EIANZ 2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The W Hotel | 408 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

The Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) invites you to Melbourne for a three-day deep-dive into professional collaboration that delivers real-world environmental outcomes. The theme for this year's conference is Technology, Trust and Legislative Reform: Navigating the new environmental frontier.

Environmental practice is entering a new era.

Across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, legislative reform, rapid advances in technology and artificial intelligence, and growing expectations for transparency and trust are reshaping how environmental decisions are made. The EIANZ 2026 Annual Conference brings the profession together at this pivotal moment to explore what comes next, and how practitioners can lead with integrity, innovation and impact.

Over two technical days, environmental professionals, regulators, researchers, industry leaders and First Nations voices from across Australasia will share ideas, test assumptions and tackle the questions that will shape the next decade of practice.

This is where the future of environmental practice comes into focus.

Conference Themes

The EIANZ Annual Conference 2026 is built around eight sub-themes spanning the full breadth of contemporary environmental practice:

Legislative Reform in Action: Navigating the implications of recent Australian Federal EPBC Act reforms, net gain requirements, the establishment of the National Environmental Protection Agency, and new National Environmental Standards on impact assessments. Implications of New Zealand’s proposed environmental reforms such as the Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill.

Technology and AI in Environmental Practice: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), remote sensing, predictive modeling, digital twin and other technology to streamline ecological surveys, monitoring, and reporting.

Navigating the Boom in Renewable Energy and Data Infrastructure: Assessing the cumulative environmental impacts of grid expansion, renewable energy projects, and energy-intensive data centers. Strategies for balancing rapid infrastructure deployment with strict net gain mandates, grid capacity constraints, and water/thermal management in a changing climate.

Building and Rebuilding Stakeholder and Community Trust: Strategies for navigating community concerns, balancing scientific uncertainty against public perception, improving corporate transparency and regulatory accountability. The role of government is in this process.

First Nations Partnerships and Leadership: Honouring Traditional Owner knowledge alongside western scientific approaches and establishing genuine frameworks for Indigenous-led environmental management under the new legislative landscape.

Restoration, Net Gain and Regional Planning: Going beyond standard mitigation hierarchies to achieve net-positive ecological and social outcomes, biodiversity restoration for offsets, and regional planning for improved environmental outcomes at the landscape scale.

Ethics, governance and professional accountability: Managing the ethical risks, accuracy, and governance of adopting new automated tools in environmental decision-making.

Modern Pollution Management: Application of regulatory frameworks for managing legacy pollution, emerging contaminants (such as PFAS and microplastics), and other emissions. Use of advanced monitoring technologies, modern remediation techniques, and the integration of circular economy principles, etc.

Join us at EIANZ 2026 as we examine how technology, trust, legislative reform, and the renewable energy transition are redefining environmental practice, and discover how our profession can lead the way in delivering resilient, sustainable, and trusted outcomes for future generations.

Call for abstracts is now open!

Abstracts from both EIANZ members and non-members are invited on the following eight sub-themes above.

For more a more detailed explanation on the sub-themes and abstract topic suggestion view the explanatory notes here →

Priority will be given to abstracts that present truly innovative practice and/or provide valuable learning or tools for other practitioners who will attend the conference.

View the sponsorship prospectus here →

Who should attend

The EIANZ Annual Conference 2026 is the meeting place for the entire environmental profession. Whether you work in consultancy, government, industry or research, you teach the next generation, or you are a student stepping into the field, this is where you will find the people, the evidence and the ideas shaping what comes next. Bring your questions, your projects and your perspective, and leave with practical insight you can apply the moment you are back at your desk.

Registrations are open!

Early Bird conference registration fees**

*Members of partner organisations able to access registrations at EIANZ member rates please email events@eianz.org to arrange registration. The membership rate applies to members of ALGA, NZAIA, NELA, ISSP, AfN, IEMA. **Early bird rates expire on 31 July 2026.
Price is charged in AUD and includes 10% GST.
EIANZ Student member prices do not include attendance at the the networking / awards event. Tickets can be purchased separately for this event by contacting events@eianz.org

Tickets are strictly non-transferable and are not be shared amongst people on separate days. For single day attendance options contact events@eianz.org

Field Trips

The conference will be hosting 2 field trips on Friday 13 November, which are included in your registration fee. So that you are able to plan your time on the day, we can provide you with some details on the trips below.

Field Trip One | Will be held within the Melbourne CBD and surrounds and will finish by 3pm
Field Trip Two | Will be held in outer Melbourne suburbs and will not be back in the Melbourne CBD until at least 5pm.

Lunch will be included for both field trips.

Sponsorship opportunities

Sponsorship of the EIANZ 2026 Annual Conference provides an outstanding opportunity to secure high profile brand recognition with delegates and speakers who are leading experts in impact assessment, policy and practice in Australia. Gold, Silver and Bronze packages, along with opportunities to sponsor the lanyard or networking social are available, or we can tailor a package to suit your organisation.

Thanks to our venue sponsor

Not an EIANZ member?

Consider joining as a student, associate or full member today! To receive the member rate to the symposium make sure you apply for membership prior to registering for the event! Join here →

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