October 2026 - CSIRO Alumni newsletter
In this month’s newsletter you can apply for our annual physics scholarship, read the latest news, find out about events with opportunities to hear directly from researchers and sign up to a range of offers from CSIRO Publishing.
Apply for the CSIRO Alumni Scholarship in Physics 2027
The 2027 CSIRO Alumni Scholarship in Physics is now open. We're offering a $6,000 travel scholarship to help a talented physicist or mathematics student connect with a leading research centre in Australia or overseas.
For generations of researchers, early exposure to world-class laboratories and research environments has opened doors to new ideas, collaborations and career opportunities. This scholarship aims to provide that opportunity for the next generation.
Ocean drones set to brave the Southern Ocean for science
The USVs will operate in remote waters for months at a time, recording data in real time to better understand ocean carbon sinks.
Farmers put regenerative agriculture to the test
A farmer-led project is testing which regenerative practices can help the agricultural sector thrive in a drier, less predictable climate future.
Save the date!
Our annual CSIRO Alumni Scholarship in Physics award ceremony will be held at Lindfield on Wednesday 17 February 2027. Invitations will be sent out nearer the date.
Help grow our alumni network
We now have over 5,200 members but we know that there are many more former colleagues out there. Help us build the alumni network and forward this newsletter on or share the link to alumni registration.
Many presentations and seminars are now being held online – so you can attend from the comfort of your own home. Our alumni calendar lists both CSIRO and external events, so you can find out about a wide range of events.
Promote your own events
To help connect alumni with one another, we encourage you to list your own events on our website. Let us know if you are organising, presenting or attending events and we can help promote it to the alumni network – please email alumni@csiro.au
We feature a range of alumni stories on our website celebrating the achievements of our members. We encourage members to get in touch and send in their stories of trials and tribulations – all in the name of scientific research!
So, if you have received an award, written a book or have any stories that you'd like to share with the alumni network, please email alumni@csiro.au
Guy Kendall White 1925–2018
We would like to thank Stephen J Collocott and Trevor R Finlayson for writing the memoir of their colleague Dr Guy White. This was published in the Historical Records of Australian Science, and we have reposted it on our alumni website for friends and colleagues to read.
On a sadder note, if you would like to let the alumni network know about the passing of one of our members, please email us and we can post a notice to the news page and also feature an obituary within our stories section.
We invite alumni members to add their own tributes, so please contact alumni@csiro.au if you would like to share your memories of them.
Vale Robert Frenkel
Robert worked at CSIRO in the electrotechnology program on the Josephson Volt project and went on to work in physics, statistics and biochemistry as a private researcher, having retired from his former position at the National Measurement Institute Australia.
Vale Ms Thi-Nha Tran
We sadly share the news that former CSIRO Black Mountain technical officer/researcher Ms Thi-Nha Tran passed away from pelvic cancer on 31 July 2026.
Vale Robert Vincent Holland
Rober was a member of our NSW Alumni committee and worked in the Food preservation team at CSIRO North Ryde, NSW from May 1965 through to November 1997, and continued as an Honorary Fellow with Food Science Australia (FSA) until 2001.
Vale Peter Howard Smith (1942-2026)
We are sorry to share the sad news that Peter Smith has passed away aged 84 on 28 September 2026. He worked at CSIRO Samford after graduating from The University of Queensland.