Summer and Winter Research Programs

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

11 January - 19 February 2027.

Hours of engagement: 36 hrs per week.

Offered through a hybrid arrangement: onsite and remotely.

Description:

This project will undertake a selected comparison of the functioning of

human rights agencies around the world. The particular focus will be on their legal status and composition, the methodologies they use to reconcile rights claims and the procedures they follow when conciliating complaints or determining cases. The particular agencies to be compared will depend partly on any particular language and background knowledge that the selected student can bring to the project. Possible jurisdictions include: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Fiji, Indonesia, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, as well as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Commission for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions, and United Nations Committee on Human Rights.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables:

Suitable for:

The research project is suitable for students who have successfully completed Constitutional Law and/or Human Rights Law and have relevant experience and language skills (eg, personal knowledge of a particular country or fluency in its language). Students who have also studied politics or government, will also be suited to the project, but this is not essential.

Primary Supervisor:

Further info:

Students are welcome to contact Professor Aroney at n.aroney@uq.edu.au  if they have any particular questions.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

For the Summer program, students will be engaged for 6 weeks only.

Hours of engagement must be around 30 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates.

Description:

Model distillation is a standard machine-learning technique where a smaller model learns from a larger one. However, high-profile 2026 disputes (e.g., Anthropic’s public claims against AI developers like DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax) used the phrase “distillation attack” and indicating these behaviour are illegal.

This research project examines the technical, contractual, and legal realities behind model distillation and how tech platforms enforce access boundaries. The main question is: Is unauthorised AI model distillation actually "IP theft", or is it primarily a breach of contract and computer access law? Specifically, this project investigates how platform Terms of Service, computer fraud statutes, and unfair competition laws form the real legal battleground beyond the traditional copyright or trade secret domains across major jurisdictions including Australia.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables:

From participating in the project, candidates can expect to learn to: 

• Develop skills in legal research and data collection, particularly in analysing online terms of service.
• Gain an understanding of the interaction between contract law, competition law, copyright, and AI regulation.
• Develop skills in the interpretation of contract terms.

At the end of the project, the candidate will be expected to complete:

• Collect and review a set of contracts and terms of service from major foundational AI models.
• Undertake basic data analysis
• Prepare a short written report outlining findings.

Suitable for:

This project is open to UQ-enrolled law students with contract law and copyright law knowledge. Students having basic skills in Excel and empirical data analysis are preferred.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Wenting Cheng

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

Students will be engaged for 6 weeks only.

Hours of engagement must be between 20 – 36 hrs per week and must fall within the official program dates (12 January 2027 to 19 February 2027).

Offered through a hybrid arrangement: onsite and remotely.

Description:

Just because something is called a constitution, doesn’t mean it is one. Some constitutions do not do the work or seek to achieve the end of constitutions. Classifying constitutions by their nature therefore remains one of the harder problems in comparative constitutional law and constitutional theory. The dominant typology is still Karl Loewenstein’s ontological classification of constitutions as normative, nominal or semantic, proposed in the 1950s and criticised and reframed almost continuously since. In recent work, Dr Renato Costa argues that the discipline should abandon its dependence on Loewenstein’s scheme and distinguish instead between genuine and pseudo constitutions, on the basis that constitutions lead a ‘double life’. This project tests and develops that claim against the constitutional experience of the world. The student will help Dr Costa apply this typology to constitutions drawn from every continent and from different historical periods, assemble the evidence needed to classify each one, and identify the cases that strain or refine the typology. Disconfirming examples are as valuable here as confirming ones.

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables:

The student will develop skills in data collection, source evaluation, doctrinal and comparative legal analysis, categorisation, and theory building. The research will contribute to the development of publications in the field. Publication with the student is possible, but this will depend on the results of the research. The training provided to the student will enable them to understand the methods and standards required for publishable research and RHD study. Benefits to the school will include training of the student in advanced research methods and contribution to publications in highest quality law journals in the field.

Suitable for:

Applicants must have completed Constitutional Law (LAWS3700). Enrolment in or completion of Comparative Constitutional Law (LAWS5100) is desirable but not essential.

The project draws on constitutional texts from every continent, so reading competence in a language other than English is an advantage. Applicants should state which languages they read and at what level. This is not a requirement, and there is ample material in English.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Renato Costa

Students are welcome to contact Dr Renato Costa at r.costa@uq.edu.au if they have any questions.

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

6 weeks

28 hrs per week, 11 January 2027 to 19 February 2027.

hybrid: on-site and remotely. 

Description:

This project broadly explores the involvement of organised criminal groups in crimes affecting the environment. It examines concepts around crimes affecting the environment, such as wildlife crime, trafficking in fauna and flora, waste trafficking, pollution crime, et cetera and analyses their patterns, characteristics, perpetrators, impact et cetera. Furthermore, the project analyses the shortcomings of existing international legal frameworks and efforts to develop a new instrument on combatting crimes against the environment.  National laws and law enforcement will be looked at only marginally

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables:

As part of this project, students undertake directed research on selected topics relating to organised crime and the environment. The project allows students to conduct independent, guided research in an international setting and equips students with advanced research, communication, presentation, writing, and team-work skills, specifically in this field of study. Students gain a general understanding of the criminology, policies, and laws relating to organised crime and the environment, liaise with key stakeholders in the field, and have an opportunity to present their research findings to an academic audience and, where suitable, author their own research papers. 

Suitable for:

At the time of applying, students should have completed at least two years of full-time university studies and must have completed LAWS2708 Criminal Law with a grade 6 or higher (including for their research paper).

Prior academic research work is desirable.

It is desirable if the applicant is fluent (level B2 or higher) in a language other than English.

Primary Supervisor:

Andreas Schloenhardt

Prior to submitting their application, interested students should contact the primary supervisor for further information about the project, expectations, deadlines, and to discuss any questions they may have.