Queensland COVID-19 research

This page of Queensland’s research related to the COVID-19 pandemic is compiled from information provided by Queensland universities and research institutes.

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2. Parent organisation (any) Australian Centre For Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) Bond University CQUniversity Griffith University James Cook University Mater Research QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Queensland Health Queensland University of Technology The University of Queensland The University of Queensland, and The Prince Charles Hospital University of Southern Queensland University of Sunshine Coast University of the Sunshine Coast Wesley Medical Research
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• Statistical modelling to support clinical decision making for critically ill COVID-19 patients September 2021

  Many patients hospitalised with COVID-19 require admission to intensive care. Currently, critical care specialists are faced with complex decisions about which treatments work best for different patients, in particular the use of respiratory and life support. This Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship project led by Dr Nicole White with QUT’s Centre for Healthcare Transformation will develop sophisticated statistical models to assist clinicians with these decisions to improve patient outcomes and optimise the use of healthcare resources. The first outcome from this study a comprehensive appraisal of respiratory system static compliance in mechanical ventilation COVID-19 patients from a large international observational study characterised trends in key clinical variables associated with respiratory function in COVID-19 patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation. Results suggest that poor respiratory function at the start of mechanical ventilation is associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19.

  #Data science

  Centre

  Centre for Healthcare Transformation
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Dr Nicole White
  Research Fellow
  nm.white@qut.edu.au
  +617 3138 6228

  Collaborations

  • The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation
  • The Prince Charles Hospital
  • COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium

• The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce - Primary and Chronic Care Committee August 2021

  As clinicians work to provide the best possible care for Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working to keep them up-to-date with the latest evidence. Clinician researchers Prof Sarah Larkins, James Cook University and Dr Mark Morgan, Bond University co-chair the Taskforce Primary and Chronic Care Panel. This panel is synthesizing emerging evidence about best care for people with acute COVID-19 and longer term symptoms following COVID-19 infection. This is presented in clinical flowcharts and recommendations, to assist clinicians at the point of care.

  #Treatment#Epidemiology#Data science#Evidence based guidelines

  Centre

  Anton Breinl Research Centre for Health Systems Strengthening
  James Cook University

  Contact details

  Prof Sarah Larkins
  Director, Research Development, DTHM
  sarah.larkins@jcu.edu.au
  +614 0888 2639

  Collaborations

  • Collaborators:
  • National COVID19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce - Prof Julian Elliott
  • A/Prof Mark Morgan - Bond University
  • Prof Mieke van Driel, The University of Queensland

• ‘Corona? 5G? Or Both?’: The Dynamics of COVID-19/5G Conspiracy Theories on Facebook May 2021

  Focussing in detail on one key component of the infodemic surrounding COVID-19, this research traces the dissemination dynamics of rumours that the pandemic outbreak was somehow related to the rollout of 5G mobile telephony technology in Wuhan and around the world. Drawing on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods including time-series analysis, network analysis and in-depth close reading, our analysis shows the dissemination of the rumour on Facebook from its obscure origins in pre-existing conspiracist groups through greater uptake in more diverse communities to substantial amplification by celebrities, sports stars and media outlets. The indepth tracing of COVID-related mis- and disinformation across social networks offers important new insights into the dynamics of online information dissemination and points to opportunities to slow and stop the spread of false information, or at least to combat it more directly with accurate counterinformation.

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Digital Media Research Centre
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Prof Axel Bruns
  Program Leader - Digital Publics
  a.bruns@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 5548

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers:
  • Associate Prof Stephen Harrington
  • Dr Edward Hurcombe

• COVID-19 a perfect storm for conspiracy theories May 2021

  Researchers from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre have taken a deep dive into their world to trace wild rumours on social media claiming the coronavirus was caused by 5G technology. They found what was once being preached to the already converted was quickly fanned further afield by social media and celebrities spreading the message.

