Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you have had a good week. There is another great article up on our website. One of our great students, Sarah Dean, promotes a wonderful application of novel meta-optics in a cross-campus collaboration. My thanks to Dr Phil Dooley for crafting this article.

It is a pleasure to thank all those who contributed to the recent annual ARPANSA audit. ARPANSA is the primary Federal regulator for most of our experimental facilities (lasers, UV, RF, ionising radiation), and crucially ANU is the only university covered by these regulations, which bring us up to world-best standard. It went so well, with no AFIs (Areas for Improvement) and best of all our second “Best Practice” commendation. Australian-wide these commendations are very rare, and a great recognition. This excellent audit result illustrates how our safety-mindedness is integrated into our research culture, and I think everyone should bask in the glow of this outcome. The photo above shows three of the principal leaders in this audit: Neha Kodwani (S&W), Dr Rick Walsh (S&W, RSPhys) and A/Prof Steve Tims (NPAA). Rick gets a special shout-out for the “Best Practice” commendation, entirely due to his innovative use of the QR codes in all of our hazardous spaces. Please take time to recognise these unique QR codes, linked to up-to-date, lab-specific information. They help you manage your hazards, and importantly your response to incidents.

I think we’ve all been noticing some absolutely breathtaking sunsets lately, and I’d like to share some of the incredible images that people have sent in to me. I’ll be including them in next week’s EH, so please send in your best pics by next Thursday.

Have a good weekend,
Tim

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

MSI Seminar - May 12

The Mathematical Data Science Centre seminar series
'New Method for Analyzing The Hole-Structure of a (Crystalline) Material: Merge Trees of Periodic Filtrations'
Teresa Heiss, Australian National University

Date: Mon 12 May 2025
Time: 12-1pm
Location: Seminar Room 1.33, Hanna Neumann Building 145

» read more

Pint of Science Australia Festival | 19-21 May

Pint of Science Australia’s annual festival is returning to pubs nationwide (19-21 May), bringing research out of the lab and to you!

• ACT: Canberra
• NSW: Newcastle, Sydney
• QLD: Brisbane, Cairns, Toowoomba, Townsville
• SA: Adelaide
• VIC: Bendigo, Geelong, Melbourne
• WA: Perth

Pint AU is a volunteer-driven initiative aiming to knock down stereotypes, build science appreciation and highlight the amazing science brewing in your own backyard through interesting and relevant talks on the latest science research that's accessible to all. 

Book your $10 tickets at www.pintofscience.com.au

'Collaboration opportunities between DArT and ANU in Agriculture and Ecology'

Andrzej Kilian
Managing Director Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT)

Date: Mon 19 May 2025
Time: 12.30pm
Location: Eucalyptus Seminar Room, Bldg #46 or via Zoom

» read more

International Day of Light Public Lecture | May 20

Celebrate the International Day of Light and the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology on 20th May 2025 at 5.30 pm with a public lecture by Prof. Hans Bachor entitled “From laser to teleporter - will dreams become reality?”. The lecture will discuss the quantum properties of light, which are the basics of much Quantum Tech being developed today. There will be some exciting demos with lasers and the photon clicker.

When: Tues 20 May 2025, 5.30pm for 6.00pm
Where: Physics Auditorium, Research School of Physics, Building 160, The Australian National University
Livestream: TBA

The event is organised by the ANU Optica and SPIE Student Chapter and TMOS, with help from the ANU Research School of Physics, Questacon, and the IEEE Photonics Society. For information, contact Optica student chapter: optica.spie.chapters@anu.edu.au

» read more

Call For Applications | The Boswell Technologies HDR Award For Space Exploration, Moon and Mars - Closing Date 30 June 2025

Applications are being sought for the Boswell Technologies HDR Award for Space Exploration, Moon and Mars. This award is intended to aid higher degree research students undertaking research in the area of space exploration and technology, Moon and Mars.

Funding is provided by the Boswell Technologies Endowment fund, established by Prof Roderick Boswell. The award could be used towards travel, acquiring of equipment or collaboration activities. The value of the award is up to $4000 that can be shared between more than one recipient.

» read more

College Hot Desking In Physics

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

EVENTS

Departmental seminars

Dr Philipp Loesel - 7 May
Self-Supervised learning for particle separation without manually annotated training data
» read more

Maths In The Pub