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
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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
2015
Journal Article
Simulations of the OzDES AGN reverberation mapping project
King, Anthea L., Martini, Paul, Davis, Tamara M., Denney, K. D., Kochanek, C. S., Peterson, Bradley M., Skielboe, Andreas, Vestergaard, Marianne, Huff, Eric, Watson, Darach, Banerji, Manda, McMahon, Richard, Sharp, Rob and Lidman, C. (2015). Simulations of the OzDES AGN reverberation mapping project. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 453 (2), 1701-1726. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stv1718
2015
Journal Article
Constraints and tensions in testing general relativity from Planck and CFHTLenS data including intrinsic alignment systematics
Dossett, Jason N., Ishak, Mustapha, Parkinson, David and Davis, Tamara M. (2015). Constraints and tensions in testing general relativity from Planck and CFHTLenS data including intrinsic alignment systematics. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 92 (2) 023003, 023003-1-023003-12. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.92.023003
2015
Journal Article
Local gravitational redshifts can bias cosmological measurements
Wojtak, Radoslaw, Davis, Tamara M. and Wiis, Jophiel (2015). Local gravitational redshifts can bias cosmological measurements. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2015 (7) 025, 1-17. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2015/07/025
2015
Journal Article
Erratum: the stellar masses of ~40 000 UV-selected galaxies from the WiggleZ survey at 0.3 < z < 1.0: Analogues of Lyman break galaxies?
Banerji, Manda, Glazebrook, Karl, Blake, Chris, Brough, Sarah, Colless, Matthew, Contreras, Carlos, Couch, Warrick, Croton, Darren J., Croom, Scott, Davis, Tamara M., Drinkwater, Michael J., Forster, Karl, Gilbank, David, Gladders, Mike, Jelliffe, Ben, Jurek, Russell J., Li, I-hui, Madore, Barry, Christopher Martin, D., Pimbblet, Kevin, Poole, Gregory B., Pracy, Michael, Sharp, Rob, Wisnioski, Emily, Woods, David, Wyder, Ted K. and Yee, H. K.C. (2015). Erratum: the stellar masses of ~40 000 UV-selected galaxies from the WiggleZ survey at 0.3 < z < 1.0: Analogues of Lyman break galaxies?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 447 (1), 325-325. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu2478
2015
Journal Article
Combining Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data with near-infrared data from the ESO VISTA Hemisphere Survey
Banerji, Manda, Jouvel, S., Lin, H., McMahon, R. G., Lahav, O., Castander, F. J., Abdalla, F. B., Bertin, E., Bosman, S. E., Carnero, A., Kind, M. Carrasco, da Costa, L. N., Gerdes, D., Gschwend, J., Lima, M., Maia, M. A. G., Merson, A., Miller, C., Ogando, R., Pellegrini, P., Reed, S., Saglia, R., Sanchez, C., Allam, S., Annis, J., Bernstein, G., Bernstein, J., Bernstein, R., Capozzi, D. D. ... Zuntz, J. (2015). Combining Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data with near-infrared data from the ESO VISTA Hemisphere Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 446 (3), 2523-2539. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu2261
2015
Journal Article
Probing primordial non-Gaussianity via iSW measurements with SKA continuum surveys
Raccanelli, Alvise, Dore, Olivier, Bacon, David J., Maartens, Roy, Santos, Mario G., Camera, Stefano, Davis, Tamara M., Drinkwater, Michael J., Jarvis, Matt, Norris, Ray and Parkinson, David (2015). Probing primordial non-Gaussianity via iSW measurements with SKA continuum surveys. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2015 (1) 042, 1-16. doi: 10.1088/1475-7516/2015/01/042
2014
Journal Article
Photometric redshift analysis in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data
Sanchez, C., Kind, M. Carrasco, Lin, H., Miquel, R., Abdalla, F. B., Amara, A., Banerji, M., Bonnett, C., Brunner, R., Capozzi, D., Carnero, A., Castander, F. J., da Costa, L. A. N., Cunha, C., Fausti, A., Gerdes, D., Greisel, N., Gschwend, J., Hartley, W., Jouvel, S., Lahav, O., Lima, M., Maia, M. A. G., Marti, P., Ogando, R. L. C., Ostrovski, F., Pellegrini, P., Rau, M. M., Sadeh, I. ... Zuntz, J. (2014). Photometric redshift analysis in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445 (2), 1482-1506. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu1836
2014
Journal Article
The 6dF Galaxy Survey: cosmological constraints from the velocity power spectrum
Johnson, Andrew, Blake, Chris, Koda, Jun, Ma, Yin-Zhe, Colless, Matthew, Crocce, Martin, Davis, Tamara M., Jones, Heath, Magoulas, Christina, Lucey, John R., Mould, Jeremy, Scrimgeour, Morag I. and Springob, Christopher M. (2014). The 6dF Galaxy Survey: cosmological constraints from the velocity power spectrum. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 444 (4), 3926-3947. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu1615
2014
Journal Article
Are peculiar velocity surveys competitive as a cosmological probe?
