Professor Tamara Davis
Professor

Tamara Davis

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 53134
Mobile: 
0432 526 989

Background

Professor Tamara Davis is an astrophysicist who studies the elusive “dark energy” that’s accelerating the universe. She completed her PhD in 2004 at the University of New South Wales on theoretical cosmology and black holes, then worked on supernova cosmology in two postdoctoral fellowships, the first at the Australian National University (collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and the second at the University of Copenhagen. In 2008 she moved to Queensland to join the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey team working on mapping the galaxies in the Universe. She led the Dark Theme within the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, is now leading the OzDES survey -- working with the international Dark Energy Survey, and working with working with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument project. As of 2024 she is Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery.

Her accolades include the Astronomical Society of Australia's Louise Webster Medal for early career research impact, the L'Oréal Women in Science Fellowship for Australia, the Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics Lectureship, the Australian Academy of Science’s Nancy Millis Medal for outstanding female leadership in science, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, the Astronomical Society of Australia's Ellery Lectureship, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Availability

Professor Tamara Davis is:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Physical Sciences

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales

Research interests

  • Cosmology, Dark Energy, and Dark Matter

    Using supernovae, gravitational waves, and the large-scale structure of the Universe to learn about fundamental physics. On a quest to map all the galaxies in the observable Universe.

Search Professor Tamara Davis’s works on UQ eSpace

279 works between 2001 and 2025
All (279) Journal Article (271) Book Chapter (3) Conference Publication (5)

1 - 20 of 279 works

Featured

2011

Journal Article

The effect of peculiar velocities on supernova cosmology

Davis, Tamara M., Hui, Lam, Frieman, Joshua A., Haugbolle, Troels, Kessler, Richard, Sinclair, Benjamin, Sollerman, Jesper, Bassett, Bruce, Marriner, John, Mortsell, Edvard, Nichol, Robert C., Richmond, Michael W., Sako, Masao, Schneider, Donald P. and Smith, Mathew (2011). The effect of peculiar velocities on supernova cosmology. Astrophysical Journal, 741 (1) 67, 1-15. doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/741/1/67

The effect of peculiar velocities on supernova cosmology

Featured

2011

Journal Article

A new cosmological distance measure using active galactic nuclei

Watson, D., Denney, K. D., Vestergaard, M. and Davis, T. M. (2011). A new cosmological distance measure using active galactic nuclei. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 740 (2) L49, L49.1-L49.5. doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/740/2/L49

A new cosmological distance measure using active galactic nuclei

Featured

2010

Journal Article

Is the Universe leaking Energy?

Davis, T. M. (2010). Is the Universe leaking Energy?. Scientific American, 303 (1), 38-47. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0710-38

Is the Universe leaking Energy?

Featured

2007

Journal Article

Scrutinizing exotic cosmological models using ESSENCE Supernova data combined with other cosmological probes

Davis, T. M., Mörtsell, E., Sollerman, J., Becker, A. C., Blondin, S., Challis, P., Smith, R. C., Stubbs, C. W., Suntzeff, N. B., Foley, R. J., Matheson, T., Tonry, J. L., Aguilera, C., Challis, P., Clocchiatti, A., Filippenko, A. V., Foley, R. J., Garnavich, P. M., Jha, S., Krisciunas, K., Kirshner, R. P., Leibundgut, B., Li, W., Matheson, T., Miknaitis, G., Pignata, G., Rest, A., Riess, A. G., Schmidt, B. P. ... Zenteno, A. (2007). Scrutinizing exotic cosmological models using ESSENCE Supernova data combined with other cosmological probes. Astrophysical journal, 666 (2), 716-725. doi: 10.1086/519988

Scrutinizing exotic cosmological models using ESSENCE Supernova data combined with other cosmological probes

