Professor Alan Duffy is a Research Fellow at Swinburne University, Lead Scientist of The Royal Institution of Australia, Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute and a member of the Advisory Board for the National Science and Technology Centre, Questacon. A professional astrophysicist, he creates baby universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies form and to probe the nature of dark matter.

Alan is currently at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University. Before this, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne and a postdoctoral research associate with ICRAR at the University of Western Australia. Alan obtained his PhD from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics and spent two years as a postgraduate at the Sterrewacht, Leiden Observatory in The Netherlands.

Alan is a member of SABRE, the world’s first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere, based at the bottom of an active gold mine in the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory in Victoria, Australia.

Every fortnight Alan tries to explain breaking science from UFO sightings to the latest NASA discoveries on his space segment with ABC Radio Melbourne. He is also a regular on Network TEN’s The Project and Nine’s Weekend Today. Most recently Alan presented two episodes of ABC’s Catalyst and was a presenter on Stargazing Live produced by ABC/BBC.

Alan has spoken at hundreds of events, some particularly unusual opportunities include speaking at TEDxSydney in the Sydney Opera House, a Science-Improv night at the Adelaide Fringe, a nation-wide tour with BBC Worldwide/RiAus show The Science of Doctor Who Live and even a Planetarium production on Dark Matter called Dark (now shown in 148 planetariums across 25 countries in 6 languages).

His other writing pursuits include his own column in Australia’s most popular science magazine, Cosmos.

He was named one of Men’s Style Magazine’s Men of Influence, WA Sunday Time Magazine’s Best and Brightest as well as a winner in the National Eureka Award for Promoting Understanding of Australian Science Research, Victorian State Tall Poppy Award for Science and CommBank’s Australian of the Day.

In his spare time, you can find Alan speaking around the country at various conferences and corporate events. He is in high demand for his simple explanations of complex scientific theories.

Radio

AFTERNOONS
Regular Appearances. ABC Melbourne, 2014-Present
BREAKFAST
Regular Appearances. ABC Sydney, 2016-Present
ABC AM & PM
Guest Appearances. ABC Radio National, 2015-2017
EVENINGS
Guest Appearances. ABC Melbourne, 2017
BREAKFAST
Guest Appearances. ABC Melbourne, 2015-Present
DRIVE
Guest Appearances. ABC Melbourne, 2014-2017
CONVERSATIONS
Guest Appearances. ABC Melbourne, 2015- 2017
DRIVE
Guest Appearances. ABC Radio National, 2014-2016
AFTERNOONS
Guest Appearances. FiveAA Adelaide, 2014- 2016
BREAKFAST
Guest Appearances. 2UE, 2016
MORNINGS
Guest Appearances. ABC Melbourne, 2014-2016
BREAKFAST, MORNINGS & AFTERNOONS
Guest Appearances. 3AW Melbourne, 2014-2016
BREAKFAST
Guest Appearances. ABC Radio National, 2016
HACK
Guest Appearances. Triple J Nationally, 2016
NEWSRADIO
Guest Appearances. ABC News Radio, 2015-2016
WEEKENDS
Guest Appearances. ABC Brisbane, 2016
CONVERSATIONS
Guest Appearances. ABC Brisbane, 2014-2015
EVENINGS
Guest Appearances. 2014-2015
VERONICA & LEWIS
Guest Appearances. Triple J Nationally, 2015
BREAKFAST
Guest Appearances. Triple R, 2015
THE ONE PERCENTERS
Regular Appearances. Triple M Nationally, 2014

Television

CATALYST – Moon
Presenter. ABC TV, 2018
CATALYST – Death Dive: Into The Rings Of Saturn
Presenter. ABC TV, 2017
SCIENCEY
Presenter. ABC iView, 2017
LIFE ON THE LINE
Guest Scientist (Two Episodes). ABC TV, 2017
BACK TO EARTH: STARGAZING LIVE
Guest Panellist. ABC2, 2017
THE PROJECT
Semi-Regular Guest Appearances. Network TEN, 2014-Present
ABC BREAKFAST
Regular Appearances. ABC TV, 2014-Present
ABC NEWS 24
Guest Appearances on Mornings, Afternoons & Evenings. ABC TV, 2014-Present
SUNRISE
Guest Appearance. Seven Network, 2016
ABC WEEKEND BREAKFAST
Guest Appearances. ABC TV, 2016
WEEKEND TODAY
Guest Appearances. Nine Network, 2016
NINE NEWS
Guest Appearance. Nine Network, 2016
LATELINE
Guest Appearances. ABC TV, 2015-2016
THE DRUM
Guest Appearance. ABC TV, 2015
THE DAILY EDITION
Guest Appearance. Seven Network, 2015
NETWORK 10 NEWS
Guest Appearance. Network TEN, 2015
CATALYST
Guest Appearances. ABC TV, 2014-2015
SKY NEWS- AFTERNOONS
Guest Appearances. Sky News. 2014-2015
WEEKEND SUNRISE
Guest Appearances. Seven Network, 2014-2015
SEVEN NETWORK NEWS
Guest Appearance. Seven Network, 2014
ABC3 NEWS
Guest Appearance. ABC TV, 2014
AL JAZEERA NEWS
Guest Appearances. Al Jazeera, 2013- 2014

Writing

Cosmos Magazine
Regular Contributor. 2015-Current
The Conversation
Regular Columnist. 2015-Current
ABC The Drum
Regular Columnist. 2015-Current

Professional Activities

THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA (home of Australia’s Science Channel)
Lead Scientist. 2017 – Current
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AUSTRALIA (Peak national body for Science and Technology)
Executive Member. 2016 – Current
NATURE (Top research journal in science)
Referee. 2015 – Current
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION (Peak body for astronomy worldwide)
Member. September 2015 – Current
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA (Peak national body for astronomy)
Member. February 2010 – Current
WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY (Elected to the national committee on improving diversity and the experience for all in astronomy)
Committee Member. March 2014 – March 2016
AUSTRALIAN TELESCOPE NATIONAL FACILITY (Assessing proposals for access to Australian radio telescopes)
Time Allocation Committee Member. 2014 – Current
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THEORETICAL ASTROPHYSICS (Twice elected to the national committee representing theoretical astrophysics)
Committee Member. March 2010 – April 2014
MONTHLY NOTICES FOR THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY & ASTROPHYSICS JOURNAL (Referee for leading international astronomy journals)
Referee. 2012 – Current