2025 CSIRO Alumni Scholarship in Physics – award ceremony

Thurs 20 February, 2025

The CSIRO Alumni network and LCU presented the 2025 CSIRO Alumni Physics scholarship at our award ceremony. We were pleased to welcome members of our local alumni, staff and friends who joined us in celebrating the 2025 winner.

The event was hosted by Dr Scott Martin, Dr Bob Steele and Helen Lorigan, CEO of LCU and our guest speaker was Dr Cathy Foley.

Cathy’s presentation was titled, “Reflections of a ‘has been’ Chief Scientist – what I learnt” and she spoke about her role as Australia’s Chief Scientist. She explained how she managed the role and the teams she worked with, to present scientifically-based conclusions to the government.

We also heard from our scholarship winner, Luke Johnstone.

Luke will be using the funds to travel to the USA to participate in a forthcoming experiment at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), USA. FRIB is a new, world-leading nuclear-research facility that hosts the world’s most powerful heavy-ion accelerator. The FRIB ‘era of discovery’ will create unique partnerships between experiment and theory and is set to revolutionise research in nuclear science through experiments with unparalleled capacity to extend towards, and beyond, the known limits of nuclear existence.

Following the event, we enjoyed an afternoon tea in the foyer and caught up with friends and former colleagues.