Featured

2006

Journal Article

No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma-ray bursts

Fynbo, Johan P. U., Watson, Darach, Thöne, Christina C., Sollerman, Jesper, Bloom, Joshua S., Davis, Tamara M., Hjorth, Jens, Jakobsson, Páll, Jørgensen, Uffe G., Graham, John F., Fruchter, Andrew S., Bersier, David, Kewley, Lisa, Cassan, Arnaud, Cerón, José María Castro, Foley, Suzanne, Gorosabel, Javier, Hinse, Tobias C., Horne, Keith D., Jensen, Brian L., Klose, Sylvio, Kocevski, Daniel, Marquette, Jean-Baptiste, Perley, Daniel, Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico, Stritzinger, Maximilian D., Vreeswijk, Paul M., Wijers, Ralph A. M., Woller, Kristian G. ... Zub, Marta (2006). No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma-ray bursts. Nature, 444 (7122), 1047-1049. doi: 10.1038/nature05375

No supernovae associated with two long-duration gamma-ray bursts

Featured

2005

Journal Article

Misconceptions about the Big Bang

Lineweaver, Charles H. and Davis, Tamara M. (2005). Misconceptions about the Big Bang. Scientific American, 292 (3), 36-45. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0305-36

Misconceptions about the Big Bang

Featured

2002

Journal Article

Black holes constrain varying constants

Davies, P. C. W., Davis, T. M. and Lineweaver, C. H. (2002). Black holes constrain varying constants. Nature, 418 (6898), 602-603. doi: 10.1038/418602a

Black holes constrain varying constants

2025

Journal Article

Selection function of clusters in Dark Energy Survey year 3 data from cross-matching with South Pole Telescope detections

Grandis, S., Costanzi, M., Mohr, J. J., Bleem, L. E., Wu, H.-Y., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Andrade-Oliveira, F., Bocquet, S., Brooks, D., Carnero Rosell, A., Carretero, J., da Costa, L. N., Pereira, M. E. S., Davis, T. M., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Doel, P., Everett, S., Flaugher, B., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J., Gaztanaga, E., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Gutierrez, G., Hinton, S. R., Hlacacek-Larrondo, J., Hollowood, D. L. ... Wiseman, P. (2025). Selection function of clusters in Dark Energy Survey year 3 data from cross-matching with South Pole Telescope detections. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 700 A15, A15-700. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202554177

Selection function of clusters in Dark Energy Survey year 3 data from cross-matching with South Pole Telescope detections

2025

Journal Article

Unsupervised searches for cosmological parity violation: Improving detection power with the neural field scattering transform

Craigie, Matthew, Taylor, Peter L., Ting, Yuan-Sen, Cuesta-Lazaro, Carolina, Ruggeri, Rossana and Davis, Tamara M. (2025). Unsupervised searches for cosmological parity violation: Improving detection power with the neural field scattering transform. Physical Review D, 112 (2) 023503, 1-17. doi: 10.1103/1knk-j9j9

Unsupervised searches for cosmological parity violation: Improving detection power with the neural field scattering transform

2025

Journal Article

DESI 2024 II: sample definitions, characteristics, and two-point clustering statistics

Adame, A.G., Aguilar, J., Ahlen, S., Alam, S., Alexander, D.M., Alvarez, M., Alves, O., Anand, A., Andrade, U., Armengaud, E., Avila, S., Aviles, A., Awan, H., Bailey, S., Baltay, C., Bault, A., Behera, J., BenZvi, S., Beutler, F., Bianchi, D., Blake, C., Blum, R., Brieden, S., Brodzeller, A., Brooks, D., Brown, Z., Buckley-Geer, E., Burtin, E., Calderon, R. ... The DESI collaboration (2025). DESI 2024 II: sample definitions, characteristics, and two-point clustering statistics. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2025 (7) 017, 1-85. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2025/07/017

DESI 2024 II: sample definitions, characteristics, and two-point clustering statistics

