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The 2019 Peter Smith medal lecture was delivered by

Dr. Lucia McCallum

on Tuesday, 1 October 2019

at the Royal Society of Tasmania lecture room, Dunn Place, Hobart.

 

The Dish redux – from the Apollo Mission to Earth surveying.

 

 

Dr Lucia McCallum is the inaugural recipient of the Peter Smith Medal.

Established in 2017, this medal is awarded biennially by The Royal Society of Tasmania to an outstanding early career researcher in any field.

Dr McCallum is a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the UTAS School of Maths & Physics, radio astronomy group. She is a geodesist – or Earth surveyor.  Her field of research is the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) technique, using signals from far distant radio galaxies to measure the Earth. 

 

Lucia is involved with the AuScope VLBI project, which utilises the UTAS Mt Pleasant radio telescope (which can be seen to best advantage from a table at Frogmore Creek Winery, Cambridge) as well as two other UTAS operated radio telescopes in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. This facility array ties in Australian geodesy with the International Geospatial Reference Frame and is coordinated within the International VLBI Service and the Asian Oceania VLBI Group.

VLBI measurements provide imperative scientific information on the rotation of the Earth, the movement of continental plates and the effects of earthquakes. VLBI also provides the reference frame for all other types of geographic positioning technologies such as GPS, which we have come to rely on in our smartphones and which is allowing the development and operation of autonomous vehicles.

 

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Lucia received her Diplom-Ingenieur  from the University of Technology of Vienna, Austria, with a thesis entitled “Calculation of the Earth Rotation Vector with VLBI and Ringlaser measurements”. She continued to pursue her research in VLBI satellite tracking, and was awarded her PhD in Vienna in 2013.

Her first post-doctoral appointment led her to Hobart in 2014. In 2015, she was awarded the Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship by the Austrian Science Fund – ‘Sibling Radio Telescopes for Geodesy – Optimising the use of co-located VLBI telescopes in the southern hemisphere’.

In 2017 she received a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council, with the project ‘Achieving millimetre geodesy with space tie satellites’. Her research interests include global reference frames, earth rotation, and the emerging field of space ties.

 

The Society congratulates Dr McCallum on her  achievements.

 

 

More about the Peter Smith Medal

The Peter Smith Medal was established in 2017 and is awarded biennially to an outstanding early career researcher in any field. The winner receives a medal and delivers “The Peter Smith Lecture” to the Society. To be eligible for nomination, the research and/or works must be largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organisation and within the Society’s purview. The Award is not restricted to Australian nationals. The medal will be open for nominations again in 2020 – click here to go to our Award & Medal guidelines

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The Royal Society of Tasmania Annual Doctoral (PhD) Awards

Call for Nominations

Closing date: 15 November 2019

 

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania established this award in 1998 to honour young, recently-graduated doctoral (PhD) awardees who have made significant advances in the course of their doctoral research. Each award is valued at $1000. Two awards may be made in any one year.

Conditions

• To be eligible for the Award, no more than three years should have elapsed since the conferring of the PhD degree on the nominee (as at the closing date for nominations – 15 November 2019).

• The honours may be awarded in any field within the purview of the Society, ie sciences, medicine, arts or humanities.

• The Awards are for work leading to significant advances based on the PhD research, as evidenced by published or in press peer-reviewed papers in the national/international literature.

• The works are to have been largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organisation.

• The Award is not restricted to Australian nationals.

• Nominees must have been under 35 years of age on the day of conferment of the PhD.

 

Submitting nominations

Please email nominations to      royal.society@tmag.tas.gov.au    

and marked: Doctoral Award Nomination

For attention: Honorary Secretary

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What to include:

• A full academic curriculum vitae including the date of birth, the date of conferring of degrees (including the date of PhD conferment) and a full list of published works. The most significant works are to be highlighted with an asterisk. Where the candidate’s standing relies on many co-authored papers, the candidate’s roles in those significant publications should be indicated.

• An abstract (not more than one A4 page) of the PhD study, including the thesis title.

• A letter of nomination from the candidate’s Department Manager and/or PhD supervisor. Applications will not be considered without this document, which must include a statement of the new and original contribution to the field of research.

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Key dates:

· Nominations must be received by 15 November 2019.

· The Awards will be announced at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in Hobart in March 2020.

 

Prof. Ross Large AO,

President

Penguins and sea birds of Antarctica,

the illustrations of Edward Adrian Wilson (1872–1912),
artist on the Robert Falcon Scott expeditions to the south

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The Royal Society of Tasmania 2020 Calendar is now available for purchase. A beautiful gift for any occasion, the calendar can be purchased at our on-line shop, by postal order or directly from the Royal Society Rooms

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Retail price: $19.95 – click here to go to our on-line shop

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If you purchase directly from the Royal Society Rooms the price is $18.00 – open Wednesday mornings, at 19 Davey St (opp. Constitution Dock).

Or order by post for $24.00 per copy (including handling and postage within Australia). Download the Order Form here: 2020 Calendar Order Form0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Royal Society of Tasmania

BURSARIES

for TASMANIAN STUDENTS 2019

 

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania is offering bursaries for Tasmanian secondary/senior secondary students who have been selected through a competitive process to represent Australia at an international event. The amount of each bursary may be up to $1000.

 

 

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What is the Royal Society of Tasmania?

The Society has been in active existence since 1843 and we have continued to achieve our aim of ‘advancing knowledge’ in a wide variety of ways. The bursaries are one way in which we support the youth of Tasmania.

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Who can apply?

In 2018 bursaries were offered in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering. In 2019 the bursary program is being broadened to also support students selected through a competitive process for international events in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

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What is the closing date?

There is no closing date for applications, as applications are considered on a rolling basis throughout the year.

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How to apply:

Students need to send a written application including:

· a brief descriptor of the international summer school or event they have been selected to attend, including dates and costs

· a copy of the recommendation from the Australian selection event or activity they were selected to attend

· a concise statement, written by the student, about their goals and aspirations and a short CV (max 2 pages)

· the endorsement of a senior staff member of their school.

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Note: As the student/staff member may be contacted for interview/further information please provide contact phone numbers.

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Youth ANZAAS 2019: Students accepted for Youth ANZAAS 2019 are also eligible to apply for financial support.

 

Send applications to: deborah.beswick@education.tas.gov.au

 

Dr Deborah Beswick
Chair, Bursaries Committee
The Royal Society of Tasmania

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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