Earlier this month the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) held their 61st annual conference, attended by about 300 people from several countries. It took place over 4 days in the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre and the UQ School of Economics was proud to be a major sponsor of this important and successful event.
The presentations included 10 invited speakers, 19 selected papers, 125 contributed papers and 17 posters. Several UQ economics staff were among the presenters including our very own ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, John Quiggin, who spoke at the conference dinner.
Attendees at the event had an opportunity to exchange findings from their latest research about topics ranging from water management (agricultural, environmental and urban), the impact of catchment management on the Great Barrier Reef, commodity trade, agricultural productivity, environmental valuation, fishery management, pest and diseases management in agriculture, to the economic impact of climate change.
Some other UQ economics staff members who attended the event included Associate Professor John Asafu-Adjaye, Associate Professor Lana Friesen and Dr. Ian MacKenzie. It was great to have UQ economics Masters students, Amelia Syvrud and Brittany Zhang, volunteering at the conference.
Dr. Peggy Shrobback presented one of the 17 posters at the conference and we are proud to say she won the Best Poster prize.
The innovation at the conference this year was a 3 minute theses competition which provided postgraduate students the opportunity to present their work to potential employers and to win an award.
Overall, the topics presented and discussed at this conference highlighted the difficulties in dealing with increasing population, urbanisation, food, energy and water security and the risk multiplier of climate change. Technical innovation and continuous research in the field of agricultural and resource economics research remains vital for the management of the challenges that we are facing.
Read more about AARES at their website.