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Digital Media Research Centre
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Prof Axel Bruns
  Program Leader - Digital Publics
  a.bruns@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 5548

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers:
  • Associate Prof Stephen Harrington
  • Dr Edward Hurcombe
  • Collaborators:
  • Monash University (Melbourne)
  • Syracuse University (USA)
  • Cardiff University (UK)

• Spatial mapping of COVID-19 infected tissues May 2021

  We used cutting-edge spatial mapping tools to identify and compare cells in the lungs of COVID-19 patients, to that of influenza and healthy tissue. This work has identified genes which are exclusive to COVID-19 and may be used to stratify disease severity early on.

  #Data science#Diagnostics#Immunology

  Centre

  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Dr Arutha Kulasinghe
  NHMRC Research Fellow
  arutha.kulasinghe@qut.edu.au
  +617 3138 6227

  Collaborations

  • Collaborators:
  • Dr Fernando Guimaraes Diamantina Institute
  • Prof Gabrielle Belz Diamantina Institute
  • Dr Kirsty Short School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
  • Prof Ken O’Byrne Institute of Health Biomedical Innovation, QUT
  • A/Prof Melissa Davis, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
  • Dr Chin Wee Tang, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

• First 100 days of COVID-19 - Australian Twitter users’ concerns mapped May 2021

  Twitter users were well ahead of the Federal Government in calling for shutdown of large sporting events, mass gatherings and schools. According to analysis of the 2.8 million tweets mentioning coronavirus during the first 100 days of COVID-19 on the Australian Twittersphere undertaken by team led by A/Prof. Daniel Angus from the Institute for Future Environments’s Digital Observatory, Twitter users turned to medical experts for information while governments discussed measures. “In early to mid-March Twitter users began putting pressure on the federal and state ministers to shut down non-essential gatherings with tweets containing #coronavirus, the leading hashtag followed by #covid19, and the third most common hashtag at this time was #auspol, long used for political discussion” A/Prof Angus said. A/Prof Angus continued “When the story of this pandemic is written historians will have an unprecedented amount of as-it-happened data from social media.”

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  A/Prof Daniel Angus
  Associate Professor in Digital Communication
  daniel.angus@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 8160

  Collaborations

  Collaborators: Visualisation and eResearch

• Automating Infectious Disease Surveillance with Artificial Intelligence May 2021

  During viral pandemics, bacterial infections can significantly increase disease severity and result in unnecessarily high death rates. Disease severity is further complicated by high rates of antimicrobial resistance. This Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship project led by Dr Brian Forde at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research will evaluate and develop an integrated artificial intelligence platform to automate and enhance existing genomic surveillance practices to reduce the burden of these infections when healthcare resources are stretched.

  #Data science#Diagnostics

  Centre

  Centre for Clinical Research
  The University of Queensland

  Contact details

  Dr Brian Forde
  Fellow in Microbial Bioinformatics
  b.forde@uq.edu.au
  +61 7 334 65042

  Collaborations

  • Forensic and Scientific Services
  • Pathology Queensland
  • Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
  • Princess Alexandra Hospital

• QUT and Oxford researchers collaborate on new COVID-19 asthma drug trial July 2020

  QUT mathematician, physician and Australian Research Council Future Fellow, A/Prof. Dan Nicolau, is a lead researcher in the STOIC (STerOids In COVID-19) trial. A/Prof Nicolau and Prof. Bafahdel from University of Oxford had noticed early in the pandemic that people with asthma and the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were under-represented in the numbers of seriously ill COVID-19 patients. The STOIC trial is looking at whether asthma inhalers given to people with early stage COVID-19 can reduce progression of respiratory illness and cut emergency department presentations and hospital admissions. Prof. Nicolau and the QUT team will be coordinating trial data analysis, modelling of pathological mechanisms and building COVID-19 maths models to explain and use the clinical trial data to optimise patient treatment, while Prof. Mona Bafahdel will lead the clinical trial with about 500 patients. Some patients will be given the inexpensive, widely-prescribed inhaler medication corticosteroid budesonide that is used to prevent and control asthma symptoms, while others are given a placebo. Budesonide acts to reduce irritation and inflammation of the lungs and airways.

