to new forms of food provisioning. We must find ways to distribute production to reduce risk, and to provide equitable access for local communities. \r\n\r\nThis topic is deliberately broad. There could be opportunities to collaborate with private or public stakeholders producing nature-based solutions, for example, or who are innovating laboratory grown meats, or who are creating communities of practice around decentralised food production, or who are finding innovative ways to turn food waste into new food solutions. Those opportunities might include industry, government or community internships, wherein the candidate gathers data as a participant observer (ethnography or action research). It could include colleagues from other schools who are working on bioscience innovations, or sustainable cities, or engineering solutions.\r\n\r\nThe key principles are:\r\n\r\n1. Addressing the impact of climate change on current food systems (SDGs 13 (climate action), 2 (zero hunger), 9 (industry innovation & infrastructure), 12 (responsible production and consumption));\r\n2. Taking a broad, transformative (vs incremental) position to conceptualising necessary change, with the implication that a critical perspective of current damaging logics would be required;\r\n3. Taking a situated systems vs individual actor perspective with the implication that the study would engage in naturalistic enquiry (case study, ethnography, action research);\r\n4. Taking an effectuation view of the topic and outputs, drawing on the skills, competencies, networks and interests of the student(s) involved and the supervisory team; recognising that the project relates to a logic of theory discovery rather than a logic of theory justification and testing; with the implication that the topic will evolve over time and in response to new information (an emergent logic).\r\n\r\nThis is not a topic for those who are uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, it is a topic for enquirers (both faculty and students) who wish to challenge current thinking, and to make the world a better place. It therefore requires candidates with an entrepreneurial mindset, and who wish to help solve 'wicked' problems.\r\n\r\nThe project could form a point of coalescence for a platform(s), or for a group of students, each tackling an aspect of the problem of improving food security. That problem is both 'wicked' and intersectional i.e., also incorporates issues around gender and wealth inequality, land rights, access to resources, indigenous knowledge and epistemological justice.  Please note that this project touches on most of the platforms.\r\n\r\nThe topic or topics would need to be refined in consultation with the student, supervisory panel (which may be transdisciplinary i.e. include industry or government representation) in line with these first principles. ","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Sustainable Technologies and Systems Platform","forcodes":"350603\r\n350605\r\n350612"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang","title":"Digital Transformation and digitalisation of healthcare in Vietnam","description":"Digital transformation and the digitalisation of processes, which leverage digital technologies to optimise existing operations and create improvements, have been rapidly taking place in organisations of all sizes and across different sectors. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact societies around the world, the healthcare sector is put under pressure to adopt digital technologies to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for citizens of all ages. Nevertheless, the extant literature has shown that digital transformation programs are often large and complex, and contextual i.e., there is no one-size-fits-all solution for digital transformation across different contexts. This doctoral research project will employ a mixed method approach to examine the success factors and challenges in the adoption of digital technologies from both the perspectives of healthcare centres (e.g., hospitals and clinics) and relevant stakeholders (e.g., doctors, nurses, professional staff, as well as patients and policy makers). Furthermore, it involves developing and delivering a comprehensive training program to enhance digital transformation capabilities of healthcare centres and staff in Vietnam. The project will put forward a validated framework that outlines the best practices for digital transformation and digitalisation in the healthcare context. The PhD candidate(s) working on this project will be mentored by experienced and senior researchers who have established research track records in the digital transformation and digitalisation areas. The candidate(s) will also have access to networks of researchers in the Managing Smart Transformation research cluster at RMIT Vietnam and RMIT Australia, as well as healthcare centres and medical professionals in Vietnam. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phuong Hoang","title":"From Thoughts to Actions, from Data to Insights: Understanding Humans in the Digital World","description":"Firms have created IT-enabled transformational services across industries. Local entertainment companies offer a wide range of streaming services, from video and music to gaming across devices. In the financial sector, firms promote online payment and banking services as IT-based services, including e-wallets and online savings. Meanwhile, technology firms provide IT solutions as web-based services. Healthcare physicians now deliver healthcare services through electronic platforms. As there are many new forms of business, the ways consumers interact with them all have changed. All these interactions have created a huge volume of digital data. Digital traces from consumer online activities present researchers with the opportunity to research the interplay between people, processes, and technology, since the insights extracted from such large-scale data would not be possible in traditional experiments. The Ph.D. candidate(s) working on this project need to expand their capacity to work with large, but less-than-ideal datasets, and integrate digital trace data into research designs for causal inference tasks. Potential topic(s) will explore different perspectives on marketing, consumers, and technology, e.g. consumers' adoption and usage of IT-enabled products and services, extraction of actionable insights from consumers\u2019 online activities.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;SC 4 Transformations in Work;UF 4 Applied urban analytics;","forcodes":"350301 Business analytics (40%) 350303 Business information systems (30%) 350601 Consumer behaviour (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thai Nguyen","title":"Blockchain, FinTech and transformation in banking industry","description":"Blockchain and fintech are challenging the traditional roles of the well-established banking systems. What are the impacts of blockchain and fintech on the banking industry and how is the industry responding? How effective are government policies on banking industry upon the emergence of blockchain and fintech? Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2027","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;","forcodes":"350204, 350299, 380107"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thai Nguyen, Tra Pham","title":"Central bank digital currencies, financial inclusion and financial instability","description":"Countries around the world have been pursuing the development of Central Bank Digital Currency in recent years. This has important implications for multiple aspects of the financial systems. Standard arguments claim that CBDCs promote financial inclusion through drawing the unbanked to formal financial services. However, greater financial inclusion may pose risks for financial stability through credit expansion and other factors. Prior research mostly documents a trade-off between financial inclusion and financial stability, but synergy can also occur. As both financial inclusion and financial stability are paramount to policy agenda, it is important to explore how they are related and how the introduction of CBDC will impact this nexus. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2024","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;","forcodes":"350204, 380107, 380112"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen, SPM Finance\n","title":"Corporate sustainability performance during environmental, political and technological uncertainties","description":"Corporate sustainability has emerged as a prominent business strategy that could improve a firm\u2019s reputation, with possible benefits on the firm\u2019s value and long-term development. However, we have witnessed drastic changes in the social, environmental and political landscape as well as new emerging technologies over the last few years, therefore the factors that drive corporate sustainability performance in the current literature may no longer be applicable. Thus, it is important to re-examine the determinants of corporate sustainability performance in this new landscape at the firm level. This PhD project aims to shed light on the importance of external factors such as political connections; environment, social and governance (ESG) disclosure; and blockchain-related activities on corporate sustainability performance at a global scale. As such, this project will examine the key determinants of corporate sustainability performance and investigate the effect of political connections, ESG disclosure and blockchain-related activities on corporate sustainability performance. The project will employ quantitative methods such as content analysis, multi-criteria decision-making methods and several statistical models and techniques such as OLS, GMM, probit regression, propensity score matching and other sensitivity tests. The outcomes of this project are expected to advance the understanding of the determinants of corporate sustainability performance and show how political connections, ESG voluntary disclosure and blockchain-related activities drive corporate sustainability performance. The project will also provide policy and practical implications to assist firms to achieve long-term sustainability objectives.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350202 Finance (75%) ; 350203 Financial Econometrics (25%) ; 350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Business","programcode":"DR205","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trung Nguyen","title":"Moving Toward an Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Nation","description":"Vietnam has set an ambitious goal - moving toward a digital nation by 2030. The National Programme for Digital Transformation aims to \u201cdevelop a digital government, digital economy, and digital society and to establish Vietnamese digital technology enterprises capable of going global\u201d (Prime Minister of Vietnam, 2020). Although the country has taken great initiatives to excel through smart cities and industry 4.0, the actual implementation shows there were still many difficulties and challenges for city leaders, management agencies, and businesses. Potential topic(s) explore the inclusive and sustainable digital transformation of Vietnam, e.g., digital government, digital society, digital economy, international business, and benchmarking of smart and sustainable cities. These projects aim to examine drivers, barriers, and government's support for an inclusive and sustainable digital nation; to recast the new globalization and define the new meaning of 'born global'; or to benchmark smart city. The Ph.D. candidate(s) working on this project will be mentored by experienced researchers in the e-government and digitalization areas.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"12\/31\/2025","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement;SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy;UF 2 Smart cities analytics;GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance;","forcodes":"350714 Public sector organisation and management (50%) 350706 International business (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vicki Little","title":"Sustainability-oriented innovation in agrifood markets","description":"Producing sufficient food for future generations is vital, however current modes of industrial food production are unsustainable, i.e. destroy the natural capital upon which they are based. Therefore, sustainability-oriented innovations (SOI) must be purposively developed and diffused into current food systems. However, the nature of SOIs are as yet not well understood, likewise the issues and challenges of development and diffusion into current systems. Deeper insight is needed into the tensions between social, economic and environmental elements of food production from a holistic perspective. Likewise, further insight is needed into the nature and dynamics of ecopreneurship, whereby disruptive or niche innovations derive; and into the mindsets and practices of ecopreneurs who challenge the status quo. Applicants for this project will be based on the RMIT Vietnam campus, but will be enrolled through RMIT Australia as offshore candidates.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"DCP The Social and Sustainable","forcodes":""},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"George Majo","title":"Approaches for Greener supply chain in Vietnamese fashion and textile industries","description":"The drive for sustainability is getting significant attention from various industries including fashion and textiles. These sectors are neglecting the sustainability objectives especially in developing countries for various reasons. Fashion and textile supply chain involves environmental pollution due to its inherent nature in manufacturing industries. Similarly, the social and economic aspects of sustainability is neglected in the form of not taking care of the society and resources. This project will investigate the greener supply chain aspects in Vietnamese fashion and textile industries. Various approaches taken by the industries to become green will be investigated through this project. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be implemented during the study. The study findings can provide an outline for the existing industries and the new industries steps to become sustainable.