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Research Centres & Facilities

The School of Physics & Astronomy hosts, or is involved with, various research centres which provide funding for research and promote collaboration between researchers across Monash and Australia, and throughout the world.

Staff and students at the School also have access to a wide array of research facilities and equipment - all conveniently located at, or next to, the Clayton campus. All of the facilities are world class, and some of the facilities, such as the Australian Synchrotron, are unique in Australia.

Scientific Technical Service

The Scientific Technical Service supports researchers within the School of Physics & Astronomy by providing a wide range of Electronics and Technical support services, from equipment service to instrument and systems design and development. Technical and engineering support for research staff and groups within the Faculty of Science is provided on a consultation basis.

Contact: Nino Benci +61 3 990 53649 or Nino.Benci@monash.edu

ARC Centres of Excellence

ARC Centres of Excellence are large research collaborations funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Monash was the lead node for the former ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET), which investigated ultra-low resistance electronics, and included School of Physics & Astronomy researchers, academics and postgraduate students.
Monash is a part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav).

Monash Centres and Facilities

The New Horizons Research Centre is a research complex that hosts researchers from the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Engineering and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
The researchers in New Horizons conduct research in many areas including physics, engineering, mathematics, IT chemistry and the biosciences - the scope of the research at New Horizons is beyond anything else that exists in Australia!
Researchers from the School of Physics & Astronomy are housed on the ground floor. As well as significant office space, the Centre houses purpose built laboratories for much of the experimental research carried out by the School – this includes facilities for the Monash Centre for Atomically Thin Materials (MCATM).
MCATM is a joint initiative between the Science and Engineering faculties at Monash University. Staff from the School of Physics & Astronomy are involved in running and collaborating in research fostered by the centre.
See the MCATM website for further information.
Researchers from the School of Physics & Astronomy are involved with the facilities of the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM). The MCEM building sits right next to the School's main offices and teaching spaces. The building is purpose built to house world class "microscopes" including Australia's only "double-aberration-corrected" transmission electron microscope, which is the highest resolution microscope in Australia, and one of just a handful worldwide.
The Australian Synchrotron is a world class facility, the only facility of its kind in Australia, conveniently located across the road from the Monash Clayton campus.
At the synchrotron, electrons are accelerated to relativistic speeds (speeds near the speed of light) so that they generate intense radiation which is essential for use in a wide variety of sophisticated research. The synchrotron is essential
Researchers from the School of Physics and Astronomy regularly use the Synchrotron in their research.
The Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MC^N) is located next to the Australian Synchrotron – just across the road from Monash's Clayton campus.
It is the main centre for the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) - a collaboration of seven Australian research organisations (including Monash). Researchers and students at the School have access to the facilities hosted there.