Student information
Research in the physics of complex physical systems spans physics, engineering, applied mathematics and computational science. Research in this multidisciplinary field gives a good generalist training applicable to many careers.
Graduate & honours research students
Research in the physics of complex physical systems spans physics, engineering, applied mathematics and computational science. Research in this multidisciplinary field gives a good generalist training applicable to many careers. Much of the research of the group has been in aspects of fusion research, which is presently of great international interest as we approach the peak in oil production and seek long-term, non-CO2-producing alternatives. Universities and institutes in the USA, Europe and Japan are either hiring or are associated with attractive postdoctoral fellowships; but graduates also move into many other areas of employment.
Student projects
Opportunities for students wanting to undertake summer vacation projects, honours research, PhB projects and research higher degrees (Masters and PhD) exist within the group across a range of pursuits.
- Summer 2022-2023: Quantum computing of fusion plasmas
Former PhD students
| Name | Thesis title | Year | Present position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dean Muir | A provably stable approach to solving the anisotropic diffusion equation in magnetic fields | 2024 | Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Germany |
| Sandra Jyeakumar | Structure-Preserving Numerical Methods for Collision Operators in Plasma Physics | 2024 | Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Germany |
| Arunav Kumar | Hydromagnetic instabilities of Multi-Region relaxed MHD for fusion plasma confinement | 2023 | MIT, USA |
| Hooman Hezaveh | Frequency chirping of energetic particle driven modes in tokamaks; self-consistent modelling and simulation | 2021 | Xefco, Geelong (to Dec. 2023); MIT, USA (from Dec. 2023) |
| Adelle Wright | On the existence, stability, and relaxation of discontinuous magnetohydrodynamic states | 2021 | Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA |
| Craig Bowie | Applications of sandpile algorithms to modelling edge localised mode phenomenology in magnetically confined fusion plasmas | 2021 | Minter-Ellison Lawyers, Brisbane |
| George Bowden | Damping of Alfvén eigenmodes in complicated tokamak and stellarator geometries | 2017 | UNSW Canberra, Space Weather Modelling |
| Zhisong Qu | Fluid descriptions of externally heated tokamak plasmas | 2017 | ANU MSI |
| Lei Chang | The impact of magnetic geometry on wave modes in cylindrical plasmas | 2013 | Lecturer, Airforce Engineering University, Xi'an City |
| Mathew McGann | Hamilton-Jacobi theory for connecting equilibrium magnetic fields across a toroidal surface supporting a plasma pressure discontinuity | 2013 | Analyst, ANU Edge |
| Meelis Zidikheri | Dynamical Subgrid-scale Parameterizations for Quasigeostrophic Flows using Direct Numerical Simulations | 2008 | Staff member, Australian Bureau of Meteorology |
| Andrew Sullivan | Competitive Thermokinetics and Non-linear Bushfire Behaviour | 2008 | Team Leader, Bushfire Dynamics and Applications Group, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems |
| Ben McMillan | Global Wavemodes of Dissipative Fluid Models in Strongly Three Dimensional Plasmas: Calculation and Interpretation. | 2005 | Postdoctoral Fellow, CRPP, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Sally Lloyd | Simulating Magnetic Islands of the H-1NF Heliac using the MHD Equilibrium Code HINT | 2003 | Tutor, Townsville |
| Alexei Khorev | The Concept of Approximate Action-Angle Variables for Nonintegrable Hamiltonian Dynamics | 2002 | Tutor, Canberra |
| Paul Cuthbert | Ballooning Instabilities in Three-Dimensional Toroidal Plasmas | 2000 | IT-Security Contractor, Canberra |
