School of Languages and Cultures

2026 Summer Research Program

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Engage in a formal research project over the summer break with the UQ Summer Research Program.

The UQ Summer Research Scholarship Program offers scholarships to students wishing to gain experience working alongside a researcher in a formal research environment in their area of interest at UQ.

Each project will be offered for a period of six (6) weeks between 12 January to 20 February 2026.

Successful applicants will receive a $3,000 grant.

Participation is open to undergraduate (including honours) and master by coursework students who are currently enrolled and will remain at UQ for the entirety of the research program.

Applications have now closed.

Check out some testimonials from previous scholars.

  1. Testimonies of torture in Indonesia
  2. Using Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA) to explore family discourse
  3. More than Frills and Ribbons: Translating Essays on Japanese Children’s Literature
  4. Dingo Lingo – Building a database of Indigenous words for ‘dingo’
  5. Discourse analysis of regional dialects in Korean: Preserving cultural identities
  6. Health risk and benefit communication
  1. Professional conference interpreters’ use of interpreting strategies in real-life Chinese/English simultaneous interpreting at the United Nations
  2. A review of interactional competence amongst vulnerable university students
  3. Drawing language in action: Stimuli development for language experiments
  4. Up next for Djambarrpuyŋu texts: Creating a digital corpus of Djambarrpuyŋu from legacy materials
  5. Building Indigenous languages dictionaries and learning resources

11. Building Indigenous languages dictionaries and learning resources

Project title: 

Building Indigenous languages dictionaries and learning resources

Hours of engagement & delivery mode

The project will run from 12 January – 20 February 2026 for 25–30 hours per week, with regular team meetings in a hybrid format (some on-campus engagement and scope for remote work).

Description:

Across Australia and globally, Indigenous language custodians are working to relearn and restore their languages. This project builds on the 2025 Winter Research Project and is grounded in Community knowledge and authority. In 2026, we will focus on transforming a compiled Gunya catalogue into a functional Gunya dictionary, and Mapoon Lingo wordlists into a bilingual dictionary using the FLEX (FieldWorks Language Explorer) platform.

The dictionaries will be made available in both online and print versions to ensure wide Community access. In addition, the project will support the development of learning resources, including multimedia and audio files that preserve correct pronunciation and oral traditions, alongside visual and digital content to strengthen language learning pathways.

Two research scholars will be recruited to work collaboratively under the guidance of Dr Samantha Disbray, Emily Montgomery (Gunya graduate) and researcher Janet Watts. Tasks will include:

  • Converting the catalogue into dictionary entries using FLEX software
  • Assisting with dictionary formatting and publication for online and print access
  • Recording and curating audio files of words and phrases for integration into digital resources
  • Developing supporting language learning resources, including multimedia elements

Expected learning outcomes and deliverables:

Participants will:

  • Gain advanced skills in dictionary-making using FLEX and related tools
  • Develop research and research translation skills by transforming language data into Community-focused resources
  • Acquire experience in ethical collaboration, Indigenous-led research, and digital resource development
  • Produce tangible outputs:
    • Online and print-ready Gunya and Mapoon Lingo dictionary drafts
    • Sets of audio files linked to dictionary entries
    • Prototype multimedia learning resources

Suitable for:

This project is suited to students with a background or strong interest in linguistics/applied linguistics, computational methods, digital humanities, or multimedia design, and an interest in Indigenous Languages and revitalisation.

Primary Supervisor:

Dr Samantha Disbray

Further info:

Dr Samantha Disbray (s.disbray@uq.edu.au)