Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

Please join us next Tuesday (11th) at 1030 in the Oliphant Link tea room to celebrate the outstanding contributions of Distinguished Professor David McClelland as he hands the reins over to Professor Robert Ward, who officially (re-)joined the ANU yesterday as the new Director of the Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics. 

Thank you to those who could make the budget presentation on Wednesday. I regret that while our School continues to excel in research funding the general recurrent forecast only adds to the atmosphere of uncertainty. The Heads have a copy of the slides and I’m happy to talk further if anyone has questions.  

The School WHS committee had a productive meeting this week. A couple of recent incidents have helped us to improve processes around afterhours access and security call-outs. I am really very grateful when we can use these situations to understand the root cause(s), particularly when we can improve the systems. Without going into long detail, items outlined below;

• All access systems now align to the same definition of business hours: 0800 – 1800
• Please use ANU Security as the first contact for non-emergency, after-hours issues. I can confirm that all security officers retain and will carry the correct access cards. They will call the necessary building custodians if needed.
• Risk assessments and request for after-hours access are primarily the responsibility of supervisors.
• Our WHS team can assist with the review of RAs, but ultimately sign-off is by the supervisor.
• If you are planning to move laboratories you will need to establish a new RA. Please coordinate with our WHS team to do this well before the move.

At present the WHS team have a lot on and RA reviews may be held up. While they are still based in our School they are periodically called away on other ANU business. Nonetheless, the lack of their review should not delay the completion of an RA, even if in draft.

“A Grolisher? What’s a Grolisher”. With all due respect to Julia Donaldson and her “Gruffalo”, our monster-equivalent weighs in at 16 tonne, stands 7.5 metres and is blue. Simon Foxcroft is seen above showing the scale of the preparation for the installation of the Grolisher. Watch this space.

I hope you enjoy the long weekend.
Tim

Call For Physics Problems – ANU Physics Society Weekly Challenge

The ANU Physics Society is looking for original physics problems to feature in their new Weekly Physics Challenge! They want to engage students in problem-solving and critical thinking by posting thought-provoking challenges each week on their social media.

The ANU Physics Society welcome problems at a range of difficulty levels, but are especially keen on those that are accessible to first-year students while still being interesting and engaging. 

If you’d like to contribute, please send your problem(s) with solutions to anuphysicssociety@gmail.com. Please also mention whether you would like to be credited, or kept anonymous, with your submission.

Your support in fostering an engaging and curious physics community at ANU is greatly appreciated!

2025-2026 Round of the Oxford PhD Exchange (ANU to Oxford University) – Applications Open

The Australian National University (ANU) has been invited to nominate up to two Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates for the 2025-2026 round of the Oxford PhD Exchange (ANU to Oxford University). 

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Quantum Science and Engineering Fellowships

The EPFL QSE Center has the pleasure to launch its second call for QSE postdoctoral fellowships. This fellowship offers motivated young researchers from Switzerland and abroad the opportunity to carry out their research in collaboration with the EPFL QSE community on cutting-edge topics in quantum science and quantum engineering.

The submission deadline is 18 March 2025 and the earliest project start is August 2025.

Please read carefully the eligibility requirements and submission process of this second call in the “Guide for Applicants”, available on the webpage.

For further info or if you have any questions please email: qse@epfl.ch

Oliphant Bldg. Meeting Rooms - Closed

All Oliphant (Bldg. #60) Meeting rooms will be closed from 12/12/24.

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College Hot Desking In Physics

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

EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Dr Samuel Poincloux - 12 March
Frictional troubles in knit mechanics
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Professor Saman Aryana - 14 March
A Multiscale Perspective on Flow in the Subsurface
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