Conference theme: How good is science!? | 8 - 10 November 2021 | Grand Hyatt, 123 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000

After the self-isolation of 2020, this is a not to be missed opportunity to reconnect with your EIANZ colleagues and other environmental professionals. We are planning a really exciting and innovative program!

The conference theme invites presenters to choose which punctuation mark they wish to use in the above statement.

How good is science! draws on an expression commonly used by a current political leader. It invites delegates to share the success stories of science and illustrate how it has resulted in good environmental and social outcomes.

How good is science? is more complex. For example, despite an overwhelming number of scientists concluding that humans have contributed to climate change, some high-profile politicians and media commentators are still not convinced. Concerns have been raised about the extent to which experiments in scientific papers can be replicated. We are yet to fully understand and appreciate the role of Indigenous traditional knowledge in contributing to sound science and environmental management practice.

So how good is science? Is there a problem with quality and, if so, how do we address it? Or is the problem that science is good, but we are not being successful in the way that we are communicating it? There are many ways to respond to this question and delegates are encouraged to be imaginative, provocative and thoughtful.

Some possible sub-themes/streams:

• Contribution of science to policy, planning and decision-making: Where has it been effective and why? Where has it not been effective and why? How do we turn science into policy?
• Quality of science: How do we ensure that we produce good quality science? How do we define good quality?
• Relevance of science: Is scientific research focusing on the most important issues? How do we prioritise in an age of limited budgets while still encouraging innovative science?
• Translating science and expertise into action: How does good science have an impact and create value? How can we use science in environmental management? How effective is science in supporting compliance?
• Communicating science: As a profession, do we do enough to communicate good science? Do we do enough within our own profession? How can we better influence / inform mainstream scientific communicators? How do we improve media coverage of science?
• Contribution of Indigenous knowledge to science: How can we create better synergies between scientific evidence and Indigenous knowledge? What are the challenges in using and communicating Indigenous knowledge and how do we overcome them?
• Limitations of science: How do we balance science against community concerns and perceptions? How do we deal with uncertainty and natural variability, e.g. climate change? What limitations does science have?

Key dates

* The call for session proposals is new for this year. Sessions could comprise workshops, panel discussions, invited speakers, World Café format or other approaches. Innovative ideas are encouraged.

Your conference committee

Thanks to the following for serving on both the 2020 and 2021 Conference organising committees: Lachlan Wilkinson (Chair), Mark Vergara (Deputy Chair), Narelle Mewburn, Daniel Lim, Cameron Amos, Ellen Worthington, Farzeen Khundkar, Jane Foster, Kasey Robb, Kirsty Richardson, Maita Subba, Marion Pennicuik, Nicholas Sing, Qian Li, Sjakk Lemmens.