The Professoriate
Distinguished Professor Gaven MartinFRSNZ- Research Interests:
- Mathematics
- Non-linear analysis, elliptic partial differential equations, Beltrami systems and geometric function theory, particularly as it interacts with conformal geometry, quasiconformal mappings and their generalisations. Applications in non-linear elasticity and materials science. Also low dimensional topology and geometry, particularly hyperbolic geometry, discrete groups and their associated universal constants, such as minimal co-volume, and relations between arithmetic and geometry.
Professor Marti Anderson - Research Interests:
- Statistics for Ecology.
- My primary interest is in the analysis of multi-species
datasets, to quantify and model natural spatial and temporal variation, including
beta-diversity, at multiple scales and/or in response to environmental variables or
human-induced factors or experiments. Areas of particular expertise include:
multivariate analysis; computer-intensive techniques; experimental design;
ecological statistics; community ecology; biodiversity; resemblance (similarity and
dissimilarity) measures, environmental monitoring and impact assessment; marine
science; modeling species' distributions and count data; semi- and non-parametric
methods.
Professor Joachim Brand - Research Interests:
- Theoretical Physics.
- Quantum physics of many particle systems. Condensed matter theory of quantum gases and liquids. Nonlinear waves, solitons and vortices in superfluids. Strongly correlated quantum matter. Quantum dynamics of few-particle systems. Entanglement and macroscopic quantum superpositions. Our research focusses mainly on the theoretical understanding of atomic and molecular gases at ultra-cold temperatures, where quantum mechanics dominates. Studies of quantum effects in these system enhance our basic understanding of quantum mechanics and aid the design of novel devices for quantum technologies.
Professor John Butcher - Research Interests:
- Numerical methods for the solution of ordinary differential equations.
- Within this broad area I work mainly on multistage methods for initial value problems, such as Runge-Kutta and general linear methods.
Recently a new type of method has been discovered in which the stability is identical with that of a Runge-Kutta method. These are known as IRKS methods (methods possessing "Inherent Runge-Kutta stability". Order stars are well-known as theoretical tools for investigating and resolving stability questions. Recently "order arrows" have been introduced as an additional method for carrying out similar tasks. The main success is the resolution of the "Butcher-Chipman conjecture" which is now known to be true.
I have become interested in G-symplectic general linear methods. These have some of the properties and behaviour of symplectic Runge-Kutta methods.
Professor Sergej Flach - Research Interests:
- Theoretical Physics and Complex Systems.
- Theoretical Physics and Complex Systems. Nonlinear waves in complex systems, classical and quantum, with and
without dissipation; in particular wave localization, delocalization, transport and applications in condensed matter, nonlinear optics,
micromechanics, and nanoscience. The study of out-of-equilibrium systems with applications in cold atom physics; in particular ratcheting particles and waves. Fano resonances in the transport through nanoscale structures. Cryptography with nonlinear waves and chaos; in particular encryption of passwords and pCAPTCHAs.
Professor Boris Pavlov - Research Interests:
- Mathematical Physics.
- Spectral analysis of partial differential operators and Mathematical Physics. In particular: transport problems
and scattering problems for Quantum Networks, fitted models of resonance scattering systems and analytic
perturbation procedure.
Professor Thomas Pfeiffer - Research Interests:
- Computational Biology.
- Computational Biology particularly metabolic systems and their evolution, game theory, and evidence synthesis. These include the development of computer simulations to study how different evolutionary histories shape properties of metabolic networks; the properties of fitness landscapes associated with metabolic systems and how they predict metabolic flux distributions. Applications of game theory to reciprocal strategies with minimal cognitive requirements, and predictions for in-group bias and for indirect reciprocity in real-world and laboratory settings.
Professor Paul RaineyFRSNZ- Research Interests:
- Ecology and Evolution.
- Evolutionary processes particularly, but not exclusively, evolution by natural selection. Our research is both theoretical and empirical and makes use of microbial populations in order to observe and dissect evolution in real time. A growing fascination is the evolutionary origins of multicellularity. Other interests include the ecological significance of diversity in natural microbial populations; evolutionary processes determining patterns of diversity in space and time; and the genetics and fitness consequences of traits that enhance ecological performance in populations of plant-colonizing bacteria.
Professor Peter SchwerdtfegerFRSNZ- Research Interests:
- Theoretical Chemistry and Physics.
- Aspects of quantum chemistry and physics focused toward fundamental issues. Current research areas include: parity-violation in chiral molecules, relativistic effects, the chemistry of heavy and superheavy elements, simulation of metallic clusters, quantum-electrodynamic effects in atoms and molecules, solid state chemistry and physics including high-pressure materials, surface science, chemical evolution theory and the mathematical and philosophical aspects of quantum theory.
Visiting Professor Victor FlambaumFAA- Research interests:
- Physics
- Challenging problems in atomic, nuclear, elementary particle, solid state physics and astrophysics, in particular violation of the fundamental symmetries (parity, time invariance), test of the theories of Grand Unification of elementary particles and their interactions, search for spatial and temporal variation of the fundamental constants in the Universe from the Big Bang to the present time (such variation is predicted by theories unifying gravity with other interactions), many-body theory and high-precision atomic calculations, quantum chaos and statistical theory, high-temperature superconductivity and conductance quantisation.
