Welcome
Introduction - Welcome to our Universe!
We at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM) welcome you to the Centre and hope that this short introduction gives you some insight into the amazing world of dark matter particle physics and CDM’s journey into what makes up our universe.
Astrophysical and cosmological observations have revealed that our picture of the universe is incomplete. We know that ordinary matter makes up less than 16% of the ordinary matter of the universe. The remaining 84% appears to be made of a mysterious, invisible substance named “dark matter”.
Uncovering the nature of dark matter would reveal a vast component of the universe and advance our knowledge of fundamental physics in this century. Its existence is inferred from its gravitational interaction and the exploration of the nature of dark matter is considered science’s next frontier.
What is a Centre of Excellence?
An Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence (CoE) collates the expertise and knowledge of highly regarded researchers.
These researchers sustain and build upon Australia’s international standing in significant research areas, finding the answers to the big questions facing our society.
CoEs are internationally respected and are recognised for their importance in innovative interdisciplinary research.
What do we do?
CDM, funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and administered by the University of Melbourne, brings together experts from across Australia and internationally to unlock the secrets of dark matter, while also fostering the science and engineering leaders of the future. Our main areas of research are:
Direct Detection
The Centre is constructing and operating state-of-the-art dark matter direct detection experiments in Australia. These experiments will play an important role in international experiments and will be conducted at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) and the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider searches for dark matter production that will extend the Centre’s experimental reach to dark matter masses and interactions for which direct detection experiments have less sensitivity.
Precision Metrology
The Centre, with support from ANU and ANSTO is developing ultra-sensitive radioactivity measurement techniques. Experts at UWA are establishing the ultra-precise measurements of frequency and other quantities needed for sub-eV dark matter searches.
Theory
The Centre is developing the theoretical framework for incorporating results from Direct Detection and Large Hadron Collider searches into a new fundamental theory of Nature, that will extend the Standard Model of particle physics.
You can read more about our research on the website or in our annual reports.
Who are we?
The Centre has six nodes:
University of Adelaide
Australian National University
University of Melbourne
Swinburne University of Technology
University of Western Australia
University of Sydney
Each node has a Node Leader, who is a member of the Centre’s Executive Committee.
The Central Operations team works in collaboration with the node administrative team to ensure a coherent and coordinated approach to Centre-wide activities, financial management and reporting requirements.
The Centre Director and Chief Investigator, Prof Elisabetta Barberio, is responsible for the overall strategic direction and operation of the Centre, with advice from the relevant Centre Committees.
The Director, Prof Elisabetta Barberio, is supported by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Anita Vecchies, who oversees the day-to-day operational matters of the Centre and provides strategic advice to the Director.
Our network of staff and students include:
Chief Investigators
Academic Staff
Associate Investigators
Partner Investigators
Postdoctoral Researchers
Students (PhD, MPhil, Masters, Honours, Vacation Students)
Technical Staff
Professional Staff
You can check out who’s who on the Centre’s website – make sure you provide us with a picture of yourself so we can include you on our website and promote your research activities!
How do we operate?
The Centre values its staff and students, as well its interactions with national and international agencies. Value is placed on the relationships we have with others and we take pride in our Equity and Diversity focus and our Code of Conduct.
Equity and diversity
The physics skilled workforce in Australia is largely dominated by men and three times more male students choose physics subjects in high school. Only 15% of Research Fellows in physics are women, and they have less chance of securing a continuing position than men. Improving gender balance in physics is a priority and must be done at a much faster pace than is currently happening.
Equity is not limited to gender balance. Major inequalities persist around the world, as illustrated by the recent Black Lives Matter movement. In Australia, part of the problem of racial inequality is rooted into the reduced educational opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people that would equip them with skills such as those required in academia.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is one of the key portfolios of the Centre. Its mission is to develop innovative initiatives to significantly improve gender balance in STEM, to reach towards indigenous communities, and to ensure that the Centre offers an inclusive and respectful workplace to all its members and associates.
Our vision is to “Lead by example towards equity and diversity through inclusion, flexibility and inspiring new generations” by improving gender balance in STEM through ambitious policies, supporting families and carers, inspiring a new, more diverse generation toward STEM and building a culture of respect and inclusion. We have identified many objectives, from hiring policies to carer support, fellowships, and training.
More information on EDI can be found at the CDM webpage.
Code of Conduct
Centre Members are expected to:
take active responsibility for respecting and protecting their own and their colleagues’ (including students’) rights
engage in respectful and professional conversations that place responsible, respectful behaviours and attitudes at the Centre of all dealings between colleagues, students and other stakeholders.
The Centre provides an environment that values the wellbeing of its members and to provide consistently respectful treatment of all people. In addition to scientific and ethical integrity, the Centre expects Centre Members to behave in a respectful manner towards others and for anyone who comes into contact with the Centre to be treated with equality, fairness, dignity and respect. The Centre also expects Centre Members to actively work towards preventing misconduct in any form.
The Code of Conduct provides all Centre Members with a simple, accessible and easy to follow guide to address any workplace issues that may arise during normal working hours and outside of hours in relevant work settings. The framework and approach is an important reflection of the
Centre’s commitment to building and maintaining a culture that we can be proud of and feel comfortable within, with the following aims:
improving the overall wellbeing of the Centre Members
improving the experiences that all people have when they interact with the Centre and Centre Members
reducing the legal and operational risks that arise from the conduct of the Centre’s business activities
optimising the Centre’s productivity.