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"The Social and Sustainable","forcodes":"350909 Supply chains"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","programcode":"DR203","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Dao Le Trang Anh","title":"Financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality in the Asia-Pacific region","description":"The Asia-Pacific region is at the forefront of the global digital revolution, with developed and emerging countries that lead the adoption and advancement of new technologies. Over the past few decades, the Asia-Pacific region has also experienced impressive economic growth, with many countries in the region transitioning from low-income to middle- and high-income status. However, the digitalization level, the degree of financial development, and the quality of institutions vary greatly across the region. \nFinancial development refers to the growth of financial institutions and markets, while digitalization refers to the use of digital technologies to transform economic and social activities. Institutional quality encompasses a range of factors such as the rule of law, protection of property rights, and government efficiency, which are critical to fostering an enabling environment for sustainable economic growth and development. The interplay between financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality in the Asia-Pacific region is undiscovered, and understanding these relationships is essential for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners seeking to promote sustainable economic development in the region and in each nation.\nThis project, therefore, aims to explore the nexuses of financial development, digitalization, and institutional quality by a comparative analysis among nations in the Asia-Pacific region. From the findings, the project provides insights into the potential implications for bettering the financial sector, the digitalization process, and the broader economy in each nation as well as the entire Asia-Pacific region.\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350207 International Finance\r\n380107 Financial Economics\r\n\r"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Vu Thi Hong Nhung, Bui Duy Tung","title":"Financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam","description":"Digital banking has recently gained tremendous popularity, especially in developing countries like Vietnam. However, with the increasing usage of digital banking, there is a growing concern about consumers' ability to make informed choices and protect themselves against fraud and scams. As a result, financial literacy has been identified as critical in ensuring consumer protection in digital banking. However, despite the importance of financial literacy, there is a lack of empirical research on its impact on consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. Thus, this study aims to address this research gap by investigating the role of financial literacy in consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. The study's findings can have significant implications for Vietnam's policymakers, regulators, and financial institutions. By understanding the role of financial literacy in consumer protection, policymakers can design and implement more effective policies and regulations to ensure consumers' safety in digital banking.\u00a0\r\nThe qualitative phase of the research will involve in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, such as policymakers, regulators, and representatives from financial institutions. The qualitative data will be analyzed thematically to identify the key themes and patterns related to financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking in Vietnam. The quantitative phase of the research will involve administering a survey questionnaire to a sample of digital banking customers in Vietnam. The survey will assess customers' financial literacy, their experiences with fraud and scams in digital banking, and their awareness of consumer protection policies and regulations. The data collected from the survey will be analyzed using statistical methods to identify the relationship between financial literacy and consumer protection in digital banking.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204 Financial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\n350208 Investment and risk management (20%)\n350299 Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Tung Bui","title":"Financial education and digital banking for vulnerable populations in Vietnam ","description":"Access to financial services is critical to the economic development of any country. Yet, despite efforts to promote financial inclusion, vulnerable populations in Vietnam, such as women, rural residents, and low-income households, continue to face challenges in accessing and using digital banking services. Financial education and digital banking initiatives have been identified as potential solutions to bridge the financial inclusion gap. However, the effectiveness of these initiatives is yet to be fully explored, particularly among the most vulnerable populations.\r\n\r\nThis study aims to fill that gap by examining the effectiveness of financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam. The study will identify the barriers to accessing and using digital banking services among these populations and the strategies that digital banking providers and policymakers can adopt to promote financial inclusion. The study will contribute to the literature on financial inclusion by providing insights into the effectiveness of financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam.\r\n\r\nThe study will begin with a literature review to identify the existing literature on financial education and digital banking initiatives for vulnerable populations in Vietnam. The study will then use surveys to collect quantitative data from a sample of vulnerable populations in Vietnam, including women, rural residents, and low-income households. The survey will focus on their access to and use of digital banking services and their attitudes towards financial education. The study will also conduct in-depth interviews with a subset of the survey respondents to better understand their experiences with digital banking services and financial education.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350204 - Financial institutions (incl. banking) (50%)\r\n160810 - Urban and Regional Economics (20%)\r\n350299Banking, finance and investment not elsewhere classified (30%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR205 \/ DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Jasper Teow, Phuong Hoang (Emmy) (phuong.hoangai@rmit.edu.vn)","title":"Decoding the Human Element: Consumer Behaviour in Technology and Innovation","description":"The interplay between AI, digital technologies and innovative marketing has resulted in transformative changes to the consumer landscape. Candidates in this research program examine the psychological, social, and environmental factors shaping consumer behavior in this constantly evolving landscape. This project invites candidates interested in topics at the intersection of consumer psychology, technology adoption, and marketing innovation. \n\nAreas of investigation include, but are certainly not limited to: \nAI aversion, Cultural influences on risk perception and innovativeness, Judgment and decision-making processes affecting technology adoption, The digital divide and its impact on elderly consumers, Consumer psychology influencing innovative product design, Behavioral insights and nudging in intervention design, Time perception and technological resistance, Consumer creativity, Decision heuristics and biases, Prosocial and charity behavior, Choice architecture, overload and framing effects on consumption behaviour, Social influence and online behavior, Spread of mis\/disinformation across social networks, Digital transformation and its impact on consumer psychology, AR \/ VR \/ Wearable technology on consumer behaviour, etc.