^{Date Published: 17 Nov 2009 1:09pm}

The 2010 Conference is being held in Darwin, Northern Territory on 8-10 September.

The theme of the 2010 Conference is: Same, Same, but Different – Learning lessons in a changing world, which explores: if the world is changing, are we and can we manage emergency services the same way we have done in the past?

The Conference Program Committee is now calling for abstracts, specifically linking to the conference theme, from emergency services and management professionals, volunteers, researchers and academics, industry and government to participate at the 2010 Conference.

The deadline for abstracts is 1 February 2010.

Competition for speaking at this conference is high, so not everyone will be granted a speaking slot. Those who are not successful in making the conference speaking program may be considered for poster presentations and possibly for other opportunities currently being developed to share your work with the industry.

The themes for the Conference include (but not limited to):

Royal Commissions and Inquiries

• Emerging issues from intensive, independent reviews of the performance and effectiveness of the industry
• What does it mean for future service delivery?

Climate and demographic change

 
• Ecology and biodiversity 
• Rural/urban interface issues 
• The challenge of communities understanding the risks we all face and what do they value?

Lessons from the Asia Pacific region

• Response to natural disasters
• Best practice in bushfire management
• Urban fire and rescue
• Fuel management.

Managing and sharing information to provide real knowledge and situational awareness

• Unlocking access to crucial information.
• Emergency management in remote, under-privileged or indigenous communities
• Community engagement, resilience and protection.

Conference Papers
In order to increase the benefit to conference attendees and to provide further learning opportunities post conference all successful applicants will be required to submit a 1500-2000 word paper (approximately 4 pages) on the topic of their presentation.   This will need to be submitted by end of June 2010 and will be included on the conference proceedings CD.

Production of a paper is mandatory and speakers who do not produce a paper by the required date will not be able to speak at the conference.  This is for four important reasons:

1. Feedback from the conference over the last few years has continually raised the attendees desire to have papers that can be taken away from the conference.
2. Increasingly conference presentations are being cited as references in state and national research and position papers and as such, should be able to be read and researched by others
3. Papers allow those who could not attend the Conference to learn about your work online through the Knowledge Web.
4. Having papers published as part of a Conference publication raises the profile of the speakers and their work and raises the prestige of appearing at such an event. It is a far more substantial professional development opportunity than simply talking to a power point.

Those who do not wish to produce a paper should give consideration to promoting their work through a poster.

Reminder on flights and accommodation
It is advisable to book flights early as demand for the limited flights is expected to be high and booking early should get you a better price.  Also, those planning on attending the field trips or staying on in Darwin after the event should look into booking accommodation early to secure appropriate accommodation as Darwin accommodation is limited and there are other conference before and after the AFAC Bushfire CRC event.

More information and on-line submission of abstracts to www.afac2010.org

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