Social and Networking Events

Registration and Welcome Drinks

Join us on Sunday 8 December to collect your conference name badge and network with fellow attendees.

When: Sunday 8 December, 5.30pm – 6.30pm

Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)

Tickets: This event is included for all Full Registrations. Additional tickets are $30 can be purchased via the conference registration site.

Barbara Rice Memorial Poster Session

At the Barbara Rice Memorial Poster Sessions, poster presenters will be standing by their posters to discuss their research in a casual and collaborative setting. Drinks and light snacks will be served.

When Monday 9 December, 5.45pm – 7.45pm

Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)

Tickets: This event is included for all Full Registrations and Monday Day Registrations. Additional tickets are $35 can be purchased via the conference registration site.

Movie – Follow the Rain

When: Monday 9 December 2024, 7.30pm

Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC)

Tickets: Tickets are $5 per person and can be purchased via the conference registration site.


In one of the wettest years on record in Australia, photographer Stephen Axford and filmmaker Catherine Marciniak followed in the path of the rain to document the fungi that emerged. Their mission – to discover why scientists now think life on earth as we know it, would not exist without fungi. It is an exploration of the world of fungi like you have never seen it – combining a decade of research, passion, Stephen and Catherine’s exquisite fungi time-lapses and footage, and the most incredible fungi stories. It is a pioneering fungi safari with breath-taking imagery while unearthing the foundation of life down under. Other characters include mycologists Dr Tom May, Dr Camille Truong, Prof Roger Shivas and Prof Teresa Lebel.

More information:

Conference Dinner

When: Wednesday 11 December 2024, 7.00pm

Where: Leopard Lodge, Melbourne Zoo, Elliott Avenue, Parkville Victoria 3052

Please note that this is primarily a stand up event, with substantial canapes, rather than a sit-down dinner.

Tickets: Tickets to the Conference Dinner are $120 per person and can be purchased via the conference registration site. (Tickets are limited so we recommend getting in quick if you would like to purchase a ticket.)

A relaxed opportunity to network or just meet up with old and new friends. After dinner a cash bar will be available.

Don’t miss the opportunity to go on a Pre-Dinner Tour. Tickets are $30 each and there is the option of a Sunset Species Tour or Gorilla Rainforest Tour.

Transport: Conference Dinner buses will leave the MCEC at 6.30pm (if you are doing a Pre-Dinner Tour, an early bus will leave at 5.35pm). If you are making your own way to Melbourne Zoo, there is plenty of car parking and Royal Park Station is located one minute’s walk from the entry gate. The rear gate is the closest to Leopard Lodge.