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As I write this communication, we are getting close to the national conference in Perth. I am excited to say the program is looking fantastic, and, if you are still deciding whether to attend, I hope after reading this you will be convinced. The Local Organising and Scientific Program Committees have put together a great selection of plenary speakers, including international invitees Assoc. Prof. Yunn-Hwen Gan (National University of Singapore), Prof. Ross Fitzgerald (University of Edinburgh), Prof. Neil Gow (University of Exeter), Dr Jennifer Pett-Ridge (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) and Prof. Shiranee Sriskandan (Imperial College London), as well as our own national speakers Prof. Dominic Dwyer (Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research), and Prof. Dena Lyras and Prof. Julian Rood (Monash University). What a fantastic line-up! Then, we can add to that our public lecture (to be given by Nobel Laureate Prof. Barry Marshall), symposium sessions, award lectures, Nancy Millis student award talks, Nancy Millis mentoring program, networking sessions, interactive poster sessions, Special Interest Group workshops and Trade display. And, if that wasn’t enough, we will also be running our CliniCon and EduCon meetings. I do hope you can make it, but if not, please consider registering for our virtual package.

I am also thrilled to say that we will soon be launching our new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Standing Committee, which has been approved by ASM Council. We have identified a National Chair – Dr Yogitha Srikhanta, a postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Microbiology at Monash University. Congratulations, Yogi! We are still looking for representatives to serve on the committee, so if you are interested please submit a short bio of yourself together with a statement outlining why you are interested in being on the committee to admin@theasm.com.au and we’ll be in touch.

I would like to highlight our Special Interest Groups (SIGs). The main purpose of SIGs is to advance the science of their special interest in Microbiology. SIGs are included in the planning for the annual scientific meeting and encouraged to suggest and organise symposia and workshops for this meeting or other focussed meetings held by state branches. All of our SIGs organise their own events and functions. We are always looking for new SIGs, and I note with great enthusiasm that we recently launched a SIG for Gut Microbes, co-convened by Dena Lyras, Jaclyn Pearson, Megan Lenardon and Sam Forster. If you need to update your SIG preferences, please log into your membership account and select the SIGs you are interested in.

Finally, I hope to see you in Perth at the national conference. Otherwise please join virtually!!