A Serious Game for Simulating Fruit Fly Scenarios and Predicting Effective Response Strategies

Description

We are seeking an outstanding candidate for a Flinders PhD Enterprise scholarship, aimed at exploring the application of digital simulations and AI technology for helping fight against the growing threat of fruit flies in South Australia. This exciting project will be carried out in partnership between Flinders University and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). The project will be based in Adelaide, South Australia and will have an industry-based component with SARDI’s crop sciences and biosecurity research divisions.

South Australia is currently the only mainland state where fruit flies have not become established, and maintaining this status is vital for the continuing success of the region’s horticulture industry. Changes in fruit fly numbers can be affected by various environmental, governmental and social factors, including the landscape, weather, temperature, availability of food sources, and restrictions to travel and overseas imports. The South Australian Research and Development (SARDI) institute, under the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA), employ various monitoring and management programs to control fruit fly populations. Alongside more traditional insecticides, management includes the placement of pheromone lures and the sterile insect technique (SIT).

However, the overall effectiveness of these procedures and the best practices for identifying suitable times / locations for carrying them out are still far from confirmed. SARDI currently collects a wide range of relevant information about past / current fruit fly populations and management procedures. Modern AI-backed simulations and data mining techniques may prove effective at predicting potential fruit fly hotspots, along with recommending suitable proactive and reactive responses. This proposed project will focus on the planning, development, and evaluation of a simulation-based serious game for modelling and predicting the spread of fruit fly populations across South Australia.

Conducted research will include, but is not limited to, the following areas of interest:

1. Digitisation and analysis of relevant recorded information, including fruit fly population numbers, management procedures (bait/trap locations, SIT drops, etc.), weather recordings, crop plantation regions, outbreak restriction zones, etc.
2. Development of an environmental model for accurately representing the realistic spread of fruit fly populations and their response to external factors. This will be achieved through a combination of expert knowledge and automated parameter tuning based on recorded observation data.
3. Implementation of a front-end interface for allowing users to simulate the changes and behaviour of fruit fly populations in response to various stimuli, such as adjusting each of the previously identified environmental features and management procedures (lure placements, SIT release points, outbreak zones, etc.). The ability for humans to interact with the simulation directly can be applicable for education or training.
4. Procedural generation and simulation of plausible fruit fly outbreak scenarios within our developed simulation. This can be used to identify potential gaps or limitations with current fruit fly management procedures.
5. Training machine learning prediction models to identify future hotspots or regions of concern. These prediction models will be trained using previously gathered real-world data, and fine-tuned / evaluated using our generated digital simulation scenarios.
6. Utilizing AI search and planning techniques to identify suitable actions for reducing fruit fly numbers in both control (proactive) and response (reactive) situations. This AI functionality will initially be trained and evaluated using our digitally generated scenarios, after which real-world sensor data will be applied to provide actionable and explainable management procedure recommendations.

Benefits

The scholarship includes:

• A stipend valued at $42,000* per annum (2026 rate) tax free
  • 2026: $42,000
  • 2027: $44,100
  • 2028: $46,305
  • 2029: $48,620.25
• The scholarship will be awarded for 3.5 years, plus an additional 6 months of leave provision.
• A Research Training Program Fee Offset Scholarship to cover tuition fees for Australian Citizens, NZ Citizens and Permanent Residents. International students are also eligible to apply, an international fee waiver can be granted.
• An additional research student maintenance fund of $12,000 to support necessary travel and equipment costs.

Eligibility

We are seeking a candidate with a strong background in computer science and/or software engineering, who can address the research areas of interest listed in the above project description. However, demonstration of an understanding of computational, data-driven and/or simulation-based techniques within an agricultural context will also be considered

To be eligible for the award of this scholarship a student must:

• be an Australian citizen; or New Zealand citizen; or have been granted permanent resident status; or are international citizens with the ability to secure necessary student visas; and
• meet PhD admission requirements including: have an Australian Honours degree Class 1 or 2A or equivalent qualification (at least AQF Level 8), including a research component of at least 6 months’ full-time study achieving Distinction (75%) OR including evidence of equivalent research experience, such as a substantial first-author refereed publication or track record as an investigator on a competitive grant; and
• be available to commence as a full-time PhD student at Flinders University in Semester 2, 2025; or Semester 1, 2026.

Note. Both domestic and international students are eligible for this scholarship.