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We're trying to understand matter at its
deepest level and that takes us from the
interior of the atom, so the smallest
distances really, to the large scale
dark energy and dark matter, which govern
the way the universe is put together.
The framework within which we carry out that
research is called The Standard Model.
The approach that we followed in
Adelaide over the last two decades, is to
have fundamental theory, phenomenology
numerical simulation, and very close
interaction with experimental physics
around the world, all working together in
the one place. The Centre for the
Subatomic Structure of Matter, or CSSM,
was initially funded as an Australian
Research Council special research centre
to examine the structure of
matter at its deepest level, and how
protons, neutrons, nuclei are 
composed of quarks. 
Most of my research has focused on
studying the structure of the proton.
The proton itself is made up of three quarks
and these are held together by another
subatomic particle that we call gluon.
Interactions of quarks and gluons are
governed by the theory of quantum chromodynamics.
We look around and we think 
that empty space is empty but it isn't.
It's actually full of quark and
gluon field fluctuations. So the very
first step in any calculation is to
create typical snapshots of empty space.
We're doing simulations using not only
quantum chromodynamics or QCD for short
but also quantum electrodynamics. Within
the vacuum there will be areas in which
there's a net electric charge, areas of
positive charge density and negative
charge density and we'd like to
understand how they correlate with the
instantons that we see. Only recently
has it become possible to do these
calculations. It's required decades of
algorithm development and even more
decades of supercomputer development.
Lattice QCD is a highly competitive
field there are very limited computing
resources worldwide. We team up with
international colleagues in the UK, in
Germany, Japan and the USA. Being part of
an international collaboration allows us
to pull together our resources so that
we are able to perform simulations that
can compete on an international level.
We have a very large team of PhD
research students who gain access also to
these international super computing
resources, confronting some of the most
challenging problems in particle nuclear physics.
In many parts of the world, particle physics and nuclear 
physics are completely separate
and they don't even talk to each other. 
Here we work constructively and collaboratively
together and so the students in CoEPP
go to the seminars, they meet the
visitors who come to CSSM 
and vice-versa.
CoEPP is a large research organisation
funded by the Australian Research
Council. It's a so-called centre of
excellence. The primary area of activity
of CoEPP is to be able to understand modern
physics. That includes supersymmetry,
composite particles, extra dimensions,
looking for new particles and new forces
and the search for dark matter itself in
underground laboratories.
The Stawell underground physics laboratory, the 
so-called SUPL, is a new lab that's
being constructed one kilometre
underground in the Stawell goldmine in
Victoria to house the SABRE experiment,
which is a direct detection Dark Matter experiment.
Finding of the Higgs boson in 2012 was
the last piece of the jigsaw that
completes the puzzle of the standard model
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN
is made up of a number of experiments
one of which is called Atlas. We have
experimenters here who part of that
program and they're participating in the
search for new physics and new particles.
Despite being a postdoc here at Adelaide,
I'm mostly based in Geneva and CERN.
Our main driving force for us at least in
the experimental group here at Adelaide,
is to find supersymmetry. Being a part of
the CSSM here and CoEPP has been
really invaluable for my own research at
least. We get very very good access to
the theory community, so it's been a great
opportunity. 
There's something very unique about the 
CSSM / CoEPP sort of interface. The CSSM brings
non-perturbative physics expertise.
CoEPP brings the sort of Hadron Collider
stuff. You really need that that
conversation and you need the expertise
locally to do it, so Adelaide for me
is by far the best place to be at the moment.
The opportunities in the sense for
work in CSSM / CoEPP are boundless.
We have really outstanding staff.
The ARC Future Fellowship scheme is the
sort of most prestigious mid-career
researcher scheme. When I arrived three
people had already got this in the last
three years and that was a record to
keep up and asked me to apply for this.
So you know I got their applications and
studied how to do it properly and then
got my fellowship which was great.
We feel that this is an ideal environment
for young people to develop into
first-rate scientists. We attract really
good people to come here for a few
weeks, a month, for collaborative research,
and we involve our students in that.
Quite apart from the opportunities in
Australia, many of the graduates taken
senior positions in universities around
the world. That ranges from Massey
University in New Zealand through 
to MIT in Boston.
After doing my PhD at Adelaide
at the CSSM and CoEPP, I was able to
pick where I wanted to go next. 
Now I'm at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology.
Studying at CSSM and CoEPP was really the best
possible start to an academic career that I can imagine.
I had fantastic mentoring, fantastic
teaching, and I was really taught how to
be a scientist and how to be a physicist.
I really think that the University of
Adelaide has a critical mass of top
people, and that it's poised to be a
significant player in the field in
the next decades
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