Overview
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
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.
Works
Search Professor Tamara Davis’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Monitoring of asteroids in cometary orbits and activated asteroids through archival images and new observations
Martino, S., Tancredi, G., Banda-Huarca, M., Rondón, E., Camargo, J. I.B., Licandro, J., Aguena, M., Andrade-Oliveira, F., Arcoverde, P., Bernardinelli, P. H., Brooks, D., Rosell, A. Carnero, Carretero, J., da Costa, L. N., Davis, T. M., De Vicente, J., Diehl, H. T., Doel, P., Evangelista-Santana, M., Everett, S., Frieman, J., García-Bellido, J., Gaztanaga, E., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Hinton, S. R., Hollowood, D. L., James, D. J., Kuehn, K. ... Weaverdyck, N. (2025). Monitoring of asteroids in cometary orbits and activated asteroids through archival images and new observations. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 698 A117, 1-16. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202554124
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
2025
Journal Article
DESI Peculiar Velocity Survey – Fundamental Plane
Said, Khaled, Howlett, Cullan, Davis, Tamara, Lucey, John, Saulder, Christoph, Douglass, Kelly, Kim, Alex G, Kremin, Anthony, Ross, Caitlin, Aldering, Greg, Aguilar, Jessica Nicole, Ahlen, Steven, BenZvi, Segev, Bianchi, Davide, Brooks, David, Claybaugh, Todd, Dawson, Kyle, de la Macorra, Axel, Dey, Biprateep, Doel, Peter, Fanning, Kevin, Ferraro, Simone, Font-Ribera, Andreu, Forero-Romero, Jaime E, Gaztañaga, Enrique, Gontcho, Satya Gontcho A, Guy, Julien, Honscheid, Klaus, Kehoe, Robert ... Zou, Hu (2025). DESI Peculiar Velocity Survey – Fundamental Plane. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 539 (4), 3627-3644. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf700
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
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
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
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, 1-18. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.111.063533
2025
Journal Article
Constraining the phase shift of relativistic species in DESI BAOs
Whitford, Abbé M, Rivera-Morales, Hugo, Howlett, Cullan, Vargas-Magaña, Mariana, Fromenteau, Sébastien, Davis, Tamara M., Pérez-Fernández, Alejandro, de Mattia, Arnaud, Ahlen, Steven, Bianchi, Davide, Brooks, David, Burtin, Etienne, Claybaugh, Todd, de la Macorra, Axel, Doel, Peter, Ferraro, Simone, Forero-Romero, Jaime E, Gaztañaga, Enrique, Gontcho, Satya Gontcho A, Gutierrez, Gaston, Juneau, Stephanie, Kehoe, Robert, Kirkby, David, Kisner, Theodore, Koposov, Sergey, Landriau, Martin, Le Guillou, Laurent, Meisner, Aaron, Miquel, Ramon ... Zou, Hu (2025). Constraining the phase shift of relativistic species in DESI BAOs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 538 (3), 1980-2000. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf394
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
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
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
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
2025
Journal Article
DESI 2024 VI: cosmological constraints from the measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations
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., Bahr-Kalus, B., Bailey, S., Baltay, C., Bault, A., Behera, J., BenZvi, S., Bera, A., Beutler, F., Bianchi, D., Blake, C., Blum, R., Brieden, S., Brodzeller, A., Brooks, D., Buckley-Geer, E., Burtin, E. ... The DESI collaboration (2025). DESI 2024 VI: cosmological constraints from the measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2025 (02) 021, 1-70. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2025/02/021
2025
Journal Article
Improving the determination of supernova cosmological redshifts by using galaxy groups
Peterson, Erik R., Carreres, Bastien, Carr, Anthony, Scolnic, Daniel, Bailey, Ava, Davis, Tamara M., Brout, Dillon, Howlett, Cullan, Jones, David O., Riess, Adam G., Said, Khaled and Taylor, Georgie (2025). Improving the determination of supernova cosmological redshifts by using galaxy groups. The Astrophysical Journal, 980 (1) 21, 1-14. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ada285
2025
Journal Article
The Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program: An updated measurement of the Hubble constant using the Inverse Distance Ladder
Camilleri, R, Davis, T M, Hinton, S R, Armstrong, P, Brout, D, Galbany, L, Glazebrook, K, Lee, J, Lidman, C, Möller, A, Nichol, R C, Sako, M, Scolnic, D, Shah, P, Smith, M, Sullivan, M, Sánchez, B O, Vincenzi, M, Wiseman, P, Allam, S, Abbott, T M C, Aguena, M, Andrade-Oliveira, F, Asorey, J, Avila, S, Bacon, D, Bechtol, K, Bocquet, S, Brooks, D ... Weaverdyck, N (2025). The Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program: An updated measurement of the Hubble constant using the Inverse Distance Ladder. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 537 (2), 1818-1825. doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf122
2025
Journal Article
A comparison between ShapeFit compression and Full-Modelling method with PyBird for DESI 2024 and beyond
