Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

The week has just zoomed by, at least I can wish you all a pleasant weekend and finish with some good news.

Thank you everyone who helped with the ARPANSA inspection last week, and for closing out the final report yesterday. We did extremely well with some minor “Areas For Improvement”, which have mostly been corrected already. What filled me with enormous joy was the award of a “Good Practice” commendation. The gentle title of this award belies the significance of the recognition as they are very, very rarely achieved. They are reserved to draw special national attention to exemplars of excellence in work place safety. A huge amount of the credit goes to Dr Rick Walsh (above) and his WHS Training Plan Tool. Our ARPANSA inspectors were impressed at the ability to coordinate training currency with access to hazardous areas, something Rick’s code manages by mapping disparate data sources into a seamless system. I couldn’t be happier.

It’s a great pleasure to congratulate Bel Smith (below) on her appointment as the CoS portfolio HR Manager. Many of us have benefitted over the years working with Bel and I’m so pleased to see her in the top College HR role.

Don’t forget that May Day (1st May) is the census date for PDRs.

…and for those who haven’t had enough chocolate, there's still some lonely eggs out there.

Cheers,
Tim

ANU scientists Lindsey Bignell (NPAA), Victoria Uttaree Bashu (NPAA) and Zuzana Slavkovska (NPAA) travelled to Melbourne to visit SUPL (Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory). SUPL, located in an active gold mine, will soon host SABRE South, the first dark matter experiment in the southern hemisphere. The detector consisting of ultra-pure scintillating crystals will be deployed in a large vessel filled with 12 tonnes of liquid alkyl benzene, which will help to distinguish false signals from those of the hoped-for dark matter. The location deep underground will minimise the interference from cosmic radiation.

Zuzana, Lindsey and Victoria are a part of the Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, the organisation responsible for the construction of SABRE South. They are working on the design, testing, as well as the construction of this state-of-the-art experiment.

Furthermore, Nic Vevers from the Science ANU media team joined the scientists on the exciting underground lab visit. Nic is working on a short documentary exploring the SUPL SABRE project.

Pictures (taken by Nic Vevers): Zuzana and Lindsey performing testing works in the SABRE South vessel/Victoria in the SUPL hall that will host the SABRE South experiment

Dress For STEM Photo Competition

To show support for Women* in Science we want to see you working (it) in your purple!

The Dress for STEM photo competition is open to all those working in or related to STEM at ANU– academic staff, technical staff, administrative staff, and students of any gender identity.

This year’s theme is #InspireInclusion, participants should take a photo working in their roles in purple.

A prize of $200 will be awarded to the group photo judged to be the most in line with this year’s theme of inclusion.

The deadline for submissions is 3pm, 15th April, 2024. Photos can be submitted to this link https://forms.office.com/r/wsYQnCyScS

Please contact Lara or Neelima (co-chairs of WiPAE) if you have any questions.

Fedor Kovalev for being accepted into the Student Leadership program, which brings together 100 student members worldwide for a focused professional development initiative. This program coincides with Optica's annual conference, Frontiers in Optics (FiO), and will take place in Denver, Colorado, USA, from 22 to 26 September 2024.

Physicists have devised an ultra-thin dynamic amplifier for electromagnetic radiation using a parametric metasurface.

A parametric metasurface is a thin composite material with small-scale surface structure, whose properties vary periodically over time, a recent advance beyond static or tunable metamaterials. The design enables significant control of freely propagating input radiation, including amplification of up to 10 decibels.

» read more

Launch of The ANU Industry PhD Framework & Q&A Session On Industry PhDs

Date: Thursday 18 July 2024
Time: 10-11:30am 
Location: RSSS Auditorium, 146 Ellery Crescent

You are invited to the launch of the ANU Industry PhD framework, which has been developed to compliment the Australian Government’s National Industry PhD Program and the CSIRO iPhD. 

Join for an information and Q&A session where you can learn about the three different options of linking PhD projects with a research end-user. 

This will be a key opportunity to ask questions about industry PhDs, talk to the providers and discuss your ideas.

Limited places available. For more information and free tickets please head over to the event website. 

Did you know we have a parents’ room for staff in Physics? This is set up to support you on the days you may have to bring your kids to work. It also has several private breastfeeding/pumping areas, along with lockers to stall equipment and other supplies that might be useful. The room has a variety of books, toys and games for younger children as well as a desk where you can set up to work while you are there. Located in the Cockroft building – room C4.36, next to the walkway above the mechanical workshop – access can be arranged through Nikki at Reception in the Oliphant Building.

Defence Innovation Network Forum On Nuclear-Powered Submarines

ANU will host the Defence Innovation Network Forum on Nuclear-Powered Submarines – For further information and registration details 'read more'.

Date: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Time: 11.00-14.30
Location: ANU

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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, and any further questions to Alison Scott (CoS) via hdr.cos@anu.edu.au by COB Thursday 18 April.

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College Hot Desking In Physics

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

EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Ms Bianca Rae Sambo-Fabricante - 9 April
Probing the coherence of trapped exciton-polariton condensates
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Carers’ Career Development Assistance Fund (CCDAF)

The Carers' Career Development Assistance Fund (CCDAF) Round 1, 2024 is currently open, with closing date Friday 5 April 2024. 

» read more

From Previous Weeks...

AINSE Postgraduate Research Award (PGRA) Open