| Sean Dettrick | Drift Orbits and Neoclassical Transport in the H-1NF Heliac | 1998 | Research Staff, TriAlpha Energy Corporation, USA |
| Jerome Lewandowski | Drift Wave Models for Three-Dimensional Plasmas | 1997 | Research staff, Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA |
| Stuart Hudson | Generalized Magnetic Coordinates for Toroidal Magnetic Fields | 1997 | Research staff, Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA |
| Gustav Meglicki | Analysis and Application of Smoothed Particle Magnetohydrodynamics | 1996 | Senior Technical Adviser, Office of the Vice President for IT, Indiana University, USA |
| Ken Wessen | Application of the Invariant Manifold Reduction to Plasma Instabilities | 1993 | Researcher, Grinham Managed Funds, Pty Ltd; Adjunct Lecturer, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, UWA |
| Alex Pletzer | Two-dimensional Computations of the Outer Matching Data in Resistive Stability | 1992 | Scientific Programmer, Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA |
| Gary Cooper | Stability of Helical Plasmas | 1989 | Telstra? |
| Ritchie Parker | Nonlinear Behaviour of the Resistive Tearing Instability in Plasmas | 1988 | Physicist, Nestl, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Henry Gardner | The Free-Boundary Equilibrium Problem for Helically Symmetric Plasmas | 1986 | Senior Fellow, Department of Computer Science, FEIT, ANU |
Former masters students
| Name | Thesis title | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Bohlsen | Applications of Computational Topology to Fusion Science | 2024 |
| Lachlan Huang | Computational solutions of the Grad-Shafranov equation | 2024 |
| Stuart Benjamin | Distribution transforms for orbit tomography | 2021 |
| Ashley Barnes | Stochastic Network Tomography: Inferring Network Properties from Limited Monitor Data | 2020 |
| Sandra Jeyakumar | Constraining and Solving the Grad-Shafranov Equation with Generalised Pressure Anisotropy | 2020 |
| Dean Muir | Particle orbits in discontinuous magnetic fields | 2020 |
| Nelson Navarro | Extension of Energetic Geodesic Acoustic Modes to Passing Particle Populations | 2019 |
| Joshua Doak | Applying a Vacuum Region to Anisotropic Stability Studies in Tokamak Plasmas | 2019 |
| Nicole Yuen | Electric Field Structure of Energetic Geodesic Acoustic Modes (EGAMs) | 2018 |
| Adelle Wright | Modelling MAGPIE Plasmas | 2015 |
| Li Huey Tuen | Stability of a two-volume MRxMHD model in slab geometry | 2017 |
| Sebastian Cox | The impact of fishbones on neutron rate in beam-heated plasmas | 2016 |
| Ashley Gibson | Reconciliation of Almost-Invariant | 2012 |
| Jason Bertram | A Theoretical Study of Macroscopic Wave Activity in H-1 Plasmas | 2011 |
Former honours students
| Name | Thesis title | Year | Department | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Johnston | The Effect of Pressure Anisotropy on Ballooning Modes in Tokamak Plasmas | 2016 | Physics | 1st Class Honours |
| Kieran Woolfe | Coordinate Transformations in Tokomak Equilibria | 2012 | Physics | 1st Class Honours |
| Ben Wilkinson | Plasma wakefield structure generated by a gaussian electron bunch with a highly elliptical transverse profile | 2014 | Physics | 2nd Class Honours |
| Ruth Mills | 3D Plasma Equilibria | 2007 | Physics | 1st + University Medal |
| Graham Dennis | Multi-Fluid Plasma Modelling | 2005 | Physics | 1st + University Medal |
| Kristen Feher | Quasi Two-Dimensional Turbulence in Plasma | 2003 | Physics | 1st Class Honours |
| Vanessa Robins | Periodic Orbits and Invariant Tori in Symplectic Maps | 1994 | Maths | 1st + University Medal |
| Stephen Hardy | Arnold Diffusion in Magnetic Confinement Geometries | 1993 | Physics | 1st + University Medal |
| Adrienne Fairhall | Centre Manifold Reduction of Tearing Modes in a Plasma Current Sheet | 1991 | Physics | 1st + University Medal |