About Us

Our 2023 Executive Team

President

Lara Thompson

Lara is in her fourth year studying maths and physics. Outside of her studies, she really likes movies and netball. She joined PAIN in first year and became a general exec, was our treasurer in 2022, and is returning as our President this year. As President Lara is responsible for overseeing the general day-to-day running of activities and looking important at events.

Secretary

Mohammed Abbas

Mohammed is in his third year studying engineering. He likes music and card games, the more people the better. He's also a keen fan of pool (the billiards type, not the wet type!). As Secretary, Mohammed is responsible for the club's formal correspondence and taking minutes during our weekly meetings.

Treasurer

Chris Zhang

Chris is a third year doing mechanical engineering and computer science. He likes Japanese food and has been interested in physics since highschool. As Treasurer, Chris is in charge of the club's finances and our audit at the end of the year.

Vice President

Danielle Soilleux

Danielle is a fifth year student studying arts and computer science (we aren't sure how or why she snuck into the physics club). She likes ice skating, art, baking, and just about any other hobby she can get her hands on. This year Danielle is the club's vice president, which means she is in charge of helping the rest of the exec team function and pick up any slack during busy parts of the year. She's also continuing her 2022 role of webmaster, so she's in charge of maintaining this website! (Hi!)

Sponsorships Officer

Lachlan Morton

Lachlan is studying a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Physics. Coming from Western Australia, he joined pain in 2021 as a general exec looking to be involved with the club and meet new people. He took on the position of Secretary in 2022 and we're super excited to have him return in 2023 as our Sponsorships Officer. As Sponsorships Officer, Lachlan is in charge of liaising with current and new potential sponsors to ensure the club can continue to provide free pizza at our events every week.

The University of Queensland Physics Club, known as PAIN, is a UQ Union affiliated club that was founded over 20 years ago, in 1998. Since then, our goal has been to create a place for UQ physics students to advance their personal and professional development, as well as making the study of physics fun, through weekly social, educational, and industry events. Undergraduate physics, maths and engineering students, as well as postgraduates and some recent graduates, make up the majority of our over 350 financial members. PAIN is just the name, it doesn’t hurt.

PAIN holds a variety of events each year, including social events, research networking events, industry events, and talks from some of our members. We work closely with the UQ School of Maths and Physics, as well as the Faculty of Science, allowing us to deliver talks from renowned researchers and the end of semester PAIN Study Day.

At our speaker events, we had talks on topics ranging from ultracold quantum gases from Professor Matthew Davis to Professor Tamara Davis' Dark Energy Survey, as well as presentations from members describing their Honours research projects, and describing the myth that is evolution (okay, that one was a joke).

One of our most major events each year, Astrocamp, involves travelling to Camp Duckadang for three nights. This event has been run annually since 2011 and gives our members an opportunity to conduct astronomy, although many of us simply stargaze.

Check out the PAIN archive here.

Contact Us

Check out the Facebook page for the most up-to-date information on our events, and feel free to contact us with any questions.
@uqphysics
painuq@gmail.com

Looking to sponsor us?

Email us for a copy of our prospectus, we'd love to have a chat!
sponsorships.painuq@gmail.com

Where you can find us

Physics Tea Room (07-208)

Meet PAIN!