18 September 2012
The University of South Australia’s Centre for Regional Engagement is making final preparations this week to welcome more than 200 delegates from 19 countries to the 5th International Rural Network World Forum which will run from September 23 – 28 in Whyalla.
Director of the Whyalla Campus Professor Guy Robinson says the international forum - Rural and Remote Resilience: Making the Priorities Possible – provides the opportunity to share research results, views and theories on the issues of regional and remote communities from around the world.
“This promises to be a significant conference covering a wide range of themes from health and health service delivery to demography, education, Indigenous experiences and perspectives, economic development, sustainability, and volunteering, all in a global context,” Prof Robinson says.
“It is also great for the University of South Australia to be able to host the conference in a regional Australian setting, contextualising conference issues and at the same time showcasing the upper Spencer Gulf and outback with fieldtrips and presentations from the region.”
The five-day forum is being held in Whyalla’s Middleback theatre and will feature a range of high calibre and provocative presentations including leading science communicator, Julian Cribb with an address entitled The Coming Famine; Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, Simon Crean, and Professor Susan Rifkin from the London School of Economics who also works as an international consultant to organisations such as WHO and UNICEF on health in the developing world.
“The conference is bringing some of the world’s leading thinkers and researchers to Whyalla to look at questions of resilience, regional community development, and the many implications of a planet where the drift to urban centres continues to grow,” Prof Robinson says.
“For the first time in our history more than 50 per cent of the world’s population now lives in cities – the implications of that increasing drift impact on every aspect of society from how we grow our food to how we manage disease, health and education. It is incredibly exciting to have leading thinkers on these issues in Whyalla for a week and UniSA is very proud to be presenting this opportunity to learn more.”
The 2012 Forum is being hosted by the University of South Australia on behalf of the International Rural Network, and supported by RDA Far North, RDA Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula, RDA Yorke and Mid North, The South Australian Tourism Commission, the Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy, Zero Waste SA, the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion, the Outback Communities Authority and the Upper Spencer Gulf Common Purpose Group.
Anyone interested in attending the public presentation from Minister Simon Crean or wanting more information about the conference can register their interest online on the International Rural Network and Forum 2012.
Organisers of the conference would like acknowledge the generosity of government and community sponsors of the event including the Department for Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy; the South Australian Tourism Commission; the Upper Spencer Gulf Common Purpose Group; Zero Waste SA; Ninti One Limited; Outback Communities Authority; Centacare Catholic Family Services Port Pirie Diocese; The Department for Communities and Social Inclusion, Housing SA Eyre and Western; Australian National University, National Institute for Rural and Regional Australia and UniSA’s Department of Rural Health and the Vice Chancellor’s development fund.
There has also been strong support from Regional Development Australia Far North, Regional Development Australia Whyalla and Eyre Peninsula, Regional Development Australia Yorke and Mid North.
Michèle Nardelli office: 08 8302 0966 mobile: 0418 823 673 email: michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au