The full Code of Conduct can be found on the Centre’s website.
Mentoring and careers
Mentoring and Careers is another important portfolio of the Centre and the committee coordinates mentoring and training opportunities for our early and mid-career researchers.
CDM is part of a CoE mentoring program on the Mentorloop platform. You can start a mentoring relationship with other researchers, professional staff and industry professionals. You have the option to connect to people from within our Centre or to someone from one of the other 11 CoEs participating in the program.
You can learn from mentors who can offer specific insight, advice and opportunities to help you progress in your career or for those of you with more experience, help others as a mentor.
You can sign up anytime for the Mentoring Program here: Sign up - Mentorloop
Please answer the questions carefully. You will have the option of self-selecting or allowing the program to match you via their algorithm which will be run occasionally by the program organisers.
More information on Mentoring can be found on the Mentoring Confluence page.
What’s next? - resources, contacts etc
Make sure you visit your local professional staff contact and introduce yourself. Our professional team are a wealth of information and assistance.
Each Node has its own procedures and policies in place according to their institution and you should familarise yourself with them. The professional team will be able to guide you with accessing this information.
The professional staff contacts are:
Australian National University – Petra Rickman
Swinburne University – Simon Parsons
The University of Adelaide – Emily Campbell & Silvana Santucci
The University of Melbourne – Kathryn Ryan
The University of Sydney – n/a
The University of Western Australia – Linda Barbour
Reporting
You will have completed a new member request form (provided by your node administrator) so we can record your details in our database, Polestar. As part of the ARC reporting obligations the Centre is required to gather demographic information on staff and students, and other details are required to fulfill our KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and populate our Annual Report, such as your publication and outreach activities.
Member Portal
The Centre’s Member Portal is your one-stop hub for everything you need as a member. Here you can complete KPI forms to report your activities and contributions, access key contacts and useful links, check the Centre calendar for upcoming events and deadlines, and explore a range of resources to help you stay connected and informed. Save this one to your bookmarks!
Your Profile
All Centre members are listed on the Centre’s website. Your profile helps demonstrate your affiliation with a large collaborative organisation, highlights your work, and makes it easier for colleagues and partners to find you and potentially collaborate.
To create or update your profile, please email a photo of yourself to fleur.morrison@unimelb.edu.au along with:
Name to appear on website:
Position: (e.g. PhD, MSc, Academic Staff, Professional Staff)
Home institution:
Research theme(s): Direct Detection / LHC / Theory / Metrology
Email: (you may opt to hide your email on the public profile)
Short bio (for previews): 50 words or fewer
Long bio (for full profile page): 100–250 words
Committee Memberships:
To see some examples, head to the People section of the Centre’s website and look at some different profiles.
Communication
Follow and tag the Centre on social media:
Contact us to join the Centre’s Slack channel which has a number of existing communication channels that you can join (eg ECR, SABRE, Cygnus, Journal-Club, Outreach and Education) or create your own channels (with multiple people) and chats (with just one other person).
The ECR communication channel contains information about meetings and activities. ECR's can write comments anytime and share their ideas, wishes, papers and more. Contact your ECR rep if you would like an invite to join the channel.
The idea with Slack is to shift internal communication out of email inboxes into channels, so that teams can work more transparently with one another, and the files are available in the corresponding channel.
Visit the Centre’s Confluence pages. These contain information on activities run by the Centre as well as logos and templates that you can use for zoom meetings, presentations and e-mail signatures.
You will also be added to relevant mailing lists so that you can be kept up to date with opportunities, news and events.
We have Centre fortnightly meetings on Thursdays via zoom and a quarterly email newsletter.
We also hold an annual in person ECR and Centre Workshop at the end of each year for Centre members and visitors.
Opportunities
If you have a passion for outreach and education, there are plenty of opportunities throughout the year you can participate in including the annual Quantum and Dark Matter Road Trip. Contact Outreach and Education Coordinator, Jackie Bondell or join the outreach and education slack channel.
We also welcome contributions to our social media, newsletters and website so please do not hesitate to contact our Communications and Media Officer, Fleur Morrison. As a Centre member, we want to share and celebrate your achievements and successes!
More information can be found at the CDM website: http://www.centredarkmatter.org
Any questions? - contact cdm-admin@unimelb.edu.au
Finally…
We hope that your journey in the Centre’s universe will be as exciting and rewarding as the research into dark matter particle physics.
From Elisabetta Barberio – Centre Director:
“We have come to understand the fundamental building blocks of ordinary matter, and what we know of the universe is only a tiny fraction of what is out there: 85% of the mass of the universe consists of a mysterious substance called dark matter.
An unknown universe of new particles and forces awaits discovery. These unknown particles and forces are, at present, invisible to us, but they have shaped the universe as we see it today.
The Centre is enabling Australia to lead this endeavour with innovative new detectors with the potential for major discoveries, and compelling new ideas on the nature of dark matter.
We are taking part in not only a scientific revolution, but also a revolution in how human beings see the universe.”