Professor Alain Aspect Senior Scientist at Institut d'Optique and Professor at Ecole Polytechnique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France 

Born in 1947, Alain Aspect is a graduate of the ENS at Cachan and the Orsay University, and was awarded the "agrégation" in physics in 1969. After completing his PhD in optics (Fourier holography), he spent 3 years teaching at ENS in Yaoundé (Cameroon). In 1974 Mr. Aspect began a series of experiments at the Orsay Institute of Optics, to test the foundations of quantum mechanics (Bell inequality testing) with pairs of correlated photons, which served as the subject for his doctoral thesis that was presented in 1983 and that became a standard reference. He then carried out experiments on the quantum properties of states of light involving a single photon, with his student Philippe Grangier. From 1985 to 1992, he worked with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji at the ENS and at Collège de France to develop methods of cooling atoms by laser (cooling using a single photon). Since 1992, Mr. Aspect has led the Atomic Optics group which he set up at the Institute of Optics. His current research is focused on Bose Einstein condensates and atomic lasers. He is also Research Director at CNRS; a Professor at Ecole Polytechnique, where he lectures on Lasers and Quantum Optics; and a member of Académie des Sciences and Académie des Technologies. Alain Aspect has been awarded the Max Born prize by the Optical Society of America; the Holweck Prize (Institute of Physics and Société Française de Physique); the Von Humboldt prize (Germany) and the Carnegie centenary chair in Scotland. He is also fellow of OSA.

The Congress Organisers gratefully acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics.

Professor Andy Buffler, Department of Physics, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Andy Buffler completed his PhD in experimental nuclear physics at the University of Cape Town in 1998, focusing on the use of fast neutron scattering for the detection and identification of contraband. Since then he has developed techniques to measure the spectral fluence of fast neutron beams, and experimentally characterized instrumentation for detecting neutrons in extreme conditions, such as those found at high altitude and in space. More recently, he is working on the establishment on a Positron Emission Particle Tracking facility in Cape Town for the visualization of flow at an industrial scale. Professor Buffler also researches issues relating to physics education at university level, with a particular emphasis on the role of models and visualization in physics teaching and learning, and students' understanding of measurement and uncertainty. He received the Distinguished Teachers' Award at UCT in 2002, and the Award for Collaborative Educational Practice in 2007. View abstract

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS, UK

Dr Burnell graduated from the University of Glasgow with a B.Sc. in physics in 1965 and received her Ph.D. from New Hall of the University of Cambridge in 1969. At Cambridge, she worked with Hewish and others to construct a radio telescope for using interplanetary scintillation to study quasars, which had recently been discovered (interplanetary scintillation allows compact sources to be distinguished from extended ones). Detecting a bit of "scruff" on her chart recorder papers that tracked across the sky with the stars, Bell Burnell found that the signal was regularly pulsing, about once each second. Temporarily dubbed "Little Green Man 1" the source was eventually identified as a rapidly rotating neutron star. After finishing her PhD, Bell Burnell worked at the University of Southampton (1968-73), University College London (1974-82) and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (1982-91). In addition, from 1973 to 1987 she was also a tutor, consultant, examiner and lecturer for the Open University. In 1991 she was appointed Professor of Physics at the Open University, a position she held for ten years. She was also a visiting professor at Princeton University. Before retiring Bell Burnell was Dean of Science at the University of Bath between 2001 and 2004, and was President of the Royal Astronomical Society between 2002 and 2004. She is currently Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Mansfield College. She has been elected President of the Institute of Physics for the year commencing October 2008. View abstract

Professor Steven Carlip Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, U.S.A. 

Steven Carlip obtained his PhD. from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1987. After three years of postdoctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Study, he moved to the University of California, Davis, where he was made Professor in 1998. Professor Carlip has research interests in quantum gravity, string theory, low dimensional quantum field theory, black holes, and quantum geometry and topology. In recent years, he has concentrated on three areas: looking at lower-dimensional quantum gravity as a testing ground for approaches to the full quantum theory; trying to understand the quantum black hole; and exploring a variety of aspects of quantum gravity and "low dimensional physics." He runs an innovative "Careers in Physics" seminar for graduate students which brings in speakers with physics degrees who have jobs outside academia, to describe their work and also to give some nuts-and-bolts advice about how to get a job. Professor Carlip is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Divisional Associate Editor of Physical Review Letters, and last year held the Kramers Chair at the University of Utrecht. View abstract

