In some exciting news, Australia, through the Australian Rangeland Society, has been successful in its bid to host the XII International Rangeland Congress, to be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre in June 2025. The Congress will run for 5 days from June 2nd to 6th, following the usual program format of four days of Congress sessions and a mid-Congress tour. However, we will need to be innovative in developing the program given the way conferences have had to evolve in the last year. The Congress will contractually operate through the Australian Rangeland Society.
Whilst the Congress is still more than four years away, planning needs to start now and we need help from members. The bid team was led by Pieter Conradie along with David Phelps, Dionne Walsh, Nicole Spiegel, Don Burnside, Kate Forrest, Sally Leigo, John Gavin, Cathy Waters, and Andrew Ash. This group has started meeting to plan the Congress as the early-stage Australian Organising Committee.
We need to form a number of Sub-Committees, including Scientific Program, Finance, Sponsorship, Social Program, International Liaison, Publicity, and Tours. Further, we need someone to fill the role of Secretariat, who will be the glue between a Professional Conference Organiser (PCO), the Adelaide Convention Bureau, the Australian Organising Committee and the International Rangeland Congress Continuing Committee. Given the importance of the Secretariat role a modest honorarium/remuneration will be offered. The tender process to appoint a PCO has commenced as the PCO will undertake most of the logistics, congress finances, registrations, website, etc.
So if you are interested in joining a Sub-Committee or taking on the Secretariat role, or simply wanting to assist in other ways, please contact Pieter Conradie (ircbid25@gmail.com) or Andrew Ash (andrew@ajashassociates.com). We see this as a great development opportunity for younger members!