\n \nPh.D. candidates joining this project should possess a genuine curiosity about consumer behavior, technology, and marketing. They will be exposed to experimental research methodologies, conducting field studies, observing naturalistic consumer behavior, and harnessing the power of big data analyses. Through these, the program endeavours to generate outputs that both advance academic discourse and, importantly, yield tangible societal and managerial impact which can advance industry practices and public policies.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"350601 Consumer behaviour (50%)\n350602 Consumer-oriented product or service development (30%)\n520505 Social psychology (20%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Marketing (EFM)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Catherine Earl & Vicki Little","title":"Enterprising women in Southeast Asia (multiple positions) ","description":"We invite proposals addressing social, political and economic aspects of women\u2019s entrepreneurship, including women-owned and women-led micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, family- and home-based businesses, and digital and emerging forms of entrepreneurship. The focus is on the voices of women entrepreneurs from any Southeast Asian context (ASEAN states plus Timor-Leste), with a particular interest in aligning to at least one of the following: sustainable livelihoods, social enterprise, women\u2019s empowerment and the COVID-19 pandemic recovery as part of a broader global agenda towards peaceful, just and inclusive societies. Projects should be interdisciplinary and address a current or emerging issue in Southeast Asia. Engagement with novel and innovative qualitative methodologies is encouraged. There is the opportunity to work with community groups and industry partners to generate evidence-based policy and practice reform at the interface of institutions, services and societal norms. Supervisors come from disciplines including entrepreneurship, management, marketing, tourism and hospitality management, culture industries, communications, sociology, social work and law, social policy, gender studies, leadership, international development, and education. Priority areas: \r\n- Gender equity and women\u2019s empowerment\r\n- Decent work and economic growth\r\n- Responsible production and consumption\r\n- Sustainable cities and communities\r\n- Digital transformation","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"35074 (marketing)\r\n1605-12 (policy and administration)\r\n200212 - South-East Asian Cultural Studies."},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"MANJIT SINGH SANDHU, Burkhard Schrage, Santiago Velasquez","title":"Understanding Family Firm internationalization: Insights from Vietnam\r","description":"Family firms refer to businesses where multiple family members from the same firm have ownership and management control of the organization to sustain its continuation across generations (Chua et al, 1999; Arregle et al,2021; Chua et al, 1999).Recent data shows that family firms own and control more than 70% of  businesses globally and contribute 70\u201390% of the world\u2019s GDP (Family Firm Institute,2021). In recent years, the advent of globalization, rapid technological development and increasing competition has forced  many family firms to pursue internationalization strategies. This has attracted deep interest among family business  research scholars with an increasing number of publications in the last decade. However,  the field is still very much at its infancy stage as the current body of knowledge is highly heterogeneous and has provided mixed findings on how family ownership, \u2018familiness\u2019 and management influence internationalization (Alayo, Iturralde, Maseda, & Aparicio, 2020; Arregle, 2021). This project intends to examine the influence of family ownership on family firm internationalization in Vietnam. Family firms play an important role in the economic development of Vietnam. Data shows that 25% of Vietnam\u2019s GDP is contributed by the 100 largest Vietnamese family firms. In addition, 50 of the top listed public companies in Vietnam (such as Kido, Vietjet, Vingroup)  are family firm\u2019s.\r\n","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350704\r\n350706\r\n350718"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Trung Quang Nguyen, Ngoc Pham, Research Fellow, Melanie Davern Centre for Urban Research, RMIT (Melbourne) ","title":"Urban liveability for a city in a low-to-middle-income country: The case of Vietnam   ","description":"Building cities that are \"liveable\" has become a priority for many governments and sectors, including those working to improve population health and reduce inequities. With two-thirds of the world's population projected to live in cities by 2050, urbanisation is happening at an unprecedented pace, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is limited guidance on what constitutes a liveable city from an LMIC perspective, with most of the evidence relating to high-income countries such as Australia, Singapore, and European countries. Existing liveability frameworks typically include features such as public transport, affordable housing, and public open space, but these may not capture all the liveability considerations for LMICs.\r\nThe objectives of the study are three-fold: first, to conceptualise and prioritise components of urban liveability that are specific to Ho Chi Minh City in the Vietnam context; second, to identify how these components align with or diverge from existing liveability frameworks; and third, to identify potential indicators and data sources that could be used to develop a Pilot Ho Chi Minh Liveability Framework. \r\nThe study theoretically provides a comprehensive understanding of what makes a city liveable in the context of an LMIC. Practically, it could help guide policymakers and urban planners in their decision-making. By identifying the specific components of urban liveability that are important in Ho Chi Minh City, the study could also help other cities in similar contexts in Vietnam and other LMICs facing rapid urbanisation.\r","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Urban Futures","forcodes":"330413 Urban planning & Health (50%); \r\n330314 Sustainable design (25%); \r\n200207 Social structure & Health (25%)\u00a0"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Giang Hoang, Duy Dang","title":"The impacts of leadership on innovation in Vietnamese firms","description":"Innovation is critical for sustaining firms' competitive advantage and business performance. Although leadership has been identified as playing a key role in fostering innovation, little is known about how this factor plays out in the Vietnamese context. This study investigates the relationship between leadership and innovation and its underlying mechanisms (i.e., mediation and moderation effects) using data from Vietnamese firms. This study employs a sequential confirmatory research design to examine these relationships. It starts with a quantitative study to test a theoretical model that links leadership to innovation. Then, a qualitative study will be conducted to confirm the findings of the quantitative study. This study not only provides deeper understanding of innovation management practices in Vietnamese firms, but also advances the research streams of innovation and leadership. The research results will also offer important practical implications for Vietnamese organizations that are investing in innovation activities and are seeking ways to enhance their innovation performance.