OzGrav Annual Awards
Our Annual Awards celebrate the people and teams who embody OzGrav’s values — excellence in research, collaboration, service, equity, and community. From scientific leadership to mentoring, outreach, and care for others, these awards recognise the many ways our members strengthen both our science and our culture.
We thank the judging panel for their time and thoughtful consideration.
Advancing Equity Award
Winner: Kirsten Banks
Kirsten is recognised for her outstanding leadership in championing First Nations astronomy. Through mentoring Indigenous high school students and creating meaningful pathways into STEM, she has made a lasting contribution to equity, diversity, and inclusion within OzGrav and the broader astronomical community.
Runner-up: Sparrow Roch
Sparrow is recognised for generously sharing their cultural heritage and sky stories, fostering deeper understanding and appreciation of Indigenous perspectives in astronomy and strengthening inclusive engagement across the Centre.
Cross-Nodal Collaboration Award
Winner: Liana Rauf
Liana is recognised as an exemplar of cross-nodal leadership, consistently leading and supporting initiatives that strengthen collaboration across OzGrav. Her work has elevated gravitational-wave cosmology research within the Centre and internationally.
Runner-up: Terry McRae
Terry is commended for his calm, proactive leadership in aligning the efforts of multiple research groups across OzGrav nodes, helping to build strong and sustained collaborations.
Highly Commended:
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The MeerKAT PTA Team
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The Arm-Length Stabilisation Team
Mentor Award
Winner: Yeshe Fenner
Yeshe is recognised for her exceptional mentoring, providing thoughtful guidance and support that enables members of the OzGrav community to grow both personally and professionally.
Runner-up: Daniel Reardon
Daniel is commended for his approachability and for fostering a welcoming learning environment that builds confidence and supports students’ aspirations.
Highly Commended:
Ryosuke Hirai, Simon Stevenson, Khaled Said, Terry McRae, Bram Slagmolen, Paul Lasky, Andrés Vargas, Eric Thrane
Professional Resilience Award
Winner: Sparrow Roch
Sparrow is recognised for consistently embodying professional resilience, demonstrating a willingness to take risks, embrace uncertainty, and openly learn from setbacks in pursuit of continued growth.
Research Translation Pioneer Award
Winner: Diana Haikal
Diana is recognised for proposing, designing, and leading the establishment of the Australian Research Translation and Innovation Consortium (ARTIC), creating a new pathway for industry–research collaboration.
Runner-up:
Bram Slagmolen, Robert Ward, Sheon Chua, Avanish Kulur Ramamohan, Lane Scheel
For groundbreaking work developing speed-of-light earthquake and tsunami early-warning technology.
Highly Commended:
Emily Rose Rees, Andrew Wade, Kirk McKenzie
For developing a novel laser-stabilisation technique to improve long-term measurements on the GRACE missions.
Discovery Theme Award
Winner: Teagan Clarke
Teagan is recognised for combining creativity, technical rigour, and a fearless approach to challenging assumptions in multimessenger astronomy. Their work has raised OzGrav’s profile within the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA community and beyond.
Runner-up: Joshua Lee
Joshua is commended for his role in the discovery and analysis of a long-period radio transient, delivering results with significant implications for neutron star physics.
Instrumentation Theme Award
Joint Winner: Kar Meng Kwan
Recognised for pioneering work on optical squeezing for gravitational-wave detectors, demonstrating deep technical understanding and innovative problem-solving.
Joint Winner: Thomas Rooke
Recognised for outstanding initiative in developing the QOSEM sensor, a major OzGrav contribution to identifying sources of excess low-frequency noise in LIGO detectors.
Runner-up: Jian Liu
Commended for significant contributions to advanced configuration and control techniques for future detectors.
Highly Commended:
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Quantum Efficiency Team
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Coatings Team
Physics Theme Award
Joint Winners: Lilli Sun, Dana Jones, Fulin Li, Neil Lu, Ornella Piccinni, Aswathi Subhash
Recognised for leading analyses underpinning major LIGO collaboration papers and for developing new methods to search for ultralight bosonic dark matter using gravitational-wave data.
Runner-up: Neil Lu
Commended for key contributions to multiple LVK papers and for advancing OzGrav’s Gravity Key Program.
Joint Winner: Paul Disberg
Recognised for an exceptional publication record during his PhD, including a standout paper on neutron star kick velocities.
Service Award
Winner: Liana Rauf
Liana is recognised for her exceptional service to OzGrav, including leadership roles on committees, cross-nodal coordination, and program scientist responsibilities.
Runner-up: Karl Wette
Karl is commended for his sustained dedication to the Centre through EDI committee work and broader OzGrav initiatives.
Highly Commended:
Diana Haikal, Neil Lu
Superstars of Outreach Award
Winner: Yi Shuen (Christine) Lee
Christine is recognised for outstanding leadership in outreach, from coordinating major events and developing educational resources to representing OzGrav internationally.
Joint Runners-up:
Chris Flynn — for leadership of the ASTRAL program
Olivia Vidal Velazquez — for consistently exceeding expectations with creativity, professionalism, and enthusiasm
Highly Commended:
The Einstein First Team, OzGrav Outreach Ambassadors
Special Recognition Awards
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Community Care & Support: Jackie Bondell
For consistently supporting the wellbeing, comfort, and sense of belonging of OzGrav members. -
Positive Attitude: Saurav Mishra
For fostering a welcoming and supportive environment through kindness and positivity. -
Workshop Organisation:
10th Anniversary Workshop Team
For the successful delivery of OzGrav’s milestone event.
Rising Star Award
Winner: Teagan Clarke
Recognised for bold, original science, leadership in collaboration, and a deep commitment to positive research culture.
Runner-up: Paul Disberg
Commended for prolific publications across a wide range of astrophysical topics.
Highly Commended:
Emily Rose Rees, Neil Lu