Events 2011

ISS2011 Gala Reception

The Science Foundation for Physics held the International Science School 2011 Gala Reception in the Great Hall, the University of Sydney in July.

The elegant event was well attended by 150 ISS Alumni Scholars and over 250 alumni, donors and friends. Director, RiAUS - Dr Paul Willis - was our special MC, Emeritus Professor Harry Messel AC CBE, Chief Scientist of Australia Professor Ian Chubb AC and Mr Greg Dyer from Mulpha Australia - a major supporter of the ISS, were key speakers at the event.

The Professor Harry Messel International Science School (ISS) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2012. For more details about the exciting anniversary celebrations contact

To learn more about Professor Harry Messel view a short film now on his time at Physics.

CUDOS Launched

CUDOS 'Mark II' was officially launched by Senator Kim Carr in April 2011 in front of 500 VIP guests, academics, industry leaders and Physics students.

CUDOS is researching new technologies to future-proof the National Broadband Network, defend us against cyber attacks and make computers run faster will become a reality thanks to the Federal Government's continued support for CUDOS, the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems.

The Centre was awarded $23.8 million under the most recent Centres of Excellence funding round, allowing it to undertake a new and expanded research program.

In his speech Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said the new photonic chip technology being developed by CUDOS will complement the National Broadband Network.

"As the NBN fibre is rolled out to more and more homes, the traffic on the core of the network will rise," Senator Carr said. "New technology being developed by CUDOS to increase the core network capacity will help ensure home users can get 1Gbps, 10Gbps or more in the future as their need grows."

The Innovation Minister said there are many other uses for the technological spin-offs of the research work undertaken by CUDOS.

"CUDOS is generating and processing new wavelengths of laser light for sensing chemical signatures which can detect explosive material or chemicals potentially used in a terrorist threat, environmental pollutants or disease," Senator Carr said.

"This has enormous implications for the nation’s border security in areas like Customs and Quarantine. The technology being developed will also help to maintain our envied reputation for providing clean, green, disease-free products and, importantly, will help to ensure that exotic diseases do not become established in Australia."