Applications are open for the AMSI Specialist Maths Highschool Scholarships for Girls.

The AMSI Specialist Maths High School Scholarships for Girls 2027/28 is open to current year 10 girls Australia-wide, who intend to study Specialist Maths, or accepted equivalent in NSW and Tasmania in year 11 in 2027 and year 12 in 2028.

Scholarship recipients will have access to support from the AMSI maths teaching specialists, the opportunity to attend AMSI programs, meet current university maths students and industry partners – to be inspired by all that continuing to study maths has to offer. You can read about previous recipients here.

Scholarships are for two-years, valued at $3000 per year, and awarded in our donor names. In 2027/28 we have De Vere-Hudson and Jane Street Scholarships.

Scholarship applications close 23 October.

More Information

Applications are now open for the 2027 CSIRO Alumni Scholarship in Physics.

The $6,000 travel scholarship aims to connect the brightest young physicists or mathematicians to a leading research centre overseas or in Australia.

Research in physics and mathematics is fundamental for Australia’s future. The founders of this scholarship know that early experience in leading overseas laboratories greatly benefits the graduate embarking on a research career and Australian science.

Applications close: Friday 27 November 2026

More Information

The American Institute of Physics John T. Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics nomination deadline has been extended to November 1, 2026.

The Tate Medal recognizes distinguished physicists for international leadership, statesmanship, and service to the physics community, rather than for research accomplishment. First awarded in 1960, the medal honors physicists who are non-U.S. nationals and whose service has made an important contribution to the international physics community.

Of particular importance are contributions that advance international understanding, cooperation, and exchange in physics. Examples of such service include, but are not limited to:

• Promoting or administering international or joint research initiatives;
• Organizing exceptionally successful international conferences or programs; and
• Establishing or improving scientific publications;
• Other forms of leadership and service that strengthen international collaboration within the physical sciences.

The Tate Medal is awarded biennially in odd-numbered years and consists of a certificate, bronze medal, and $10,000 award. The medalist is expected to receive the award in person, with travel expenses reimbursed by American Institute of Physics. 

More Information

The Vicphysics Teachers’ Network, an AIP cognate society, invites women who are making a contribution in physics or engineering to be a speaker at one of the Girls in Physics Breakfasts the group is organising in Victoria for 2027.  

There will be two breakfasts in different parts of Melbourne and breakfasts in regional Victoria in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Wodonga and Morwell.

At each breakfast students from Years 10 to 12 share a table with and ask questions of two or three women who are either in a career in physics or engineering, or are still at university as an undergraduate or a post-graduate.  The questions can be on what they do, how did they find their job, what is studying at university like, etc.  There is a small cost per student with discounts available.  The women are guests of Vicphysics and do not pay.  After the speaker’s presentation, there are career-based activities.

The breakfasts will be held in March to August 2027.  The exact dates will depend on the availability of the speakers.

Vicphysics is seeking women to speak at a breakfast who:

• Have public speaking or outreach experience,
  
• Offer a topic that will engage the secondary students present as well as the women and may reflect her current research or projects,
  
• Available to speak at some time between March and August.
  

There will be an honorarium for each speaking engagement.  Travel and accommodation costs will also be covered.  For any queries, please email Annaa Wylie, events manager at events@vicphysics.org.

Nominations can be made online at Girls in Physics Breakfasts: Speaker Application (vicphysics.org) . The webpage has links to previous speakers and their topics.

Nominations close: Friday, 6^th November, 2026.  Decisions will be made by mid-December.

This initiative is supported by the Invergowrie Foundation.

Dr Sophie Zhao of The Australian National University has been named the 2027 AIP Women in Physics Lecturer and will take her research to audiences around Australia as part of next year’s Marie Curie Lecture Series.

For research enabling quantum technologies using correlated light. Sophie has pioneered many novel approaches to advance continuous variable optical quantum technology.

Sophie’s research has delivered several breakthroughs in quantum optics, including a quantum teleporter with record-high fidelity, a noiseless linear amplifier with the highest-reported amplification gain, and the first quantum cloner to surpass the no-cloning limit.

Her contributions have seen her named a Rising Star of Light by Nature Light: Science & Applications, an international campaign recognising talented young scientists in optics-related fields.

Alongside her research, Sophie is committed to communicating quantum science to wider audiences. Her work has attracted mainstream science and media coverage, while she has mentored students from undergraduate through to PhD level. In 2024, she was recognised as ANU HDR Supervisor of the Month.

Her expertise in quantum optics has also contributed to commercial applications, including ANU-UQ spin-out CatQ, which is developing technology to address errors in quantum computing.

As the 2027 Women in Physics Lecturer, Sophie will share her research with communities around Australia through the AIP’s national Marie Curie Lecture Series.

Sophie is one of 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.

Distinguished Professor Susan M. Scott of The Australian National University has been awarded the 2026 AIP Harrie Massey Medal and Prize for her internationally recognised contributions to general relativity, cosmology and gravitational-wave science.

The award recognises “groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of general relativity, cosmology and gravitational wave science, and for her leading role in Australia’s participation in the first detection of gravitational waves.”

Professor Scott’s research has explored some of the most fundamental questions about our Universe, including the nature of gravitational singularities such as black holes, the boundaries of spacetime and cosmological models describing the beginning and end states of the Universe.

She has also played a defining role in establishing gravitational-wave science in Australia. In 1994, she founded the Australasian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation, bringing together theoretical and experimental researchers across the region.

