Message from the President

Dear SRA-ANZ Members,

It has been a delight to serve as SRA-ANZ President for the past two years.
In my term as President we have worked hard to broaden the membership base and it was great to see a number of new faces at the 2016 Annual General Meeting at Central Queensland University’s Appleton Institute in Adelaide, Australia.

The conference would not be possible without the support of many different organ-isations and people. Firstly, we need to acknowledge and thank the Society’s long time sponsor, the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, for their contin-ued support and also for lending us their administrative wizard Erica Kecorius. I would also like to thank the Central Queensland University for hosting us and the local organising committee of Kirrilly Thompson, Chris Bearman, Jane Bearman, Monique Stewart and Daxine Waterman for constant support, energy and enthusi-asm. Thanks also to the program committee of Sandra Seno-Alday, Kirrilly Thomp-son and Tom Beer for their work in pulling together the speakers.

The SRA-ANZ is continuing to develop our online presence with the efforts of Steve Corin and Kirrilly Thompson. All of this is a work in progress and we are looking for suggestions and inputs from members. The role of editor for the newsletter has been in a state of change this year. Tracey, who produced the first newsletter of the year, has had a break from this role as she takes on the new role of motherhood. I want to take the opportunity to wish her well in life’s new adventures. This year also sees a change to the SRA-ANZ executive with Tom Beer who was SRA-ANZ President in 2014 finishing his term as Immediate-Past President. We will miss his sage words on the Executive.

With this being my last letter as President I want to welcome the President-elect, Sandra Seno-Alday, and wish her all the best in this role.

Looking forward to seeing you all in 2017 at University of Melbourne.

Thank-you and regards,
Naomi Cogger SRA-ANZ President

Dear SRA-ANZ Members,

The year is flying by!

Over the past few years there has been a growing awareness that we cannot bury our head in the sand around risk. If we are to manage the threats posed by infectious
diseases, natural disasters, war and the collapse of a country’s economy we must engage with risk.

This years’ conference theme, engaging risk will continue this conversation. There will be some inspiring talks from Professor Stewart Lockie, Professor David Swain and Dr Nick Golding. We will also provide opportunities for professional development with two days of workshops on a range of topics including the psychology of risk perception, expert judgment and fatigue risk management.

This issue of the SRA newsletter contains information on our annual conference and workshops. We also profile an emerging risk researcher and a recently released book on expert judgment.

In March this year we said farewell to SRA-ANZ councillor and newsletter editor Catherine Wong. Catherine has left us for an exciting new role at the University of Luxembourg. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Catherine for her efforts and wish her well on this new adventure. Catherine’s departure has left a vacancy in the Executive and we are now calling for nominations for the SRA-ANZ councillor and a volunteer to take over editing the newsletter. So it you are interested in either of these positions please get in contact with me.

We also need you to help spread the word about the SRA-ANZ to your colleagues. I like to think everyone in Australasia interested in risk would know about SRA-ANZ, so I am always surprised when I meet someone who has not heard of our group!

Word of mouth can be an effective way to introduce someone to SRA-ANZ.

Winter is just around the corner. Before you enter hibernation, or escape to a warm island in the Pacific, don’t forget to submit your abstract for the 2016 SRA-ANZ!

Naomi Cogger SRA-ANZ President

We have made a variety of our old newsletters now available online. See copies of these below.