Anita Vecchies

• Chief Operating Officer
• CDM
• University of Melbourne
• Road-tripping Alice to Darwin (2024), behind the scenes (2022–2024)

What do you do?

I help run the Dark Matter Centre and support our scientists and students in their search for dark matter.  As well as the research, there are lots of other activities that I supervise, such as the budget, reports, media, and fantastic activities like this road trip.

How did you get to where you are today?

I always loved science at high school; I’m not a physicist but I understand researchers and how universities work.  I have a Bachelor of Science at university majoring in botany (plant science), and after my studies I worked for a while as a molecular biologist investigating the DNA of ryegrass.  I then travelled overseas and lived in London for a couple of years; when I returned, I started a job at the University of Melbourne helping researchers apply for grant funding. After nearly 15 years at the uni, including two breaks to have two kids, I am now working at the Dark Matter Centre and I love interacting with our amazing researchers every day and helping to share their achievements and the excitement of particle physics to the public.

What’s the best thing about your role?

The most exciting thing at the moment is the dark matter detection experiment that we are building in the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory in an active gold mine.

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