Students as Partners Project Grants

Focus area: Assessment practice & Inclusivity in learner engagement

Staff partner: Timothy Boye

Student partners: Evangelina Darmaputra & Laura Veasey

This project aims to investigate how attendance and participation requirements at UTS impact students with health conditions and disabilities. The goal is to develop a supportive and flexible framework to enhance inclusivity, reduce barriers, and promote academic success for all students.  

Focus area: Teaching practice

Staff partner: Dr Amir Armanious

Student partners: Kayla Duncan & Eloise Spencer

This project aims to enhance students’ professional skills by providing hands-on experience with industry-standard tools and realistic business scenarios to foster practical learning, critical thinking, and cross-functional collaboration. 

Focus area: Academic support

Staff partner: Simon Au

Student partners: Joshua Liam Buxton, Kelly Thai & Phan Nguyen

This project aims to improve students’ professional communication skills and boost their confidence as they transition into the workplace by enhancing and digitising the HELPS Communicating in the Workplace resource into a flexible, engaging, and practical training module tailored to real-world professional contexts. 

Focus area: Academic support

Staff partners: Xianzhi Wang

Student partners: Jihoon Choi & Kimgech (Yong) Pov

This project aims to enhance student engagement and retention in STEM lectures by transforming traditional content into interactive, modular learning experiences to make learning more dynamic, accessible, and effective for students.

Focus area: Academic support

Staff partner: Sarah Kinker Miller

Student partner: Ghaiath Almustafa

This project aims to equip students, particularly graduate and HDR students, with accessible and engaging tools to effectively present and clearly communicate complex research to diverse audiences. 

Focus area: Teaching practice

Staff partner: Benny Wilson

Student partner: Kate Kelly & TBC

This project aims to immerse teacher education students in holistic, culturally responsive approaches to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, enriching their teaching knowledge and classroom practices. 

Focus area: Policy and process review & Inclusivity in learner engagement

Staff partner: Esita Sogotubu

Student partners: Jennifer Latif & Juliette Latif

This project aims to review existing UTS policies and procedures related to students with disabilities and provide actionable recommendations to enhance awareness, reduce stigma, and foster inclusive conversations around support in both academic and career preparation contexts. 

Focus area: Policy and process review

Staff partner: Elizabeth Brogan

Student partners: Jessica Pan, Massimo Fathulla & Natalie Nguyen

This project aims to support the clinical placement experience for Bachelor of Nursing students by streamlining the process of navigating and swapping placements to improve placement flexibility, reduce administrative burden, and empower students in managing their clinical experiences. 

Focus area: Academic support

Staff partner: Lee Wallace

Student partner: Peter McKenzie

This project aims to build confidence among UTS sport science students by increasing awareness, guidance, and access to career pathways and external qualifications to help students navigate their academic and professional journeys more effectively. 

Focus area: Academic support

Staff partners: Angelica Syed, Lilieta Fauonuku

Student partners: Ayush Prajapati, Jongmin Kim & Muneef Azwad

This project aims to enhance the student experience by reducing barriers to information, improving service accessibility, and supporting academic success through seamless administrative processes. 

Focus area: Academic support & Inclusivity in learner engagement

Staff partner: Elaine Laforteza

Student partners: Paskalina Faidiban & Napoleon Charles Kambu

This project aims to support the wellbeing, academic success, and time management of student mothers as they navigate the challenges of balancing university and family life by providing student mothers with accessible, empathetic, and empowering tools to thrive in their academic journey. 

Focus area: Policy and process review

Staff partners: Aaron Seymour & Luke Sharp

Student partner: Camila Perez Marin

This project aims to strengthen communication, collaboration, and a sense of belonging between students and staff in the newly merged FASS and DAB faculty by shaping faculty-level responses to change. 

Focus area: Academic support

Staff partner: Marc Carmichael

Student partners: Adithya Kumar, Jeremy Chu & Mike Engelsman

This project aims to empower students in their learning journey by improving accessibility and awareness of existing creative and technical spaces, while developing skill-based, objective-driven programs that promote hands-on learning and innovation within the Faculty of Engineering and IT. 

