July 2025
Dear all
Welcome to the latest edition of Endpoint. As always, there is plenty of activity going on within SETAC AU, from continuing work on the governance restructure, celebrating Members’ success in winning various awards and prizes, and, most importantly, getting everything ready for the upcoming SETAC AU/ACTRA joint conference in Wellington in just a few weeks’ time.
I would like to start with an update on the SETAC AU governance restructure. Over the last two years SETAC AU Executive Council have been reviewing the governance arrangements of our society, and based on professional advice, we will shortly be implementing the suggested changes. The changes will ensure aspects of our organisational structure are up to date and aligned with similar professional societies and organisations in Australia. We will be changing from an unincorporated association to an incorporated company, with specific legal protections and most importantly, more opportunities for growth and financial sustainability.
For the most part, the membership will not see any major changes in the way we operate, except that the Executive Council will be known as the SETAC AU Board of Directors, and the broader council, including all regional representatives will be known as an Advisory Committee. The new structure enables us to form new committees and working groups whenever we wish to, without the need for taking it to the membership for a vote. This will increase our agility, enabling us to respond to issues of relevance to the aims of the society in a timely manner and also create more opportunities for members to become involved with leadership and strategic direction of our society. The new structure will also give SETAC AU the ability to apply for and receive grants and take part in developing training courses and other career development opportunities similar to other professional societies.
The way we apply for and renew our SETAC membership will not change, nor will our forms of communication with the membership (i.e. email bulletins, Endpoint newsletter, social media and website) change. As a reminder about membership, SETAC now offers three levels of membership: Free, Explorer and Full, and membership fees vary based on student and income status (high, low-middle) of the country registered in. For all of us residing in the Asia-Pacific region, membership payments are made in Australian dollars. When renewing your membership, keep in mind that to receive benefits such as discounted conference registrations and eligibility for awards and prizes or to get involved with Board and Advisory Committee activities, you need to be a Full member (not Free or Explorer), and membership needs to be on-going for more than one year. See the SETAC Membership webpage for further information.
With the new governance structure, one thing that will change is how we conduct elections. Members of the Board of Directors and Advisory Committees are elected for a term of 2 years, with the option to re-nominate for a second term if so desired. Following a call for nominations, online voting will be done and concluded at the Annual General Meeting, at which time the newly elected positions will be announced. An important component of SETAC AU leadership is professional development, so we intend to run governance training each time we have a new group of directors and committee members join the SETAC AU leadership group. If you have ever considered joining a Board or Council, then I strongly recommend you consider nominating for a role in the upcoming SETAC AU election.
Nominations are now open for all positions. Nominate yourself by either completing the online Google Form (you are required to be logged into a gmail account to access the form) OR download and complete the nomination form and return to australasia@setac.org. All nominations need to be received by July 31st, then an online voting system will be opened. Online voting will continue until the AGM (August 27th, Wellington,NZ). Any Full SETAC Member (or Full Student Member) is eligible to nominate for positions on the Board and Advisory Committees and you can find details of the duties and responsibilities of each role in the SETAC AU document library. SETAC Explorer and Free Members are not eligible for election to any positions as per SETAC Membership guidance.
Congratulations to all of our members that have received awards and prizes from SETAC recently. First and foremost, congratulations to Graeme Batley for being awarded the most prestigious SETAC Global award, the Founders Award. It is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the environmental sciences and you can read more about Graeme’s impressive career and why he is such a worthy recipient of SETAC’s highest honour in this write up for SETAC Globe. Well done and congratulations Graeme! Another recipient of a SETAC Global award is Gwilym Price, the 2024 winner of the SETAC / ICA Chris Lee Award for Metals Research. Congratulations Gwil!
SETAC AU provides awards in recognition for excellence in scientific work in Australasia that has involved substantial environmental toxicology and chemistry, or for service to environmental toxicology and chemistry in Australasia. Congratulations to Elvis Okoffo for winning the 2025 Early-Career Medal, Lisa Golding for winning the 2025 Mid-Career Medal, Alexandra Boyd for winning the 2025 Technical Staff Award and Carolyn Sonter for the Ambassadors Award to attend Science meets Parliament 2025. Stay tuned for announcements of other SETAC AU awards, including the 2025 Thesis Prize, Postgraduate Research Publication Award and Peter Teasdale Memorial Award which are yet to be finalised.
It’s conference season! There are several SETAC conferences coming up over the next few months, including our first ever joint conference with Australasian College of Toxicology & Risk Assessment (ACTRA).
SETAC AU/ACTRA – Wellington, NZ
It’s great to see the program has been released for the upcoming SETAC AU/ACTRA conference in Wellington. What a fantastic variety of sessions and diverse plenary speakers! Plus, there are several pre-conference workshops taking place:
???? Location: James Cook Hotel, Wellington
???? Date: Monday, 25 August 2025
???? Details & registration: https://confer.eventsair.com/setac-actra-2025/workshops
Places are limited, so get in quick if you would like to join one of these half-day or full-day workshops.
In addition to the conference workshops, there will also be a Workshop on Deriving and Implementing Bioavailability-based Water Quality Guidelines for Metals taking place on the same day, at the AREA Events Conference Centre, 1 O'Reily Avenue, Te Aro, Wellington.
This will be led by Jenny Stauber, Jenni Gadd, Aleicia Holland, and Rick Van Dam. For further details please contact Jenny Stauber at jenny.stauber@outlook.com.
SETAC WORLD CONGRESS - Johannesburg, South Africa
The SETAC 9th World Congress is set to take place 29 September – 3 October 2025 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. Late breaking abstracts are still being accepted and the early bird registration date is 14th August 2025.
SETAC North America 46th Annual Meeting - Portland, Oregon
This is being held 16 – 20 November 2025 at the Oregon Convention Center. The call for abstracts is now closed and early bird registration closes 20th August.
SETAC EUROPE 35th Annual Meeting – Vienna, Austria.
The 35th SETAC EUROPE Annual Meeting took place 11-15 May. I was fortunate enough to attend, along with several other Australian SETAC-ers. It was a large conference, with over 2800 delegates, presenting across 7 tracks and 8 concurrent sessions. 450 platform presentations and 1860 posters covering a broad range of topics under the conference theme of “innovation for tomorrow: progress in safe and sustainable concepts”.
And finally, it’s a time for me to reflect on all the great work SETAC AU Council has done over the last 2 terms of office. Due to the various disruptions caused by the pandemic, most Council members have been in their roles for 4 years now and I would like to thank them all for their hard work and dedication. We’ve held virtual and hybrid conferences and workshops, in person conferences, workshops and symposia, handed out several awards to our talented SETAC AU members and postgraduate student members, enabled several members to attend events such as Science meets Parliament and supported conference attendance through the SETAC AU Student and General Member Travel Awards and the newly established Indigenous Travel Grant.
I’ve enjoyed my time leading the society and am excited to see what the future will bring, and the new opportunities that will come with the new governance structure.
Thank you to each and every SETAC AU member for your support and I look forward to catching up with many of you at the upcoming conference in Wellington.