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Research Scientist, SKA Site & Infrastructure, CSIRO

I'm the Research Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Site & Infrastructure team in CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS), but I don’t have a typical research role. The SKA is an international project to build the world's largest radio telescope in Australia and southern Africa, which aims to answer some fundamental questions in astrophysics. I sit at the interface between science and government, helping coordinate activities associated with development of the SKA site in Australia (on and around CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia). My work ranges from technical analysis, to negotiations regarding the Radio Quiet Zone that protects our unique observatory, and Aboriginal heritage and Native Title matters. This requires technical understanding of radio astronomy plus the ability to network with local stakeholders, government and international partners.

I spend a small amount of time working on astronomy, though. I completed my PhD on the evolution of young radio galaxies at the University of Sydney in 2012, and I’m now a member of several research teams: Radio Galaxy Zoo, GLASS (an Australia Telescope Compact Array Legacy Project) and Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) – EMU is one of the key science projects for CSIRO’s newest radio telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP).

Experience

  • 2013–present
    Research Scientist, SKA Site & Infrastructure, CSIRO
  • 2013–2013
    Postdoctoral research associate, CSIRO

Education

  • 2012 
    The University of Sydney, PhD
  • 2007 
    The University of Adelaide, Honours (Physics, First Class)
  • 2006 
    The University of Adelaide, Bachelor of Science (Space Science and Astrophysics)

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    CSIRO's Ruby-Payne Scott Award
    Role:
    Ruby Payne-Scott Awards supports eligible staff who have taken extended leave of at least eighteen weeks. The award provides support to staff to re-establish themselves and reconnect with the research underway in their field and related fields of research, or advancements in their professional area.
    Funding Source:
    Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
  • 2015
    CSIRO's Ruby Payne-Scott Award
    Role:
    Ruby Payne-Scott Awards supports eligible staff who have taken extended leave of at least eighteen weeks. The award provides support to staff to re-establish themselves and reconnect with the research underway in their field and related fields of research, or advancements in their professional area.
    Funding Source:
    Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Professional Memberships

  • Astronomical Society of Australia

Research Areas

  • Astronomical And Space Instrumentation (020102)
  • Cosmology And Extragalactic Astronomy (020103)