Rate My Professor Joanne Dawson

Joanne Dawson is an Associate Professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Macquarie University, where she holds a joint appointment as a Research Scientist at CSIRO Space & Astronomy. She obtained her BSc with first-class honours from University College London and her PhD from Nagoya University. Her research centres on radio astronomical investigations of the interstellar medium (ISM), examining its evolution in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies. Key areas include the processes converting atomic gas into molecular clouds, molecular cloud formation in giant supershells produced by multiple stellar winds and supernovae, and the properties of the "Dark ISM"—the intermediate phase between diffuse atomic and dense molecular gas. Dawson leads the Southern Parkes Large-Area Survey in Hydroxyl (SPLASH) and co-leads the Australia Telescope Square Kilometer Array GASKAP survey, exploring relationships between radio spectral line tracers of the gaseous ISM and infrared and optical emission or absorption from interstellar dust. She maintains strong scientific collaborations with CSIRO Space & Astronomy, which operates the Australia Telescope National Facility.

Prior to her current roles, Dawson was an ARC DECRA Fellow at Macquarie University, a Bolton Fellow at CSIRO, and an ARC Super Science Fellow at the University of Tasmania, joining Macquarie in 2014. She currently serves as Research Training Director for the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Deputy Director of the Astrophysics and Space Technologies Research Centre. She has supervised ten MRes and three PhD students to completion and is primary supervisor for five PhD students. In teaching, she delivers astrophysics units across levels, including introductory astronomy and the Faculty of Science and Engineering capstone unit FOSE3000. Dawson received the Vice-Chancellor’s Educational Leader Award as part of a team in 2022. Her research productivity encompasses 77 journal articles, five conference proceeding contributions, two book chapters, and additional outputs, achieving an h-index of 23 and 2,164 citations. Notable publications include "Tracing gas kinematics and interactions between H II regions and molecular clouds using VLA observations of recombination lines and hydroxyl" (2026, The Astrophysical Journal); "Detection of X-ray emission from a bright long-period radio transient" (2025, Nature); "Exploring the Galactic plasma with pulsars in the SKA Era" (2025, The Open Journal of Astrophysics); "Faint absorption of the ground state hyperfine-splitting transitions of hydroxyl at 18 cm in the Galactic disk" (2025, Astronomy and Astrophysics); and "First search for pulsed CH maser emission stimulated by a pulsar" (2025, Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics). She has contributed to multiple ARC-funded projects, including "The formation of stars and planets" (2012).