Australian scientists to discuss new developments in gravitational-wave astronomy

MEDIA ADVISORY:
Australian scientists to discuss new developments in gravitational-wave astronomy

NEWS BRIEFING: Tue 17 Oct 2017 at 09:00 AEDT at Old Parliament House, Canberra and online

Scientists from OzGrav (The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery), CAASTRO (The ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics) and the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration will reveal new details and discoveries made in the ongoing search for gravitational waves.

Join us for this media briefing, moderated by Australia's Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, when Australian experts will discuss the research and its implications.

SPEAKERS:

• Professor Matthew Bailes is the Director of OzGrav (The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery) at Swinburne University of Technology 
• Professor Susan Scott is an OzGrav Chief Investigator at the Australian National University
• Associate Professor David Ottaway is an OzGrav Chief Investigator at the University of Adelaide
• Dr Eric Thrane is an OzGrav Data Theme Leader at Monash University
• Associate Professor Tara Murphy is a CAASTRO (The ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics) Chief Investigator at the University of Sydney
• Professor Sue Thomas is the CEO of the Australian Research Council (ARC)

 
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Katherine Towers
OzGrav Headquarters/Swinburne University of Technology
T: +61 3 9214 5789
M: +61 0433 008 252         
E: ktowers@swin.edu.au
 
William Wright
The Australian National University
T: +61 2 6125 5575
M: +61 0478 337 740
E: William.Wright@anu.edu.au       
 
Silvia Dropulich
​Monash University
T: +61 3 9902 4513  
M: +61 0435 138 743
E: silvia.dropulich@monash.edu
 
David Stacey
University of Western Australia
T: +61 8 6488 3229
M: +61 0432 637 716
E: david.stacey@uwa.edu.au           
 
Robyn Mills
University of Adelaide
T: +61 8 8313 6341
M:+61 410 689 084
E: robyn.mills@adelaide.edu.au
 
Nerissa Hannick
University of Melbourne
T: +61 3 8344 8151
M: +61 0430 588 055
E: nhannink@unimelb.edu.au
 
Vivienne Reiner
University of Sydney/CAASTRO Headquarters
T: +61 2 9351 2390
M: +61 0438 021 390
E:  vivienne.reiner@sydney.edu.au
  
Australian Research Council 
T: +61 2 6287 6711
M: 0412 623 056
E: communications@arc.gov.au
 
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence funding scheme. OzGrav is a partnership between Swinburne University of Technology (host of OzGrav headquarters), the Australian National University, Monash University, University of Adelaide, University of Melbourne, and University of Western Australia, along with other collaborating organisations in Australia and overseas.
 
The ARC of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) is a collaboration of The University of Sydney, The Australian National University, The University of Melbourne, Swinburne University of Technology, The University of Queensland, The University of Western Australia and Curtin University, funded under the ARC Centre of Excellence program, with additional funding from the seven participating universities and from the NSW State Government’s Science Leveraging Fund. The Australia Telescope Compact Array is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility which is funded by the Australian Government for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO.
 
LIGO is funded by the NSF, and operated by Caltech and MIT, which conceived of LIGO and led the Initial and Advanced LIGO projects. Financial support for the Advanced LIGO project was led by the NSF with Germany (Max Planck Society), the U.K. (Science and Technology Facilities Council) and Australia (Australian Research Council) making significant commitments and contributions to the project. More than 1,200 scientists and some 100 institutions from around the world participate in the effort through the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, which includes the GEO Collaboration and the Australian collaboration OzGrav. Additional partners are listed at http://ligo.org/partners.php. The Virgo collaboration consists of more than 280 physicists and engineers belonging to 20 different European research groups: six from Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France; eight from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy; two in the Netherlands with Nikhef; the MTA Wigner RCP in Hungary; the POLGRAW group in Poland; Spain with the University of Valencia; and the European Gravitational Observatory, EGO, the laboratory hosting the Virgo detector near Pisa in Italy, funded by CNRS, INFN, and Nikhef.