2025

Journal Article

Improving galaxy cluster selection with the outskirt stellar mass of galaxies

Kwiecien, Matthew, Jeltema, Tesla, Leauthaud, Alexie, Huang, Song, Rykoff, Eli, Heydenreich, Sven, Lange, Johannes, Everett, Spencer, Zhou, Conghao, Kelly, Paige, Zhang, Yuanyuan, Shin, Tae-Hyeon, Golden-Marx, Jesse, Marshall, J. L., Aguena, M., Allam, S. S., Bocquet, S., Brooks, D., Rosell, A. Carnero, Carretero, J., da Costa, L. N., Pereira, M. E. S., Davis, T. M., De Vicente, J., Doel, P., Ferrero, I., Flaugher, B., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J. ... Wiseman, P. (2025). Improving galaxy cluster selection with the outskirt stellar mass of galaxies. Physical Review D, 111 (12) 123524, 1-24. doi: 10.1103/1j5f-cmkg

Improving galaxy cluster selection with the outskirt stellar mass of galaxies

2025

Journal Article

Photometry of outer solar system objects from the Dark Energy Survey. II. A joint analysis of trans-neptunian absolute magnitudes, colors, light curves and dynamics

Bernardinelli, Pedro H., Bernstein, Gary M., Abbott, T. M. C., Aguena, M., Allam, S. S., Brooks, D., Carnero Rosell, A., Carretero, J., da Costa, L. N., Pereira, M. E. S., Davis, T. M., De Vicente, J., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Doel, P., Everett, S., Flaugher, B., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J., Gaztanaga, E., Gruendl, R. A., Gutierrez, G., Herner, K., Hinton, S. R., Hollowood, D. L., Honscheid, K., James, D. J., Kuehn, K., Lahav, O. ... (The DES Collaboration) (2025). Photometry of outer solar system objects from the Dark Energy Survey. II. A joint analysis of trans-neptunian absolute magnitudes, colors, light curves and dynamics. The Astronomical Journal, 169 (6) 305, 1-31. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/adc459

Photometry of outer solar system objects from the Dark Energy Survey. II. A joint analysis of trans-neptunian absolute magnitudes, colors, light curves and dynamics

2025

Journal Article

Interacting dark sector within ETHOS: Cosmological constraints from SPT cluster abundance with DES and HST weak lensing data

Mazoun, A., Bocquet, S., Mohr, J. J., Garny, M., Rubira, H., Klein, M., Bleem, L. E., Grandis, S., Schrabback, T., Aguena, M., Allam, S., Allen, S. W., Alves, O., Andrade-Oliveira, F., Brooks, D., Carnero Rosell, A., Carrasco Kind, M., Carretero, J., Costanzi, M., da Costa, L. N., Davis, T. M., Desai, S., De Vicente, J., Diehl, H. T., Dodelson, S., Doel, P., Everett, S., Flaugher, B., Frieman, J. ... SPT and DES Collaborations (2025). Interacting dark sector within ETHOS: Cosmological constraints from SPT cluster abundance with DES and HST weak lensing data. Physical Review D, 111 (8) 083543, 1-19. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.111.083543

Interacting dark sector within ETHOS: Cosmological constraints from SPT cluster abundance with DES and HST weak lensing data

2025

Journal Article

Calibrating the absolute magnitude of type Ia supernovae in nearby galaxies using [OII] and implications for H0

Dixon, M, Mould, J, Lidman, C, Taylor, E N, Flynn, C, Duffy, A R, Galbany, L, Scolnic, D, Davis, T M, Möller, A, Kelsey, L, Lee, J, Wiseman, P, Vincenzi, M, Shah, P, Aguena, M, Allam, S S, Alves, O, Bacon, D, Bocquet, S, Brooks, D, Burke, D L, Rosell, A Carnero, Carollo, D, Carretero, J, Conselice, C, da Costa, L N, Pereira, M E S, Diehl, H T ... Weaverdyck, N (2025). Calibrating the absolute magnitude of type Ia supernovae in nearby galaxies using [OII] and implications for H0. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538 (2), 782-796. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf266

Calibrating the absolute magnitude of type Ia supernovae in nearby galaxies using [OII] and implications for H0

