Chief Scientist, Swinburne University of Technology

Virginia is a radio astronomer with the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University, where her research interests include tracing galaxy evolution by studying the neutral hydrogen gas in galaxies. She is surveying the sky with the next generation radio telescopes, such as the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the SKA in the future.

Virginia undertook her PhD studies at the University of Melbourne, and following a post-doc at Jodrell Bank observatory in the UK, she returned to Melbourne to take up an ARC-CSIRO linkage fellowship at Swinburne in 2003. Since then, Virginia has held a number of different roles at Swinburne, including deputy director of the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Dean of Science. Virginia is a champion for equity and diversity, and is a co-founder of the WATTLE women in leadership program.