Director's Message
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue33 1–31 October 2022
I’m writing this message while at SSO observing on the AAT - with clear skies, for a change!
Yesterday was the SSO Open Day, and it was a great success. It’s estimated that about 2000 visitors came to Siding Spring, and the feedback I received in wandering around and talking to people was very positive. The weather was mostly kind, with a bright, clear morning and only a brief shower mid-afternoon. There were lots of families with kids of all ages and great audience questions at the many talks held during the day and at Science in the Pub on the previous evening. The success of Open Day was down to the excellent work of the SSO team who organised the event (Mike Sharrott, Zoe Holcombe, Marty Gordon, and Brad Condon), the enthusiasm of the large number of volunteers from both SSO and MSO who spent the day talking to visitors, and the engaging talks provided by all the speakers. Special thanks go to our Bok Lecturer, Prof. Susan Scott from CGA and RSPhys, who gave a wonderful talk on gravitational waves and LIGO.
Last week I attended a very enjoyable workshop in Perth held in honour of Ken Freeman’s 80th birthday (delayed by a mere 2 years by COVID). The 3-day event at UWA was organised by Prof. Peter Quinn, one of Ken’s former students, and featured a diverse and distinguished group of friends and collaborators, ranging from very recent students and postdocs back to Ken’s first-ever student, Prof. Garth Illingworth. The event was capped off with a very enjoyable dinner celebrating Ken’s many achievements over his extraordinarily long and productive career.
Garth Illingworth will be visiting ANU this week and giving a public lecture on the James Webb Space Telescope on Thursday, 6 October, at 7pm. Other significant upcoming events include:
- Stromlo Student Seminars, Duffield Lecture Theatre, 14-15 Nov
- ASTRO 3D annual retreat, Adelaide, 21-25 Nov
- ESO delegation (including the Director General) visiting Australia; in Canberra 29-30 Nov (more information to follow)
As a reminder, the various ARC Fellowship schemes have upcoming deadlines; you can see the internal College of Science deadlines and other information for ARC Discovery (DECRA/Future/Laureate) Fellowships by following the links here and for ARC Industry (Early/Mid/Laureate) Fellowships by following the links here. Please consider applying yourself, but also encourage good people from elsewhere to consider coming to ANU on an ARC Fellowship - and in either case, let me know of potential applicants!
Matthew Colless
