The Editors of Australian Physics magazine are seeking a new member of the editorial team to assist with content planning, production, and responding to queries.

Please send expressions of interest to editors@aip.org.au.

A team from UNSW, USYD, ANU, and Flinders University is running a study of how and why people approach teaching later year Electromagnetism for Physics majors. 

They invite anyone involved in teaching 2nd or later year university electromagnetism classes in the past 5 year. Literature on how EM is taught to physics majors is relatively light, and especially for the Australian context. If interested, please fill in this form and the team will reach out to you. In addition to the form, they only request around 1 hour of your time for a semi-structured interview. 

Alternatively, you can scan the below QR code

A reminder to anyone interested in physics and STEM education that The Australian Conference of Science and Mathematics Education is running at UNSW from Tuesday 1st - Thursday 3rd September. While conference registration has closed, Discipline Day is free to attend on Tuesday the 1st. 

The program can be found here, and there will be a focus session for physics exploring AI use in Physics Education. 

The Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) is proud to announce that Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship, the Institute's highest honour, in recognition of his outstanding service to physics and his exceptional contributions to scientific research, leadership and the physics community.

Honorary Fellowships are awarded to distinguished individuals who have made outstanding contributions to physics and whose service has had a lasting impact on the field.

Professor Jagadish is an Emeritus Professor of Physics and Electronic Materials Engineering at the Australian National University and is internationally recognised as one of Australia's most distinguished physicists. His pioneering research in semiconductor physics, optoelectronics and nanotechnology has enabled advances in electronic and photonic technologies over several decades.

Throughout his career, Professor Jagadish has published more than 790 peer-reviewed journal papers and has played a significant leadership role in advancing physics worldwide through editorial positions, international collaborations and service to the scientific community. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Applied Physics Reviews and is a Fellow or Foreign Fellow of 16 science and engineering academies across Australia, Europe, Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

His contributions have been recognised through numerous Australian and international honours, including the UNESCO Medal for contributions to the development of nanoscience and nanotechnologies, the IEEE Nanotechnology Pioneer Award, the Australian Institute of Physics Boas Medal, the Australian Academy of Science Lyle Medal, and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award presented by the President of India.

Professor Jagadish served as President of the Australian Academy of Science from 2022 to 2026 and has been a tireless advocate for science, research excellence and international collaboration.

AIP President Dr Stuart Midgley said Professor Jagadish's achievements have had a tremendous impact on physics in Australia and have enhanced our nation's global reputation for research.

"Professor Jagadish's career has combined scientific excellence with outstanding leadership and service to the physics community that has raised the profile of physics around the world. The AIP is delighted to recognise his contributions through the award of Honorary Fellowship."

Professor Jagadish will formally receive the award at the AIP Congress 2026, to be held at the University of Sydney from 7–11 December.

Media Contact: Gabrielle Green 0407 431 747, events@aip.org.au.

Prof Chennupati Jagadish joins this esteemed list of current Honorary Fellows:

Fellow and the year of their Award.

Prof David Booth, 2003          

Prof Robert Delbourgo, 2005  

Prof Brian Schmidt AC, 2012

Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM, 2020

Prof Bruce McKellar AC, 2022

Prof Tanya Monro AC, 2025 

Prof Michelle Simmons AO, 2025       

Prof Anthony Thomas AC, 2025

Prof Chennupati Jagadish AC, 2026    

The Australian Institute of Physics welcomes the final report from the Australian Research Council on the revised National Competitive Grants Program. The 15 current schemes will be consolidated to 7 new ones, with the grant guidelines and assessment processes still open for consultation.

One particular choice stands out. Dedicated salaried fellowships for senior and mid-career researchers will no longer be available, with the funds allocated instead to project-based funding (and a continuation of ECR fellowships). This will support project participation for up to 20% more researchers at all career stages, and is part of a broader effort to prioritise ECRs. This is a welcome attempt to address the precarious position of junior researchers. However, it will squeeze further personnel funding from a university system which – under the Job-ready Graduates package - has already lost $4 billion since 2021. It may even impede ECR career trajectories, which are often opened by backfill positions for senior fellowships. We will therefore need to closely monitor the impact on physics departments.

The other headline change relates to infrastructure funding, which will eventually be removed from the National Competitive Grants Program entirely. Until a long-term solution is worked out, a temporary version of the Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme will apparently operate. ARC and NHMRC funding has decreased by 19% in real terms over the past 12 years, and we have to hope that this long-term infrastructure solution will supplement project funding rather than competing for it.

Elsewhere, there is much welcome material on simplifying the administrative burden of applications, in order to reduce the turnaround time from application to award. This will hopefully avoid recent issues such as a Discovery Project processing time of 435 days.

There are multiple references in the report to further engagement with the research sector. We have therefore written to the ARC to request an ongoing dialogue, and strongly encourage members to share their thoughts by emailing our policy committee: spo@aip.org.au.

Margaret Jakovac, a PhD candidate in Education at Deakin University, is seeking experienced Australian secondary teachers who currently teach one or more science subjects outside their formal teaching specialisation.

Participants may work in government, Catholic, or independent schools. The research involves a 30-minute Zoom interview exploring how experienced teachers understand and assess their success when teaching science out of field. Teachers who also teach secondary mathematics outside their formal specialisation are welcome to participate.

Participation is voluntary. This research has been approved by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee (Reference Number: 2025/HE001215).

More information

A team of UNSW researchers has developed a new way to check for errors in quantum computers without significantly disrupting the fragile quantum information they rely on.

UNSW Sydney engineers have riffed on the famous Schrödinger’s cat, opens in a new window analogy to demonstrate a more efficient way to eliminate errors in quantum computing.

“Imagine you’re trying to find your cat hiding in one of eight identical cardboard boxes, in a dark and noisy room,” says UNSW Scientia Professor Andrea Morello.

Read the full article, published by Prof. Morello, UNSW Newsroom. 

The AIP National Executive has nominated the following candidates for the 2027-2028 term:

• President - Susan Coppersmith
• Vice-President - Kirrily Rule
• Honorary Secretary - Noel Hanna
• Honorary Registrar - Stephen Collins
• Honorary Treasurer - Dongchen Qi
• Awards Officer - Muhammad Usman

Further nominations from eligible members are welcomed. Nominees must be voting members of the AIP and be eligible to be a director under the Corporations Act and the ACNC Act. For further information on the roles and responsibilities of the National Executive, email executive@aip.org.au.

Nominations duly proposed and seconded by voting members and accompanied by the written consent of the nominee must be received via aip@aip.org.au by 21 August 2026.

An Australian Undergraduate Physics Participation Report, released today by the Australian Institute of Physics(AIP), reveals steady enrolment levels in university-level physics-major programs and persistent gender gaps.

Physics training is critical to supporting Australia's scientific research, high-tech industries, and innovation capacity.  A healthy pipeline of students enrolling in university-level physics is therefore a matter of national importance.

Key findings of the report:

1. The number of students studying a physics subject at first-year level remained broadly stable from 2019–2023.
2. Approximately 14,000 students per year study at least one physics subject at first-year university level.
3. Most first-year enrolments are from students not intending to major in physics, reflecting the important role of physics as a service subject for engineering and other science degrees.
4. Approximately 750 students per year complete a physics major at third-year university level.
5. Female representation in the physics major stream is consistently around 21–23% across all year levels, with no meaningful trend toward parity.

The female participation is in line with trends observed in Year 12 level physics, where women consistently make up around one quarter of students.

Click to view full size figures. 

  

Physics training underpins occupations as diverse as engineering, defence, finance, healthcare and advanced computing, and develops critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills. It also positions students to contribute to pressing challenges ahead, including the transition to clean energy, the responsible development of artificial intelligence, and the development of next-generation materials. 

Read the full report

Download the media release

— Professor Nicole Bell, on behalf of the Australian Institute of Physics Executive.

The AIP has written to the CEO of the Australian Research Council, Prof. Ute Roessner, requesting that researchers affected by uncertainty around the ARC Future Fellowships transition be granted an additional opportunity to apply for the FT27 round. Member feedback has consistently highlighted that many applicants exhausted their submission limits after applying earlier than planned due to expectations that FT26 would be the final round.

Our open letter is available to read here.

For further information, please contact the AIP Special Project Officer for Policy, Prof. Martin White.