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Director's Message
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back to those who took a break over the semester break and school holidays. And with Semester 2 starting next week, the campus is starting to come alive again.
First, I am pleased to announce two new members of the HDR Convenor team, Andrew Kingston from the Department of Materials Physics and Ksenia Maximova from the Department of Quantum Science and Technology. Thank you to both for stepping into these important roles. Supporting our HDR students and program is critical to the research success of the school, and I look forward to working with them both. This appointment completes the recent recruitment round, with all HDR Convenor vacancies now filled. This also brings me to some important changes in this space. In coming weeks, we will no longer have Luda or any in-person support located in our School for our PhD students. I will share details as they become clearer but at this stage our nearest in-person HDR hub will be at the Research School of Chemistry. Please reach out to either myself, your HoD, or student representatives with concerns and questions regarding this change. I am mindful of the impact this will likely have on our students (and supervisors) and am working with the central teams regarding solutions. In the meantime, I would encourage HoDs and supervisors to check in with their students during this transition, to make sure they feel supported and know where to turn with questions.
This week's research highlight comes from the Department of Quantum Science and Technology. A new paper in Physical Review A, with Isabelle Savill-Brown as first author, working with Dr Zain Mehdi, Dr Simon Haine and Professor Joe Hope, presents a new laser addressing scheme for trapped-ion quantum computers. The design allows any two ions in a chain to be rapidly entangled without disturbing the ions between them, an approach the team likens to a quantum Newton's cradle. See our news page for the full story. The work has also attracted linkage funding with IonQ, a United States based company building trapped ion quantum computers, and points towards a path for scaling these systems to the hundreds of qubits needed for practical applications. Congratulations to the whole team, and particularly to Isabelle, who began this work as an honours student and is now a PhD student with the group. If you would like your own work featured as a future research highlight, submissions can be made here, or feel free to email me directly.
S3B has released a Discussion Paper on the National Semiconductor Roadmap for Australia and is seeking input before the Roadmap is finalised. Given the strength of our semiconductor research groups and cleanroom activity, this is of importance to the School. The paper and more information, including webinars and the survey, can be found here. The consultation period closes on 31 July.
A final reminder that the IVC is hosting an all-staff Community Meeting here at Physics tomorrow, Tuesday 21st July, from 10.30 to 11.30am. Register here if you would like to attend.
Jodie |
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MSI | Colloquium
'Trading Linearity For Ellipticity: A Low Regularity Lorentzian Splitting Theorem'
Robert McCann (University of Toronto)
This lecture explores recent progress in the development of an analogous theory in Lorentzian signature, whose ultimate goal is to provide a non-smooth theory of gravity. In particular, we establish a low regularity splitting theorem by sacrificing linearity of the d'Alembertian to recover ellipticity. We exploit a negative homogeneity, $p$-d'Alembert operator for this purpose. The same technique yields a simplified proof of Eschenberg (1988) Galloway (1989) and Newman's (1990) confirmation of Yau's (1982) conjecture, bringing all three Lorentzian splitting results into a framework closer to the Cheeger-Gromoll splitting theorem from Riemannian geometry.
Date: Thurs 23 Jul 2026
Time: 4-5pm
Venue: Seminar Room 1.33, Hanna Neumann Building 145 » read more
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Westpac Future Leaders Scholarship
Looking for a scholarship to support your postgrad studies or research?
Applications for 2027 Westpac Future Leaders Scholarships, each valued at up to $120,000 open on 24 June 2026.
Open to commencing postgraduate or research students ready to lead in sustainable futures, innovation, social change or Asia-Pacific leadership. This scholarship offers flexible funding, a nine-month leadership program and overseas opportunities to support your studies and grow your leadership potential.
Want to learn more? Register for our Online Information Session on Thursday 23 July 2026, 1.00 - 2.00pm AEST.
Applications close 20 August |
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HDR Student Rep Wanted For CoSM IDEA Committee
Got opinions on making CoSM more inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible? We want to hear them! Join the College IDEA Committee and help shape real change.
