Eligibility Requirements

Nominees for this award must:

• have made a significant contribution in a field of physics research;
• demonstrated ability to present their work to the general public;
• be available to undertake the lecture tour;
• if resident in Australia, be a member of the AIP in the year in which the tour is undertaken;
• if successful, be prepared to provide a brief report to the AIP Executive on their experiences of the tour once the tour has been completed, and be prepared to publish their report in Australian Physics.
• The nominee must be nominated by a Proposer, who must be a member of the AIP; self-nomination by an AIP member is also acceptable.

Nomination Material and Process

The online Women in Physics Lecturer nomination form requires the Proposer to provide:

• a one sentence citation capturing the nature of the work, as well as a nomination citation (no more than 300 words) that outlines the nominee’s significant contributions to physics and evidence of her ability to give a lecture which will excite an enthusiastic response in senior secondary and undergraduate students;
• a title for the proposed public lectures as well as an abstract (no more than 100 words) that briefly summarises the nominee’s lecture topic. This is to be written for a scientifically literate lay person. This will be used for promotion/certificates if the nominee is successful;
• a biography for the lecturer (to be used for advertising – no longer than 100 words);
• confirmation of the nominee’s availability for the lecture tour;
• the names and contact details of two (2) referees who can attest to the ability of the nominee to give lectures appropriate for the target audience;
• the nominee’s CV outlining significant contributions to physics with references to key publications in which these contributions were presented;
• a link to a video showing the nominee communicating complex ideas to a lay audience. This can be an existing video (on any topic) or a 1-minute video introducing their proposed lecture in an accessible way.

Nominations close: 1 April of the nomination year

Nominations, including all supporting documentation, should be submitted via the online Women in Physics Lecturer nomination form, by the advertised closing date. Referees should submit their letters of reference using this submission form, independently of any correspondence from the nominee, also by the advertised closing date.

Assessment Criteria

The applicant will be selected based on:

• the excellence and impact of the nominee’s record of presentations to the general public, schools and media;
• evaluation of the evidence of the nominee’s ability to give a lecture which will excite an enthusiastic response in senior secondary and undergraduate students;
• significance of the nominee’s contribution to physics and the publication record.

Further Information

The tour is undertaken in the year subsequent to the nomination year. Please note that it is preferred for the tour to take place in April-October. International lecturers should ensure that they are available for a 3 week block to complete the tour.

If you would like to learn more about the lecturer experience, you can find a report by previous lecturer Dr Ceri Brenner (2018) published in volume 55, issue 6,  Australian Physics (page 10).

Previous AIP Women in Physics Lecturers

• 2025 Dr Danielle Holmes, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW Sydney
• 2025 Dr Sol H. Jacobsen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
• 2024 Prof Susan Coppersmith FAA FAIP, School of Physics, UNSW Sydney
• 2023 Dr Karen Livesey, School of Information and Physical Sciences, The University of Newcastle
• 2022 A/Prof Katarina Miljkovic, School of Earth and Planetary Science, Curtin University
• 2021 A/Prof Susanna Guatelli, University of Wollongong
• 2019 Dr Helen Maynard-Casely, ANSTO
• 2018 Dr Ceri Brenner, Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
• 2017 Dr Katie Mack, University of Melbourne
• 2016 Dr Catalina Oana Curceanu, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell’INFN, Italy
• 2015 A/Prof Jodie Bradby, Australian National University
• 2014 Professor Sheila Rowan, University of Glasgow
• 2013 Professor Elisabetta Barberio, School of Physics, University of Melbourne
• 2011 Dr Tamara Davis, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland
• 2010 Professor Elizabeth Winstanley, Dept of Applied Mathematics, University of Sheffield
• 2009 A/Prof. Christine Charles, Space Plasma, Power & Propulsion Group, Australian National University
• 2007 – 2008 Prof. Tanya Monro, School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide.
• 2006 Prof. Deb Kane, Physics Department, Macquarie University.
• 2005 Prof. Helen Quinn, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA, USA
• 2004 Dr. Nanda Dasgupta, Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University
• 2003 Prof. Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop, School of Physical Sciences, The University of Queensland
• 2002 A/Prof. Lidia Morawska, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology
• 2001 Dr. Gabriela Gonzalez, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, USA
• 2000 Dr. Michelle Simmons, School of Physics, UNSW Sydney
• 1999 Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Open University, UK
• 1998 Dr. Christine Davies, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Glasgow, UK
• 1997 Dr. Rachel Webster, School of Physics, University of Melbourne