Director's Message

Dear Colleagues,

This week, Prof Cedric Simenel, our Associate Director Research, will give a presentation on Horizon Europe and the new ARC National Competitive Grants Program at 11am today (Monday) in the Physics Auditorium. Cedric will cover the changes to existing schemes as well as information on the new schemes now available, and there will be time for questions at the end. There has been a lot of movement in this space recently, so I would encourage anyone who is thinking about applying in the next round or two to come along.

A reminder that Physics Project Market Day is this Thursday 24 September, from 11:30am to 2:00pm in B160. New this year is the alumni careers panel discussion at 1:15pm in the auditorium, and I would particularly encourage our HDR students to come along to that, especially anyone curious about careers outside academia. We also have several companies joining us this year, so there will be plenty of people worth talking to and plenty to see.

This year's John Carver Seminar Series was held last Friday 18 September and was a terrific success. Congratulations to our prize winners - The John Carver Prize went to Neil Lu from the Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics, the Dean's Prize to Thomas Hort from Materials Physics, the Director's Prize to Xiang Lian, also from Materials Physics, and the People's Choice to Yue Bian from EME, with an Honourable Mention to Iqra Maryam from Materials Physics. This seminar series is always a real pleasure, and this year was no exception. Thanks to Ksenia Maximova (HDR convenor) and to our students reps for organising -especially Lakshmi Raja and Noah Baldwin for chairing on the day and Lingxiao Li and Sheil Sequeira for helping with planning. Thank you also to our judges, Adrian Sheppard, Ludovic Rapp and Namisha Chabbra who had the difficult job of separating a very strong field. 

This week's research focus comes from the Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications. A new paper led by Kaitlin Cook and the Nuclear Reaction Dynamics group builds on Misty Lakelin's 2024 Honours work, which showed that the fission of radium-220 is influenced by a quantum shell effect at or near mass symmetry, favouring fragments with proton number 44. By studying the isotopic chain from radium-216 through to radium-221, the team has confirmed that the shell effect is driven by Z=44, and that it becomes stronger in the more neutron-deficient isotopes, which is the opposite of the standard fission modes seen in actinides such as uranium. The lightest isotopes also showed evidence of a mode at Z=42 or Z=46, suggesting that as many as four different quantum shell effects are at play, and raising the question of whether a classical liquid drop picture of fission makes much sense at moderate excitation energies. The measurements were made here at ANU using HIAF and the CUBE detector array, and this is the first paper published using the new high-energy room temperature buncher, where the improvement in beam timing was a significant advantage in disentangling some very complex behaviour. Congratulations to Kaitlin and the team, and you can read the paper here. As always, please do keep the submissions coming, either  here or by emailing me directly.

Hope to see everyone at Market Day on Thursday.

Jodie

iLAuNCH ANU Space Health Team Seeking Volunteers

Would you like to support space health research? 

Researchers from the iLAuNCH ANU Space Health team are seeking volunteers aged 18-55 to participate in a study supporting the development of next-generation wearable health monitoring technologies for space medicine.

Participants will complete a short cycling exercise while wearing non-invasive sensors that measure bio-signals such as heart rate, temperature, blood flow and movement. The session takes less than one hour and will be conducted in the Leonard Huxley building. Participants will receive a $20 Coffee LAB voucher as thanks for their time.

To learn more or register your interest, contact SpaceHealth.physics@anu.edu.au or complete the study sign-up form: Space Health Bio-signal Study Sign Up Form. Eligibility criteria apply.

We were delighted to host the South Pacific Environmental Radioactivity Association (SPERA) Conference at the ANU Research School of Physics from 14-17 September 2026. Attendance was strong, with 67 delegates, four keynote speakers, and 34 presentations from Australia, Denmark, Japan, Norway, and the United States. The conference provided an important opportunity for researchers, industry representatives, government agencies, and emerging experts to share knowledge and strengthen connections. The event was coordinated by Dr Michaela Froehlich and supported by colleagues across the Research School, helping to create a valuable forum for networking, strengthening and establishing collaborations.

Australian National Internships Program

Experience the heart of Australian policy-making and politics through the Australian National Internships Program. ANIP internships are open to current undergraduate and postgraduate students from all academic disciplines.

Applications for ANIP Internships for Semester 1 2027 (for placements in February to May) are now open and will close on 30 September 2026.

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Staff Movements

Prof Greg Lane will be on leave from 15/9/26 through 25/9/26
^{Ed Simpson will be acting HoD during this time}

College Hot Desking In Physics

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

RSPhys Executive Meeting Minutes

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EVENTS

Physics Project Market Day - 24 September

11:30am-2pm, Physics Foyer & Auditorium

Director's Colloquium - 30 September

Has LZ discovered a potential particle dark matter signal - Professor Celine Boehm

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ANU Open Research Access

As a matter of policy, research papers must be made open access via deposit in any repository such as arXiv, or the ANU Open Research Repository.

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