Professor Lisa
Harvey-Smith

Lisa Harvey-Smith was born in Harlow in England. She left school at the age of 11 and taught herself at home, where she developed a passion for astronomy. Lisa joined her local amateur astronomical society in 1992, where she first learned to use a telescope. Her early space heroes included Patrick Moore and Britain's first astronaut Helen Sharman.

She earned a master’s degree in astronomy & astrophysics from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and a Ph.D. in Radio Astronomy from the University of Manchester, before embarking on a professional career in astronomy. A two-month research project at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany was followed by a two-year position as a researcher at the Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe (JIVE) in the Netherlands, where she studied star-formation and cosmic magnetic fields. She then moved to Australia, where she has been based since 2017.

Lisa has spent much of her career developing professional astronomical observatories. She was formerly the project scientist for the $188 million Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope at CSIRO and led a group of 30 scientists at Australia's radio telescope national facility. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers on the birth and death of stars, cosmic magnetic fields and supermassive black holes. She has served on numerous scientific advisory committees including the advisory boards of the Australian Space Agency and Questacon.

Lisa was the Australian Government's Women in STEM Ambassador from 2018-2024 and is now a Professor of Practice at UNSW Sydney. She is also the Chief Executive Officer at Out for Australia, a national not-for-profit organisation that supports LGBTQIA+ young people at the pivotal stages of their careers. Harvey-Smith graduated from the AICD Company Director’s course in 2023.

Lisa is a prolific speaker and presenter on science, technology and space. She was a presenter on the popular ABC television show ABC Stargazing Live and has appeared as a guest on numerous documentaries and series including BBC Stargazing Live, Brian Cox: Life Of A Universe and Todd Sampson's Life on the Line. She has fielded science questions on radio shows including Science Hour with Dr. Karl on ABC's Triple J and BBC Radio 5 Live. She has given keynotes at countless major conferences and events including the National Press Club address, TEDx Melbourne, Expo2020 Dubai, SXSW in Austin, Texas, the World Science Festival, Singapore Writers Festival and the Sydney Science Festival. Lisa has emceed major events including the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science at Australian Parliament House and the Locate 24 conference at the International Convention Centre in Sydney.

Lisa has published six popular science books; When Galaxies Collide and The Secret Life of Stars for adults, and children's books Under the Stars (winner of the Singapore Book Awards Best Education Title 2021), Universal Guide to the Night Sky, Little Book, BIG Universe and Aliens and Other Worlds. She was also a contributing author to Patrick Moore's Yearbook of Astronomy 2016.

Lisa toured with her live astronomy show When Galaxies Collide across Australia in 2018. She appeared live on stage to sold-out theatres in Buzz Aldrin: Mission to Mars and Gene Cernan: Last Man on the Moon and An Audience with Neil deGrasse Tyson. She was named in the Sydney Morning Herald's 100 Most Influential People in 2012 and has been awarded both the CSIRO Chairman's medal and the Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Australian Science Research.