State Conference

Call for Papers Now Open!

Members and Colleagues of the Institute, professionals and academics working in the public works sector are invited to submit expressions of interest to present at IPWEA WA’s 2021 Annual State Conference to be held in Fremantle in March.

The IPWEA WA Conference is the leading public works event on the Western Australian calendar and it is attended by participants from all areas of public works. It provides a great opportunity to promote your organisation and yourself to delegates who attend this event.

While WA has been fortunate regarding restrictions with the COVID-19 pandemic, however due to uncertainty there will be options in place that will allow delegates to attend the Conference in both the usual face to face format, and for the first time ever, delegates will also be able to attend the Conference online. In addition to keeping you safe, which is our priority, and maintaining the current social distancing requirements, this will also mean that should the COVID-19 restrictions prevent face to face participation, we will be able to switch the Conference to run in a fully online format.

The Conference theme is “A Whole New World” and is based around the way we thought of the world, particularly the way technology and innovations were heading pre-COVID 19 is so very different to the way world adapted during COVID-19, and the way the world will go/is going forward post-COVID 19 in the “new normal” as everyone has had to be more innovative and creative to remain relevant.

Conference Streams
✔ New Technologies	✔ Traditional Methods	✔ Road Safety	✔ Urban Development	✔ OHS
✔ Parks & Enviroment	✔ Roads	✔ Build Environment	✔ Asset Management
✔ Research & Projects	✔ Coastal Issues	✔ Stormwater & Drainage	✔ Regional Issues
✔ Levels of Service	✔ Major Projects	✔ Transport & Infrastructure	✔ Leisure & Recreation
✔ Enterprise Project Management	✔ Leadership & Innovation	✔ Emotional Health & Wellbeing	✔ Staff Training & Retention

Abstracts

Abstracts addressing the conference topics should include a focus on challenges, solutions – both proven or possible, lessons learned, new and potential future technologies and innovations, and, as always, the inclusion of case studies is welcomed. Potential presenters are requested to provide a personal bio, a photograph (in JPEG format) and an abstract of no more than 300 words outlining the content of their presentation by Friday 25 September 2020.

Written Papers vs Presentations Only

Recognising that life is busy and people still wish to contribute but may not have the time to write a technical paper, the Institute allows abstract submissions for both presentations with a technical paper supplied, and for presentations only with no technical paper required.

Please indicate as part of your submission whether a technical paper will be provided, and which stream you believe your abstract should be presented in.

Important Deadlines

Presenters who are selected for the Conference will be advised by the end of November and full papers will be required by Friday 29 January 2021 for judging purposes. Presentations will be required by Friday 26 February 2021.

In addition to our normal face to face format, we intend to both livestream and record the sessions, so please be aware that unlike previous years, once your presentation is submitted, there will not be the opportunity to make changes to it and unfortunately we will not be able to provide any extensions as there are a lot of things that need to happen in the background for these opportunities to occur.

The Geoff Dutton Best Paper Award & Presentation Award

The author of the best paper presented at the 2021 WA Annual Conference will receive the Geoff Dutton Best Paper Award.

A separate prize category “Best Conference Presentation as Voted by the Audience” was introduced in early 2018 for those who are submitting presentations only. Due to timing, this is often not announced until after the Conference.

For further information, please contact myself, Cathy Higgs, Office & Events Manager on (08) 9321 5470 or email cathy@ipwea.asn.au.