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Social Functions at the Australian Disasters Conference 2009

Welcome Reception: 10 February 2009
1730 to 1900 hours

Venue: National Convention Centre

Dress: Smart Casual

To celebrate the opening of the Conference and trade exhibition, drinks and canapés will be serves in the exhibition display area. The welcome reception will give delegates the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the venue, view the exhibition and catch up with friends.

Cost: The cost of the Welcome Reception is included in full conference registrations only. Tickets may be purchased by Day Registrants and accompanying persons at $55 per ticket (including GST).

Conference Dinner: 11 February 2009
1900 for 1930 hours

Venue: National Convention Centre, Exhibition Hall

Dress: Business Attire

Dinner Sponsor: Point Trading. View the Point Trading website.

Guest Speaker: Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Unwind and relax with your peers at the Conference Dinner. The gala evening will include delicious food, fine wine and live entertainment.

Cost: The cost of the Conference Dinner is included in full conference registrations only. Tickets may be purchased by Day Registrants, Volunteer Registrations and accompanying persons at $85 per ticket (including GST).

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Guest Conference Dinner Speaker:

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Whenever the announcer gives out the phone number for Karl Kruszelnicki's famous Science Talkback show on Triple J, on Thursday mornings - so many calls come in that the ABC switchboard crashes!

Karl's media career began in 1981, when he started presenting 'Great Moments In Science' on Double J to pay his way through medical school. Since then, his media career has exploded from radio to include TV, books, newspapers, magazines, scripting, professional speaking, and of course, the Net. His science homepage (which has well over 4 million words on it) gets about 700,000 pages downloaded each week.

He made his TV debut in 1985 as the presenter of the first series of Quantum. Since 1986 he has reported science as a regular on the Midday Show, Good Morning Australia (including a full-time stint in 1991-2 as the TV Weatherman and science reporter). He is currently a regular on Channel 7’s breakfast program Sunrise. He has recently completed two series on quirky weather topics for the Weather Channel on Foxtel. Karl also popularises science on radio stations across Australia and, on the BBC, for several hours each week.

Karl has written (so far) 23 books, beginning with Great Moments In Science in 1984 and his latest book ‘Great Mythconceptions – Cellulite, Camel Humps and Chocolate Zits’ which was released in November 2004, went straight to Number 5 on the best seller list for non-fiction books. According to the "New Scientist" Magazine Karl's last five books have all hit the position of best-selling Popular Science book in Australia.

In 1996 Karl was invited by the United States Information Agency to be a Distinguished Foreign Guest in their International Visitor Program. Previous Alumni of this program include Julius Nyere, Anwar Sadat, Indira Ghandi and Margaret Thatcher. As part of this program he visited NORAD, Dryden Air Force Base and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and got to sit in the front seat of an SR-71 Blackbird.

In August 2000 Karl was one of first eight Australian Apple Masters to be announced (there are fewer than 100 in the entire world). The Apple Masters Program celebrates the achievements of people who are changing the world through their passion and vision, while inspiring new approaches to creative thinking.

In 2002, Dr Karl was honoured with the prestigious Ig Nobel prize awarded by Harvard University in the USA for his ground-breaking research into “Belly Button Lint and why it is almost always blue”.

In September 2003, Dr Karl was bestowed wit the great honour of being named ‘Australian Father of the Year’.

Karl has degrees in Physics and Maths, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine and Surgery and has worked as a physicist, tutor, film-maker, car mechanic, labourer, and as a medical doctor at the Kids' Hospital in Sydney.

In 1995 he took up the position of the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at Sydney University, spreading the good word about science and its benefits.

His enthusiasm for science is totally infectious and no one is better able to convey the excitement and wonder of it all than Dr Karl Kruszelnicki.