NZSOLD/ANCOLD Conference
The most notable event for NZSOLD this year has been the combined NZSOLD/ANCOLD Conference. It was held in Auckland from 9-12 October. It included a pre-conference Workshop and a post-conference tour. There were 378 registrants which exceeded our expectations. Most registrants were from New Zealand and Australia (almost equal numbers) with a small number from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, USA, Mongolia, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. The theme of the conference was Resilient Dams and Levees for Resilient Communities. Dams and levees play an important role in providing communities with water for public and industrial use, irrigation for growing food, hydropower, flood control, recreation and inland navigation. Their importance is growing as a result of increasing population, climate change and associated environmental and social pressures. The resilience of communities is inexorably linked to the resilience of dams and levees. The conference covered a wide range of topics related to the resilience of dams and levees. There were five keynote speakers including Michael Rogers, the current President of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). NZSOLD was very pleased with the large number of New Zealand registrants as it indicates that we have a high level of engagement with our members. We were especially pleased with the large number of Young Professionals that attended and presented papers and posters. The social programme included the Welcome Function at Harbourside, hosted by the NZSOLD and ANCOLD young professionals, and a conference dinner at the Auckland Museum. I would like to thank all our members that attended, particularly those that put effort into preparing and presenting papers and posters. It was disappointing that we could not accept all the abstracts that were submitted. We received over 130 abstracts but could only accommodate about half of those in our programme. I would like to acknowledge the hard work put in by the NZSOLD Management Committee in organising and running the conference. Also, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our conference manager Cheryll Wagener.
The NZSOLD and ANCOLD committees would like to warmly thank all who attended and participated in the combined NZSOLD ANCOLD conference in Auckland. Your warmth and positivity during the event made it all the more enjoyable for the organising team and conference delegates. We were absolutely thrilled with the number that attended, the international reach and the diversity of presenters and delegates. A big thank you to all involved in making it a success! The Conference Organising team The conference website https://nzsoldancold2019.co.nz/ has a very good record of the event including links to the keynote presentations, and a great selection of photos.