Available projects at UQ (PhD, masters, honours, and undergraduate)
- Atomic physics as a probe of the Standard Model at low energies
- Development of high-precision atomic structure methods
- Theoretical characterisation of systems for the development of atomic clocks
- Enlightening the search for dark matter (and other exotic physics)
- For more details, see: researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/24237
- Projects are flexible and other projects are available, contact me with any questions
- Formal applications are made through the University of Queensland – smp.uq.edu.au/study/higher-degree-research. Feel free to contact me directly with any questions
Current PhD Students
Ashlee Caddell (PhD candidate, UQ)
Ashlee works on developing methods for searching for dark matter and exotic physics using atomic phenomena.
Publications during PhD
- Ultralight Dark Matter Search with Space-Time Separated Atomic Clocks and Cavities, M. Filzinger, A. R. Caddell, D. Jani, M. Steinel, L. Giani, N. Huntemann, and B. M. Roberts, Physical Review Letters 134, 031001 (2025), [arXiv:2312.13723].
- The neutrino fog for dark matter-electron scattering experiments, B. Carew, A. R. Caddell, T. N. Maity, C. A. J. O’Hare, Phys. Rev. D 109, 083016 (2024), [arXiv:2312.04303].
- Accurate electron-recoil ionization factors for dark matter direct detection in xenon, krypton, and argon, A. R. Caddell, V. V. Flambaum, and B. M. Roberts, Phys. Rev. D 108, 083030 (2023), [arXiv:2305.05125].
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- ICPEAC, International Conference on Photonic, Electronic, and Atomic Collisions, Japan, 2025
- Quantum Year National Tour - Poster Session, QUT, Brisbane, 2025
- Pint of Science outreach talk, Atomic approaches to dethrone the hide-and-seek champion of the Universe, Brisbane, 2025
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Congress (talk), Melbourne, 2024
- APS April Meeting (talk, virtual), Sacremento USA, 2024
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Summer Meeting (talk), ANU, 2023
- 9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology (poster), Kingsclif NSW, 2023
- ASA (Astronomical Society of Australia) ASM (poster), 2023
- Canberra International Physics Summer School, 2023
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Congress (talk), Adelaide, 2022
- Dark Side of the Universe (talk), UNSW, 2022
- ASA (Astronomical Society of Australia) ASM (talk), 2022
- ACAMAR (Australia-China Consortium for Astrophysical Research) Meeting on Astroparticle Physics (talk), 2022
- DAMOP (poster, virtual), 2022
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Summer Meeting (poster), QUT, 2021
Jack Easton (PhD candidate, UQ)
Jack works on developing and extending high-precission atomic structure theory methods for applications in fundamental physics. In particular, for low-energy tests of the Standard Model, and searches for fundamental symmetry violations.
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- Search for new physics with low-energy precision tests, Summer School, University of Groningen, NL, 2025
Honours Thesis: Theoretical calculation of Stark-induced polarisabilities in heavy alkali atoms for low energy tests of the Standard Model
Narise Williams (PhD candidate, UQ)
Narise works on dark matter and astroparticle phenomenology, including developing new methods for dark matter detection by general atomic scattering and absorption
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- Quantum Year National Tour - Poster Session, QUT, Brisbane, 2025
Honours Thesis: The direct detection of dark photons beyond the electric-dipole approximation
Jayden Hasted (PhD candidate, UQ)
Jayden works on high-precision atomic structure calculations for fundamental physics studies, in particular, high-precision calculations of atomic polarisabilities and hyperfine structure.
Primary supervisor: Dr. Jacinda Ginges.
Publications during PhD
- Vacuum polarization corrections to hyperfine structure in many-electron atoms, J. C. Hasted, C. J. Fairhall, O. R. Smits, B. M. Roberts, J. S. M. Ginges, Phys. Rev. A 111, 032812 (2025); [arXiv:2409.17979]
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Congress (poster), Melbourne, 2024
Thakur Giriraj Hiranandani (PhD candidate, UQ)
Giri works on tests of the standard model and nuclear physics using exotic atoms, and field theory approaches for the developement of new methods for the inclusion of all-orders correlation effects into atomic structure calculations.
Primary supervisor: Dr. Jacinda Ginges.
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- Search for new physics with low-energy precision tests, Summer School, University of Groningen, NL, 2025
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Congress (poster), Melbourne, 2024
Current Honours/Masters Students
Isabella Pham (Honours, UQ)
Isabella works on probing for exotic physics using atomic systems, including studies of electric dipole moments and methods for axion dark matter detection
Honours Thesis: Axion Detection With Atomic Clocks
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- Search for new physics with low-energy precision tests, Summer School, University of Groningen, NL, 2025
Cameron West (Honours, UQ)
Cameron works on probing for physics beyond the Standard Model by investigating short- and intermediate-range exotic forces within atomic systems, and their impact on atomic spectroscopy, including induced electric dipole moments and isotope shift
Honours Thesis: The atomic effects of new interactions
Andoni Skoufris (Honours, UQ)
Doni works developing and extending all-orders methods for the inclusion correlation corrections into atomic structure calculations, with a particular emphasis on Breit and other relatistic effects
Honours Thesis: Relativistic effects in atomic structure theory
Robin Cserveny (Masters, UQ and University of Vienna, Austria)
Robin works on extending and applying computational methods for high-accuracy calculations of atomic systems and for the theoretical study of atomic systems for the development of atomic clocks.
