OzGrav

OzGrav is delighted to congratulate Professor David Blair, one of Australia’s pioneering gravitational-wave physicists, on being appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours. Professor Blair was recognised for his distinguished service to physics, precision measurement science, gravitational-wave research and scientific education. A founding figure in Au…

White dwarf binary provides unique natural laboratory for extreme physics An international team led by astronomers at the University of Sydney has uncovered the clearest evidence yet for the origin of an unusual class of cosmic signals. In doing so, they have identified a rare stellar system that is providing scientists with a natural laboratory […] The post Student astronomer discovers ‘Rosetta …

We are thrilled to congratulate OzGrav member Dr Kirsten Banks, widely known as AstroKirsten, on making to the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. Kirsten is an Australia-based astrophysicist whose work sits at the intersection of cutting-edge science and community, translating complex topics such as black holes, cosmic discoveries, and the search for life […] The post Celebrating Dr Kirsten Banks…

Congratulations to OzGrav’s Dr Iris de Ruiter, who has been awarded a prestigious 2026 Gruber Foundation Fellowship. Each year, The Gruber Foundation (TGF), in collaboration with the International Astronomical Union (IAU), funds a US$ 75,000 fellowship programme for promising early-career astronomers. As in recent years, the Selection Committee has decided to award this year’s fellowship jointly …

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration has today released its latest catalog of gravitational-wave detections. The data analysed for this update were collected by the twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors and the Virgo detectors. They are the world’s premier observatory of gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime. This catalog aggregates hundre…

An international team of scientists from the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), has completed one of the most sensitive searches yet for continuous gravitational waves from young supernova remnants.   Neutron stars (NSs) are among the most exotic objects in the Universe. They […] The post Huntin…

An international team of scientists from the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), has shown for the first time that gravitational waves, ripples in space and time produced by some of the most violent events in the Universe, such as the collision of […] The post How black hole mergers are helping s…

An awe-inspiring new chapter in science engagement has begun, with Professor Matthew Bailes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, officially launching Swinburne Virtual Universe. The space is exactly what it sounds like. A fully immersive room wrapped in more than 100 square metres of high-contrast LED screens, where you’re not […] The post OzGrav Director Pr…

An international team of scientists led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) at Monash University has uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, helping to shed light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the Universe. At the end of their lives, most massive stars collapse into […] The post New Study Finds Evidence of Cosmic Explosions with Missin…

Congratulations to OzGrav’s Dr Cullan Howlett on being awarded the 2026 Pawsey Medal Dr Cullan Howlett is one of Australia’s most exceptional cosmologists. His research – focused on assembling the largest and most complete map of our universe ever made – has shaped our understanding of the fundamental forces and ingredients that make up the […] The post Congratulations to OzGrav’s Dr Cullan Howle…

Australia may be far from the world’s seismic hotspots, but a team from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) at the Australian National University (ANU) is leading a breakthrough that could transform how earthquakes and tsunamis are detected worldwide. With $671,000 in new funding from the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Discovery […] The post Speed-of-Light …

OzGrav Annual Awards Our Annual Awards celebrate the people and teams who embody OzGrav’s values — excellence in research, collaboration, service, equity, and community. From scientific leadership to mentoring, outreach, and care for others, these awards recognise the many ways our members strengthen both our science and our culture. We thank the judging panel for […] The post 2025 OzGrav Achieve…

Congratulations to OzGrav Associate Investigator Matt Dodds, recipient of the 2025 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) proudly celebrates Matt’s national recognition for his creative and hands-on approach to science teaching, bringing physics to life for students in regional and […] …

An international team of scientists from the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, including researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), has detected two remarkable black hole collisions that are offering new insights into both the evolution of the cosmos and the nature of dark matter. The pair of gravitational-wave events, […] The post Twin Black Hol…

Last week, the Australian gravitational-wave community gathered at Swinburne University to celebrate a landmark moment in science, the 10-year anniversary of the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GW150914). This discovery, announced in 2016 from data recorded on 14 September 2015, confirmed Einstein’s prediction and opened an entirely new window on the Universe. The two-day […] The p…

A global team of astrophysicists, including Australians, has witnessed a collision between two black holes that was so loud, they were able to use it to test—and prove—Stephen Hawking’s Theory of Black Hole Thermodynamics. The event, observed by the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, involved two black holes merging to form a single, larger one, […] The post Ten years after gravitational wave…

In 1916, Albert Einstein published the paper that predicted gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of space-time resulting from the most violent phenomena in our distant universe, such as supernovae explosions or colliding black holes. It took a century for Einstein’s theory to be proven when, in September 2015, the newly commissioned Advanced Laser […] The post A Decade’s Worth Of Gravitati…