Professor John Ellis, CERN, Switzerland 

After studying mathematics and theoretical physics at Cambridge and then spending two years at SLAC (the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) and Caltech, John Ellis joined CERN in 1973. He is currently a senior scientific member of staff at the Theoretical Physics Division of CERN. He is also Advisor to the CERN Director-General for relations with Non-Member States. Much of his theoretical work has been directly linked to experiments at CERN. In particular, he has been working for many years on physics possibilities for the LHC collider now starting operations at CERN. He also has an active interest in cosmology, particularly models for dark matter. Between 2004 and 2007 John was a member of the Council of the UK funding agency PPARC, and is currently a member of the Science Board of its successor, STFC.

Marvin A. Geller Professor Ph.D., 1969, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Solar Variability Influences on the Earth's Climate

Professor Marvin A. Geller Ph.D., 1969, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Marvin Geller has been a leading researcher in the atmospheric sciences for almost four decades now. His research specialties are atmospheric waves, middle atmosphere, and climate variability. He has authored about one hundred papers in leading international journals. He has also supervised many PhDs who now are themselves leaders in the atmospheric sciences. His international activities include being co-founder of the SPARC (Stratospheric Processes and Their Role in Climate) project of the World Climate Research Programme, as well as co-chairing its Science Steering Group for a decade. He also was elected twice as President of SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee for Solar-Terrestrial Physics), an ICSU Interdisciplinary Body during the period of initiating its CAWSES (Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System) program. He has received several honors for his accomplishments, including his being a Fellow of both The American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union; award of NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal; and being awarded the COSPAR International Cooperation Medal. The Congress Organisers gratefully acknowledge the support of The Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Fund in sponsoring the visit of Professor Geller. View abstract

The Congress Organisers gratefully acknowledge the support of The Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Fund.

Dr. Michael Geyer Abengoa Solar S.A., Sevilla, Spain

Dr.-Ing. Michael Geyer obtained his Physics Diploma at the University of Tübingen in 1981 and holds a Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Essen. Since 1981 his professional activities have been dedicated to the development of renewable energy systems with special emphasis on solar power plant technologies, including positions as researcher and deputy director at the German Aerospace Agency (DLR) departments in Stuttgart and the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain (1981-1989), Manager for System Engineering, Research and Development at Flachglas Solartechnik and ABB (1989-1993), Professor for Energy-, Power Plant Technology and Process Technology at the Polytechnic University of Regensburg (1993-1995) and Head of DLR’s Division at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain from 1995 until 2001. From 2001 until 2007 he was responsible for the solar thermal project development of the AndaSol projects of the Solar Millennium Group in Spain. Since April 2007 he is the Director for International Business Development of Abengoa Solar S.A., the solar divison of the Spanish Abengoa group (www.abengoasolar.com). From September 2000 until March 2008 he served as the Executive Secretary of the IEA SolarPACES Implementing Agreement (www.solarpaces.org), which represents the international Solar Thermal Community of R&D institutions. Since November 2007 he has been elected Vice-President of the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association ESTELA (www.estelasolar.eu). He is author or co-author of more than 60 publications in the mentioned fields, including technical books, journals, conference papers, studies and reports. View abstract

Professor Oliver Jäkel, German Cancer Research Centre, Germany 

Profesor Jäkel is a world leader in heavy ion radiotherapy beam research. His work has shown that heavy ion therapy can offer improved target volume dose conformation and better sparing of normal tissue structures as compared to photon radiotherapy beams. His work is at the cutting edge of radiotherapy research, and his visit is sure to generate much interest in the Australasian radiotherapy community. View abstract

Professor Sir John B Pendry FRS, Chair in Theoretical Solid State Physics, Condensed Matter Theory Group, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, UK

John Pendry is a condensed matter theorist. He has worked at the Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, since 1981. He began his career in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, followed by six years at the Daresbury Laboratory where he headed the theoretical group. He has worked extensively on electronic and structural properties of surfaces developing the theory of low energy diffraction and of electronic surface states. Another interest is transport in disordered systems where he produced a complete theory of the statistics of transport in one dimensional systems. 

