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MEDI400 Medical and Health Science Honours

School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences Honours Program

The School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences Honours program is an intensive one year course of study designed to enhance the research skills of undergraduate students.  Normally only available to those students with an outstanding undergraduate academic record, Honours consists of a research project carried out under supervision in one of the research groups in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences and generic skills training in project management, communication, occupational health and safety, library search skills.  You will work nearly full time on your research project and by the end of the year it is expected that you will have learnt from first-hand experience how to formulate questions, design and conduct experiments, analyse and evaluate data, and write an Honours thesis which could be in the format of a scientific paper.  As a result of this experience, the Honours year adds value to your basic degree, substantially broadening your skills-base, and immediately sets you apart from the bulk of students who have only completed a bachelor’s degree, providing much-enhanced career and employment prospects.

Honours represents the most direct path for students to gain entry into a Doctoral level (PhD) research program (3-year project, no course work) and itself, provides excellent opportunities for work in many fields including industry, government and academia.  To ensure that you make the most of your “Honours” year, and additionally, to give yourself the best chance of securing financial support for further higher degree studies through the award of an Australian or University Postgraduate Research Scholarship, we recommend that you read this document and consider its contents.

Supervisor contacts

Any academic in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences may be able to offer suitable honours projects in any given year. You are encouraged to discuss potential projects and interest in honours with academics who are actively engaged in research that interests you. Academic staff research profiles can be viewed at UOW Scholars.

Week one of the honours year begins at the start of the second week in February. In 2020, the start date is Monday 10 February

Past supervisors and projects

  • Senior Professor Julie Steele - Effect of lower limb alignment on the biomechanics of landing a simulated floater in surfing
  • Dr Monique Francois and Dr Elizabeth Neale - Postmeal physical activity to control blood glucose in gestational diabetes
  • Dr Jonathan Shernmel and Associate Professor Paul Stapley/Dr Darryl McAndrew - Long-term adaptation of the reticulospinal motor system
  • Associate Professor Yasmine Probst and Dr Anne Mcmahon - Evaluating augmented reality for ‘real-life’ teaching of food portion concepts
  • Associate Professor Mirella Dottori - Generating dorsal root ganglia organoids from human pluripotent stem cells
  • Professor Chao Deng and Dr Jiamei Lian - Exercise intervention for reducing antipsychotic-induced weight gain in juvenile rats
  • Professor Chao Deng and Dr Jiamei Lian - Effects of antipsychotic drugs on the developing brain
  • Associate Professor Kelly Newell - The effects of perinatal depression and antidepressant treatment on neuroglia and inflammation in offspring: associations with synaptic markers
  • Professor Xu-Feng Huang - Medicinal cannabinoids for neurite repair
  • Associate Professor Jeremy Crook  and Dr Eva Tomaskovik-Crook - Direct piezoelectricity for 3D human neural tissue engineering and remodelling
  • Dr Kelly Lambert and Associate Professor Anthony Dosseto - From lab bench to clinic room: Calcium Isotopes as a noninvasive tool for detection of vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease
  • Dr Kelly Lambert and Associate Professor Anthony Dosseto - Calcium isotopes as a noninvasive method to detect bone mineral disorder in chronic kidney disease patients

 

  • Associate Professor Judy Mullan, Dr Pippa Burns and Dr Kelly Lambert - Investigating non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
  • Dr Gregory Peoples and Dr Herb Groeller - Can we increase the HIT in HIIT? Interval training with an eccentric recovery
  • Professor Xu-Feng Huang - The neuroprotective effects of short-chain fatty acids following induction of NMDAR hypofunction
  • Senior Professor Julie Steele - Short-term effects of anti-pronation taping on foot mobility and pain in female netball athletes with medial tibial stress syndrome
  • Associate Professor Kelly Newell and Associate Professor Sibylle Schwab - Metabotropic Glutamate receptor 7 in the pathophysiology and treatment of schizophrenia and major depression
  • Professor Ian Wright and Dr Jeremy Lum - Investigating the effects of in utero methadone exposure on adolescent rat offspring behaviour
  • Associate Professor Kelly Newell - Maternal fluoxetine treatment influences glucocorticoid and NMDA receptors in the amygdala of adolescent offspring in a sex-dependent and strain-specific manner
  • Professor Barbara Meyer, Dr Dilys Freeman and Dr Monique Francois - The distribution of docosahexaenoic acid and arachidonic acid throughout pregnancy
  • Professor Ian Wright and Dr Jeremy Lum - Investigating the effects of prenatal methadone exposure on apoptosis in the neonatal brain
  • Associate Professor Jeremy Crook  and Dr Eva Tomaskovik-Crook - Ultrasound mediated piezoelectric stimulation of human neural stem cells
  • Associate Professor Kelly Newell and Dr Jeremy Lum - An investigation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 and associated proteins in the anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia and major depression
  • Professor Paul Else and Associate Professor Kylie Mansfield - Remediating the Lipid Profile of Immortalised Cell Lines through Supplementation
  • Professor Chao Deng and Dr Jiamei Lian - Preventing/treating antipsychotic-induced glucometabolic side-effects
  • Professor Chao Deng and Dr Jiamei Lian - Effect of antipsychotic drugs in the developing brain
  • Professor Paul Else and Associate Professor Kylie Mansfield - Thyroid hormone as a potential antioxidant
  • Dr Gregory Peoples, Professor Peter Mclennan and Professor Ian Wright - Omega-3 Index and the cardiovascular system: Can dietary fish oil influence acute cardiovascular responses including forearm occlusion-reperfusion, active hyperemia and cold water hand immersion?
  • Dr Gregory Peoples, Professor Peter Mclennan and Professor Ian Wright - Exercise pressure response: cardiovascular and tissue oxygen saturation changes in response to fatiguing isometric contraction
  • Associate Professor Todd Mitchell, Dr Sarah Hancock and Dr Andrew Jenner - Investigating the changes to sphingolipids and cholesteryl esters in Huntington’s disease
  • Dr Deirdre Mcghee and Senior Professor Julie Steele - Effect of external breast prosthesis and bra design on bra strap pressure and discomfort in women after mastectomy
  • Senior Professor Julie Steele and Dr Deirdre Mcghee - Effect of barefoot physical activity on foot function & toe strength

Student testimonials

During my honours project, what I enjoyed the most was that I was able to formulate my own research question in an area of study which I was passionate about. I was then able to work collaboratively with my research team to problem solve, draw conclusions and make clinical applications to prevent and manage injuries and improve performance in the sport I love. Maddison Kirk
There were so many things I enjoyed during Honours but ultimately being able to work closely with my supervisor on a research project was an incredible and rewarding experience. It tested my resilience when experiments did not work out like planned and taught me how to think on my feet at a critical level. Honours taught me valuable skills in complex data analysis that I can transition into my teaching to help students learn statistics. Samara Brown