Thank you to all the committee office bearers, members and ordinary members for your ongoing commitment to the organisation in a year that has seen increasing activity and recognition of Geoconferences in the geoscience community. It is wonderful to welcome so many new faces into the committee, including Jinxiang Huang, Raphael Quentin de Gromard and Lillian Kendall-Langley. Many thanks also to our joint secretariat and accountant, Keng Chai, and Corinne Debat, for ensuring that we continue in steady hands.
This year, we continued to explore opportunities to support geoscience education and field-based learning. We hope to release information about the initiative in the coming months, pending discussions with universities and industry partners. This initiative comes at a critical time in the narrative of the Australian Earth Science Education sector and is aligned with our mission. It will put us in a unique position to promote and support student access to field experiences and geoscience training in Western Australia.
We continue support to the Australian Earth Science Education’s WA GeoSTEM Program. This year, we have also invested more broadly in educational initiatives in collaboration with WOMEESA, through the Scientific Writing Workshop 2025, held in conjunction with the Dorothy Hill Symposium. Through this, we helped three WA-based geoscientists attend the conference and the workshop, with several more joining online. I extend my thanks to our Travel Grant subcommittee for ongoing monitoring and distribution of two JH Lord Travel Grants to Australian PhD students.
We are proud platinum sponsors of the 11th International Symposium on Granitic Pegmatites (PEG2026), promoting WA geology, in particular our LCT pegmatite resources and extensive knowledge base. With the 19th SGA Biennial Meeting in Perth for 2027, we will also be organising Target 2027, in keeping with our brand. For this, we have invited new members to champion the subcommittee, Laura Petrella (Curtin University) and Alex Edgar (UWA). Looking ahead, we now turn our attention to Geoconferences-led AI&ML in exploration workshop and 7th International Archean Symposium in 2030, with much to discuss.
Dr Helen McFarlane, Geoconferences Chair