DrPeter Mc Donald

Project

Title: Student Engagement and Academic Performance in Anatomy and Physiology

Summary of opportunity:
This project will apply advanced statistical modelling to investigate the relationship between student demographics and engagement metrics on academic performance in anatomy and physiology within the School of Medical Sciences. The aim is to better understand students performance, and devlop a novel web based tool help identify students at risk of failing inform evidence-based curriculum design to mitigate this.

Opportunity:
A postgraduate student (PhD or Honours) is sought to work on a project that will model predictors of student success using institutional learning analytics data, identify at-risk students early in semester, and develop a translatable engagement-monitoring framework applicable across institutions. The project builds on an ongoing study at the University of Canberra and will be extended to the University of Sydney's medical science stream. Findings will inform teaching practice and student support strategies across health and medical sciences.

Project 

Title: Physiological Adaptations Influencing Performance Improvements with Heat Acclimation

Summary of opportunity:
This project aims to investigate the influence of the various physiological adaptations that accompany heat acclimation — including plasma volume expansion, haemoglobin mass increases, enhanced sweat rate, and reductions in core temperature — on the mechanisms driving performance improvements under heat stress.

Opportunity:
An Honours student is sought to work on a project that will systematically examine which physiological adaptations induced by heat acclimation most strongly contribute to improvements in exercise performance. By reviewing and synthesising the existing literature, the student will evaluate the relative contribution of each adaptation and identify gaps in the current evidence base. Findings will provide a clearer mechanistic framework for understanding heat acclimation as a performance-enhancing intervention, with implications for athlete preparation and applied sport science practice.

Project Opportunities

Title: AI-Assisted Assessment Marking in Health and Medical Sciences

Summary of opportunity:
This project will aim to establishe a comparative framework to evaluate AI-generated versus human marking across multiple assessment types in health and medical sciences, examining grading accuracy, consistency, and student perception of AI feedback.

Opportunity:
Up to two honours students are sought to work on sub-projects examining AI marking across different assessment formats — short-answer questions, written and poster assessments, and laboratory reports. 

Additional Project Opportunities

The following projects are available for Honours students across physiology and education themes. Projects can be tailored or combined to suit student interests — prospective students are encouraged to make contact to discuss scope and supervision arrangements.

Physiology

• Open-Access Heat Acclimation Database — systematic review and interactive online resource
• Altitude and Hypoxia — meta-analysis and online physiological estimation tool

Education

• Modelling Engagement Metrics and Student Performance Across the USYD Medical Science Stream
• Multi-Site Study: Student Engagement and Performance Across Australian Universities
• Physiology Major Consensus Across Australian Universities
• Practical Laboratory Development — publishable open-access resource