In 1998, Professor Scott initiated Australian research in gravitational-wave data analysis. Her group later contributed key components to the LIGO Data Analysis System that processed the signal from the historic first detection of gravitational waves in 2015.

Her contributions have since spanned searches for gravitational waves from neutron stars, detector characterisation and the electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational-wave events.

Professor Scott is also Editor-in-Chief of Classical and Quantum Gravity and contributes to the Einstein-First education program for school students.

Susan is one of 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.

Dr Maria Luisa Buzzo of Swinburne University of Technology has been awarded the 2026 AIP Bragg Gold Medal for outstanding PhD research into the origins and evolution of ultra-diffuse galaxies, for the thesis entitled "The Origins of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies"

Ultra-diffuse galaxies are faint, low-surface-brightness galaxies whose origins have challenged standard models of galaxy formation. Luisa’s research has provided new insights into how these unusual galaxies form, evolve and interact with dark matter.

During her PhD, Luisa developed methods specifically designed to study ultra-diffuse galaxies, combining stellar populations, globular cluster systems and environmental information across large samples.

Her research showed that ultra-diffuse galaxies do not originate through a single formation process, but instead follow at least two distinct evolutionary pathways.

She also investigated dark matter-deficient dwarf galaxies, identifying common observable characteristics and developing a method to help find similar systems in current and future astronomical surveys. Her work also identified a likely progenitor system, providing an observational link to a possible formation mechanism for these unusual galaxies.

Working with data spanning ultraviolet to radio wavelengths, Luisa led much of the analysis and scientific interpretation underpinning the research and was first author on eight refereed papers arising from her thesis.

Her work provides new ways to test models of how low-mass galaxies form and evolve, while helping astronomers investigate the role of dark matter in shaping galaxies.

Luisa is one of 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.

Professor Kirrily Rule of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and Professor Maria Parapilly of Flinders University have been awarded the 2026 AIP Women in Leadership Medal.

The award recognises outstanding leadership by a physicist in academia, industry or government who has inspired or mentored early career physicists and/or developed more equitable workplaces in Australia.

Professor Kirrily Rule

For internationally recognised leadership in condensed matter physics and exceptional service to the field, mentorship of early career researchers, and true advocacy to make Australian physics communities more equitable.

Professor Rule is an internationally recognised physicist whose leadership spans research, mentorship and service. A former AIP National Honorary Secretary, she has led major conferences and mentored the next generation of physicists, including supervising 15 PhD students to completion.

She has championed more inclusive physics communities through initiatives including conference codes of conduct, childcare support and mentoring programs.

Professor Maria Parapilly

For exceptional leadership in advancing gender equity and inclusion, increasing participation among girls and underrepresented cohorts in physics by building their confidence to pursue physics at both school and university levels, and upskilling physics teachers to prepare students for a physics-driven STEM workforce.

Professor Parapilly has led programs reaching almost 2,000 girls and hundreds of teachers across Australia. Her work includes the STEM Enrichment Academy and professional development to strengthen physics teaching, with a particular focus on regional and underrepresented communities.

Kirrily and Maria are among 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.

James Monro of The Australian National University and George Sanamyan of the University of Adelaide have been awarded the 2026 AIP Thomas H Laby Medal, recognising outstanding Honours or Masters research in physics.

The Thomas H Laby Medal is awarded annually for the best Honours or Masters thesis submitted by a student from an Australian university. This year, the medal has been awarded to two recipients.

James Monro, Australian National University

James has been awarded the medal for his thesis:

“Searching for Axion-Like Particles with Perturbed Alkali-Noble Comagnetometers”

His research explores the search for axion-like particles, hypothetical particles that could help physicists investigate some of the fundamental questions in particle physics.

George Sanamyan, University of Adelaide

George has been awarded the medal for his thesis:

“Dark Matter in Randall-Sundrum Model”

His research examines dark matter within the Randall-Sundrum model, contributing to theoretical efforts to understand one of the major unresolved questions in modern physics.

Congratulations to James and George on this recognition of their early research achievements.

James and George are among 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.

Dr Theresa Fruth of the University of Sydney has been awarded the 2026 AIP Ruby Payne-Scott Award for Excellence in Early-Career Research for her contributions to the global search for dark matter: for outstanding contributions to experimental dark matter searches and leadership ensuring Australia’s position in the next generation of global dark matter experiments.

Dr Fruth is an internationally recognised expert in liquid xenon time-projection chamber technology used in experiments searching for dark matter.

Early in her postdoctoral career at University College London, she took on a technical coordination role with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment, leading a team of up to 20 scientists, engineers and technicians to deliver an integrated detector at an underground laboratory in South Dakota.

Her work on LZ has included leading simulations that underpinned the experiment’s landmark dark matter search results. Her technical leadership was recognised with the Institute of Physics Astroparticle Physics Early Career Prize in 2020 and the LZ Good Citizenship Award in 2021.

Dr Fruth is now helping secure Australia’s role in the next generation of international dark matter research. She was lead editor of the XLZD Design Book, the strategic roadmap for a future global dark matter experiment, and was elected to its ten-member Executive Board.

In Australia, she leads the light-sensor working group for SABRE South, the first underground dark matter experiment in the Southern Hemisphere.

Theresa is one of 11 members recognised with 2026 AIP Awards for outstanding accomplishments in research, leadership, education and communication. Read more about the 2026 AIP Award recipients.

The 2026 AIP Awards will be presented at AIP Congress 2026 in Sydney this December.