2025

Journal Article

DESI 2024 III: baryon acoustic oscillations from galaxies and quasars

Adame, A.G., Aguilar, J., Ahlen, S., Alam, S., Alexander, D.M., Alvarez, M., Alves, O., Anand, A., Andrade, U., Armengaud, E., Avila, S., Aviles, A., Awan, H., Bailey, S., Baltay, C., Bault, A., Behera, J., BenZvi, S., Beutler, F., Bianchi, D., Blake, C., Blum, R., Brieden, S., Brodzeller, A., Brooks, D., Buckley-Geer, E., Burtin, E., Calderon, R., Canning, R. ... The DESI collaboration (2025). DESI 2024 III: baryon acoustic oscillations from galaxies and quasars. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2025 (4) 012, 1-72. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2025/04/012

DESI 2024 III: baryon acoustic oscillations from galaxies and quasars

2025

Journal Article

Multiprobe cosmology from the abundance of SPT clusters and des galaxy clustering and weak lensing

Bocquet, S., Grandis, S., Krause, E., To, C., Bleem, L. E., Klein, M., Mohr, J. J., Schrabback, T., Alarcon, A., Alves, O., Amon, A., Andrade-Oliveira, F., Baxter, E. J., Bechtol, K., Becker, M. R., Bernstein, G. M., Blazek, J., Camacho, H., Campos, A., Carnero Rosell, A., Carrasco Kind, M., Cawthon, R., Chang, C., Chen, R., Choi, A., Cordero, J., Crocce, M., Davis, C., Derose, J. ... Zohren, H. (2025). Multiprobe cosmology from the abundance of SPT clusters and des galaxy clustering and weak lensing. Physical Review D, 111 (6) 063533. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.111.063533

Multiprobe cosmology from the abundance of SPT clusters and des galaxy clustering and weak lensing

2025

Journal Article

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: Point-spread Function Modeling

Schutt, T., Jarvis, M., Roodman, A., Amon, A., Becker, M. R., Gruendl, R. A., Yamamoto, M., Bechtol, K., Bernstein, G. M., Gatti, M., Rykoff, E. S., Sheldon, E., Troxel, M. A., Abbott, T. M.C., Aguena, M., Alarcon, A., Andrade-Oliveira, F., Brooks, D., Carnero Rosell, A., Carretero, J., Chang, C., Choi, A., Crocce, M., da Costa, L. N., Davis, T. M., De Vicente, J., Desai, S., Diehl, H. T., Dodelson, S. ... Zhang, Y. (2025). Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: Point-spread Function Modeling. Open Journal of Astrophysics, 8, 1-33. doi: 10.33232/001c.132299

Dark Energy Survey Year 6 Results: Point-spread Function Modeling

2025

Journal Article

Identifying Missing Quasars from the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey

Juneau, S., Canning, R., Alexander, D. M., Pucha, R., Fawcett, V. A., Myers, A. D., Moustakas, J., Ruiz-Macias, O., Cole, S., Pan, Z., Aguilar, J., Ahlen, S., Alam, S., Bailey, S., Brooks, D., Chaussidon, E., Circosta, C., Claybaugh, T., Davis, T. M., Dawson, K., de la Macorra, A., Dey, Arjun, Doel, P., Fanning, K., Forero-Romero, J. E., Gaztañaga, E., Gontcho A Gontcho, S., Gutierrez, G., Hahn, C. ... Zou, H. (2025). Identifying Missing Quasars from the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey. The Astronomical Journal, 169 (3) 157, 1-35. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/adabc9

Identifying Missing Quasars from the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey

2025

Journal Article

Reduction of the type Ia supernova host galaxy step in the outer regions of galaxies

Toy, M., Wiseman, P., Sullivan, M., Scolnic, D., Vincenzi, M., Brout, D., Davis, T. M., Frohmaier, C., Galbany, L., Lidman, C., Lee, J., Kelsey, L., Kessler, R., Möller, A., Popovic, B., Sánchez, B. O., Shah, P., Smith, M., Allam, S., Aguena, M., Alves, O., Bacon, D., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, Carretero, J., da Costa, L. N., Pereira, M. E. S., Desai, S. ... Weaverdyck, N. (2025). Reduction of the type Ia supernova host galaxy step in the outer regions of galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538 (1), 181-197. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf248

