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Optimising physical environments in early childhood services for children’s development

This project is closed for international students.

Project summary

Program
PhD
Location
Herston
Research area
Education, Health sciences, Psychology

Project description

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services are increasingly located in diverse places and building types, including suburban sites, commercial centres, and multi-storey or high-rise developments. Yet little is known about how these physical environments shape children’s daily experiences, development and wellbeing.

As demand for ECEC rapidly expands, high-quality evidence is urgently needed to guide decisions about where services should be located and how their environments can best support young children.

This PhD project offers an opportunity to investigate how the places (location, site type, surrounding neighbourhood) and spaces (building form, height, outdoor access) of early childhood services influence children’s developmental outcomes.

Working within a large, multidisciplinary research program, you will explore how diverse physical environments support or hinder children’s development, drawing on perspectives from developmental science, environmental psychology, human factors and built-environment research.

You will collaborate with Queensland’s regulatory authority, child advocacy partners and an international architecture group to generate evidence that can inform licensing, assessment and planning decisions. The project will contribute to the creation of evidence to inform guidelines for physical environments in early childhood services.

This PhD is ideal for students interested in the intersection of children’s development and the environments in which they grow. Students from psychology, developmental science, environmental psychology, human factors, public health, urban planning, or related fields are encouraged to apply.

Research environment

You will join the Child Health Research Centre at The University of Queensland as part of the Brain Health and Early Development Research Group. You’ll be part of a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team with expertise in developmental science, environmental psychology, human factors and early childhood systems.

The project is embedded in a major multi-phase program in partnership with Queensland’s regulatory authority, child advocacy organisations, and an internationally recognised architectural research group.

You will contribute to a large, real-world study involving early childhood services across metropolitan Brisbane. These services span a range of locations and building types, from suburban centres to commercial, multi-storey and high-rise settings, offering a unique opportunity to understand how children’s environments vary and how these differences relate to development.

Your work will help build a clearer picture of the how these physical environments shape young children’s everyday experiences.

Through your candidature, there will be opportunities to develop a broad and highly transferable skillset, including:

  • observing and assessing physical environments using digital tools and sensors to capture features such as light, noise, temperature and other spatial conditions
  • evaluating interactional quality in early childhood rooms using established observational systems
  • collecting developmental data, including parent-report questionnaires and tablet-based cognitive assessments for young chiidren
  • working with wearable-device data to understand children's patterns of activity, sleep, and light exposure
  • building analytical capabilities, including working with longitudinal data, environmental measures and statistical approaches such as multilevel modelling.

Overall, this project offers an exciting chance to build expertise at the intersection of children's development and the physical environments in which they grow, and to contribute to research with real potential to shape policy, planning, and the future of early childhood service provision in Australia and internationally.

Applications will be judged on a competitive basis taking into account the applicant's previous academic record, publication record, honours and awards, and employment history.

 

Scholarship

This is an Fellowship support scheme scholarship project that aligns with a recently awarded Australian Government grant.

The scholarship includes:

  • living stipend of $37,500 per annum tax free (2026 rate), indexed annually
  • your tuition fees covered.

Learn more about the Fellowship support scheme scholarship.

Supervisor

Preferred educational background

Your application will be assessed on a competitive basis.

We take into account your:

  • previous academic record
  • publication record
  • honours and awards
  • employment history.

A working knowledge of child development, environmental psychology, human factors, planning, built-environment concepts or related behavioural sciences would be of benefit to someone working on this project.

You will demonstrate academic achievement in the field(s) of child development, psychology, environmental psychology, human factors, planning, public health, built-environment studies or related behavioural disciplines, and the potential for scholastic success.

A background or knowledge of child development, environmental measurement (e.g., light, noise, temperature), observational research methods and analytical skills for working with longitudinal or multi-level data is highly desirable.

How to apply

This project requires candidates to commence no later than Research Quarter 1, 2027. You can start in an earlier research quarter.

You must submit an expression of interest (EOI) by the closing date for the research quarter (RQ) you want to start in:

  • RQ 1 (January): 30 September
  • RQ 2 (April): 31 December
  • RQ 3 (July): 31 March
  • RQ 4 (October): 30 June.
  • RQ 1 (January): 30 June
  • RQ 2 (April): 30 September
  • RQ 3 (July): 31 December
  • RQ 4 (October): 31 March.

Before you apply

  1. Check your eligibility for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
  2. Prepare your documentation.
  3. If you have any questions about whether the project is suitable for your research interests, contact Associate Professor Sally Staton (s.staton@uq.edu.au).

When you apply

To apply, submit an expression of interest (EOI) for the program. You don't need to apply separately for the project or scholarship. How to submit an EOI

In your EOI, complete the 'Scholarship/Sponsorship' section with the following details:

  1. Are you applying for an advertised project: 'Yes'
  2. Project: 'Fellowship project scholarship'
  3. Scholarship Code Listed in the Advertisement: OPTIMISING-STATON
  4. Link to Scholarship Advertisement: https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/optimising-physical-environments-early-childhood-services-childrens-development

Submit an EOI

This project is not available to international students

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