How To Apply
Apply by 23 July 2026 » read more
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ACT Space Workforce Strategy | Student Consultation EoI
The Canberra Cyber Hub is currently undertaking a project to better understand the current and future workforce needs of the ACT space sector and identify opportunities to strengthen Canberra's position as a leading centre for space capability, innovation, and economic growth.
As part of this work, they are seeking input from students who may be considering careers within the broader space ecosystem. On Thursday 6 August from 3:00pm - 4:30pm, they will be holding a virtual student consultation to explore perspectives on career pathways, workforce attraction and the factors that influence decisions to live and work in Canberra.
In particular, they are hoping to include:
- A mix of undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students.
- Primarily domestic students, with limited places available for international students; and
- Students from disciplines relevant to the broader space ecosystem, including engineering, computing, cyber security, data, physics and related fields.
As places are limited, completing the form does not guarantee participation. Attendees will be selected to ensure an appropriate mix of study levels, backgrounds and perspectives. They will confirm participation directly with selected students and provide the Teams invitation. » read more
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InnovationACT - Registration Open
Are you passionate about innovation? Excited to turn bold ideas into real-world impact?
Register for InnovationACT and pitch your game-changing business concept to a panel of highly acclaimed judges to win from a pool of $10,000 AUD!
This opportunity is open to students and staff at the Australian National University, University of Canberra, University of New South Wales Canberra, Canberra Institute of Technology, and Australian Catholic University Canberra.
Over four weeks in August, teams will learn how to validate customer problems, test and evolve ideas, build a sustainable business model, and develop strong pitching skills. Program finalists pitch to a panel of judges for the chance to win funding.
To register and find out more, follow the link: https://cbrin.com.au/programs/iact
Registration closes 12 noon on the 10th of August. |
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Staff Movements
Prof Jodie Bradby will be on leave from 14/8/26 through 1/9/26
Prof Cedric Simenel & Prof Hoe Tan will be acting Director over this period*
Prof Greg Lane will be on leave from 14/7/26 through 21/7/26
Kaitlin Cook will be acting HoD over this time » read more
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College Hot Desking In Physics
HR, RM & Finance Teams
Thursday Mornings
Lv2 Tearoom, Bldg 160 |
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University Travel
- When booking travel for any type of University business, it is mandatory to use ATPI - » read more
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Director's Colloquium - 29 July
Quantum mixtures and quasiparticles: From impurities to exotic quantum phases - Professor Meera Parish » read more
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Know your administrators...
Nikki Azzopardi, Belinda Barbour, Petra Rickman & Holly Zervos » read more
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Know your HDR Convenors...
Dr Michaela Froehlich
Dr Lilli Sun
HDR Convenors
A/Prof Vanessa Robins
Associate Director HDR |
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Know your Student Reps...
Lingxiao Li, Lakshmi Raja, Jessica Wierbik, Sheil Sequeira, Luke Johnstone & Taskil Dastoor
hdrsreps.physics@anu.edu.au |
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HR Support For CoSM SharePoint
The People and Culture division have re-aligned work within functional teams to improve consistency and quality of advice across the University. » read more
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ANU Staff Card Printing And Collection
New and replacement staff cards will now be printed and collected from different locations. » read more
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Research Opportunities Funding Portal
Explore current and upcoming grants, funding opportunities, and a curated collection of forms, templates, and resources to support your research journey. » read more
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Free Flu Vaccinations
The University is committed to supporting staff health and wellbeing during the upcoming flu season. Free vaccinations are available this year, with three options to choose from:
1. On campus at the ANU Medical Centre (appointment bookings are available from 31 March 2026)
2. On campus at the ANU Pharmacy – book via the QR code on the Safety and Wellbeing webpage or attend as a walk-in
3. Off campus at a Terry White Chemist. Access the TWC voucher code in HORUS (valid until Friday 31 July) » read more
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