Dear Colleague,

On behalf of the Organising Committee, we extend a warm invitation to attend the 2014 ASP Annual Conference, which will be held at ANU Commons, Canberra, Australia between 30th June and 3rd July 2014.

The 2014 ASP Annual Conference program includes an outstanding mix of quality international and Australian scientists and features events for early career researchers and the general public with the following themes and invited speakers:

Elsevier Lectures

  • IJP Lecture – Raffi Aroian (University of California, San Diego, USA)
  • IJP Drugs and Drug Resistance Lecture – David Horn (University of Dundee, UK)
  • IJP Parasites and Wildlife Lecture – Vanessa Ezenwa (University of Georgia, USA)

Plenary and Symposia themes and speakers

  • Discovery, Development and Investigation of New Antiparasitics (Helminths) - Tim Geary (McGill University, Canada)
  • 2014 ASP Invited Lecturer Discovery, Development and Investigation of New Antiparasitics (Protozoa) – Mike Ferdig (University of Notre Dame, USA)
  • 2014 ASP Invited Lecturer Margaret Mackinnon (University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Medicine, Kenya,
    Kilifi KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme)
  • Cell Biology & Development – 2014 ASP Invited Lecturer Boris Striepen (University of Georgia, USA)
  • Biochemistry  Physiology -  Audrey R. Odom (Washington University School of Medicine, U.S.A.)
  • Vaccines – Marshall Lightowlers (University of Melbourne, Australia)
  • Host-Parasite Interactions – Wai-Hong Tham (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia)
  • Epidemiology – Archie Clements (Australian National University)
  • Immunoregulation (Protozoa) – Ian Cockburn (John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australia)
  • Cell Signalling & Parasite Lifecycles - Christian Doerig (Monash University)
  • Drugs and Drug Resistance - Vicky Avery (Griffith University, Australia)
  • Ecology - Jan Slapeta (University of Sydney, Australia)
  • Population Genetics – Alyssa Barry (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia)
  • Evolution & Phylogeny – Tom Cribb (The University of Queensland, Australia)

Plus we will be staging two celebratory and provocative sessions, at the start and end of the conference. Welcome from Conference Chair and A Celebration of Australian Parasitology will take place 5pm Monday 30th June at ANU Commons (there will be pre-event drinks at 430pm) and The Future of Parasitology will take place at 3pm on Thursday 3rd July (following afternoon tea) at ANU Commons. Professor Graham Mitchell (AO) will chair both these sessions, drawing on the wisdom of some of the ASP’s Fellows for the first and our Bancroft Mackerras Medalists for the closing session.

The ASP and the Network acknowledge the generous support of Elsevier Parasitology, the International Journal for Parasitology, Bayer, Meat and Livestock Australia, Virbac Animal Health, Elanco, Compounds Australia, and New England BioLabs Inc.,who are sponsoring this conference.

On Sunday 29th June we will feature a very exciting ASP-Inspiring Australia outreach event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. We will run the first in a two-part public lecture series “The Parasite War Years” held at the Australian War Memorial (AWM), on Sunday 29th June 2pm and the second lecture will take place Sunday 16th August 2014 at 2pm at the AWM.

Early Career Researchers are invited to attend a "Presenting Science" event on Monday 30th June, 330-430pm at ANU Commons. ASP Students can follow on from this ECR event with the ASP Post-Graduate Student Breakfast event on Tuesday 1st July from 7am. Register for both events when you complete your conference registration.

Registration is now open, early bird registration has been extended and closes Wednesday 2nd April 2014.

Please contact the Conference Coordinator, Lisa Jones by email (lisa.jones1@jcu.edu.au) or telephone 07 4232 1311 with any queries or for a conference flyer to display in your institution. We look forward to seeing you in Canberra in June and July!