In 1992 he turned his attention to photonic materials and developed some of the first computer codes capable of handling these novel materials. This interest led to his present research, the subject of his lecture, which concerns the remarkable electromagnetic properties of materials where the normal response to electromagnetic fields is reversed leading to negative values for the refractive index. This innocent description hides a wealth of fascinating complications. In collaboration with scientists at The Marconi Company he designed a series of ‘metamaterials’ whose properties owed more to their micro-structure than to the constituent materials. These made accessible completely novel materials with properties not found in nature. Successively metamaterials with negative electrical permittivity, then with negative magnetic permeability were designed and constructed. These designs were subsequently the basis for the first material with a negative refractive index, a property predicted 40 years ago by a Russian scientist, but unrealised because of the absence of suitable materials. He went on to explore the surface excitations of the new negative materials and showed that these were part of the surface plasmon excitations familiar in metals. This project culminated in the proposal for a ‘perfect lens’ whose resolution is unlimited by wavelength. These concepts have stimulated further theoretical investigations and many experiments which have confirmed the predicted properties. The simplicity of the new concepts together with their radical consequences have caught the imagination of the world’s media generating much positive publicity for science in general. View abstract

The Congress Organisers gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ian Potter Foundation and IOP Publishing.

Professor Michelle Simmons Director of the Atomic Fabrication Facility, Centre for Quantum Computer Technology and School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Australia 

Professor Simmons is a Federation Fellow and Director of the Atomic Fabrication Facility at the UNSW. In the 1990s, she spent 6 years as a Research Fellow working with Professor Sir Michael Pepper FRS at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, UK, in quantum electronics. In 1999, she came to Australia where she was a founding member of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology. Her research in nanoelectronics combines molecular beam epitaxy and scanning tunnelling microscopy to develop novel electronic devices at the atomic scale. She has published more than 240 papers in refereed journals (with over 2800 citations), published a book on Nanotechnology, three book chapters on quantum electronics, has filed three patents and has presented over 50 invited and plenary presentations at international conferences. In 2005 she was awarded the Pawsey Medal by the Australian Academy of Science and in 2006 became the one of the youngest elected Fellows of this Academy. View abstract

Professor Howard Wilson, BSc, PhD (Cambridge), FInstP Department of Physics University of York, UK

Howard Wilson, is Professor of Plasma Physics at the University of York. Howard did his PhD in theoretical particle physics at the University of Cambridge before switching subject to fusion energy research at UKAEA's Culham Science Centre in 1988. After seventeen years at Culham, he moved to the University of York in 2005 to build a new fusion energy research group there. In 2008, he was appointed as leader of one of the International Tokamak Physics Assessment (ITPA) groups, which are responsible for coordinating the international plasma physics research in preparation for ITER. 

Howard is best known for his theoretical research on instabilities in tokamak plasmas, in particular "neoclassical tearing modes" and "edge localised modes". Both of these are key issues for the planned international experimental facility, ITER. Although a theoretician at heart, Howard also takes a keen interest in progress on experimental fusion devices, particularly the MAST and JET tokamaks at Culham. Other interests include designs for fusion power stations and a fusion components test facility based on the spherical tokamak; a research area pioneered at Culham. View abstract

Keynote Speakers 

Details of further invited keynote speakers will be posted to the web site as they become available.

Dr Jenni Adams, Senior Lecturer of Physics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

IceCube

Particle astrophysicist Jenni Adams leads the University of Canterbury team participating in the Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment (RICE) and IceCube projects, which aim to detect ultra-high-energy neutrinos from space through their interactions with the Antarctic ice cap.  View abstract

Prof Barry J Allen PhD DSc Director, Centre for Experimental Radiation Oncology at St George Cancer Care Centre

Professor Allen is the Director, Centre for Experimental Radiation Oncology at St George Cancer Care Centre and Conjoint Professor at the UNSW Clinical School. Previously, he worked at ANSTO as a Chief Research Scientist, investigating neutron capture mechanisms, their relationship to stellar nucleosynthesis and to cross section data for fast reactors. 

