You are invited to join us for two days of presentations by leading academics, practitioners, Traditional Owners, agencies and communities to explore why, when and how can we best use fire across landscapes to protect what we most care about.
We’ve just announced additional speakers for the conference, including NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers ASFM, Emeritus Professor Ross Bradstock, Professor Don Driscoll, Associate Professor Rachael Nolan, Dr. Jack Pascoe, Dr. Rachel Morgain, and Greg Mullins. Visit our Speakers page or scroll down to learn more.
Tickets:
Join the event in-person for either one or two days with our In-Person Conference tickets (21st-22nd May) and stay for our Conference Extras including a Conference Dinner (21st May) and Field Day (23rd May). Alternatively, you can now also join us online with a Virtual Conference ticket.
Early Bird ticket sales closed on Sunday 11:59pm, 9th March, 2025.
In-Person ticket sales close on Monday 11:59pm, 5th May, 2025.
Students and First Nations Representatives - Grab a 10% discount when you register as a group of five for either the Wednesday or Thursday In-Person.
Buy Tickets Here
Location:
Conference - This will be an in-person event held in Sydney, at the Teachers Federation Conference Centre, 37 Reservoir St, Surry Hills NSW 2010.
There will also be hybrid options available, however we would encourage you to attend in person in order to fully enjoy the conference offerings, with a conference dinner, poster session and field day to be included. The venue also has an accessible entrance. Please contact the organisers if you have any accessibility questions or requirements.
Field Day- The conference field day will be held at the Royal National Park.
The day will include site visits in the field, and patches of bush walking, so please be prepared for moderate outdoors exercise and be prepared for varying weather conditions. Please contact us if you have any questions. A complimentary bus will pick up delegates near Central Station and return them at the conclusion of the field trip by 5:30pm.
Further details to be released.
Dates:
Wednesday 21st of May 2025
- Day 1 Conference sessions
- Poster Session (including drinks and nibbles, available with In-Person Conference Wednesday tickets)
- Conference Dinner
Thursday 22nd of May 2025
- Day 2 Conference sessions
Friday 23rd May 2025
- Field Day
Theme:
The conference theme is ‘Can we burn to learn? Sustaining people, nature and Country’. Why do we choose to burn and, when and how can we best gain wisdom from using fire in different vegetation types to protect what we most care about. With the impacts of recent fires still imprinted on us and the ongoing certainty of future fires, now is an opportune time to test how we best work with fire, to re-think why we burn and evaluate what we are aiming to achieve.
Subthemes:
Mountains to Coast
Rolling Hills to Deserts
Horizons
Speakers:
We are pleased to release our first speakers for the conference, including:
- NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers ASFM, conference opening address
- Emeritus Professor Ross Bradstock (University of Wollongong), Environmental outcomes of strategic fire management: known knowns and unknowns and the case to 'burn in order to learn'
- Professor Don Driscoll (Deakin University), New insights from The Australian Megafire Synthesis
- Associate Professor Rachael Nolan (Western Sydney University), Forests, fire and carbon stocks: a case-study of the 2019/20 Black Summer fire
- Dr. Jack Pascoe (University of Melbourne), Restoring Biocultural Landscapes in Maar Meereeng
- Dr. Rachel Morgain (Melbourne Biodiversity Institute), Fostering socio-ecological approaches to addressing systemic risks in bushfire emergency response, recovery and resilience
- Greg Mullins (Emergency Leaders for Climate Action), Los Angeles and wholesale destruction: could it happen here?
Visit our Speakers page for more details. Stay tuned for updates as more speakers are announced!
Sponsorship:
We are now accepting applications for sponsorship for the NCC Bushfire Conference 2025. Sponsorship of NCC's Bushfire Conference provides a unique opportunity to promote your organisation to NCCs supporter base of >120 000 people and >200 member groups, and demonstrates your support in sustainable fire management and conservation.
Download the sponsorship prospectus here - NCC Bushfire Conference 2025 Sponsorship Opportunities
Abstract Submissions:
Abstract submissions closed - 11:59pm 24th February 2025
Who should contribute?
We are seeking presentations from evidence-based research, operational or on-ground programs/projects as well as the knowledge and understandings of people and communities.
We welcome presenters from agencies, practitioners, Traditional Owners, academics, community groups, land managers or individuals (affiliated with a group or supported by their community).
Contacts:
Sign up to our bushfire conference mailing list to be the first to hear about tickets, speakers and more by contacting the Bushfire Program team at [email protected]
Check back here for more updates.... coming soon!
Nature Conservation Council of NSW would like to acknowledge the generous support of our conference sponsors:
