Nominations NOW Open: The NSW AIP Branch will hold its 2023 Annual Postgraduate Awards event at the Concord Golf Club, 190 Majors Bay Road Concord on Tuesday 14th November from 10am.

Each University is invited to nominate one student to compete on the day for the $500 prize and Postgraduate Medal.

The Royal Society of NSW will also award the Jak Kelly Scholarship prize of $500 as a separate award category for this event. 

These awards have been created to encourage excellence in postgraduate work, and all nominees who participate in the Postgraduate Awards Day will receive a special certificate recognising the nominee’s high standing.

Students are asked to make a 20-minute presentation on their postgraduate research in Physics, and the presentation will be judged on the criteria (1) content and scientific quality, (2) clarity and (3) presentation skills. 

Please refer to the judges’ criteria and prize information. 

Event Schedule:

Student presentations on Tuesday 14th November at the Concord Golf Club from – 10.00am

Presentation of Awards and Prizes from – 1.15pm

This event is proudly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Physics NSW Branch, The Royal Australian Chemical Institute and The Royal Society of New South Wales. 

Nominations strictly close by Saturday 7th October 2023.

Please email the title and abstract of your nominated student presentation in the nomination form to Dr Frederick Osman by Saturday 7th October 2023 at fosman@bu.edu.

The Australian Institute of Physics in New South Wales has instituted this annual award as a means to recognise the work of individuals for community outreach to the discipline of physics. This Award now in its 10^th year, seeks to acknowledge an individual, with a clearly notable record of work in contributing to outreach, physics education, and has demonstrated passion for the study of physics in New South Wales. 

The NSW Community Outreach to Physics Award will be presented each year following a selection from the list of those nominated for the Award. The Award will be awarded to individuals that seek to achieve activities that engage our community and contribute to public engagement within physics. The Award is open to everyone in NSW and will consist of a $1000 monetary award, and a framed certificate citing the achievements of the individual.

These Awards are proudly supported by Laboratories Credit Union (LCU) www.lcu.com.au.

Eligibility and Criteria 

The nomination should show that the individual being nominated for the Award is engaged within physics and has: 

• Worked to engage the academic community to physics or academic pursuits. 
• Effectively developed community events for the public, or other activities that engage our physics community. 
• Increased awareness, knowledge and experiential learning opportunities for students in relation to physics community development and grassroots work. 

Nominations for this award will close on 7th October 2023.

A statement of up to 500 words outlining the work for which the nomination seeks recognition should be lodged on the nomination form by email to: 

Dr Frederick Osman,

NSW Branch Secretary, Australian Institute of Physics.

For further details, please refer to the attached nomination form

The NSW Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics held its inaugural Research Poster Presentation Network Event at the Western Sydney University Parramatta South Campus on Monday 3 April.

The aim of this new NSW Australian Institute of Physics Research Poster Presentation Network Event was to provide all NSW HDR students (Honours, Masters and PhD) researchers an opportunity to:

• present a formal, research-based presentation of their HDR work.
• present HDR students research to a learned audience in the friendly environment of a University setting.
• promote research opportunities and achievements.
• develop physics interaction with researchers, academics, supervisors, students, employers and visitors during the event.
• award best research poster presentation prizes recognising the scientific merit exhibited in the Poster Presentation displays.

Prizes were:

• $500 Honours Research Poster Prize sponsored by Diraq 
• $1000 Masters Research Poster Prize sponsored by Boson Engineering 
• o$1000 PhD Research Poster Prize sponsored by ArcherX

•  Devika Shobhana, Western Sydney University
• Naif Alsalem, University of Sydney
• Velibor Velvoic, Western Sydney University
• Sanja Lazarevic, Western Sydney University
• Peter Macgregor, Western Sydney University
• Kieran Luken, Western Sydney University
• Rami Alsaberi, Western Sydney University,
• Adeel Ahmad, Western Sydney University
• Surjit Wadhwa, Western Sydney University
• Musawer Bajwa, Western Sydney University
• Joel Balzan, Western Sydney University
• Elizabeth Arcadi, Macquarie University
• Ellen Lu, University of Newcastle
• Madeline Hennessey, University of Technology Sydney
• Yue (Rocky) Su, University of New South Wales
• Long Qiang, University of Sydney
• Thuy Ha, Macquarie University
• Kimbal Lu, University of Sydney
• Rong Fu, University of Technology Sydney
• James Cayley, University of Wollongong
• Sean Hood, University of Wollongong
• John Paul Bustillo, University of Wollongong
• Shuji Kojima, University of New South Wales
• Pradeep Murthy, University of Sydney

Winners

These awards have been created to encourage excellence in research work, and all nominees who participated in the event received a special certificate recognising the nominee’s high standing.

The winner of the Australian Institute of Physics Research Poster Presentation Prize for the PhD category was awarded to Pradeep Murthy from The University of Sydney. Pradeep received a $1000 prize from ArcherX as sponsors of the PhD Research Poster Prize.

The winner of the Australian Institute of Physics Research Poster Presentation Prize for the Masters category was awarded to Elizabeth Arcadi from Macquarie University. Elizabeth received a $1000 prize from Boson Engineering as sponsors of the Masters Research Poster Prize.

The winner of the Australian Institute of Physics Research Poster Presentation Prize for the Honours category was awarded to Madeline Hennessey from University of Technology Sydney. Madeline received a $500 prize from Diraq as sponsors of the Honours Research Poster Prize.

(Above) Pradeep Murthy; Madeline Hennessey and Elizabeth Arcadi as the 2023 Winners of the AIPNSW Research Poster Presentations.

Congratulations to all of our research students who participated,  and thank you to our industry sponsors for bringing this event together!

Congratulations to all recipients of the NSW AIP Awards for their outstanding achievements in physics outreach, postgraduate and graduate studies, and K-12 science.

• Dr Devika Kamath from Macquarie University (pictured) received the AIP NSW Community Outreach to Physics Award. This award is in its ninth year and is presented to an individual that engages our community and contributes to public engagement within physics. 
• Yuanming Wang, University of Sydney, School of Physics received the AIP NSW Postgraduate Physics Award.
• Shankar Dutt, Australian National University, Research School of Physics received the AIP NSW Postgraduate: Royal Society of NSW Jak Kelly Award.

AIP NSW Annual Postgraduate Awards in Physics are open to nominated postgraduate individuals to compete for the AIP NSW Postgraduate Medal and the Royal Society of NSW Jak Kelly prize. These awards have been created to encourage excellence in postgraduate physics research.

Receiving AIP NSW Postgraduate Excellence Certificates were:

• Saurabh Bhardwaj, Macquarie University, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• Giovanni Pierobon, University of New South Wales, School of Physics
• Ivan Zhigulin, University of Technology Sydney, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences 
• Levi Madden, University of Wollongong, School of Physics 

• Armando Perri, University of New South Wales, School of Physics
• Jay Archer, University of Wollongong, School of Physics
• Adrien Di Lonardo, University of Technology Sydney, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

AIP NSW Most Outstanding Physics K-12 prizes with the Science Teachers Association of NSW Young Scientist Awards

The branch committee assessed and awarded prizes to the top three projects in the theme “Drones, Droids and Robots”,  which were:

• First prize: TARS (Year 11-12 project)
• Second prize: Timmy The Bushfire Rover (Year 5-6 project)
• Third prize: Robot Hand (Year 3-4 project)

The Australian Institute of Physics NSW Branch congratulates all recipients for their incredible achievements.