Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

ANU Open Day was a spectacular success and my thanks to all who attended. The images above and below were one of the many attractions to the Physics stand. I believe the main inspirators where Siobhan Ryman and Prof Jodie Bradby, with very many nimble fingers contributing to the beading in the week leading up to the day.

With thanks to Professor Lachlan Blackhall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Dr Josephine Munro (EME) and Dr Rocio Camacho Morales (EME) who have been awarded ECR International Travel Grants.

For the quantum and optics community you may be interested in attending the inaugural Australian Quantum Communications Forum, hosted by CSIRO at the Academy tomorrow. Please sign-up here. Included in the line-up of speakers from around the country include, (from QST) A/Prof Matt Sellars, Dr Rose Ahlefeldt, Dr Jie (Sophie) Zhao and Dr Kate Ferguson (InSpace).

You may have noticed last week I tried to break a fundamental law of physics and escape the Event Horizon (meaning I failed to get the edition out). My apologies, I now appreciate the gravity of this job!

Have a good week.
Tim

When Rosemary Zielinski was offered an honours project to develop a theory of quantum tunnelling, her first thought was, 'but that’s already done – I studied that in second year!'

Quantum tunnelling is a well-documented example of quantum weirdness; particles that, according to Newton’s Laws, should (because, for example, like charges repel) never have the energy to get through barriers, over potential hills and into close proximity, do so.

» read more

Starting from 4th March, the ANU MakerSpace at Physics North will no longer be included in the default Physics card access group. Everyone who enters this space will need to be a fully inducted MakerSpace member. This includes people who choose to transit through the space to visit the Physics North Mechanical Workshop.

If you are unsure whether your induction is current, check your induction status via our Induction Checker.

To sign up for an induction, start here.

Schmidt Science Fellows For 2025 Award

Applications are open for Schmidt Science Fellows for 2025 award.

Interested candidates should provide:

• current CV with details of relevant publications, and academic history;
• a letter of recommendation from the HDR Program Convenor;
• a personal statement outlining their motivations aligning with the selection criteria; and 
• a brief description of their PhD research including PhD topic title.

In addition, to the HDR Program Convenor must provide confirmation (via email) that the nominee is of ‘good academic standing’ – see further details below.

Please send your nominations to CoS (Alison Scott) via hdr.cos@anu.edu.au by COB Thursday 18 April.

Nominated candidates will be invited to apply directly to the Schmidt Science Fellows program via an application portal from 09 May 2024. They will be required to provide, in addition to the above, their academic transcripts, at least three (no more than five) letters of recommendation, a proposal outlining their future research plans, and three short outlines of potential labs in which they may carry out this research.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Alison Scott via hdr.cos@anu.edu.au.

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Dr Maryna Bilokur took out the prize at the inaugural Life as Postdoc in STEM competition, with a talk journaling her postdoc journey with the metaphor of surfing waves of enormous size, at times feeling isolated and on the verge of a massive wipe-out.

“I hope you haven’t felt this way,” she said. “But I have, at times.”

Dr Bilokur’s passion to succeed and support other post-docs impressed the judges, Dr Xiaolin (Shannon) Wang, from the School of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics, Dr Galina Levitina, from the Mathematical Science Institute and Dr Li Li Australian National Fabrication Facility ACT Node. Dr Bilokur is in the Experimental Plasma Science Group at RSPhys.

» read more

The Equity and Diversity Committee is always looking for new people to help contribute to improving the environment in Physics. There are a number of ways to get involved, with a variety of events and tasks throughout the year. If you would be interested in joining the committee, or even just helping organise a one-off event during the year, please contact either of the committee co-Chairs, James Sullivan or Glenn Myers. 

Australian Academy of Science 2025 Awards & Funding Opportunities

The Australian Academy of Science 2025 awards and funding opportunities are now open. Nominations for the Academy’s prestigious honorific awards for scientific excellence close on 1 May 2024. Nominations and applications for research awards, travelling fellowships and research conference funding close 1 June 2024.

Please see below full details on funding opportunities and for further information and closing dates, please see here: 2025 awards and funding opportunities | Australian Academy of Science

If you have any questions or intend to apply for any opportunities, please contact the College Research Office.

Nominations are now open for the annual Young Tall Poppy science awards that recognise and celebrate the achievements of Australian scientists. Closing date for nominations is 22nd April 2024. Please visit the website for more details.

Quad Fellowship – Elevating The Brightest Minds In STEM For Collective Good

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is pleased to announce the application for the second cohort of the Quad Fellowship is now open to exceptional master's and doctoral students in science and technology who demonstrate academic excellence, exceptional results in their field, and a desire to use their talents to promote collective good. The fellowship, initiated by the Quad countries of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, and administered by IIE, sponsors exceptional master's and doctoral students to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the United States.  

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College Hot Desking In Physics

Finance, HR & RM Teams
Thursday Mornings
^{Lv2 Tearoom, Bldg 160}

EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Dr Gail Iles - 22 March
RADICALS: The electromagnetic radiation shield tested in space
» read more

Professor Kazuhiro Yabana - 26 March
Computational Optical Science at the Atomic Scale: First-Principles Approach
» read more

Professor Cass Sackett - 26 March
Atom Interferometry on Earth and in Space
» read more

From Previous Weeks...

The Ian Potter Foundation Opportunity - Environment is Open For EOI

AINSE Postgraduate Research Award (PGRA) Open