Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you had a pleasant weekend.

Many academic staff will be familiar with the highly successful NECTAR program, the ANU network for early career researchers. NECTAR celebrates a decade of great work and tomorrow (12th Oct) will host an open forum spanning topics such as making the most of the ANU environment, identifying your transferrable skills and engaging with industry. Dr Ian Carter (NPAA) is one of the four co-Chairs of NECTAR and helped to put together an interesting list of speakers for the program, including former Nuclear Physics staff member Dr Kaitlin Cook, now at Missouri State University. I encourage you to look at the program here. There is something there for everyone, irrespective of the stage of your career.

At the School Executive meeting last Thursday the concern was raised for students being unable to travel home for such a long time, compounded by the uncertainties around returning to Australia. If you have concerns please speak with your supervisor and the HDR Team directly. 

Professor Joe Hope and I had the pleasure of talking to the parents of commencing first year students at the Weihai campus of Shandong University on Saturday night. Each of the four ANU Science Schools involved in this program spoke with their respective disciplines (Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics). The entire first year cohort in Weihai, around 300 students is soon to commence our “Freestyle Physics” course, a cornerstone course in the Joint Science College. It was great to see our colleagues in Weihai again, as well as a new group of enthusiastic students.  

…great news, I have just had notice that ANU Council have noted the VC’s endorsement of our new Departments names. We can now officially use the new names. I will be publishing some guidelines on usage in the next EH edition.

Have a good week,
Tim

ANSTO FutureNow Scholarships

The ANSTO FutureNow Scholarships fund projects that support ECRs and HDR students working on industry-focused projects. Successful candidates work under the guidance of some of Australia’s leading scientists and may obtain access to ANSTO’s state-of-the-art facilities. Applications require an industry partner and must lie in one of the listed focus areas. Applications are open academics at any career stage – the scholarship recipient can be recruited post-award, or may already be identified.

» read more

PhD Top-up Scholarships for Ocean and Sea Ice Modelling

Are you interested in understanding ocean physics, and do you have skills in computational/mathematical modelling?

The Consortium for Ocean-Sea Ice Modelling in Australia (COSIMA) is providing opportunities for PhD students to work at the intersection of high-performance computing and ocean-climate dynamics. Projects are available focusing on a wide range of topics, including:

1. The role of sea ice in the climate system;
2. Modelling biogeochemical cycles in the global ocean;
3. Coupling between surface waves and large-scale currents;
4. Antarctic ice shelves and their interaction with the Southern Ocean; and
5. The sensitivity of ocean dynamics to vertical coordinate systems in ocean models.

The scholarship closing date is 30 November

» read more

Professional Development Workshop – Online Influence

Come along and join Arabella Macpherson, keynote speaker and communication skills coach of 15 years. She will give you the skills and structures you need so you’re not left guessing whether your message has landed or not. Know what to do, when to do it and how to do it to have the most impact.

Date: 14 October
Time: 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Register via the link: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/influencing-online-tickets-174968815437

» read more

Understanding Pensions - A Webcast by UniSuper Management

Thursday, 28 October 2021 at 5:30PM

When you’re thinking about retirement, it can be tough to understand the options available to you.

If you’re interested in finding out about in the next chapter, our Understanding Pensions webcast will discuss the different types products available, and the considerations when selecting a product that’s right for you. 

» read more

ANU Templates

Do you need ANU letterhead, PowerPoint slides, or an ANU minutes template?

Sign in to ANU SharePoint for current ANU templates.

Need to Schedule a Meeting with the Director?

For ANU Outlook users
Open a new invite for Director.Physics@anu.edu.au, and use Scheduling Assistant to propose a mutually convenient time and send.  

For all others
Please send an email request to Director.Physics@anu.edu.au 

Tim will reply to any meeting requests ASAP

RSPhys Store

Stores will be physically staffed, though operating at reduced capacity with no face to face interactions. 

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EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Mr Mohammad Rashidi Shahgoli - 13 October
Design, fabrication and characterisation of III-V nanowire random lasers
» read more

Mr Matthew Parry - 15 October
Photon-pair generation via bound states in the continuum in nonlinear metasurfaces
» read more

School Seminar Program - 14 October

Testing atomic QED and quantum entanglement with metastable helium Bose-Einstein condensates - Dr Sean Hodgman

» read more

HDR Progress Milestones

Students and supervisors can access information on HDR progress milestone requirements on the School Intranet.

NISDRG ARC Webinar

The ARC is organising (on behalf of ONI and Defence-NSSTC) a NISDRG Round 2 Information webinar, which will provide information to university Research Offices and potential eligible applicants about NISDRG.

NISDRG Round 2 - Webinar information
Friday 15 October 2021 from 11:00am-12:00pm (AEDT)

» read more