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350707\tLeadership (50%)\r\n350705\tInnovation management (50%)"},{"college":"Business and Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Agnis Stibe, Jasper Teow","title":"Exploring human perception, acceptance, and use of emerging technologies.","description":"This research investigates the multifaceted aspects of human interactions with emerging technologies, focusing on perception, acceptance, and practical application. Understanding these elements is crucial as technological advancements reshape daily life and societal structures. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, and others, are increasingly penetrating personal and professional environments. Earlier studies suggest that the success of these technologies largely depends on how well they are perceived and accepted by users. However, comprehensive research that delves into these relationships remains limited. This research explores how individuals perceive and accept emerging technologies and how these perceptions influence their usage patterns. The key research questions include: How do cognitive biases affect the perception of emerging technologies? What are the primary factors that influence the acceptance of new technological tools? How does the usage of these technologies vary across different demographic groups? This research prefers a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data. The analysis is expected to focus on identifying trends and patterns within user groups, aiming to develop predictive models for technology adoption. The research will deploy the Knowledge Behavior Gap (KBG) model as the key methodological framing. The research outcomes shall provide valuable insights for technology developers, policymakers, and educators, helping to tailor innovative solutions that meet user needs and enhance the integration of emerging technologies into society. The overall research aim is to contribute a deeper understanding of human factors driving the success and integration of new technological advancements.","sdg":"","funded":"","closedate":"","ecp":"Information in Society","forcodes":"460806 Human-computer interaction (70%)\n460803 Collaborative and social computing (15%)\n460805 Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems (15%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Long Nguyen","title":"Digital transformation for sustainable tourism destinations: A post-pandemic study in an emerging country","description":"The sustainable tourism SMEs operated by minority group communities in Vietnam were among the most vulnerable groups for survival due to Covid-19. With the rich cultural heritage, lots of minority groups applied sustainable tourism practices for years. However, due to limited development in infrastructure, and lack of digital knowledge and skills, they have limited resources to appeal to the traveler's market for business recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, digital transformation is required for them to promote their sustainable tourism activities effectively. The research aims to explore the possible practices of the digital transformation of their sustainable tourism business. Research design & methods: A mixed method will be adopted for this study. First, qualitative observation and interviews will be conducted to explore the challenge, barriers, and opportunities for the practice of digital transformation to develop the conceptual model. Second, the survey will be conducted to test the conceptual model for digital transformation. Outcomes & implications: Developing a framework of how digitalization can be implemented for sustainable tourism among minority group community could benefit the underprivileged population group. This research aims to provide suggestions for local authorities through the framework and contribute to the inclusive investment decisions from both the tourism service providers and the government.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"DCP 3 The Social and Sustainable; GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"460907 Information systems for sustainable development and the public good (50%) 350611 Service Marketing (25%) 350803 Tourism Management 25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Nuno da Costa Cardoso Dantas Ribeiro","title":"Culture, destination image, and intention to revisit tourism destinations: The case of Vietnam","description":"This project will investigate the relationship between cultural perceptions (specifically along Hofstede\u2019s cultural dimensions of Identity, Power, and Uncertainty Avoidance), destination image and intention to revisit a tourism destination focusing on the case of Vietnam. While \u201cculture\u201d is one of the most referenced motivations for visiting Vietnam among international tourists, little is known about how cultural perceptions, namely of Vietnam pre-visit impact tourists\u2019 pre- and post-image of Vietnam as a tourism destination. Research questions include but are not limited to: \u201cHow do cultural perceptions of Vietnam influence its image as a tourism destination?\u201d and \u201cWhich cultural perceptions about Vietnam have a positive\/negative impact on Vietnam\u2019s destination image and intention to revisit among international tourists?\u201d  Research design & methods: This study will use a mixed-methods approach, combining intercept surveys conducted at Tan Son Nhat (SGS) and Noi Bai (HN) airports with arriving and departing international tourists (with the assistance of VNAT). Following the initial quantitative analysis, follow-up focus groups will be conducted with a smaller sample. Outcomes & implications: This study will seek to test for relationships between culture, destination image, and intention to revisit. It will also provide an additional testing ground for Hofstede\u2019s theory of cultural dimensions across national identities within a tourism setting, which thus far has not been explored in Vietnam. Findings will support researchers, policy makers, and Vietnamese tourism promotion campaigns. It will also seek to suggest strategies aimed at increasing revisits by international tourists to Vietnam.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; STS 2 Food;","forcodes":"350806 Tourist behaviour and visitor experience"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Bob Baulch","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Vietnam","description":"In Vietnam, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to greater socio-economic differentiation between the rich and the poor. Conventional measures of inequality (e.g., the Gini coefficient) understate the effects of both short-term shocks (such as COVID-19) and longer-run trends (such as the structural transformation of the Vietnamese economy) by giving most weight to those located towards the middle of the income distribution. Polarization measures (e.g, Foster & Wolfson and Esteban, Duclos & Ray measures) avoid this difficulty by allowing for sub-groups to emerge across the entire distribution, thereby shedding light on the gap(s) between the rich and poor. Using the Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys, this PhD project will consist of three (or four) papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in Vietnam between1998 and 2018; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same period; and, once the VHLSS 2022 becomes available, (iii) how polarization and poverty changed between 2018 and 2022 in response to COVID-19  A fourth paper comparing changes in polarization and poverty in Vietnam with other countries in Southeast Asia, using the grouped distribution data available from the international sources, could also be written. Polarization would be measured using the Foster & Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using both per capita expenditures and continuous measures of non-monetary wellbeing (such as disability adjusted life years or years or completed years of education. Similarly, monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures for per capita expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index (HPI) used for non-monetary measures. A range of national and international poverty lines\/thresholds would be considered, with stochastic dominance tests conducted to assess the sensitivity of the poverty estimates to the choice of poverty line or threshold.  