Associate Professor Natasha Hurley-Walker obtained her PhD in Radio Astronomy from the University of Cambridge in 2010, and leads "The Galaxy" research group at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. She primarily works with the SKA precursor radio telescopes, especially the Murchison Widefield Array, and has led several large sky surveys which have advanced the astrophysics of radio galaxies, supernova remnants, and galaxy clusters. Her team have discovered a new type of repeating radio source, the "long-period radio transients", and her work is opening up new windows in radio astronomy. Her well-received TEDx talk on radio astronomy has been viewed over 2 million times, and as a TEDx Kings Park board member and Guest Curator, she has mentored several other speakers to the stage. She has championed the cause of women in STEM, improving workplace facilities for women, tackled policy changes to improve equity, and contributed to multiple peer mentoring groups. For her astrophysical research, outreach, and work on gender equity in STEM, she has been named a WA Tall Poppies Scientist of the Year (2017), an ABC Top 5 Scientist (2018), a Superstar of STEM (2019), the Astronomical Society of Australia Anne Green Mid-Career Researcher of the Year (2022), one of ABC Triple J's Hottest 100 Scientists (2024), winner of the David Syme prize (2024), and winner of the Australian Academy of Sciences Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science (2025).

You can find out more about Natasha's work on her website.

Associate Professor Natasha Hurley-Walker is a Superstar of STEM.