6-9 February 2023
Murdoch University, Perth Western Australia
Save the Date for 30 June to 3 July 2025
- Monday 30th June 2025: Pre-conference workshops
- Tuesday 1st July 2025: Conference Day 1 of 2
- Wednesday 2nd July 2025: Conference Day 2 of 2
- Thursday 3rd July 2025: Post-conference Day
Call for Abstracts Coming Soon!
Conference theme
Innovation:
This theme focuses on preparing for tomorrow’s challenges and pioneering excellence in veterinary education.
Vet Ed Down Under 2023
Australasian Veterinary Educators Symposium
Welcome to the Vet Ed Down Under Symposium
The Murdoch University School of Veterinary Medicine warmly invites veterinary educators and everyone with a stake in veterinary education – academics, clinicians, practitioners, nurses, technologists, researchers, students – to join us for the third Australasian Veterinary Educators Symposium or ‘VetEd Down Under’.
VetEd Down Under aims to promote veterinary education in the region through sharing of innovations, ideas and best practise in teaching and learning, within an open and welcoming atmosphere. Pre- and post-conference workshops allow further collective exploration of important issues in veterinary education.
SNAPSHOT
6 Feb Pre-conference Workshops
7-8 Feb Welcome to Country and VetEd Down Under Symposium
(networking dinner 7 Feb)
9 Feb Post-conference Workshop (Wadjemup/Rottnest Island)
(re)connecting:
After a bruising few years, this theme celebrates (re)connecting with:- colleagues, community and culture
- new and old ways of learning and teaching
- sustainable and diverse futures
- what’s really important in veterinary education
PRE- & POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
Monday 6 Feb
Morning workshop
9.30am-12.30pm
(lunch 12.30-1.30pm)
Sustainability in veterinary education
Recent accreditation changes emphasise sustainability, responsible use of resources, and environmental impact – as the planet increasingly warms and environmental threats loom. How should veterinary education respond and adapt to these challenges? This roundtable workshop will explore consensus around this important question for all aspects of sustainability, including environmental, climate, resource, animal, and human/social sustainability.
Monday 6 Feb
Afternoon workshop
1.30-4.30pm
(lunch 12.30-1.30pm)
Next steps in CBVE
Recent years have seen the realisation of major contemporary competency frameworks, and the embrace of outcomes-based approaches in veterinary education. Yet further challenges remain in embedding these into redesigned curricula, learner-centred approaches, and aligned programmatic assessment. Two leaders of the AAVMC’s Competency-Based Veterinary Education (CBVE) working group, Jennie Hodgson and Emma Read will navigate us through the challenges, lessons and emerging solutions from the implementation of CBVE, D1Cs and EPAs worldwide.
Thursday 9 Feb
Full day progressive workshop
approx. 8am-5pm (tba)
Wadjemup/Rottnest Island
Strengthening reconciliation and inclusion within veterinary education – begins with truth telling
Please join us as we travel by ferry to Wadjemup (Rottnest Island), guided by a respected Nyungar Elder advocating for change. Wadjemup is a place of extreme cultural significance to Aboriginal people and non-Indigenous people throughout Western Australia. Our truth in reconciliation memorial experience provides an opportunity for reflection and actions for change when considering greater inclusion of First Nations peoples in veterinary education.
Keynote speakers
Professor Emerita Rosanne Taylor
BVSc, DipVetClinStud, PhD, GradCertEdStud (Higher Ed)
Sydney School of Veterinary Science
Co-Chair, Veterinary Schools Accreditation Advisory Committee (VSAAC)
“A new era in accreditation”
Rosanne has worked as a veterinarian in government, large and small animal practice, research and as an international education consultant. Rosanne Taylor is a retired veterinary educator and former Dean at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, with research interests in companion animal health and student learning. She is the co-chair of the Veterinary Schools Accreditation Advisory Committee of AVBC.
Professor Jennie Hodgson
BVSc(hons), DipVetPath, Diplomate ACVM, GradCertEdStud, PhD
Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine
Co-Chair, Veterinary Schools Accreditation Advisory Committee (VSAAC)
“Veterinary Medical Education in the Future: Challenges and Opportunities”
Jennie is a Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (VMCVM). She received her veterinary degree from University of Sydney, and a PhD in microbiology at Washington State University. Jennie has taught veterinary microbiology in both Australia and the US, and has received numerous teaching awards including an AUT Carrick Award, AVA National Award for Excellence in Teaching, AAVMC/Zoetis National Distinguished Veterinary Teacher (US), AAVMC Presidential Award for Meritorious Service to Veterinary Education and the National SAVMA Award for Supporter of Student Wellbeing. Leadership positions have included Associate Dean for Professional Programs at VMCVM, chair of AAVMC’s Academic Affairs Committee and co-chair of the Competency Based Veterinary Education Working Group. She currently co-chairs the Veterinary Schools Accreditation and Advisory Committee (VSAAC) and the Council on Outcomes-Based Veterinary Education (COVE).