In the early 1980's Professor Allen began R&D programs in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) for cancer and In Vivo Body Composition (IVBC) for medicine. He made the first human body protein measurements in Australia, in collaboration with Sydney hospitals, and the prototype Body Protein Monitor was installed at RNSH, where it continues to operate today. He was elected President of the International Society for Neutron Capture Therapy and convened the Fourth International Symposium in Sydney in 1990. 

The Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) project at St George Hospital was particularly successful in developing new therapeutic agents for the treatment of melanoma, leukaemia, breast, prostate, pancreatric and colorectal cancer. Some 45 papers have now been published in international journals on this topic, including the world first trials of intralesional and systemic TAT for melanoma. A new approach to the regression of solid tumours was devised.

Professor Allen has published over 300 papers in neutron capture gamma rays, resonance cross sections, stellar nucleosynthesis, in vivo body composition, boron neutron capture therapy, macro and micro-dosimetry, microbeams and targeted alpha therapy. Successful collaborative grant applications total some $4.4 million. He is a Fellow of the ACPSEM (1992) and of the Institute of Physics (1999). He convened the International Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in 2003 at Sydney; is Past-President of the Asia Oceania Federation of Medical Physics, President of the International Organisation of Medical Physics and President-Elect of the International Union of Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine. He founded and is the inaugural Chair of the Health Technology and Training Task Group, and convened the Palliative Radiotherapy Workshop for developing countries in Saigon in 2008. View abstract

Gunther Andersson's research focuses on soft matter surfaces and interfaces. He developed the method Neutral Impact Collision Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (NICISS) during his PhD at the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany. NICISS is a concentration depth profiling technique with a depth resolution of a few Angstrom. From 2000 to 2006 he completed his Habilitation at Leipzig University in Germany and applied NICISS and electron spectroscopy to investigate reaction mechanisms at metal/polymer interfaces, thermodynamic properties of surfactant solutions, the topography of liquid surfaces and the structure of polyelectrolyte multilayers. Since 2007 he establishes a research group at Flinders University.

Dr Gunther Andersson,  Senior Lecturer School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science Flinders University

Gunther Andersson's research focuses on soft matter surfaces and interfaces. He developed the method Neutral Impact Collision Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (NICISS) during his PhD at the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany. NICISS is a concentration depth profiling technique with a depth resolution of a few Angstrom. From 2000 to 2006 he completed his Habilitation at Leipzig University in Germany and applied NICISS and electron spectroscopy to investigate reaction mechanisms at metal/polymer interfaces, thermodynamic properties of surfactant solutions, the topography of liquid surfaces and the structure of polyelectrolyte multilayers. Since 2007 he establishes a research group at Flinders University.

Professor Matthew Bailes, Director of the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

Professor Matthew Bailes is the founding Director of the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing. He graduated from ANU with a PhD in Astronomy in 1989 and went on to postdoctoral positions at Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, USA, the University of Manchester, UK, the CSIRO (Australia) and Melbourne University. His research interests centre on binary and millisecond pulsars, how they are born, have they evolve, and the exciting experiments that shed light on them, particularly in the area of general relativity. The Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing is dedicated to inspiring a fascination in the Universe through research and education.  View abstract

Dr Csaba Balazs, School of Physics, Monash University, Australia

Supersymmetry, dark matter, electroweak baryogenesis and LHC phenomenology

Csaba Balazs received his PhD from Michigan State University in 1999. He recently moved to Australia from the Argonne National Laboratory of the University of Chicago. Currently he works on theoretical particle physics at Monash University, leading a small group of post-docs and PhD students in the exploration of the dark side of the Universe. Their search is focused on dark matter, a form of non-luminous matter whose origin and composition is unknown. Their approach is to resolve the problem in the context of new theories pointing beyond the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. They also explore the potential to (in)directly detect dark matter particles or even produce the exotic new matter at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. View abstract

proudly sponsored by

 Dr Mark Boland, Senior Scientist Australian Synchrotron - Accelerator Science, Australia

Mark Boland completed his PhD in Photonuclear Physics at the University of Melbourne which followed with a 2 year Postdoc at MAX-lab in Lund, Sweden. While building the new photon tagging system at MAX-lab, he became interested in accelerator physics and accepted an invitation to join the team commissioning the newly funded Australian Synchrotron Project in 2003. Mark has specialised in beam diagnostics and precision measurements within the Accelerator Physics Group and is active in developing research collaborations around the world. Stream: Synchrotron Science (ASRP).