Koda, Jun, Blake, Chris, Davis, Tamara, Magoulas, Christina, Springob, Christopher M., Scrimgeour, Morag, Johnson, Andrew, Poole, Gregory B. and Staveley-Smith, Lister (2014). Are peculiar velocity surveys competitive as a cosmological probe?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445 (4), 4267-4286. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu1610
2014
Journal Article
The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: improved distance measurements to z = 1 with reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature
Kazin, Eyal A., Koda, Jun, Blake, Chris, Padmanabhan, Nikhil, Brough, Sarah, Colless, Matthew, Contreras, Carlos, Couch, Warrick, Croom, Scott, Croton, Darren J., Davis, Tamara M., Drinkwater, Michael J., Forster, Karl, Gilbank, David, Gladders, Mike, Glazebrook, Karl, Jelliffe, Ben, Jurek, Russell J., Li, I-hui, Madore, Barry, Martin, D. Christopher, Pimbblet, Kevin, Poole, Gregory B., Pracy, Michael, Sharp, Rob, Wisnioski, Emily, Woods, David, Wyder, Ted K. and Yee, H. K. C. (2014). The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: improved distance measurements to z = 1 with reconstruction of the baryonic acoustic feature. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 441 (4), 3524-3542. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu778
2014
Journal Article
Sounding out our cosmic ripples
Davis, Tamara (2014). Sounding out our cosmic ripples. Physics World, 27 (7), 24-28. doi: 10.1088/2058-7058/27/07/35
2014
Journal Article
Combining Planck data with large scale structure information gives a strong neutrino mass constraint
Riemer-Sorensen, Signe, Parkinson, David and Davis, Tamara M. (2014). Combining Planck data with large scale structure information gives a strong neutrino mass constraint. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 89 (10) 103505. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.89.103505
2014
Journal Article
High-redshift standard candles: Predicted cosmological constraints
King, Anthea L., Davis, Tamara M., Denney, K. D., Vestergaard, M. and Watson, D. (2014). High-redshift standard candles: Predicted cosmological constraints. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 441 (4), 3454-3476. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu793
2014
Journal Article
Cosmological constraints on dark energy
Davis, Tamara M. (2014). Cosmological constraints on dark energy. General Relativity and Gravitation, 46 (6) 1731, 1731.1-1731.26. doi: 10.1007/s10714-014-1731-1
2014
Journal Article
Deriving accurate peculiar velocities (even at high redshift)
Davis, Tamara M. and Scrimgeour, Morag I. (2014). Deriving accurate peculiar velocities (even at high redshift). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 442 (2), 1117-1122. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu920
2013
Journal Article
The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: star formation in UV-luminous galaxies from their luminosity functions
Jurek, Russell J., Drinkwater, Michael J., Pimbblet, Kevin, Glazebrook, Karl, Blake, Chris, Brough, Sarah, Colless, Matthew, Contreras, Carlos, Couch, Warrick, Croom, Scott, Croton, Darren, Davis, Tamara M., Forster, Karl, Gilbank, David, Gladders, Mike, Jelliffe, Ben, Li, I-hui, Madore, Barry, Martin, D. Christopher, Poole, Gregory B., Pracy, Michael, Sharp, Rob, Wisnioski, Emily, Woods, David, Wyder, Ted K. and Yee, H. K. C. (2013). The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: star formation in UV-luminous galaxies from their luminosity functions. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 434 (1), 257-281. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stt1015
2013
Journal Article
The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: constraining galaxy bias and cosmic growth with three-point correlation functions
Marín, Felipe A., Blake, Chris, Poole, Gregory B., McBride, Cameron K., Brough, Sarah, Colless, Matthew, Contreras, Carlos, Couch, Warrick, Croton, Darren J., Croom, Scott, Davis, Tamara, Drinkwater, Michael J., Forster, Karl, Gilbank, David, Gladders, Mike, Glazebrook, Karl, Jelliffe, Ben, Jurek, Russell J., Li, I-hui, Madore, Barry, Martin, D. Christopher, Pimbblet, Kevin, Pracy, Michael, Sharp, Rob, Wisnioski, Emily, Woods, David, Wyder, Ted K. and Yee, H. K. C. (2013). The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: constraining galaxy bias and cosmic growth with three-point correlation functions. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 432 (4), 2654-2668. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stt520
2013
Journal Article
Hydrogen wisps reveal dark energy
Davis, Tamara M. (2013). Hydrogen wisps reveal dark energy. Nature, 498 (7453), 179-180. doi: 10.1038/498179a
2013
Journal Article
The stellar masses of similar to 40 000 UV selected Galaxies from the WiggleZ survey at 0.3 < z < 1.0: analogues of lyman break galaxies?
Banerji, Manda, Glazebrook, Karl, Blake, Chris, Brough, Sarah, Colless, Matthew, Contreras, Carlos, Couch, Warrick, Croton, Darren J., Croom, Scott, Davis, Tamara M., Drinkwater, Michael J., Forster, Karl, Gilbank, David, Gladders, Mike, Jelliffe, Ben, Jurek, Russell J., Li, I-hui, Madore, Barry, Martin, D. Christopher, Pimbblet, Kevin, Poole, Gregory B., Pracy, Michael, Sharp, Rob, Wisnioski, Emily, Woods, David, Wyder, Ted K. and Yee, H. K. C. (2013). The stellar masses of similar to 40 000 UV selected Galaxies from the WiggleZ survey at 0.3 < z < 1.0: analogues of lyman break galaxies?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 431 (3), 2209-2229. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stt320
2013
Journal Article
The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: measuring the cosmic growth rate with the two-point galaxy correlation function
Contreras, Carlos, Blake, Chris, Poole, Gregory B., Marin, Felipe, Brough, Sarah, Colless, Matthew, Couch, Warrick, Croom, Scott, Croton, Darren, Davis, Tamara M., Drinkwater, Michael J., Forster, Karl, Gilbank, David, Gladders, Mike, Glazebrook, Karl, Jelliffe, Ben, Jurek, Russell J., Li, I-hui, Madore, Barry, Martin, D. Christopher, Pimbblet, Kevin, Pracy, Michael, Sharp, Rob, Wisnioski, Emily, Woods, David, Wyder, Ted K. and Yee, H. K. C. (2013). The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: measuring the cosmic growth rate with the two-point galaxy correlation function. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 430 (2), 924-933. doi: 10.1093/mnras/sts608
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Tamara Davis is:
- Not available for supervision
Supervision history
Current supervision
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-
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Doctor Philosophy
Cosmology with the Dark Energy Survey
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
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 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
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Cosmic echos: Reverberation mapping of high-redshift supermassive black holes
Principal Advisor
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2021
Doctor Philosophy
Signatures of Companions in Transitional Discs: Spiral Arms, Cavities, and Dust Asymmetries
Principal Advisor
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
Deciphering dark energy: The adventures of Steve, Barry, and Pippin.
Principal Advisor
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
Echo hunting: using reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei to probe black hole growth and cosmic expansion.
Principal Advisor
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Using the motions of galaxies to probe fundamental physics
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Interpretable and Physically-Motivated Deep Learning Solutions for Large-Scale Structure Cosmology
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rossana Ruggeri
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Completing the Puzzle: Unveiling Clues for Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and Cosmology with Simulations
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Cullan Howlett
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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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