Reduction of the type Ia supernova host galaxy step in the outer regions of galaxies

2025

Journal Article

It’s not σ8 : constraining the non-linear matter power spectrum with the Dark Energy Survey Year-5 supernova sample

Shah, P, Davis, T M, Vincenzi, M, Armstrong, P, Brout, D, Camilleri, R, Galbany, L, Gill, M S S, Huterer, D, Jeffrey, N, Lahav, O, Lee, J, Lidman, C, Möller, A, Sullivan, M, Whiteway, L, Wiseman, P, Allam, S, Aguena, M, Annis, J, Blazek, J, Brooks, D, Rosell, A Carnero, Carretero, J, Conselice, C, da Costa, L N, Pereira, M E S, Desai, S, Diehl, H T ... Weaverdyck, N (2025). It’s not σ8 : constraining the non-linear matter power spectrum with the Dark Energy Survey Year-5 supernova sample. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 537 (4), 3814-3825. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf286

It’s not σ8 : constraining the non-linear matter power spectrum with the Dark Energy Survey Year-5 supernova sample

Current funding

  • 2025 - 2028
    Cosmic Cartography to Counter Cosmic Conundrums
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2027
    Australian Partnership in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (ARC LIEF administered by UNSW)
    University of New South Wales
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2031
    ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (ARC Centre of Excellence administered by Swinburne University)
    Swinburne University of Technology
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2025
    A Space Odyssey: Exploring the Universe with Gravitational-Wave Sirens
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2026
    Big Questions Institute Fellowship
    Big Questions Institute Pty Ltd
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2019 - 2024
    Illuminating the Dark Universe
    ARC Australian Laureate Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2021
    Doubling the power of the TAIPAN survey facility (ARC LIEF grant administered by The Australian National University)
    Australian National University
    Open grant
  • 2017
    Ian Potter Conference Grant: Dark Energy Survey Collaboration Meeting 2017
    Ian Potter Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2019
    Weighing Black Holes with The Australian Dark Energy Survey
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2019
    Details of the Dark Side
    Vice-Chancellor's Research and Teaching Fellowship
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2016
    The Australian European Southern Observatory Positioner (AESOP) (ARC LIEF Project administered by The University of Western Australia)
    University of Western Australia
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2017
    Mapping the Dark Matter with Early Type Galaxies (ARC Linkage Project administered by Swinburne University of Technology)
    Swinburne University of Technology
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2015
    Mapping the Universe with the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) (ARC LIEF Grant administered by The University of Sydney)
    ARC LIEF Collaborating/Partner Organisation Contributions
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2017
    ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) (ARC COE administered by the University of Sydney)
    University of Sydney
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2013
    ResTeach 2011 0.05 FTE School of Mathematics and Physics
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2013
    Fundamental physics in distant galaxies (ARC Discovery Project administered by Swinburne University)
    Swinburne University of Technology
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2012
    Investigating Growth of Structure in the Universe using ASKAP and SkyMapper
    UWA-UQ Bilateral Research Collaboration Award
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2014
    Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Dark Flow: Galaxy motion reveals fundamental physics
    ARC Future Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    Cosmological testing of fundamental physics
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Tamara Davis is:
Not available for supervision

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Cosmological Constraints with large-scale structure: from LambdaCDM to light relics

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Weighing supermassive black holes with the Dark Energy Survey

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Benjamin Pope

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Cosmology with the Dark Energy Survey

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Gravitational wave cosmology

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Observing Naked-Eye Stars and their Planets with TESS

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Benjamin Pope

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Galaxy motions with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Khaled Said Soliman

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Using the motions of galaxies to probe fundamental physics

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Fundamental Plane distances from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Professor Tamara Davis directly for media enquiries about:

  • Astronomy
  • Astrophysics
  • Cosmology
  • Dark energy
  • Dark Matter
  • Exploding stars
  • Physics
  • Quantum gravity
  • Stars - astrophysics
  • Supernovae (exploding stars)
  • Universe
  • Vacuum energy

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