Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure to thank Prof Andrew Truscott for his continued leadership of QST. When you next see Andrew please congratulate him on being reappointed for another 3 years as Head of Department.

Below, perhaps an unusual photo from me this week taken at the Press Club’s annual post-budget lunch at Parliament House on Wednesday. While the words “research” and “university” were conspicuously absent in speeches I did want to share with you my thoughts as I left the Great Hall with somewhat dejected colleagues from other universities. With an inner smile I was reminded of some sageful words from a great leader of the ANU. In a time of sector-wide crisis, focus on what differentiates you from the pack. With sincere praise of all the work done by you we have manifestly differentiated ourselves, continuously over the past three quarters of a century. It is vitally important that we continue doing what we do so well. With our strong base of Centres of Excellence (we’re in four new bids), joint PhD exchanges and training Centres, industry partnerships and agency engagement, and the distinct pleasure of teaching many of the brightest young physicists in the country - you have all worked to differentiate ANU Physics for so long. Thank you. I’m certain our ethic will carry the day, through sunshine and rain. Anyway, that’s what I left Parliament thinking and felt it important to share with you. As the Dean recently reflected with us, we are a very highly achieving school and that helps us to look beyond immediate troubles. For those of us who work with numbers, a calibrator for this positive expression came out last week. The QS rankings again recognise our international standing, but with some poignancy as the whole of the Australian physics/astronomy sector is slipping in unison. Our very best remedy in my view is to lean into our great international collaborations and we’ll be in good company. I’ve attached an rankings update here, now including the Times Higher Ed data.

A reminder to all staff who are yet to finalise their Focus PDRs with their supervisors. The next phase of the annual review starts next week and it is essential to have goals set before then.

Above, the ANU stand at the Avalon Air show in Victoria this week (photo credit: Dr Dougherty). Featuring on the splash screen all week you’ll see our John Close in full flight, figuratively speaking. From all accounts ANU had a great week with many new contacts to follow up.

I hope you have a great weekend,
Tim

Schmidt Science Fellows For 2026 - Applications Due By COB 15 April

RSPhys HDR candidates are invited to apply for the 2026 Schmidt Science Fellows award.

Interested candidates should provide:

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

Please send your nomination documents to hdr.physics@anu.edu.au by COB 15 April 2025

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See below for videos of a fun and engaging teaching activity conducted this week in the PHYS1101 first-year lab. 

The session, led by Dr. Logan Davis and supported by Dr. Dige Wang, and lab demonstrators, introduced students to physics modelling and data analysis through an interactive experiment using a programmed robot arm to drop marbles.

Students had the opportunity to explore key physics concepts hands-on while collecting and analysing data from the marble drops. The activity sparked curiosity and encouraged critical thinking, making for a lively and productive learning experience.

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Join us for an evening of numbers, patterns, and surprises at Math in the Pub, where local experts will explore the beauty of mathematics in a fun and casual setting.

Date: Tues 13 May 2025
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: Smith’s Alternative, 76 Alinga St, Civic

Register

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Inspiring Australia ACT is funding eight positions in the Science Comedy Program for researchers, scientists and post-graduate students.

The program, which begins on Monday 24 March, involves a series of group and 1:1 online workshops to improve the public speaking and storytelling skills of science professionals.

Positions are being filled now - applicants who apply early are very likely to be selected. 

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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 Teams
Thursday Mornings
^{Lv2 Tearoom, Bldg 160}

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EVENTS

Final PhD Seminar - 27 March

Impact of nuclear structure on elastic scattering of weakly interacting particles with nuclei - Ms Raghda Abdel Khaleq

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Final PhD Seminar - 28 March

THE 2HDM+a/s: SIMPLIFIED MODELS FOR DARK MATTER DETECTION AND THE 95 GEV ANOMALY - Mr Navneet Krishnan

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