Past Conference Archive

2008

Vaccine and Immunotherapy Technologies: 9–11 April 2008, Canberra; Contact: Fenja Theden, Research Project Officer, Australian Academy of Science; Email: fenja.theden@science.org.au; Website: www.oliphant.org.au/april2008.html; Vaccine and Immunotherapy Technologies reflects a timely investigation into a scientific area that has made enormous progress in recent years. The conference brought together speakers and attendees from business, academia and other research organisations, highlighting the basic science in vaccine production and the realities of vaccine development. It examined progress in advanced immunotherapeutics and explored novel approaches to overcoming the technological limitations of past technologies.

Old Forests, New Management: 17-21 February 2008, Hobart; Contact: For all enquiries please contact the team at Conference Design for assistance.; Email: info@cdesign.com.au; Website: www.oldforests.com.au; This international scientific conference hosted by the CRC for Forestry, Forestry Tasmania and the International Union of Forest Research Organisations brought together researchers from a range of disciplines focussed upon achieving ecologically sustainable management and use of old-growth forests.

2006

Quantum Nanoscience: 21-26 January 2006, Noosa; Contact: Professor Gerard Milburn, Deputy Director, Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, University of Queensland.; Email: milburn@physics.uq.edu.au; This conference looked beyond current nanoscience technology, at the far more revolutionary developments expected once nanoscience 'goes quantum' and begins to use the full potential of quantum mechanical superposition, phase coherence, and entanglement. Physicists, chemists and engineers were brought together to develop common principles as a foundation for a future quantum nanotechnology, providing the next steps in enabling generation-after-next nanotechnologies, new industries, and ultimately new economies. The conference was organised jointly by the Australian Academy of Sciences and the Canadian-based Pacific Institute for Theoretical Physics.

2005

BioNano: The Next Frontier: 5-7 December 2005, Brisbane; Contact: Professor Peter Gray, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland.; Email: peter.gray@uq.edu.au; The Conference brought together leading experts in the fields of bioengineering and nanotechnology who discussed the possibilities presented at the cutting-edge of these fields. The latest advances were highlighted, and the enormous potential of nanotechnology at the interface between engineering, science and biology was explored. The conference facilitated and enabled connections between science and industry, with a particular focus on Australian corporations.

Epigenetic Regulation in Development and Disease

29 November- 2 December 2005, Canberra

Contact: Dr Jean Finnegan, CSIRO Plant Industry.

Email: Jean.Finnegan@csiro.au

The term epigenetic refers to factors affecting the development or function of an organism other than the primary sequence of the target genes. Epigenetic regulation of gene activity has potential importance for both medicine and agriculture. Already it has been shown that changes in DNA methylation and/or chromatin structure are important in human diseases such as cancer and mental retardation associated with the fragile X syndrome.

The conference focussed on epigenetics and in bringing together researchers working on plants, humans, animals and fungi. It brought top international researchers in the field of epigenetics to Australia to talk with local scientists working in this and related fields.

Threshold and Pattern Dynamics - A new paradigm for predicting climate driven processes for sustainable land and water management: 4-7 July 2005, Perth; Contact: Dr Christoph Hinz, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australia.; Email: chinz@cyllene.uwa.edu.au; The study of thresholds and pattern dynamics may be a key to unlocking our understanding of catastrophic climate change and other types of complex systems. This conference focussed on novel approaches that account for the unobservable nature of those hydrological processes for predicting the effects of climate and land use change. The conference provided a communication platform for developing and promoting a new framework for identification and quantification of hydrological thresholds that can be used for long-term prediction and risk assessment.

2004

Insect Sensors and Robotics: 23-26 August 2004, Brisbane; Contact: Professor Mandyam Srinivasan, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University.; Email: m.srinivasan@anu.edu.au; The international conference brought together experts in the important and newly emerging field of applying principles gleaned from the study of insect sensory systems and behaviour to the design of unconventional sensors and novel, autonomously navigating robots. Creative roboticists and biologists shared knowledge of the structure and function of insect sensory and flight motor systems, including novel sensors for panoramic vision, altitude stabilisation, steering, orientation, and smell detection. The conference contributed to the growing worldwide effort to develop insect-like robots for use in areas of defence, security, surveillance, agriculture, medicine, the environment and exploration.

Converging Technologies for Agriculture and Environment

9-12 August 2004, Melbourne

Contact: Richard Gill, CRC for Microtechnologies.

Email: richard.g@microtechnologycrc.com

The conference brought together over 120 leading experts from Australia and distinguished overseas scientists and engineers from Canada, USA, UK and France, across disciplines ranging from microtechnology to agricultural production and research management systems to capture and enhance synergies for mutual opportunities. Conference themes and topics included:

Environmental Sensors, including wireless communication and IT networking
Crop management
Remote sensing
Precision agriculture, horticulture and viticulture
Land management and productivity systems

One day of the Conference was devoted to field trips where conference participants sampled the technology currently being used and adopted in Victoria in their specific fields of interest.

2003

Scaling Down to a Nano-Materials World: 1-4 December 2003, Melbourne; Contact: Professor Thomas Healy, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne.; Email: tomhealy@unimelb.edu.au; The conference brought together a cohort of scientists from around the world who played a central role in the development of nanoscience and technology. They highlighted the challenges facing scientists and engineers in the manufacture of nanoparticles and nanomaterials, the management of the flow of particulate and other fluids in nanoscale films, the use of nanosize droplets reactors, the construction of nano-networks of biofilms that mimic biostructures and the assembly of nano-scale photonic components.

Proteomics: Progress, Partnerships and Possibilities: 3-5 November 2003, Sydney; Contact: Associate Professor Kevin Downard, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney.; Email: k.downard@biotech.usyd.edu.au; Discussions at the conference were in areas of evolution of proteomics, expression profiling in relation to human health, next-generation proteomics technologies, protein arrays and chips, protein interaction maps and networks, and the global business of proteomics.

2002

Photonic Crystals Down Under: 19-23 August 2002, Canberra; Contact: Professor Yuri Kivshar, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University.; Email: yuri.kivshar@anu.edu.au; The conference, which included around 20 invited speakers from around the world and almost all the people involved in the topic in Australia at the time, was the first attempt to bring basic knowledge about the field of photonic crystals to a wider audience in Australia. Photonic crystals, materials designed to affect the motion of photons, were the focus of a variety of lectures and discussions including photonic band gap (PBG) materials, the use of photonic crystals in antennas, applications of photonic crystals in solar cells and light emitting diodes (LEDs), and the potential of photonic crystals as the 'semiconductors' of the future.