Mater’s Thesis: Computational study of Ra+ and Sr+ for the development of optical atomic clocks
Publications during masters
- Theoretical characterisation of the Barium II and Radium II ions, R. B. Cserveny and B. M. Roberts, Phys. Rev. A 112, 032816 (2025), arXiv:2505.05230
Conferences/Worskhops during masters
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Summer Meeting (talk), ANU, 2023
Previous Students
Dhruv Jani (Honours, UQ)
Thesis: Detection of Gravitational Waves and Dark Matter using terrestrial based Optical Atomic Clocks
Publications during honours
- Ultralight Dark Matter Search with Space-Time Separated Atomic Clocks and Cavities, M. Filzinger, A. R. Caddell, D. Jani, M. Steinel, L. Giani, N. Huntemann, and B. M. Roberts, Physical Review Letters 134, 031001 (2025), [arXiv:2312.13723].
Dhruv went on to study at ANU, Canberra.
Carter Fairhall (PhD Candidate, UQ)
Carter works on extending methods for high-precission atomic structure calculations for fundamental physics studies, particularly the high-accuracy inclusion of radiative QED effects into many-body atomic structure calculations.
Primary supervisor: Dr. Jacinda Ginges.
Publications during PhD
- Vacuum polarization corrections to hyperfine structure in many-electron atoms, J. C. Hasted, C. J. Fairhall, O. R. Smits, B. M. Roberts, J. S. M. Ginges, Phys. Rev. A 111, 032812 (2025); [arXiv:2409.17979]
- QED radiative corrections to electric dipole amplitudes in heavy atoms, C. J. Fairhall, B. M. Roberts, and J. S. M. Ginges, Phys. Rev. A 107, 022813 (2023), [arXiv:2212.11490]
- Electric dipole transition amplitudes for atoms and ions with one valence electron, B. M. Roberts, C. J. Fairhall, and J. S. M. Ginges, Phys. Rev. A 107, 052812 (2023), [arXiv:2211.11134]
Conferences/Worskhops during PhD
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Congress (poster), Melbourne, 2024
- 14th REHE Conference (talk), Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 2024
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Summer Meeting (talk), ANU, 2023
- 9th Symposium on Frequency Standards and Metrology (poster), Kingsclif NSW, 2023
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Congress (poster), Adelaide, 2022
- DAMOP (poster, virtual), 2022
Pengrui Jiao (Honours, UQ)
Thesis: Dynamic Breit Correction to Atomic Energy Levels
Graduated: June 2023
Pengrui went on to postgraduate study in Paris, France.
Victoria Inselmann (Honours, UQ and the University of Copenhagen)
Graduated: December 2022
Co-Supervised with Prof. Tamara Davis
Thesis: Black hole entropy with varying constants of nature
Flynn Linton (Honours, UQ)
Graduated: June 2022
Thesis: Extending correlation methods for high-accuracy calculations of atomic wavefunctions
Conferences during honours
- ACUR student conference 2022 (talk)
- AIP (Australian Institute of Physics) Summer Meeting (poster), QUT, 2021
Flynn went on to a Masters position at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Ben Carew (Honours, UQ)
Graduated: June 2022
Thesis: Atomic Ionisation with Electron Interactions of Dark Matter
Conferences/Presentations during honours
- ACUR student conference 2022 (talk)
- AIP summer meeting 2021 (poster)
- Outreach talk at 2021 Pint of Science event, Brisbane: From atoms to galaxies
After graduating Ben was awarded a summer scholarship at University of Sydney (Dark Matter Centre of Excellence).
Ben was then accepted into the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Advanced Methods in Particle Physics program
Publications resulting from honours work
- The neutrino fog for dark matter-electron scattering experiments, B. Carew, A. R. Caddell, T. N. Maity, C. A. J. O’Hare, [arXiv:2312.04303].
Website: bencarew.com
Conner Dailey (Honors, University of Nevada, Reno)
Graduated: May 2017
Thesis: Initial Search Results for Dark Matter Using the GPS.DM Observatory
Primary supervisor: Dr. Andrei Derevianko
Publications during honors
- B. M. Roberts, G. Blewitt, C. Dailey, M. Murphy, M. Pospelov, A. Rollings, J. Sherman, W. Williams, A. Derevianko, Nature Commun. 8, 1195 (2017), [arXiv:1704.06844]
- B. M. Roberts, G. Blewitt, C. Dailey, A. Derevianko, Phys. Rev. D 97, 083009 (2018), [arXiv:1803.10264]
Conner went on to a PhD position at University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Website: taketwicedailey.com