Peter Burns Director of the Environmental and Radiation Health Branch of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA)

Peter has worked for over thirty years in various areas associated with Radiation Protection in Australia including the rehabilitation of the former nuclear weapons test sites at Maralinga, for which project he was the Health Physics Auditor. In June 2001 he was awarded the Public Service Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours for outstanding public service in the fields of environmental and radiation safety. He is currently a member of Committee IV of the International Commission on Radiological Protection and is also currently the Australian member of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.  View abstract

Professor Roderick William Boswell FAA FAPS FTSE, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Australia

Rod Boswell is a Professor at the Australian National University and head of the Space Plasma, Power and Propulsion group of the Plasma Research Laboratory. He is active in the fields of plasma processing of surfaces for microelectronics and optoelectronics, plasma thrusters, fuel cells as well as basic linear and non-linear processes in plasmas. Over the past 15 years he has published over 100 papers in major international journals, been granted 7 patents, given about 50 invited lectures in international conferences and presented his group's work to many industrialists in many countries. He is interested in discovering interesting phenomena and using them in practical ways. His helicon reactor is well known as a fascinating research experiment and an effective processing tool in the microelectronics industry. In recent years he has become interested in applying electric double layers to astrophysical phenomena and to space propulsion. His group will be contributing to the hydrogen economy by deposition of nano-agregates of catalysts and new proton conducting membranes. He has been elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences. He is a keen skier and long board surfer and has been known to paddle a canoe down very long rivers.

Professor Allan Clark, Director of the Department of Nuclear and Particle Physics, the University of Geneva, Switzerland

LHC and ATLAS

Professor Clark is Director of the Department for Nuclear and Particle Physics (DPNC) at the University of Geneva. Following studies at the University of Tasmania and Oxford University, he held positions at the Rutherford Laboratory, CERN and the Fermi National Laboratory (Fermilab) before being appointed to a Chair at the University of Geneva in 1989. His research interests concentrate on hadron collider physics, and on its relation to conditions of the early universe. His research group currently participates in the CDF experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron and to the ATLAS experiment at the LHC.  View abstract

Dr Tony Collings Principal scientist CSIRO Industrial Physics, Australia

Research interests: high power ultrasonics, liquid state physics, biophysics

Professor Matthew England, Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) Faculty of Science The University of New South Wales, Australia

Professor Matthew England is co-Director of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellow. England is a former Fulbright Scholar and CSIRO Flagship Fellow, and winner of various national Academy and Society Awards. England coordinated and led the 2007 Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists; a major international statement by the scientific community that specifies the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions required to minimise the risk of dangerous human-induced climate change (www.climate.unsw.edu.au/bali). This declaration received wide international media attention. Matthew England was a contributing author and reviewer of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Second and Third Assessment Reports on the Science of Climate Change.  View abstract

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ertmer Coordinator Leibniz Universität Hannover QUEST Office, Germany

Wolfgang Ertmer received his PhD in experimental physics in 1982 from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany. From 1982 until 1984, he worked as postdoc at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Boulder, Colorado, USA, together with John L. Hall (Nobel Prize in Physics 2005). After his habilitation (state doctorate) in 1985 he held a professorship for experimental physics at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany. In 1994 he accepted a call for a professorship for experimental physics at the Institute for Quantum Optics, Leibniz Universität Hannover. Since 1997 he is spokesman of the collaborative research centre "Quantum limited measurement processes with atoms, molecules and photons" (SFB 407), which he successfully initiated. For his outstanding research the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, the largest award in German research, was granted to him in 1997. Within the excellence Initiative of the German government, a cluster of excellence was granted to him and his co-worker in 2007. "QUEST" (Centre for quantum engineering and space-time research, www.questhannover.de ) is one of five clusters of excellence in physics in Germany. Wolfgang Ertmer is coordinator of "QUEST". Besides his scientific activities, Wolfgang Ertmer is member of the senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany Research Foundation), member of the board of directors of the Laser Zentrum Hannover (www.lzh.de) and member of different scientific advisory boards. Wolfgang Ertmers main research fields are: Experimental physics, atom physics, quantum optics, laser medicine and in particular laser cooling, atom optic, quantum gases, atom interferometry, metrology, quantum information, nano - and quantum engineering and biophotonic.

