We are excited to announce that registrations are NOW OPEN for the 2026 Mid-Year HDR Conference, which is being held in association with the Sport Management Association of Australia & New Zealand (SMAANZ), the Australasian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies (ANZALS) and the Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE) .

This is a single day HDR Conference and will run as hybrid; both online and in-person on Friday, 26 June at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

We would be delighted if you could join us for this free event, but please note that students must be members of SMAANZ, CAUTHE, or ANZALS to attend. We encourage you to share this invitation with your relevant HDR student groups and encourage them to attend and present their research. This is an excellent opportunity for HDR students to present research to peers and the academic community.

We are currently accepting abstracts to present at the conference. Whether you are just starting your PhD journey or are further along, we invite you to submit a short abstract or encourage your PhD students to do so. Please submit your 150 word abstracts via the portal.

Further details, such as specific locations and the finalised schedule, will be sent closer to the conference.

Program:

10:00am – 11:00am · Keynote — Dr Kasey Symons

11:00am – 11:30am · AI in Research Panel

Dr. Bri Newland, Associate Dean & Dr. Thomas Aicher, Dean and Professor College of Business, University of Colorado

11:30am – 12:00pm · Submitting your PhD — Olivia Bramley

12:00pm – 1:00pm · HDR Presentations

1:00pm – 2:00pm · Lunch

2:00pm – 3:00pm · Innovations in Teaching Panel

Dr Greg Joachim, Swinburne University of Technology
Dr Jane Connory, Swinburne University of Technology
Dr Youcef Sai, La Trobe University

3:00pm – 4:00pm · Industry Engagement Panel

Anand Pillay, Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA)
Will Vickery, Australian Sports Commission
Dr Leonie Lockstone-Binney, Griffith University — Olympics Tourism & Legacy Infrastructure

Contact the host of HDR Mid-Year Conference