  #Data science#Treatment

  Centre

  Science and Engineering Faculty, School of Mathematical Sciences
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  A/Prof Dan Nicolau
  Future Fellow, Science and Engineering Faculty
  dan.nicolau@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 5238

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers: Alexander Hasson - QUT Honours student
  • Prof. Mona Bafahdel - University of Oxford
  • A/Prof. Dr Nabil Fadai - University of Nottingham

• The data science of COVID-19 vaccination September 2021

  This project, led by Professor Raja Jurdak, from QUT’s Trusted Networks Lab, is concerned with diffusion modelling on highly dynamic networks, to cover diffusion processes ranging from disease spread, the spread of computer viruses, or the diffusion of trust in a network.

  #Data science

  Centre

  Trusted Networks Lab
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Prof Raja Jurdak
  r.jurdak@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 4249

  Collaborations

  • University of New South Wales
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • CSIRO
  • University of Melbourne

• Social Media Analytics using machine learning algorithms to understand the mental health status as a result of COVID-19 lockdown July 2020

  COVID-19 has caused significant disruptions to normal life resulting in deteriorated physical and mental health. Medical professionals are struggling to handle the levels of mental trauma. Using sophisticated AI algorithms, this USQ project attempts to classify the mental health state of a person from numerical and textual data and fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Image) images of the brain. Numerical and textual data is collected through a simple survey. The primary goal of this research is to develop a model that aids the medical practitioners to analyse heterogeneous data from a wider population through a single affordable test to classify a patient’s mental state including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety, stress, depression, bipolar disorders and phobia pertaining to the context of COVID-19.

  #Data science

  Centre

  Centre for Health Research
  University of Southern Queensland

  Contact details

  Prof Raj Gururajan
  Raj.Gururajan@usq.edu.au
  +61 7 3470 4539

  Collaborations

  • Xiahui Tao (USQ)
  • Xujuan Zhou (USQ)
  • Rajendra Acharya (Singapore)
  • Revathi Venkataraman (India)
  • Dr Soman Elangovan (Belmont Private Hospital - Brisbane)

• Using Artificial Intelligence to prioritise emergency calls for suicide prevention due to COVID-19 pandemic August 2020

  Suicide rates in Australia could rise by 50% due to COVID-19. Emergency helplines receive many hoax calls, which waste valuable resources and risk lives. Genuine distress causes involuntary physiological changes in people’s voices. This Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship project led by Dr Rajib Rana from the University of Southern Queensland’s School of Sciences will develop artificial intelligence algorithms to detect genuine distress in caller’s voice. Enabling better service prioritisation, the project would save lives and conserve valuable resources.

  #Data science

  Centre

  School of Sciences
  University of Southern Queensland

  Contact details

  Dr Rajib Rana
  Senior Lecturer (Computer Science)
  Rajib.Rana@usq.edu.au
  +61 7 3470 4234

  Collaborations

  • Metro North Mental Health Services
  • NetCare Holdings Pty Ltd

• Like a Virus: The Coordinated Spread of Coronavirus Disinformation June 2020

  This report for the Centre for Responsible Technology at the Australia Institute by Dr Timothy Graham and co-researcher at the QUT Digital Media Research Centre presents analysis of over 25.5 million tweets over 10 days identifies 5,752 accounts that coordinated 6,559 times to spread mis- and disinformation regarding the coronavirus for either commercial or political purposes. Almost all politically motivated activity promoted right wing governments or parties. Coordinated spreading of the China bioweapon conspiracy theory is estimated to have made over 5 million impressions on Twitter users, spread by mainly pro-Trump, partisan conservative and/or QAnon accounts.

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Digital Media Research Centre
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Dr Timothy Graham
  Senior Lecturer
  timothy.graham@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 8187

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers:
  •  Prof. Axel Bruns
  • Guangnam Zhu - Digital Media Research Centre
  • Rod Campbell - The Australia Institute