Professor Neville H. Fletcher, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Australia
The essential nonlinearity of musical instruments 

After four years in the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics working on semiconductor devices and then cloud physics, Neville Fletcher was Professor of Physics at the University of New England in Armidale for twenty years and then moved back to CSIRO, where he had a five-year term as Director of the Institute of Physical Sciences. After some more years as a Chief Research Scientist in CSIRO, he became a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Electronic Materials Engineering at ANU and he is also a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of NSW. His current research interests lie mainly in the fields of musical and biological acoustics, though he still retains contacts with cloud physics, nanotechnology and related areas.  View abstract

Professor Bryan Gaensler, University of Sydney,  

Bryan Gaensler is a Professor of Physics at The University of Sydney, and is a Federation Fellow of the Australian Research Council. Prof. Gaensler was awarded his PhD in Physics from The University of Sydney in 1999, and subsequently held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University, before returning to Australia in 2006. Prof. Gaensler's current research focuses on the origin of magnetism in the Universe, and on the demography of neutron stars and black holes in our Milky Way. Prof. Gaensler was the 1999 Young Australian of the Year, gave the 2001 Australia Day Address to the nation, and was the recipient of the 2006 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize awarded by the American Astronomical Society. He has authored or co-authored over 150 scientific papers, and has written dozens of popular articles on science and astronomy.  View abstract

Professor Tony Gherghetta,  Federation Fellow, School of Physics, The University of Melbourne, Australia 

The Quest for New Dimensions at the Large Hadron Collider 

Tony Gherghetta is a particle physicist at the University of Melbourne. He graduated from the University of Western Australia with a BSc (Hons) and obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1994. He has held positions at CERN, the European Laboratory of Particle Physics and the University of Minnesota before returning to Australia in 2008 as a Federation Fellow. His research has mainly focused on the theory and phenomenology of supersymmetry and extra dimensions. This is part of the world-wide effort to understand the origin of mass and the building blocks of the Universe that will soon be explored at the Large Hadron Collider experiment at CERN.  View abstract

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Murray Gibson, Ph.D. Associate Laboratory Director, Scientific User Facilities, Advanced Photon Source, Director, Argonne National Laboratory, USA 

Imaging with X-rays - Back to the Future

J. Murray Gibson is the associate laboratory director for Scientific User Facilities at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, and is the Director of the Advanced Photon Source (APS). APS is one of three high-energy third-generation synchrotron x-ray sources worldwide, and currently hosts 3500 users annually. Gibson has also worked as a Professor at the University of Illinois, a Department Head at Bell Laboratories, and holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge (1978). Gibson's personal research focusses on the use of innovative diffraction and imaging techniques in the study of materials physics in thin films. He has published almost 200 journal papers, holds 6 patents, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Microscopical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  View abstract

James Hecht, Senior Scientist, Space Sciences Department, Aerospace Corporation, USA 

He has authored more than 60 refereed scientific papers since arriving at Aerospace in 1981. He specializes in optical remote sensing of the upper atmosphere, which has allowed him to study the aurora at –40° in February in Alaska and to develop experiments on atmospheric gravity waves in the heat of the desert sun in Alice Springs, Australia. He has performed basic research for both NASA and the National Science Foundation and supported DMSP, NPOESS, and BMDO. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (james.h.hecht@aero.org).

Dr Zdenka Kuncic, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia 

Zdenka's research interests include plasma physics theory, space and astrophysical plasmas, as well as theoretical astrophysics and astrophysical accretion in particular. Zdenka is also actively involved in cross-disciplinary research and has been transferring her work on radiation transport modelling from high-energy astrophysics to medical physics applications such as radiation dosimetry and radiotherapy. Zdenka is a graduate of the University of Sydney and obtained a PhD in 1996 from the University of Cambridge, supervised by the current President of the Royal Society, Professor Sir Martin Rees. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at ANU, she was subsequently awarded a prestigious Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 International Research Fellowship, which she undertook at the University of Victoria, Canada. Zdenka is currently Senior Lecturer at the School of Physics, University of Sydney, and coordinator for the postgraduate industry training initiatives in Medical Physics and Applied Nuclear Science.

