Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute and Professor @ Swinburne University.

I'm a professional astrophysicist creating universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies form and to probe the nature of dark matter. I often then get to explain it to as wide an audience as possible on TV / radio or public events.

Currently I am at the Centre for Astrophysics and Computing at Swinburne University. Before then I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne, and a postdoctoral research associate with ICRAR at the University of Western Australia. Prior to all this antipodean fun I obtained my PhD from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics and spent a year or two as a postgraduate at the Sterrewacht, Leiden Observatory in The Netherlands.

I am a member of SABRE, the world's first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere, based at the bottom of a gold mine at SUPL (Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory) in Victoria, Australia.

Previously, I have been two leading surveys on the next-generation Australia Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope which I supported by creating local universe simulations that can be used to test galaxy formation and dark matter theories when compared with the observations from the WALLABY and DINGO surveys. These simulations inspired the DARK move in which I stared, that has since toured to 148 planetariums around the world.

You can explore my publications on ADS and Google Scholar or use the search function (magnifying glass top right) on this to see through my posts. Otherwise check out my overly thorough CV.

Professional Activities

08/22 - now Vice Chair of the Space Committee; American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (promoting the growth of US-Australian ties in space industry and research)

01/20 - now Space Industry Leadership Forum; Australian Space Agency (informing the Agency on industry-relevant issues and providing a coordination point for the civil space sector)

09/19 - 09/22 Advisory Council; Questacon (appointed by the Federal Government to inform Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre)

2017 - 2021 Lead Scientist; The Royal Institution of Australia home of Australia's Science Channel

2016 - 2018 Executive Member; Science & Technology Australia (Peak national body for Science and Technology)

2015 – now Referee; Nature (Top research  journal in science)

09/15 – now Member; International Astronomical Union (Peak body for astronomy worldwide)

03/14 – 03/16 Committee Member; Women in Astronomy (Elected to national committee on improving diversity and the experience for all in astronomy)

2014 – now Time Allocation Committee Member; Australian Telescope National Facility (Assessing proposals for access to Australian radio telescopes)

2012 – now Referee; Monthly Notices for the Royal Astronomical Society and the Astrophysics Journal (Referee for leading international astronomy journals)

03/10 – 04/14 Committee Member; Australian National Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (Twice elected to the national committee representing theoretical astrophysics)

02/10 – now Member; Astronomical Society of Australia (Peak national body for astronomy)