Frazer Institute Summer Research projects - 2027

Hours of engagement and delivery mode

20–24 hours per week, Hybrid delivery. Interviews will mostly be conducted online, so hours can be arranged flexibly around interview scheduling

Project description

Clinicians today face a proliferation of digital health applications and quality improvement tools. Each new research project or initiative typically introduces its own login, its own interface and its own demand on an already crowded clinical workflow, and most of these tools are abandoned within a year. A modular platform, where a single system hosts many small, purpose-built tools that clinics can switch on or off according to their needs, has been proposed as one way to reduce this burden. Whether clinicians would actually accept and use such a platform remains untested, and their perspectives have not yet been formally examined.

This project addresses that gap through an interview study with doctors, nurses and allied health clinicians working across a range of health settings in Australia. It aims to understand what clinicians want from digital tools, what they would tolerate in a shared platform, and where the modular concept might fail in practice. The findings will directly inform the design of a real modular clinical platform and contribute new evidence to the growing field of digital health implementation research.

Expected outcomes and deliverables

You will contribute to several stages of a qualitative interview study. This includes (i) helping to recruit doctors, nurses and allied health clinicians from participating health services across Australia; and (ii) coordinating interview scheduling. You will observe interviews with clinicians and may assist with notetaking. Further, you will work with the research team to code interview transcripts using thematic analysis. As the study progresses, you will help synthesise emerging themes and contribute to drafting sections of a manuscript for peer-reviewed publication, on which you will be included as a co-author. You will also attend regular team meetings to discuss progress and findings.

Suitable for

This project suits students with an interest in health, technology, or both. No technical background is required. Ideal applicants would be those interested in digital health and research, with a basic understanding of qualitative researchStudents from health, nursing, medicine, allied health, psychology, information technology or related disciplines are all welcome to apply.

Primary supervisor

Dr Elton Lobo

Em elton.lobo@uq.edu.au

Instructions to applicants

Students may contact the supervisor before applying