Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, many of our longest serving and valued colleagues elected to take a voluntary separation package. I would like to celebrate their time with us with a morning tea on Wednesday 25th June, at 1030 in the foyer. As they will be departing at different stages of this year I have left it to local areas to recognise each individual. The School event is an opportunity to come together as a community and jointly thank them.

It is a great pleasure to thank Prof Hoe Tan for his long running service as our Associate Director (Infrastructure). I am grateful for his commitment to marshalling the biggest and most complex series of laboratories moves in our history, and for his counsel on all things infrastructure at the School Executive. Hoe has now served two consecutive terms and the School guidelines recommend that an open Expression of Interest is held for the role. The selection criteria can be found here and applications will close on Friday 27th June. I welcome all applications from ongoing academic staff, Level C and above.

This will be the third year that the Physics Executive have put in a team for the Vinnies Sleepout, a charitable initiative to raise awareness and support for the fight against homelessness across Australia. This year Prof Hoe Tan and I will represent the Executive and sleep rough on a sheet of cardboard in the grounds of Old Parliament House. If you would like to support this cause please consider making a donation to; https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/physicsanu

Above, Nav and Zuzana (FTP/NPAA) at West Wyalong High School holding a gravitational well demonstrating the influence of gravity on the universe, as part of their outreach program for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics.

Have a good weekend,
Tim

Quantum Future Talent: Open Day & Careers Fair

The Sydney Quantum Academy is hosting a Quantum Careers fair in Sydney on the 15 July. Connect with universities and employers, discover scholarships, internships, and graduate opportunities and gain insights from thought-provoking panel discussions. More information and free registration at this link (spots are limited)

Are you a researcher or part of a research team looking to maximise the impact of your work?

CSIRO's ON Innovation Program is now offering a free training opportunity — the Research to Value workshop — to equip researchers with practical innovation and engagement skills to transform their research into real-world impact.

Date: Mon 16 June
Time: 12pm-4.30pm
Location: Canberra Innovation Network, Level 4, 1 Moore Street

Registration here

» read more

3 Minute Thesis Competition 2025

Preparations have begun for this year’s Three Minute Thesis competition – the time when ANU’s PhDs are challenged to engage, entertain and inform you with the gist of their thesis in three short minutes (and not a second more!) supported by just a single PowerPoint slide.

3MT allows our PhDs to showcase not only the amazing research that we do here at ANU, but also to show off their research communication skills. To see a good 3MT presentation can be an incredibly informative, entertaining and even quite moving experience.

Training for the year begins with the launch/information session next Monday and the carries on through to the College heat on 1 July and ultimate Grand Final on 11 July. Students can attend the training without competing if they just want to brush up on their communication skills with the pressure of competition. With oral exams now very much ‘in the mix’, 3MT training has become much more relevant to our HDRs.

Please register here if you are interested.

» read more

Last week, scientists from the ANU, University of Sydney and University of Melbourne visited three rural schools in NSW to talk about dark matter with the students. The outreach science program of the Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics aims to nurture interest in science amongst students at school traditionally under-served by science education programs. After a first visit in 2024, the students from Year 8 already knew the team and received an advanced class on dark matter. New year 7s started with an introduction into dark matter. The team wants to maintain a consistent relationship with cohorts as they move through the school and continue visiting them in the following years. The lessons provide students with access to dark matter-related physics including gravitation, galaxies and the Standard Model, as well as broader topics such as scientific enquiry, experimental investigations and the evolution of scientific understanding.

_{Photos: Zuzana Slavkovska (ANU postdoc) at the Wagga Wagga High School talking to students solving mystery boxes | Left to right: Chara Lisotti, Ellen Sirks and Sharry Kapoor from USyd, Jackie Bondell from UMelb and Zuzana Slavkovska and Navneet Krishnan from ANU in front of the Wagga Wagga High School}

MSI Seminar - June 16

The Mathematical Data Science Centre seminar series
'Extreme value theory for stochastic flows'
Sandro Vaienti, Centre de Physique Théorique, Luminy

Date: Mon 16 June 2025
Time: 1-2pm
Location: Seminar Room 1.33, Hanna Neumann Building 145

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'Microbial manipulation may help safeguard the future of coral reefs'
Professor Madeleine van Oppen
^{Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Australian Institute of Marine Science, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne}

Date: Wed 18 June 2025
Time: 5pm
Location: RN Robertson Lecture Theatre, Bldg 46 or via Zoom

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College Hot Desking In Physics

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

EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Professor Yuri Kivshar - 18 June
From metamaterials to Mie-tronics and metasurfaces
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Mr Daniel Lee - 23 June
Investigation of excitation energy dependence of fission modes in actinides through transfer-induced fission
» read more