Zdenka Kuncic

Professor Zdenka Kuncic is a Professor of Physics in the School of Physics within the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, where she has taught since 2005. She holds a BSc with first class honours in physics from the University of Sydney and a PhD in theoretical astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, UK. Her career includes leadership roles such as Director of Community and Research at the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. Kuncic has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Fulbright Future Scholarship for research on cognitive learning through nanotechnology devices mimicking the human brain and the Australia-Harvard Fellowship in 2017, which supported her work at Harvard Medical School on cancer treatment projects. She leads an interdisciplinary research team bridging physics with medicine, biology, neuroscience, and engineering to address complex challenges using physics-based approaches.

Her research specializations encompass neuromorphic physical computing, biomedical physics, and astrophysics. Key focuses include developing nanowire networks that exhibit learning, memory, and critical dynamics akin to biological neural systems; applications of magnetic nanoparticles for cancer detection, imaging, and targeted therapy using PET and MRI technologies; radiation biophysics simulations for nano-scale damage in cancer therapy; and complex physical systems in biology. Notable publications include 'Neuromorphic learning, working memory, and metaplasticity in nanowire networks' (Science Advances, 2023), 'Online dynamical learning and sequence memory with neuromorphic nanowire networks' (Nature Communications, 2023), 'Avalanches and edge-of-chaos learning in neuromorphic nanowire networks' (Nature Machine Intelligence, 2021), 'Neuromorphic nanowire networks: principles, progress and future prospects for neuro-inspired information processing' (Advances in Physics: X, 2021), and 'Advances in Computational Radiation Biophysics for Cancer Therapy: Simulating Nano-Scale Damage by Low-Energy Electrons' (Journal of Biophotonics, 2014). With over 6,000 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions have advanced neuromorphic computing, bio-nanoscience, and medical physics, including demonstrations of nanowire 'brains' that learn and remember on the fly. She has delivered public lectures, such as on synthetic intelligence at the Royal Institution.

Professional Email: zdenka.kuncic@sydney.edu.au