Professor Rachel Webster is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Head of Astrophysics in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne, where she has been a faculty member since 1992. She earned her BSc (Hons) from Monash University in 1975, MSc from the University of Sussex in 1980, and PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1985 under the supervision of Lord Martin Rees on gravitational lensing and cosmology. After postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto's Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, she returned to the University of Melbourne as a teaching and research academic. She leads the Astrophysics research group of more than 60 staff and students, conducting observational and theoretical research using facilities such as the Australia Telescope Compact Array, Gemini Telescopes, Hubble Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Webster's research focuses on gravitational lensing, quasars, and large HI surveys. Key contributions include the Parkes Quasar Survey identifying dust-obscured quasars, the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) mapping neutral hydrogen in over 5000 galaxies, and work with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) on Epoch of Reionization studies and the GLEAM survey. She has co-authored over 300 papers and supervised more than 30 graduate students. Selected publications are "PUMA: The Positional Update and Matching Algorithm" (Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 2017), "Spectral Energy Distribution and Radio Halo of NGC 253 at Low Radio Frequencies" (Astrophysical Journal, 2017), "A high reliability survey of discrete Epoch of Reionization foreground sources in the MWA EoR0 field" (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016), and "CHIPS: The Cosmological HI Power Spectrum Estimator" (Astrophysical Journal, 2016). Her awards include the Redmond Barry Distinguished Professorship (2016), Honorary Fellowship of the Astronomical Society of Australia (2016), Robert Ellery Lectureship (2013), Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics (2007), and Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2010). Leadership roles encompass Chair of the Board of Directors for Astronomy Australia Limited, University of Melbourne Node Director for CAASTRO, and President of the University Academic Board (2015-2016). She co-created the Women in Physics Program to boost female physics graduates.

Professional Email: r.webster@unimelb.edu.au