Professor Boris Martinac Foundation Chair of Biophysics, Biomedical Sciences School, University of Queensland

Boris Martinac graduated in Physics from the Rheinish-Westphalian Technical University in Aachen, Germany in 1976 and received his PhD in Biophysics from the same university in 1980. He did his doctoral research on ion flux measurements across the cell membrane of a ciliate Paramecium at the Research Centre Jülich. He then did postdoctoral work on electrophysiology of ciliates at the Ruhr University in Bochum. From there he moved in 1983 to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he used the patch clamp technique to study microbial ion channels. In 1993, he accepted a faculty position in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Western Australia. In 2005, he moved to the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland, Australia where he is a Foundation Professor of Biophysics. Boris Martinac has earned international reputation as one of the pioneers in characterisation of ion channels in microbial cells. The discovery, cloning and structural and functional characterisation of mechanosensitive ion channels in bacteria present his original contribution to the ion channel research field. He is the recipient of a Fellowship by the French Ministry of Research and Higher Education and an Australian Professorial Fellowship by the Australian Research Council. In 2004-2006 he served as a President of the Australian Society for Biophysics. He has also served as a member of the editorial boards of the European Biophysics Journal, Channels, Physiological Reviews and Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology. View abstract

Professor Jeremy O'Brien, University of Bristol, UK 
Quantum information science with photons on a chip

Jeremy's research interests are centered on the fundamental quantum physics at the heart of quantum information and quantum computation, ranging from prototype systems for scalable quantum computing to generalized quantum measurements, quantum control, and quantum metrology. The experimental systems in which he has explored this physics include single photon quantum optics and correlated and confined electrons in the solid state. A major focus of his current research is to design, experimentally demonstrate, and optimize the components for photonic quantum technologies. This includes single photon sources, detectors and circuits, as well as their integration in nanoscale devices. Highlights include the demonstration of a 2-photon CNOT gate; complete characterization of such a gate via quantum process tomography; invention of a simple entangling logic gate; an optical phase measurement below the standard quantum limit with four photons; the demonstration of an all optical fibre CNOT gate; and a silica-on-silicon waveguide CNOT gate on an optical chip. View abstract

Professor Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov

Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov, is a leader of the Plasma Nanoscience Centre Australia (PNCA), CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Australia, the Plasma Nanoscience@Complex Systems team at the University of Sydney, Australia and the International Network for Deterministic Plasma- Aided Nanofabrication. After receiving his Doctor of Science (Habilitation) degree and professorial appointment in 1996, he has been awarded 6 prestigious fellowships to work with leading research universities in the UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and Australia, as well as the Best Young Scientist of Ukraine Award of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Pawsey Medal of the Australian Academy of Sciences. His research interests are in the areas of deterministic plasma-based control of self-organized nano-matter, plasma generation, creation and manipulation of atomic and nanoscale building blocks, and description of plasma-solid interactions, complex self-organized plasma-solid systems used for plasma processing and synthesis of nano- and biomaterials, as well as complex (dusty) plasmas, surface science, materials science, nanoplasmonics and nanoparticle-related phenomena in space physics and astrophysics. His research is related to the physics of low-temperature plasmas and nanoscale synthesis and a broad range of applications including new-generation self-assembled nanomaterials, nanoelectronic and photonic structures and devices for future computer chips, solar cells, communication systems and biosensors. View abstract

Dr Geoff Pryde, Griffith University, Australia 
Quantum information, quantum control, and precision measurement

Geoff's research is primarily concerned with the quantum nature of things - exploring the quantum world, and understanding quantum physics to make it useful for new technologies. He works in the fields of quantum information, quantum computation, quantum measurement, and coherent control of semiclassical systems. Geoff substantial research experience in the areas of experimental quantum optics and quantum information, and coherent dynamics of ions in solids. He demonstrated one of the first all-optical controlled-NOT gates, and has extended his quantum optics research to numerous quantum information and quantum measurement problems. After postdoctoral and research fellowship positions at Montana State University and the University of Queenland, Geoff joined Griffith University at the beginning of 2006, where he will investigate optical resources for quantum information processing, quantum control and other quantum technologies Geoff founded the Optical Quantum Information program at the end of 2005. The research is primarily concerned with implementing novel quantum optical measurements, and investigating the interface between photonic qubits and continuous optical quantum systems, with the overall goal of demonstrating and quantifying new resources for quantum information processing and related quantum technologies.  View abstract

