UQ Health

03/09/2026

If you ask Professor Derek Arnold or Loren Bouyer from UQ School of Psychology to imagine a unicorn in their mind, their experience may not be the same as yours.

They are both visual aphantasics, meaning they can’t voluntarily imagine seeing pictures in their mind. Yet Derek can imagine sound and Loren can experience vivid feelings of touch, taste and smell.

When awake, their experiences are different- but what about when they are asleep?

This was the premise of their latest research, investigating what people with aphantasia experience when they dream.

Recruiting 84 visual aphantasics and 121 non-aphantasics, participants reported on their dreams and waking experiences to determine if there were any consistencies.

Many aphantasics reported having visual dreams, so there is the argument that their brains can generate imagined experiences, but some neural process necessary for awareness of imagined sensations must fail when they’re awake.

The research suggests another possibility.

Some aphantasics might have brains that can generate a full range of different types of dreamt sensations. But other aphantasics might have brains that simply can’t create some types of imagined sensation, regardless of whether they’re awake or dreaming.

Find out more in the video below or in The Conversation Australia + NZ article linked in the comments.

If you would like to get involved in their research visit: https://www.psy.uq.edu.au/~uqdarnol/Aphantasia.html

02/09/2026

What's your poison? Is it a strong coffee? A strawberry matcha? Or perhaps you prefer a warm milky tea...☕🫖🍵

Whatever your preference, if you're enjoying it in a takeaway coffee cup, you'll be getting more than you bargained for.

Research led by Dr Elvis Okoffo, at UQ’s Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) has revealed that plastic-lined paper cups release substantial quantities of micro- and nanoscale plastic material when exposed to hot water.😮

While these particles are invisible to the naked eye, the findings add to growing global concern about everyday sources of microplastic exposure.

Learn more about the research via the link in the comments below ⬇️

01/09/2026

The University of Queensland's Associate Professor Alka Kothari is a clinician-researcher, educator, and consumer advocate, serving as Senior Staff Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Metro North Health.

Her clinical research is focused on shining a light on health inequities and social justice problems such as a lack of support for fathers and non-birthing parents 👣

Through her Metro North Health Clinician Researcher Fellowship, she developed Best Practice Principles to support fathers, non-birthing parents, and families affected by pregnancy and birth trauma,🤰👨‍🍼and she continues to work towards finding solutions to better support the next generation of birthing families.

30/08/2026

It's been 3 weeks since the census left households divided with one simple question… what is the breakdown of household labour between you and your spouse/partner?

Now, new research led by Dr Sarah Coundouris from UQ School of Psychology has uncovered that the division of household responsibilities directly impacts on relationship quality.

The research examined the ‘tri-load’ of household labour in heterosexual couples being:
🧹 physical (traditional chores such as washing, cleaning and cooking)
📆 cognitive (planning shopping lists, scheduling appointments) and;
🩷 emotional (anticipating, caring, comforting, consoling) - in heterosexual relationships.

The findings show across all three labour types, women still take on the majority of work involved in running a household, most noticeably in the cognitive load.

Women reported taking on almost 25% more of the thinking, planning and scheduling involved in running the home and organising family commitments than their partners reported.

In addition to this, the findings indicated that people in the same relationship may experience and interpret the division of household responsibilities very differently, and these differences matter for relationship quality.

Find out more below via the article in the comments ⬇️

What are some ways you split managing household demands? Tell us in the comments below.

26/08/2026

Recent research led by Dr Rezwanul Haque at UQ's Rural Clinical School, has revealed that when digital health is paired with community-controlled care, cultural safety and trusted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers, engagement with health services improves.

This suggests that community control is not simply a supporting feature of the technology - it is the active ingredient that makes it work. 😊

Two new studies from an Aboriginal community-controlled health service in rural Queensland show strong engagement with home-based virtual care, and reveal where the chronic disease burden, and the risk of digital exclusion, is greatest.

24/08/2026

Princess Alexandra Hospital hosted a Microvascular head and neck reconstruction workshop in June for surgical trainees from Papua New Guinea enabling them to tackle the growing burden of oral cavity cancer.
While surgical approaches have changed, PA’s reputation in specialist surgery – in particular microsurgery techniques - continues to bring surgeons from throughout the Pacific for training from our leading Plastic and Reconstructive surgeons and ENT surgeons.

23/08/2026

Frail older people living with chronic kidney disease have complex health needs and face higher risk of hospitalisation and death.

This was one of the driving reasons behind research led by Professor Ruth Hubbard and Dr Beningus Logan from Frazer Institute, which aimed to evaluate how an outpatient comprehensive geriatric assessment might reduce these risks.

The intervention has previously been shown to benefit older people in hospital and likely reduce hospitalisations, yet there is lacking evidence to support it’s benefit in frail older people who are living with chronic kidney disease.

The GOAL trial te**es whether providing this assessment in an outpatient clinic would help this cohort to attain their goals and improve outcomes.

Read more in the article linked in the comments.

Australasian Kidney Trials Network

21/08/2026

Congratulations to the members of the HMBS community who were recognised at the 2025-2026 Research Australia Health and Medical Research Awards!

🌟 Associate Professor Chris Freeman from UQ's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences received the Health Services Research Award.

🌟 Associate Professor Arutha Kulasinghe from UQ Frazer Institute received the Frontiers Award.

🌟 The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health team led by Professor Gita Mishra AO from UQ School of Public Health in collaboration with The University of Newcastle, Australia were Highly Commended in the DHRC Digital and Data Health Innovation Award.

🌟 A big congratulations also to finalists Associate Professor John Kemp and Professor Ruth Hubbard!

Join us in congratulating them in the comments!

20/08/2026

Have you heard of 3MT or the Three Minute Thesis?⌛

It's where PhD students compete to present their research in just 180 seconds. Given that an 80,000 word PhD thesis would take 9 hours to present these students are pretty impressive😲

At the recent HMBS 3MT Final we gave our students an even greater challenge - could they summarise their thesis in 30 seconds?

They happily rose to the challenge - hear from Afrah Islam, HMBS 3MT Winner Marisca Pereira, and Ella McGahan about their research🌟

18/08/2026

💪 Research from the UQ School of Psychology has revealed significant gaps in healthcare support for women who use performance- and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs), including steroids and peptides.💉

Researchers found many women struggle to access reliable information, specialised testing, and clinicians with the knowledge to support their unique health needs.👩‍⚕️

The research highlighted that much of the existing research into PIEDs and clinical guidance has historically focused on men, and that there is a need for greater clinical knowledge, better support pathways, and non-judgemental care for women.🏋‍♀️

https://news.uq.edu.au/2026-08-gender-gap-healthcare-female-users-performance-and-image-enhancing-drugs