WELCOME FROM THE CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS

  Hello everyone, we are Belinda and Penny, your co-Chairs for this year’s AMSRS Conference in Melbourne. When we became Chairs of this gig it made us both really think about what we want out of conference, and indeed, what we value about our AMSRS membership overall. There are probably two things we really love about our industry. First, you get to have really interesting conversations. Whenever we go away from Conference, you may not like every speaker, and some are more applicable to your needs than others. But generally, the conversations you have with researchers are always interesting! And second, we find that people in our industry love to learn stuff. We’re like giant sponges – we want to find out stuff, hear a different view, and think about things in a different way. We don’t always like it, and we don’t always agree – but we love to learn, challenge each other, and be challenged. Which is why we’d like to introduce you to the 2018 ‘FESTIVAL OF RESEARCH’. It’s not a theme so much as a promise. We want to make sure that for every single attendee, there is an opportunity to learn something new, something different and something that you can take away and apply from the conference. We have worked hard finding speakers from all over the globe that will bring new perspectives and inside knowledge on current and future thinking and techniques. Conference this year will be a time to celebrate the breadth and depth of our industry, and you’ll have the freedom to choose your own adventure throughout the two days – we will have more sessions, and more choices than ever before. We are also introducing new sessions and workshops that will allow you to not just listen, but intensively participate and come away with practical learning. It will truly be a Festival of Research, so we hope you can join us on August 9 and 10 in Melbourne.