Dr. Gavin Rowell, ARC QE-II Research Fellow High Energy Astrophysics Group, University of Adelaide, Australia

TeV gamma-ray astronomy and the search for extreme particle accelerators

Gavin's research interests centre on high energy astrophysics and astronomy with gamma-ray telescopes at around TeV (10^12 eV) energies and above. Complementary studies in other wavebands, in particular in the radio and X-rays bands, is also a key interest. Gavin is a member of the ground-breaking HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System) experiment which has in recent years opened up the field of TeV gamma-ray astronomy. Key questions tackled by HESS are the origin of cosmic-ray particles and the growing range of astrophysical environments in which they appear to be accelerated. Additional interests include the development of future gamma-ray telescopes.

Professor Anatoly Rosenfeld, Director, The Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, School of Engineering Physics, University of Wollongong, Australia

Medical Applications of Nuclear Physics

Professor Anatoly Rosenfeld has more than twenty five years experience in the R&D of medical/industrial/space radiation dosimetry instrumentation with many publications in distinguished journals and patents. He pioneered development of semiconductor dosimetry for mixed radiation fields including in radiation oncology. He is the inventor of new approaches for microdosimetry including MOSFET dosimetry, microbeam dosimetry and dual scintillator anti-Compton probe with novel semiconductor sensors. This approach was developed in Australia and implemented. He is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong and the initiator of Proton Therapy and Microbeam Radiation Therapy research in Australia.  View abstract

Professor Penny Sackett, Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU

Professor Penny D. Sackett took her PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Pittsburgh, and has held positions at Amherst College (USA), the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, USA), and the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute (NL). Sackett was appointed Director of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories in 2002, serving a five year term. She is a member of both the Australian and American Astronomical Societies, the International Astronomical Union, and the Association for Women in Science. She is an Elected International Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and sits on the AURA Board of Directors, which governs, among other astronomical centers, the Gemini Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute. Professor Sackett serves on the Board of Directors for the Giant Magellan Telescope, a project to build an optical telescope many times more powerful than in any existence in the world today. Sackett's personal research interests include dark matter, galactic structure, and extrasolar planets. View abstract

Dr Valerio Scarani, National University of Singapore, Singapore 

Quantum Crytography and Non-Locality

Valerio Scarani holds a Ph.D. in experimental solid-state NMR from >> Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. From 2000 to 2007, he has worked as a theorist in the group of Nicolas Gisin, University of Geneva. There, he has specialized in quantum cryptography, quantum >> non-locality and in the theoretical assessment for  experimentalists. In April 2007 he has been appointed Associate Professor in the National University of Singapore., where he is one of the principal investigators of the recently established Centre for Quantum Technologies. For more information, CV, list of publications etc: http:// www.physics.nus.edu.sg/~physv/  View abstract

Dr. André Sternbeck CSSM, School of Chemistry & Physics The University of Adelaide, Australia 

QCD

Andre completed his Ph.D in theoretical particle physics at Humboldt University Berlin (Germany) in 2006. Soon after this, he moved to the University of Adelaide and joined the Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter (CSSM) at the School of Chemistry & Physics. At present Andre's research focuses on elementary particle physics with special emphasise on Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions. Understanding the generation of hadron masses and the confinement of quarks and gluons are two of the great challenges in strong interaction physics since many years. Andre's core field of expertise are numerical simulations of lattice QCD for which he uses high-performance supercomputers to gain further insight into both these phenomena. Andre was and is actively involved in international collaborations.  View abstract

Dr Bruce Yabsley, High Energy Physics Department, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia

Belle

Bruce is a particle physicist working in the High Energy Physics group at the University of Sydney, as an Australian Research Fellow. His principal research interest is in "flavour physics", especially charm and the hidden-flavour states. He also has an interest on tau and neutrino work, and particle ID, although has not been active in these fields for a while. And like many (former) neutrino physicists, maintains an amateur interest in the application of statistical methods.  View abstract