The data used would be selected years of the VHLSS (mostly probably 1998, 2008, 2018 and 2022).  The project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the distributional consequences of rapid economic growth and of COVID-19 in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, with a focus on polarization and (absolute) poverty.  Manuscripts based on the thesis will be targeted at A-ranked journals including the Journal of Economic Inequality, Review of Income and Wealth, and World Development.  We will encourage the student to present papers based on the thesis at national and international conferences (such as the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, and the annual conferences of the Development Studies Association, International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, and Vietnam Economic Association).  ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"SC 1 Transformations in health and social policy and practice; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy; UF 3 Transformative urban governance;","forcodes":"380199 Applied Economics: not elsewhere classified. (40%) 440405 Poverty, inclusivity and well-being (40%) 380119 Welfare Economics (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Simon Feeny","title":"Polarization and Poverty in Asian Countries","description":"These three-year PhD projects will consist of papers on: (i) how polarization has evolved in India, Indonesia and\/or the Philippines; (ii) how poverty has evolved over the same time period; and (iii) how polarization and poverty changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. \n\nThese issues will be examined through the analysis of several waves of nationally representative household survey data.   \n\nPolarization would be measured using both the Wolfson index and the Duclos-Esteban-Ray family of measures using both per capita expenditures and one or two (continuous) measures of non-monetary wellbeing (such as disability adjusted life years or years of completed years of education for those entering the labour force). Similarly, monetary poverty would be measured using the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family of poverty measures for per capita expenditures, with the Human Poverty Index (HPI) used for non-monetary measures. A range of national and international poverty lines\/thresholds would be used, with stochastic dominance tests conducted to assess the sensitivity of the poverty estimates to the choice of poverty line or threshold. \n\nThe student selected would join the Centre for International Development in Melbourne. \n\nThe successful candidate will be encouraged to present papers at national and international conferences, such as those of the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, Development Studies Association, International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, Vietnam Economic Association, and Vietnam Economic Research Network.","sdg":"","funded":"No","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"Social Change","forcodes":"380119"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Economics","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Phong Nguyen","title":"Blockchain Governance: taking stock and moving forward","description":"Governance is critical to the sustainability and success of a blockchain project as it facilitates adoption and contribution of blockchain stakeholders to advance the cause of the blockchain (e.g., Beck et al., 2018; Pelt et al., 2021). However, what we know about blockchain governance is very limited as this literature is in its infancy (Xu et al., 2019) and atheoretical (Hofman et al., 2021), and lacks theory-driven empirical studies (Toufaily et al., 2021). Addressing this limitation, the present project aims to examine the predictors and outcomes of blockchain governance via the lens of economic and management theories like signaling, transaction cost, and\/or resource-based theory. We will first conduct a literature review on blockchain governance. We then draw on management and economic theories to develop a theoretical model regarding the antecedents and outcomes of blockchain governance. We rely on quantitative research methods: hierarchical regression, multilevel and\/or panel data analysis and secondary data to test the proposed model. The data might be collected from such websites as Coinmarketcap, Coincheckup, Glassnode, and IntoTheBlock. We expect this project to extend the theoretical understanding and concepts of blockchain governance via the lens of management and economic theories. The project offers implications for the blockchain community regarding the governance structures or protocols that transfer into favorable outcomes (e.g., innovation) and how to achieve and sustain those governance structures. ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy","forcodes":"350701 Corporate governance (50%) 350718 Strategy (25%) 441004 Social change (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Finance","programcode":"DR203 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Linh Nguyen Thi My","title":"Social finance as a predictor of firm economic outcomes and asset prices: A review of emerging markets","description":"Social finance is a generative research area examining the \u201cstudy of how social processes shape economic outcomes\u201d (Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020, p. 1). The proposed project focuses on scrutinising the numerous types of social interactions and their impacts on asset prices\/firm economic outcomes within an emerging markets setting, of which there is currently a paucity of empirical examinations (Kuchler et al., 2021; Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020). This project extends the recent line of literature on the social dynamics\/interactions of economic agents, and their influences on investor behavior\/economic activity within emerging market finance (Bailey et al., 2021; Ferris et al., 2017; Kuchler et al., 2021; Kuchler & Stroebel, 2020; Maturana & Nickerson, 2019). This project aims to examine ASEAN countries. Research shows a remarkable economic growth of ASEAN economies which contributes significantly to the economic development in the region (Das & Lin, 2018; Nasir et al., 2019). More importantly, the socio-economic dynamics of financing and human capital development is a generative area of examination with many aspects still not well understood, especially within an emerging market context, and is widely considered as a key focus for policy makers in the ASEAN region (WorldBank, 2019). A growing number of studies have also examined various aspects of the ASEAN markets (e.g., Dogah, 2021; Nasir et al., 2019; Sohag et al., 2021; Tang et al., 2022). Following the extant literature, the research methodology will adopt a mixed methods approach including both quantitative and qualitative methods. The student can use available indices such as the social connectedness index (Bailey et al., 2018), macro\/firm data, and\/or collect primary data on the social interactions\/dynamics and other necessary data. Utilising economic and sociological lenses allows for a richer understanding of the embeddedness of social processes within firm behaviour furthering the extent of academic neo-institutionalist literature. This greater disambiguation of social processes as predictors of firm asset pricing and economic outcomes will provide insight to policy-makers enabling them to derive more targeted mechanisms.