SPUMS ASM 2023

Registrations are now closed.

2023 SPUMS Conference Theme

 Diver health and ocean health amid the storm clouds of climate change.

 A shared vision for underwater medicine and marine science.

CONVENORS: David Smart and Cathy Meehan
DATE:  Sunday 4 June to Friday 9 June 2023
VENUE: Crystal Brook Riley Hotel, Cairns, Australia

Download a copy of the conference proceedings here.

Please register for the conference before you book accommodation, practical diving workshops or pre and post conference trips. You will receive a Booking ID to provide to as proof of registration, and will be linked to the travel provider Diveplanit website.

Sunset as the Gondwana rainforest burns in Tasmania | Photo © David Smart 2019

SPUMS ASM Conference Streams

• The global impacts of climate change on coral reefs and temperate waters
• The human – marine environment interaction
• Health Impacts of climate change
• Temperate spread of tropical diseases
• Unexpected consequences – marine food poisons and envenomation
• Creative solutions for the impacts of climate change
• Marine Infections
• Paediatric Diving – workshop and position statement
• Underwater medicine and marine science – how can we join forces to create a shared vison for the future?

Conference Presentations in detail

Download your conference programme here.

Submission of Abstracts - CLOSED

Preference will be given to abstracts that are consistent with the conference theme, but there will also be free paper streams and also poster space available.

Keynote Speakers

Ove Hoegh-Guldberg Professor, FAA, University of Queensland Ove Hoegh-Guldberg is Professor of Marine Studies at The University of Queensland and is internationally recognised for his work on the impacts of climate change, especially those that affect complex ocean ecosystems such as coral reefs.  The implications of his work have led to his involvement as coordinating lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is the peak UN body for understanding and responding to climate change. In addition to providing critical evidence, Ove has helped build the international consensus on the importance of restraining global warming to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial period, with a particular interest in the roles that the Ocean can play in mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.  He has been a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science since 2013, receiving the Prince Albert II Award for Climate Change in 2014, and the International Award from the Banksia Foundation in 2016. He has been recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2001, 2014, 2018 and 2019 (top 1% of his field) and was recently listed among the 100 most influential people in Climate Policy globally. While painting a worrying science-based picture, Ove will also outline the opportunities for reducing climate change and its impacts, albeit with a marine focus. While the on-going challenges are Herculean, all is not lost, with the next decade promising to be among the most enthralling in human history. http://www.coralreefecosystems.org/professor-ove-hoegh-guldberg/

Craig Johnson Professor, Ecology & Biodiversity Centre, IMAS, University of Tasmania Craig completed his PhD at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia on the stability of kelp beds, and subsequently worked at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Canada, University of Cape Town, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Griffith University, and University of Queensland before moving to take up the Chair in Zoology at the University of Tasmania in 1997. He moved to the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS) when it was first established in 2010, and was Associate Director of IMAS and Head of the Ecology & Biodiversity Centre for 10 years. He was then appointed as the inaugural Executive Director of Innovation & Enterprise at the University of Tasmania, although recently returned to IMAS to continue research. His research is broadly concerned with the space-time dynamics of marine ecosystems, and with predicting the distribution of biodiversity. In both areas the impacts of climate change and possible management responses dominate his recent work. He studies interactions among suites of organisms spanning bacteria, algae, invertebrates and fish. The focus has largely been on temperate and coral reefs, but has also included seafloor communities in deeper waters of the continental shelf and pelagic systems in the Southern Ocean. His research is equally divided between field work conducting experiments underwater, building computer models of marine system dynamics and spatial variation in biodiversity, and work to develop marine-based industries. His research is published in over 200 peer-reviewed publications including several edited books, and has been cited over 13,000 times (H-Index 60).

Venue Information - Crystalbrook Riley Hotel, Cairns, Australia

Option 2 Accommodation available

Cairns Plaza

 145 The Esplanade, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Special Conference Event

Dreamtime Indigenous Interpretive Scientific Expedition Tuesday 6 June

An exciting highlight of the conference is a full day Dreamtime expedition on Tuesday 6 June to the Reef Magic pontoon located on the Great Barrier Reef. This trip is included in all conference full registrations. We encourage conference guests and accompanying family to subscribe to the experience. It promises to be a day of intensive interaction with marine scientists involved in reef conservation projects and a great way to evolve a shared vision between underwater medicine and marine science. Make sure you add this option to your guest registration by selecting Guest Registration B. Additional family can be added to the dreamtime expedition at the time of registration without needing to purchase guest registrations.

Download a brochure for SPUMS ASM 2023