This project aimed to address challenges first-year Bachelor Nursing students face such as fast-paced learning, gaps in scientific knowledge and inadequate study strategies which hinder academic success and clinical confidence. These issues were addressed by implementing weekly workshops and podcasts focused on study techniques, content mastery and clinical preparedness. These strategies resulted in better content retention, increased confidence, boosted preparedness and reduced feelings of anxiety within students.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Jack Cornish.

This project aims to assess the perceptions and attitudes of UTS HDR students and recent graduates towards open science and open-access publishing. Based on the findings, recommendations have been provided to increase awareness and engagement with open-access tools and practices among students, better preparing them for the evolving landscape of academic publishing.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Helen Chan.

AI Across Disciplines project aimed to improve Generative AI (GenAI) among UTS students from non-technical disciplines. Through research, a short, non-reward course was built on Canvas UTS. The course aims to engage students by providing foundational AI knowledge in an accessible manner and equip students with the skills to navigate and apply AI technologies responsibly in their academic and professional careers.

Read more about their GenAI Literacy course on this blog post.

The course is now available for self-enrolment on Canvas.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Dr Antonette Shibani.

The HIPPOS project aimed to raise students' awareness on building professional portfolios by utilising their university projects to showcase their skillsets, helping them become more adaptive, employable, and prepared for their future career. A Canvas site on portfolio building and reflective learning was developed and tested with a group of Games Development students. A showcase was held for student participants to display their portfolios to faculty staff, academics and peers. Five student participants expressed that if it wasn't for this project they would not have had a portfolio.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Jason Do.

This project sought to identify gaps in students knowledge and comfortabilities surrounding audio technology, jargon, and radio journalism. A set of 11 informative and accessible zines were developed and distributed to students to empower and enhance their engagement to university content. Areas addressed include choosing microphones, organising and structuring Digital Audio Workstation sessions, patching, using the radio panel, producing interviews and using different online programs necessary for radio.

You can view the zines on our UTS Library Digital Collections page here.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Dr Liz Giuffre.

'Keeping BCII Warm' explores insights and recommendations into the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation (BCII) student experience on the challenges faced during interstitial breaks between BCII subjects. Recommendations explored include strategies for retaining knowledge, strengthening skills and taking opportunities to connect amongst peers.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Beate Mueller.

This project seeks to examine the current application of loss and bereavement policies, with a focus on special consideration procedures at UTS. The findings aim to guide the development of a comprehensive systematic, and trauma-informed framework that can support students in navigating the administrative processes associated with special consideration in the context of bereavement.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Jo Tilly.

The Tapasā: Pasifika Student Empowerment Initiative was launched to support Pasifika students at UTS by addressing their unique challenges, including isolation and limited access to culturally relevant academic resources. This initiative aimed to foster belonging, confidence, and academic success while celebrating Pasifika cultural identity. A project launch showcase was hosted in collaboration with the Tapasā: Pasifika Student Empowerment Initiative.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Christine Afoa.

The Timetable Tune project sought to gain insights into the needs of students during their timetabling and enrolment experiences, using a human-centred design approach. The outputs included key recommendations for optimising the student journey, and key digital systems including 'MyTimetable'  interface, with the aim to reduce student stress, confusion, and cognitive load, and enhance the overall navigation experience. The result will lead to more satisfied students who feel empowered, and confident for their studies ahead. 

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Mischa Damon.

This project aims to investigate challenges faced by ADHD university students and identify practical and proactive strategies. These proposed recommendations seek to create a more inclusive and supportive academic environment that enables ADHD students to fully engage with their education and succeed academically.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partner, Nathan Langford.

The First Year Narratives project is a collection of digital stories that amplify the voices of students typically marginalised and underrepresented in universities. Through recorded in-person interviews, these narratives reveal knowledge gaps amongst community and support systems offered at UTS and enhances the understanding of unique cultural needs of UTS's diverse student body. A project launch showcase was hosted in collaboration with the Tapasā: Pasifika Student Empowerment Initiative SaP group.

For more information, please contact the Staff Partners, Amanda Moors-Mailei  and Regan Gauci.