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; STS 1 Circular Economy;","forcodes":"350202 Finance (40%) 350203 Financial Econometrics (30%) 441005 Social theory (30%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Management","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Thuan Nguyen Hoang","title":"Roles of Design Thinking in Entrepreneurship","description":"Design thinking refers to the process of identifying unsolved problems, generating innovative ideas, building prototypes, test prototypes, which all together propose solutions for the related problems. Recent research shows that design thinking is important for startups and entrepreneurship, as it enables entrepreneurs to generate and test innovative ideas and select the most promising ones for developing new products and services (Mohammadi et al., 2021; Klenner et al, 2022). Although the benefits of design thinking have been widely agreed upon in the context of innovations, a few studies explore the roles of design thinking for entrepreneurship for SMEs. Fulfilling this gap, the current project aims to study the roles of design thinking in SME entrepreneurship, and consider how design thinking can be applied to support entrepreneurship in these companies. The research adopts mixed methods. It starts with a qualitative method to explore the different roles and impacts of design thinking in entrepreneurship. Then, a quantitative method will be used to confirm these roles and impacts. From a research perspective, the study fulfills the current research gap in the literature regarding the roles and impact of design thinking in entrepreneurship. From a practical perspective, the study provides a framework for how design thinking can be applied to support entrepreneurship to the best effect.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement;","forcodes":"350704 Entrepreneurship (50%) 460912 Knowledge and information management (50%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Information Management","programcode":"DR201","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Duy Dang","title":"Managing digital transformation implementation with dynamic capabilities and organisational paradoxes: development of a process model","description":"Digital transformation refers to the technology-induced changes necessary for digital business, in which organisations experience a fundamental and sociotechnical transformation. Nevertheless, practitioners struggle to grasp how digital transformation programs should be executed. This PhD project aims to shed light on the process of implementing digital transformation, especially by adopting the theoretical lens of the dynamic capability framework and theory of organisational paradoxes. The research questions explore the under-researched relationships between dynamic capabilities and organisational paradoxes in the digital transformation context, and how they inform tactics and strategies for implementing the firms\u2019 digital transformation across organisational levels. This PhD project aims to study digital transformation implementation in the services and tourism sectors, including healthcare\/medical services. There are various research approaches that are suitable for this research. A mixed-method design, which comprises qualitative and quantitative methods, is commonly used. An action research design, in combination with applied methods such as social network analysis, may also be considered. In terms of practical implications, this project aims to inform current practices of implementing digital transformation and strategies for developing the firms\u2019 digital maturity. The research will develop a process model for digital transformation implementation and advance understanding of the under-researched relationships between dynamic capabilities, organisational paradoxes, and digital transformation. ","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; SC 3 Transformations in digital society and economy; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"350303 Business information systems (50%) 350304 Business systems in context (25%) 350307 Technology management (25%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202 ","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Nguyen","title":"Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) Management in Vietnam: A Reverse Logistics Platform","description":"Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) generated annually in Vietnam has sharply increased since 2004, from 1.9 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes in 2015 while the rate of recycling is only around 1% to 2%, the lowest indicator in the region (Monre, 2016). The government aims to collect 90% and recycle 60% of C&DW by 2030, which creates an emerging need for the evaluation of possible logistic platforms to address the shortfalls. The project uses stakeholder analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) to identify and quantify C&DW collection pathways and the environmental implications of C&DW recycling in Vietnam. The study addresses the lack of published statistics and limited coordination among different supply chain actors (government agencies, construction builders and 3PL partners). Besides, the project evaluates scenarios related to bottlenecks and reverse transport and logistics designs, through quantifying and mapping C&DW to track final flows to landfill and recycling. The outcomes will serve to develop the C&DW logistic management platform, inform policy relating to changing current recycling practices and extend the opportunity for the development of the preliminary life cycle inventory database in Vietnam. The study also serves as a seeding point for future research funding opportunities, which will provide Vietnam\u2019s academia, industry, and consultancy with the underpinning comprehensive data to engage in LCA for policy decision-making.