Have you ever stared into the night sky and wondered how galaxies like our own Milky Way formed and what will become of them in the future? Astrophysicists can tackle this question by looking to the farthest reaches of the Universe. The light from distant galaxies takes billions of years to reach us, so we see them as they were during the Universe’s infancy.

Rebecca is an ARC DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology where she leads a research group aiming to solve the mystery of why galaxies stop growing. She uses data from some of the world’s largest observatories including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study galactic outflows – explosive cosmic geysers which push huge amounts of gas and dust out of galaxies, starving them of the fuel they need to form new stars. In 2025, she was awarded the Astronomical Society of Australia’s Louise Webster prize for her research showing that most big galaxies in the early Universe had outflows powerful enough to rapidly eject all of their cold gas, potentially leading to their rapid demise.

Rebecca is passionate about sharing her love of science and astrophysics. She is a regular presenter of JoyFM’s astrophysics Drive segment, has been interviewed on podcasts including SpaceTime and Astrophiz, and has presented public talks at events such as Pint of Science. When not doing science, she enjoys playing violin and singing, as well as spending time outdoors gardening, bird-watching and cycling.