The AQUA 2026 Conference has events throughout the week such as an icebreaker, dinner, early career event, workshops, and several field trips.

This page contains information on each event. You do not need to register for the free events, because we will use the numbers from the previous expression of interest form.

To secure a place for a fee-based event, please pay on the events payment page. Field trip numbers are capped based on the number that registered an expression of interest and those will be given first preference.

For full information on field trips (including maps), refer to the field trips flyer (click this link).

Social Events

Icebreaker

Sunday 5th July 2026
Indicative cost: $0 p/p (included in registration)

The icebreaker event will be held in the evening at the Doncaster Hotel in Kensington from 4 pm onwards.

Conference dinner

Wednesday 8th July 2026
Cost: $50 p/p (pay here if you previously registered for the dinner)

The conference dinner will be held at Foys Kirribili in the evening on the 8th.

Quiz night

Thursday 9th July 2026
Indicative cost: $0 p/p

Join everyone for a fun evening of trivia. The quiz will be held at the conference venue following the conclusion of the final session on the 9th.

Networking events

Early Career Researcher event

Monday 6th July 2026
Indicative cost: $0 p/p

Come and network with fellow ECRs attending the AQUA biennial. This event will be held at the conference venue.

Later Career Researcher event

Monday 6th July 2026
Indicative cost: $0 p/p

A networking event for mid- and late- career researchers working in Quaternary science. Location is TBC but will be nearby to the conference venue.

Workshops

All workshops are held on Tuesday 07 July 2026. Specific venues and times are TBC. There is no cost associated with attending any of the workshops.

ANZIC Coring Australasia workshop

The Australian & New Zealand Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC) is hosting a full-day hybrid workshop focused on developing offshore and onshore coring proposals in the Australasian region. Pre-and subsequent virtual meetings will be held along side this main meeting to help proposals develop. More information is accessible by clicking this link.

Separate registration for this event can be found here: https://events.humanitix.com/coring-australasia

Note that two specific (and exclusive) funding support schemes are available for students wishing to attend AQUA and the Coring Australasia workshop:

Support can only be received from one of the above schemes.

Diatom workshop

Diatoms are powerful proxies of environmental change and are among the most globally utilised indicators of Quaternary environments.  Diatoms are predominantly used to infer changes in aquatic environments due to their different habitat requirements (e.g. open water vs living on lake bottoms or plants) and sensitivity to water quality (e.g. salinity, pH or nutrients).   These changes are then used to infer changes in climate and, or human influences on the environment. 

This deliberately open-ended workshop will be driven by user need but is likely to include examples of applications, discussion of results and a taxonomic session.  Contact John Tibby to discuss what you want from the workshop (john.tibby@adelaide.edu.au).

Chronos Radiocarbon workshop

A workshop will be held on the Tuesday afternoon at the Chronos Radiocarbon Laboratory at UNSW. There will be a tour of the laboratory to see the sample preparation lab and the new MICADAS accelerator mass spectrometer. We will discuss how to select samples for radiocarbon dating based on the type of material and the setting. There will be an opportunity to examine any samples you bring along and get advice on dating.

Warm Intervals in the Southern Hemisphere (WiSH)

The ongoing Warm Intervals in the Southern Hemisphere (WiSH) initiative will run a workshop around the analysis of paleoclimate archives from quaternary warm intervals.

Session themes

Warm Intervals in the Southern Hemisphere (WiSH)

This multidisciplinary session brings together research focused on understanding the nature, properties, and spatiotemporal patterns of Warm Intervals in the Southern Hemisphere (WiSH) during the Quaternary. Understanding the controls on and characteristics of warm phases is important in the light of present global warming as it’s likely that many critical thresholds of Earth system behaviour are linked to warming rather than cooling. Warm intervals during the Quaternary vary in length, spatial scale, and magnitude, and ranged from warm marine isotope stages through to shorter-lived phases associated with ocean-atmosphere variability.

This session will showcase multiproxy and modelling studies from MIS 5 to 1 which provide insight into the timing, spatiotemporal extent, termination and forcing response relationships during warm periods in the Southern Hemisphere. Contributions of multiproxy studies (biological, sedimentary, chemical, isotopic) from terrestrial or marine archives that characterise the anatomy of warm periods (their onset, duration, magnitude, termination) are welcome.

The WiSH session will be convened by Lydia Mackenzie, James Schulmeister and Jasper Knight.