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; SC 4 Transformations in Work; STS 5 Pollution Mitigation; UF 2 Smart cities analytics; UF 4 Applied urban analytics;","forcodes":"350909 Supply chains (40%) 350999 Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified (40%) 330499 Urban and regional planning not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management","programcode":"DR202","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Hung Nguyen","title":"Blockchain and supply chain integration: Agri-food industry in Vietnam","description":" The Vietnamese Agri-food sector made a contribution to GDP worth USD 86.4 billion, in 2020 and represents 26% of the whole Vietnamese economy, but is also vulnerable to global risks. The recent cases of Vietnamese cashew nut scams highlight the need to ensure governance structure and digitalization transformation to avoid opportunistic behaviours and help food processing firms integrate better into global supply chain networks. To maintain supply chain visibility, there is a need to ensure food quality and safety standards to foster more collaboration and integration among farmers, food processors and other partners. While digital transformation plays a critical role in supply chain integration and firm competitiveness, however, how can the agriculture industry, where firms often have a diverse background, and limited access to technological and commercial markets, can strengthen and at the same time protect itself from global supply chain risks? This study will use mixed methods, adopting different operations theories such as transaction cost and value chain analysis to identify appropriate pathways for small and medium Vietnamese food processors in adopting selected blockchain and AI technologies. The research will examine the management of technological applications, such as credit verification and smart contracts, in enhancing supply chain integration to provide recommendations for food quality and safety. The outcomes from such projects can inform and enhance the Agri-food industry, through various workshops and training materials and guidelines, in digitalization to limit opportunistic behaviour and enhance quality and food safety in the light of environmental and behavioural uncertainty.","sdg":"","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/23","ecp":"GBI 1 Collaborative Design Approaches for Innovation; GBI 2 Organizational Transformation and Innovation Capabilities Enhancement; GBI 3 Innovation Governance and Performance; GBI 4 Innovation Valuation and Impact Measurement; SC 4 Transformations in Work;","forcodes":"350302 Business information management (incl. records, knowledge and intelligence) (40%) 350909 Supply chains (40%) 309999 Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences not elsewhere classified (20%)"},{"college":"Business & Law","school":"The Business School (Vietnam)","discipline":"Management (MGMT)","programcode":"DR204","campus":"RMIT Vietnam","teamleader":"Quyen Dang, Robert McClelland","title":"Vietnamese fashion industry: Internationalization in the context of sustainable development ","description":"Garment and textile have continuously led the list of top export commodities in Vietnam, ranking fourth in the list as of 2022 (Statista, 2023). In recent years, Vietnam\u2019s fashion industry has shown significant growth and exposure to the global markets. Having once been the workshop of global fashion brands, the industry now witnesses the upgrade in the global value chain with the emergence of local brands which penetrate international fashion hubs such as the US, EU and Japan. Leveraging on sustainability and digitalization, the international expansion of Vietnam\u2019s fashion industry has been undergoing interesting journeys that have not been captured or conceptualized in the international business literature which has long been dominated by models from Western and more developed countries. Hence, it is relevant to conduct research on this topic to advance international business theories and provide practical lessons for different stakeholders including governments, local and global businesses. This project will address significant theoretical gaps by focusing on the internationalization of the Vietnamese fashion industry. ","sdg":"8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, 10 - Reduced Inequalities, 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, 17 - Partnerships for the Goals","funded":"Yes","closedate":"31\/12\/24","ecp":"Global Business Innovation","forcodes":"350706 International business"}],"college":{"1":"Design & Social Context","5":"STEM","64":"Science, Engineering & Health","169":"Business and Law","199":"Business & Law"},"school":{"1":"Architecture & Urban Design","5":"School of Science Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","54":"Engineering","60":"Computing Technologies","68":"Design","80":"Education","85":"Fashion & Textiles","91":"Global, Urban & Social Studies","111":"Health & Biomedical Sciences","115":"Media & Communication","131":"Property, Construction & Project Management","142":"School of Communication & Design (Vietnam)","145":"School of Science, Engineering and Technology (Vietnam)","167":"Science","169":"The Business School (Vietnam)"},"discipline":{"1":"Architecture; Urban design; Landscape Architecture; Interior design","5":"Computer Science","12":"Cloud, Systems & Security (CT)","13":"Information Technology (CT)","14":"Artificial Intelligence","16":"Artificial Intelligence (CT)","17":"Data Science (CT)","33":"Cyber Security (CT)","34":"Mechanical and Automotive Engineering (Engineering)","44":"Food Technology (Science)","46":"Biotechnology & Biological Sciences (Science)","48":"Software Engineering (CT)","54":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering (Engineering)","58":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation (Engineering)","59":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (Engineering)","64":"Cloud, Systems & Security","68":"Digital Design","69":"Communication Design","70":"Communication Design; Digital Design; Industrial Design","73":"Digital Design; Industrial Design","80":"Health and Physical Education","81":"Creativity Education; STEAM; Teacher Education","82":"Education Studies; Sociology of Education","83":"Educational Studies; Mathematics Education; Science Education; STEM","84":"Civil and Infrastructure Engineering","85":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise; Textiles Technology","86":"Aerospace Engineering and Aviation; Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics Engineering; Mechanical and Automotive Engineering","87":"Textiles Technology","89":"Fashion and Textiles Design; Fashion Enterprise","91":"Global and Language Studies","92":"Sustainability & Urban Planning","105":"Criminology and Justice Studies; Global and Language Studies","108":"Digital Design; Social Work and Human Services","111":"Psychology","114":"Chinese Medicine","115":"Writing &Publishing, Media","116":"Writing & Publishing","118":"Communication, Media","131":"Project management","132":"Construction Management","134":"Property","135":"Sustainability and Urban Planning","142":"F&T Design","144":"Design, Art","146":"Manufacturing, Materials and Mechatronics","148":"Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering","149":"Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (Engineering)","158":"Digital Health\u00a0(SHBS)","159":"Mathematical Sciences (Science)","160":"Food Technology","164":"Engineering","166":"Food Science","167":"Mathematical Sciences","169":"Management (MGMT)","172":"Economics (EFM)","173":"Marketing (EFM)","174":"Business (GSBL)","179":"Finance (EFM)","196":"Management","199":"Information and Communications Technology (ICT)","204":"Business","213":"Information Systems (AISSC)","215":"Accounting (AISSC)","217":"Logistics and Supply Chain Management","223":"Economics, Finance and Marketing","239":"Economics","242":"Finance","243":"Information Management","245":"Logistics & Supply Chain Management"}});