News

Read the latest FLEET news, below

Subscribe to monthly updates, sharing research news from around the Centre

Catch up on past issues of FLEET News

Tell us what you’d like to see in FLEET News

FLEET News

Better Futures Industry Challenge 2024

Faster ways to respond to emergencies and ultra-sensitive quantum seismometers for earlier detection of earthquakes, were two ideas that emerged from teams of intrepid researchers from five Centres of Excellence who competed in the inaugural Better Futures Innovation Challenge to solve critical industry problems. Industry partners for the deep-tech hackathon had access to researcher skills spanning the fields of physics, …

FLEET News

FLEET News in March 2024 Hot off the press this month we present FLEET’s 2023 annual report, and a case study sharing FLEET alums’ and members’ experiences of their development within the Centre, along with another FLEET alumni interview. Also, liquid-metal transfer and 2D printing, industry-science hackathon success, Our COO Tich-Lam Nguyen in the news describing Centre equity efforts, and the …

FLEET alums and members value ‘soft’, transferable skills, and community

It is not just technical and scientific skills that set up FLEET graduates for future career success. Surveying alums and current members reveals the impact of technical and transferable skills gained in the Centre. FLEET is on a mission to develop the next generation of science leaders. In the nearly seven years since FLEET began we have trained over 100 …

Pioneering study achieves liquid-metal transfer via electrical current

first published at the University of Wollongong In a ground-breaking discovery, University of Wollongong (UOW) researchers, have reached a new milestone in soft-matter transport. The team, based at the UOW node of the ARC Center of Excellence in Future Low Energy Electronics Technology (FLEET), has successfully demonstrated the transfer of liquid metal from an anode to a cathode without short circuiting, defying …

Alumni interview: Bernard Field

Bernard Field was one of the earliest of FLEET PhD students, joining the Centre in 2018 originally as an Honours student, then a PhD student in 2019 under Agustin Schiffrin and Nikhil Medhekar. His PhD research focused on  correlated electrons in a frustrated 2D lattice, within FLEET’s theme 1. We interviewed Bernard about his career path after leaving FLEET (he …

Alumni interview: Dhaneesh Kumar

Dhaneesh Kumar was one of the original cohort of FLEET PhD students when the Centre was launched in 2017. We interviewed Dhaneesh about his career path after leaving FLEET (he completed his PhD in May 2021), and how he has used his technical and collaboration training at FLEET in his new position as a postdoc at the Max-Planck Institute for …

Where are they now? Oliver Paull

Oliver Paull was one of the original cohort of FLEET PhD students when the Centre was launched in 2017. We interviewed Oliver about his career path after leaving FLEET (Oliver completed his PhD in July 2022), and how he has used his technical and collaboration training at FLEET in his new position as a postdoc at Unité Mixte de Physique, …

FLEET ECR workshop developing transferrable skills (and bowling)

The FLEET Students and ECRs working group organised a workshop at UNSW on the 19th and 20th of October for FLEET early career researchers (ECRs) and students. Over two days, invited speakers shared lessons and experience on diverse skills essential for a researcher’s career development, such as profile building, science communication, mental health, and academic writing. On the first morning, …

FLEET Legacy Meeting

FLEET members gathered in Surfer’s Paradise Queensland recently for the Centre’s final meeting. The FLEET Legacy Workshop celebrated seven years of transformative innovation, capacity building, and future STEM leaders development. Presentations by Governance Chairs, Centre leaders and early-career researchers covered research highlights across the Centre, as well as innovations in STEM equity, skills development, and outreach. Some impressive stats over …

inSTEM 2023 : addressing disability, chronic illness & mental ill-health

The second inSTEM conference took place in Melbourne, 19–21 September 2023, at RMIT’s iconic Storey Hall. (Story by EQUS Communications & Engagement Manager, Dr Kristen Harley) inSTEM is a networking and career development conference for people from marginalised or underrepresented groups in STEM, and their allies. Originally developed by ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS)’ EQUIP committee, …

Infrastructure funding for FLEET researchers

This month’s ARC infrastructure funding round saw FLEET researchers across five universities on teams awarded additional funding towards research facilities, including significant new imaging resources in South Australia and NSW. Pankaj Sharma, initially a FLEET Research Fellow at UNSW and now a Centre AI at Flinders University (South Australia), will help develop new, state-of-the-art atomic force microscopy (AFM) facilities for the …

Advancing Aus-Europe exciton physics links

The FLEET-EU 2023 Conference : Transport in exciton condensates and exciton insulators took place on September 11, 2023 in San Benedetto del Tronto, the art-deco resort town known as the Riviera of the Palms situated on the Italian Adriatic coast. The conference was jointly organised by University of Camerino (Italy), University of Antwerp (Belgium), and FLEET, and covered a range …

Quantum atoms in regional Victoria outreach

FLEET took a road trip to Horsham in regional Victoria to introduce 100 Year 8 and 9 students to quantum physics and the colourful world of light. Year 8 students participated in range of hands-on activities such as the famous ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ visual illusion, and playing with lasers and prisms to understand reflection and refraction. Meanwhile Year 9 students took …

teleconference image

US-Australia condensed-matter/cold atoms colloquia series

FLEET hosts an ongoing series of of talks by US, Australian and European researchers presenting novel developments in condensed-matter and cold-atomic physics, enriching connections between physics communities across the globe. The US-Australia/EU ‘Transpacific’ Colloquium series | attendance is open to everyone. 2023 Miguel Ugeda, Donostia International Physics Center, Spain – 15 Nov – Collective electronic states in a 2D heavy-fermion system …

Meet FLEET innovation-and-industry event

An audience of around 90 gathered for the Meet FLEET event at UNSW earlier this month, comprising researchers, industry representatives and others. A major aim of the event was to serve as a bridge, fostering connections while providing industry professionals and researchers the opportunity to delve into collaborative research and development programs. Meet FLEET also showcased the Centre’s research capabilities …