Field trips

Pre-conference field trip: Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve

Saturday 4th July 2026
Cost: $100 p/p for transport (pay here if you previously registered), and $33 in person at the caves for entry.
Leader: Prof Andy Baker (a.baker@unsw.edu.au)

Wombeyan Caves are situated in Upper Silurian (410Ma) marble. The original limestone has been folded and metamorphosed, buried by volcanics and re-exposed, probably several times. Today the marble forms a small-scale trough or basin, surrounded by volcanics. The caves are protected as part of Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve. Wildlife is abundant and the area has rich evidence of its use by indigenous peoples.

  • Cars leave Central Sydney (TBC) 7 am and arrive at Wombeyan around 10:30 am. There will be time for both morning and afternoon cave tours. Coach departs Wombeyan around 3 pm to return to UNSW by 7 pm.
  • Attendees must be physically fit as this trip includes a strenuous, several-km bush walk with steep and challenging terrain (including steps, ladders).
  • Bring a water bottle, lunch and snacks for the day. Water is available on-site. Appropriate clothing for bushwalking (hiking boots, backpack for water bottles and snacks). If you have a head torch, it could enhance your cave experience.

Pre-conference tour: walking tour of the Rocks

Sunday 5th July 2026
Indicative cost: free ($0 p/p)
Leader: Prof Andy Baker (a.baker@unsw.edu.au)

This walking tour introduces you to Sydney’s Hawkesbury Sandstone, both as a ‘big river’ sedimentary deposit, as well its properties that has led to its use as a building stone.

  • Meet at 1pm outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, next to the Circular Quay Light Rail Station.
  • The tour will last for ~2 hours, timed to catch the Light Rail back to the icebreaker.

Mid-conference field trip: Centennial Park’s Protected Ecological Communities

Tuesday 7th July 2026
Indicative cost: free ($0 p/p), but public transport cost (~$10-$15) and food/drinks (incl. pub lunch) throughout the day must be self-funded.
Leaders: Dr Rebecca Hamilton (rebecca.hamilton@sydney.edu.au) and Prof Dan Penny (dan.penny@sydney.edu.au).

Centennial Park is located ~3km north of UNSW and is the largest urban green space in Sydney. The half-day field trip will include a tour around some of the protected ecological and historical sites in Centennial Park. Geographers Rebecca Hamilton and Dan Penny from the University of Sydney will discuss the historical ecology of the landscape and reflect on the importance of Quaternary Science for urban conservation.

  • Meet at the Centennial Park Paddington Gates at 9:30am. We will visit protected ecological communities in the Park and explore their socio-ecological development in the context of southern Sydney’s unique hydrogeological setting. We will walk to The Nelson for a pub lunch at ~12:30 pm for those not attending workshops.
  • Attendees need a moderate degree of fitness (we may walk around ~3km). The fieldtrip can be made fully wheelchair accessible. Please contact the organiser (rebecca.hamilton@sydney.edu.au) to confirm requirements.
  • Bring a water bottle, wet weather gear (we will go in light rain), hat & sun protection, snacks as needed. If you are coming after a morning swim, take a bank card with you for the trip from the beach to Centennial Park.

Post-conference field trip: Thirlmere Lakes-Woronora Plateau-Wollongong

Saturday 11th July 2026
Cost: $30 p/p for transport (pay here if you previously registered).
Leader: Prof Tim Cohen (tcohen@uow.edu.au)
20 people maximum.

The Thirlmere Lakes National Park is part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and is an unusual setting with five small lakes that episodically fill and whose sedimentary infill extends over multiple glacial cycles. The trip will showcase 8 years of research across the five lakes and will include long term Quaternary processes, through to the aquatic ecosystem characteristics of these sites including recent work focusing on fire history in the Sydney basin. The return trip to Wollongong will be via the picturesque Woronora Plateau visiting upland swamps before finishing at Quaternary coastal sites in the Illawarra. Some bush short walks will be included on the trip.

  • The bus will leave Sydney Central Station 8 am and arrive at Thirlmere Lakes National Park (TLNP) by 9:30am. There will be morning tea and 1 – 2 hrs to investigate sites and do a short walk. The bus will depart TLNP and drive to Wollongong via the upland swamps of the Woronora Plateau. Participants will be dropped at Wollongong train station at 5 – 6 pm for the bullet train back to Sydney (if required) or will be dropped at local accommodation.
  • You must bring your own food for the day.

AQUA 2026 events interest registration

Registration for events at AQUA 2026 has now closed. For any issues related to events or registration thereof, please contact the conference organisers at AQUA2026@unsw.edu.au.