Queer Astronomy:
QIS Panel feat. Dr Katie Mack

[QueersInSci-Fi] A QueersInScience event in collaboration with SpaceAustralia.com

Tickets (FREE!): https://www.trybooking.com/DCHWG

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Come along for a fun evening of science, identity and storytelling with international renowned astrophysicist, author and science communicator Dr Katie Mack, alongside a panel of brilliant queer astronomers and scientists from Australia. 

Sponsored by SpaceAustralia.com, this special non-fiction edition of QueersInScience Victoria’s annual QueersInSci-Fi event is a celebration of diversity in astronomy & STEMM. Visibility matters, and powerful stories emerge from the (often invisible and unacknowledged) intersections between scientific research and personal & cultural identity. 

Our panel of queer astronomers & scientists will share about their scientific passions, and reflect on how their queerness has shaped their professional journey. Following panel stories, we will open up a broader discussion of queer experiences in science – where you’ll be able to ask questions, dig deeper, and join the conversation. 

Students, educators, allies, fellow researchers, and anyone who loves both science and queer people – this event is for you! Expect a big night filled with inspiring ideas, honest conversations and a joyful way to celebrate our communities. 

Snacks will be provided. 

Tickets (FREE!): https://www.trybooking.com/DCHWG

QueersInScience and SpaceAustralia.com acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we meet. The Oxford Scholar is located on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people and we acknowledge and pay our respect to elders past and present.

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PANEL:

Dr Katie Mack – Astrophysicist, Science Communicator, Author

Katie holds the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Her research focuses on dark matter, the early universe, and the fate of the cosmos. A passionate science communicator, she’s the author of the acclaimed book The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) and a regular contributor to Scientific American, Slate, BBC Science Focus, and Cosmos Magazine.

Rami Mandow – Astronomer, Science Communicator, QIS Board Member

Rami is a third-year PhD candidate / pulsar astronomer with Macquarie University & Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO – working as part of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array project. As part of his work, Rami uses Australia’s iconic Parkes radio telescope (Murriyang) to study these exotic objects known as pulsars, looking into their ongoing stability in his research work. Rami is also an established science communicator, heading up one of Australia’s most well-known space and astronomy community news platforms – SpaceAustralia.com. 

Catriona Vi Nguyen-Robertson – Science Communicator, QIS Board Member

Catriona is a singing scientist: she sings in the laboratory and contemplates science in the shower. She is an immunologist-turned-science communicator. You can often catch her singing and dancing around Museums Victoria, teaching science, showing the stars, and creating lightning for audiences of all ages. She also teaches science communication at the University of Melbourne. She regularly engages with science outreach programs to engage the community in science. Most notably, she is Chair of the National Science Week Victorian Coordinating Committee and hosts her own radio show, Science Queeries.

Deanne Fisher – Astronomer

Deanne Fisher uses gigantic telescopes to study exploding galaxies across the full history of the Universe. Born on a farm in Texas, Deanne was fascinated by dark skies from childhood. She has spent the last 20 years using the world’s biggest telescopes both on the ground and in space to study the gas physics that impacts the sky we see. Deanne is now an associate professor in astronomy at Swinburne University, and as far as she knows, is the only out transgender physics professor in Australia.

Krystal De Napoli – Astrophysicist, Science Communicator, Author

Krystal De Napoli is a Gomeroi author, astrophysicist and science communicator devoted to the advocacy of Indigenous knowledges and equity in STEM. Krystal is co-author of Astronomy: Sky Country (2022), winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award People’s Choice Award (2023), a Superstar of STEM for Science and Technology Australia (2025), and is the host of the weekly radio program Indigenuity on Triple R 102.7FM.

MC: Chloe Mackallah – Climate Data Scientist, QIS Board Member

Chloe Mackallah is a climate data scientist at CSIRO where she works with global and regional climate models to investigate changes in the Earth system and improve data quality and reuse across environmental research. Queer/trans advocate, cat mum, sci-fi nerd, metalhead.

Tickets (FREE!): https://www.trybooking.com/DCHWG