annual workshop

Centre members and international partners from across Australia and internationally attended the CDM’s first in-person Annual Workshop over three days in Geelong in November.

A range of talks and events were held to provide members with the opportunity to meet, share ideas, and plan for the year ahead. Highlights of the event included:

• Research talks from Centre members and discussions across the Centre’s research themes as well as keynote presentations from AI Sara Diglio (CNRS France), PI Neil Spooner (University of Sheffield), Pippa Cole (University of Amsterdam), AI Darren Croton (SUT) and AI Ciaran O’Hare (UoS)

• A poster session with 34 posters presented by Centre students and ECRs (poster prize details below)

• The workshop dinner where Centre awards were presented by Advisory Board Chair Aidan Byrne (details below)

• A report on the National Quantum and Dark Matter Road Trip, which informed members on the National Science Week event and its impact on communities in regional and rural areas of Australia and featured some highlights from road trip participants

• An innovation activity led by AI Christine Thong (SUT)

• The launch of the Centre’s Mentoring Program 2.0 and guest speakers Hrayr Matevosyan (UoA) and Sue Barrell (Advisory Board member and chair of SUPL Ltd)

• The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee’s diversity breakfast and session with guest speaker Virginia Kilborn (Swinburne Chief Scientist) who also participated on a panel with Centre members Nicole Bell (UoM) and Zuzana Slavkovska (ANU)

• The Centre’s Advisory Board’s first in-person meeting during the workshop

• Final wrap up talks featuring Centre Director Elisabetta Barberio, CI Geoff Taylor, and Advisory Board members Aidan Byrne, Campbell Olsen and Sue Barrell

• The diversity of speakers, with women giving 40% of presentations during the event

Finally, the clear highlight of the workshop was the opportunity to meet in person and talk with members from different nodes and learn about the breadth of dark matter research happening across the Centre. Responses collected in a post workshop survey were very positive, when asked “What did you like about the annual workshop?” a majority of respondents mentioned meeting people from other nodes in person as well as:

“Finally being together in person... finally felt like a centre!”

“The collaboration and opportunity to meet other centres for the first time”

CDM Collaboration and Centre Values Award recipients

Irene Bolognino (UoA)

Irene, an experimental physicist, joined the Centre in 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide. She has become a highly visible and a well-respected collaborator throughout the Centre and has taken positive action to build collaborations on direct detection experiments across multiple nodes within the centre. She listens and is open to the opinions of others and generates a level of trust which is aligned directly with the Centre values. As speakers committee chair for the SABRE South collaboration she put effort into helping ECRs securing opportunities at conferences. As ECR representative, she has continued to work hard on behalf of ECRs and helped to organise the ECR workshop with her fellow committee members. Despite her being temporarily unable to travel, she has been engaged and present at Centre talks and activities.

Markus Mosbech (UoS)

Markus is a theoretical physicist and PhD student at the University of Sydney. He proactively supports inclusiveness across the centre as an engaged member of both the ECR and EDI committees. He was an active organiser of the ECR workshop and in all aspects of his engagement with the Centre, provides constructive and well informed ideas on improvements and initiates and participates in discussion. He has a passion about equity and diversity and works hard to make the Centre a more inclusive place. His behaviour is directly in line with the Centre values.

CDM Outreach and Impact Award recipient

Ben McAllister (SUT/UWA)

Ben is an experimental physicist and postdoctoral researcher with a joint appointment at UWA and SUT. He is an enthusiastic ambassador for the Centre, and dark matter research in general. He raises the profile of the Centre in the public eye, and devotes a significant amount of time and effort to outreach activities. He works on various channels of public engagement, both to generate enthusiasm for our research, and to enhance outcomes for school students in STEM. Ben was one of the members of the organising committee and participants on the National Quantum and Dark Matter Road Trip. He showed leadership and also trained and mentored the more junior road trip participants. He generated a lot of media and always delivers the key messages about the centre and its research in his interviews. He is a positive role model to the students and ECRs in the centre.

Best Poster Award (panel vote)

Renee Key (SUT)

For poster titled “AMPM: Asteroid-Mass Primordial Black Hole Microlensing”

Best Poster Award (Centre member vote)

Wasif Husain (UoA)

For poster titled “Consequence of Neutron Decay Inside Neutron Stars”