Lai, Y., Howlett, C., Maus, M., Gil-Marín, H., Noriega, H.E., Ramírez-Solano, S., Zarrouk, P., Aguilar, J., Ahlen, S., Alves, O., Aviles, A., Brooks, D., Chen, S., Claybaugh, T., Davis, T. M., Dawson, K., de la Macorra, A., Doel, P., Forero-Romero, J. E., Gaztañaga, E., Gontcho, S.Gontcho A., Honscheid, K., Juneau, S., Landriau, M., Manera, M., Miquel, R., Mueller, E., Nadathur, S., Niz, G. ... Zou, H. (2025). A comparison between ShapeFit compression and Full-Modelling method with PyBird for DESI 2024 and beyond. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2025 (1) 139, 139-1. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2025/01/139
2025
Journal Article
Constraints on compact objects from the Dark Energy Survey five-year supernova sample
Shah, P., Davis, T. M., Vincenzi, M., Armstrong, P., Brout, D., Camilleri, R., Galbany, L., García-Bellido, J., Gill, M. S. S., Lahav, O., Lee, J., Lidman, C., Möller, A., Sako, M., Sánchez, B. O., Sullivan, M., Whiteway, L., Wiseman, P., Allam, S., Aguena, M., Bocquet, S., Brooks, D., Burke, D. L., Rosell, A. Carnero, da Costa, L. N., Pereira, M. E. S., Desai, S., Dodelson, S., Doel, P. ... Weaverdyck, N. (2025). Constraints on compact objects from the Dark Energy Survey five-year supernova sample. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536 (1), 946-961. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stae2614
2025
Journal Article
DESI 2024 IV: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from the Lyman alpha forest
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., Bautista, J., 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. ... The DESI collaboration (2025). DESI 2024 IV: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from the Lyman alpha forest. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2025 (01) 124, 1-64. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2025/01/124
2025
Journal Article
Dark energy survey year 3 results: likelihood-free, simulation-based wCDM inference with neural compression of weak-lensing map statistics
Jeffrey, N., Whiteway, L., Gatti, M., Williamson, J., Alsing, J., Porredon, A., Prat, J., Doux, C., Jain, B., Chang, C., Cheng, T. -y, Kacprzak, T., Lemos, P., Alarcon, A., Amon, A., Bechtol, K., Becker, M. R., Bernstein, G. M., Campos, A., Rosell, A. Carnero, Chen, R., Choi, A., Derose, J., Drlica-Wagner, A., Eckert, K., Everett, S., Ferte, A., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A. ... Yamamoto, M. (2025). Dark energy survey year 3 results: likelihood-free, simulation-based wCDM inference with neural compression of weak-lensing map statistics. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 536 (2), 1303-1322. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stae2629
2025
Book Chapter
The expanding Universe
Davis, Tamara M. (2025). The expanding Universe. Reference Module in Materials Science and Materials Engineering. (pp. 1-16) Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-443-21439-4.00121-8
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Tamara Davis is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Weighing supermassive black holes with the Dark Energy Survey
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Benjamin Pope
-
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmological Constraints with large-scale structure: from LambdaCDM to light relics
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
-
-
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmology with the Dark Energy Survey
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmology with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
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
-
Doctor Philosophy
Galaxy motions with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Khaled Said Soliman
-
Doctor Philosophy
Observing Naked-Eye Stars and their Planets with TESS
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Benjamin Pope
Completed supervision
-
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmic echos: Reverberation mapping of high-redshift supermassive black holes
Principal Advisor
-
2021
Doctor Philosophy
Signatures of Companions in Transitional Discs: Spiral Arms, Cavities, and Dust Asymmetries
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Deciphering dark energy: The adventures of Steve, Barry, and Pippin.
Principal Advisor
-
2016
Doctor Philosophy
Echo hunting: using reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei to probe black hole growth and cosmic expansion.
Principal Advisor
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Using the motions of galaxies to probe fundamental physics
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Interpretable and Physically-Motivated Deep Learning Solutions for Large-Scale Structure Cosmology
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rossana Ruggeri
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Completing the Puzzle: Unveiling Clues for Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and Cosmology with Simulations
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Whispers from the Big Bang-Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Power Spectra
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Quantum control in probing relativistic effects and thermodynamics
Associate Advisor
Media
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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