Professor Emma Read
DVM, MVSc, DACVS
Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Associate Dean for Professional Programs
“Educating for diversity and spectrum of care”
Emma is a 1998 graduate of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Canada who completed a large animal surgery residency at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens, GA. She taught large animal surgery at the Ontario Veterinary College, before relocating to Alberta to join private equine surgical referral practice and the University of Calgary’s newly established Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Emma stayed at the University of Calgary until 2018, achieving the rank of Professor of Teaching, and serving as Chair of Clinical Skills Program, leading a multi-year, multi-instructor, multi- disciplinary program that comprised ~20% of the overall curriculum. In 2015, she was appointed to serve as Associate Dean Academic. Mid-2018, Emma moved to Columbus, OH and joined The Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine as Associate Dean for Professional Programs. She currently oversees the DVM program and is leading a major curricular redesign that has begun implementation. Dr. Read is currently serving as AAEP’s 2022 President, is a member of AAVMC’s COVE (Council for Outcomes-based Veterinary Education), and is co-leading the CBVE 2.0 effort. Dr. Read is a past chair of the Council for International Veterinary Medical Education and currently serves on the leadership steering committee for the AAVMC’s Spectrum of Care National Initiative.
Associate Professor Cristy Secombe
BSc BVMS MANZCVS MVSc(hons) Dip ACVIM
Head of Veterinary and Public Affairs, Australian Veterinary Association
“Sustainability in the veterinary profession”
Cristy joined the AVA in 2021 as the Head of Veterinary and Public Affairs after having spent the majority of her career to date in clinical university practice. Her clinical background is in equine internal medicine and she spent many years practicing this craft and teaching the next generation of veterinarians. More recently she moved into executive leadership roles including as Clinical Director of a large teaching hospital. Cristy has contributed to the AVA through the equine special interest group for many years, including as president and is excited to have formally joined the AVA team in her new role.
WELCOME TO COUNTRY
We acknowledge that our University communities, and their learning and teaching practices are situated on the lands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples within Australia and First Peoples globally. We pay our respects to enduring and dynamic cultures and the leadership of elders past and present wherever our learning and teaching activities take place.
We thank these respected Noongar elders for welcoming us and sharing knowledge on their Boodja (country):
Welcome to Country to be conducted by Noongar (Nyungar) Elder, Marie Taylor
Noongar (Nyungar) Elder, Auntie Marie Taylor is happy to perform a Welcome to her home, Wadjuk Country. Noongar boodjar was never ceded and a Welcome to Country respectfully recognizes the Traditional Custodians and the ceremonial responsibilities for land, Noongar people and all visitors far and near.
Wadjemup Truth Memorial to be guided by Noongar (Nyungar) Elder, Neville Collard
Noongar (Nyungar) Elder, Uncle Neville Collard will travel with us over saltwater to stand upon the sand at the water’s edge of Wadjemup (Rottnest Island) where a memorial service will be conducted to pay respect to the loss of Aboriginal Kings, Warriors and Leaders who remain en mass in unidentified, unmarked graves from lands throughout Western Australia.
Interactive Workshop
Speed Talks
Showcase Presentations
90 min
5 min (3 min + Q&A)
15 min (10-12 min + Q&A)
Workshops are interactive, participatory sessions in which the presenters facilitate active engagement and interaction. Successful workshops focus on activities, with emphasis on actively doing, experiencing, questioning, discussing, debating, or experimenting. Workshops provide a fantastic opportunity for delegates to experience new pedagogical concepts or practices, rather than just hear about them, and to take away skills or insights they might apply in their own teaching practice.
In the interests of sustainability, in this conference we will be hosting Speed Talks as an alternative to printed posters. Speed Talk presentations facilitate easy sharing of innovations or ideas, pilot results or works in progress. A Speed Talk is like a ‘living poster’, speaking for 3 minutes to a backdrop of a single easy-to-read slide (+ 2 mins Q&A). A successful Speed Talk presentation will provide a clear, uncluttered and visually engaging graphic (think like an infographic or graphical abstract) with key takeaways, combined with a tightly-timed and engaging presentation.
Showcase presentations focus on sharing learning and teaching practice in a more structured or scholarly fashion. While presentations are typically presenter-focussed, the inclusion of interactive participatory elements models good teaching practice and will be appreciated by the audience. Successful showcase presentations will address a clear aim or research question, will conclude with 3-6 key takeaways which participants might consider within their own practice, and allow ample time for discussion stimulated by the presentation.
(limited places)
Community of Practice meetings
Inaugural VetEd Fringe
90 mins
~5 mins
Existing or proposed VetEd Communities of Practice (e.g. discipline-based or special-interest groups) are welcome to propose meetings timetabled within workshop timeslots. Please submit details of the group, who should attend, and the proposed format of the meeting to [email protected].
To coincide with Perth’s amazing FringeWorld festival, and in the style of the famous AMEE Fringe, we welcome pitches (by email to [email protected]) for short creative presentations celebrating the fun, weird, wacky and wonderful side of veterinary education. Music, dance, stories, comedy, pictures, film, anything goes!
Abstracts should be prepared following the guidelines and templates available above, and emailed to [email protected] before the EXTENDED deadline of Mon 7 November 2022.
Abstract submissions NOW OPEN
Registration portal open NOW OPEN
Abstract submissions EXTENDED to Mon 7 November 2022
Acceptance notifications 25 November 2022
Early bird registration CLOSE 2 December 2022
All registrations CLOSE 20 January 2023
Early-bird Costs
Pre-conference workshop x 1 (morning or afternoon) + lunch $50
Pre-conference workshop x 2 (morning and afternoon) + lunch $75
Preconference sundowner and BBQ – 6 Feb complimentary
VetEd Down Under Symposium – 2 day registration $250
VetEd Down Under Symposium – single day or student registration $125
Networking dinner – 7 Feb Mr Walker, South Perth $120
Post-conference workshop – Wadjemup/Rottnest Island (incl. ferry and bike hire) $125
On-campus accommodation (limited availability, 50 beds, 5-9 or 5-10 Feb) 4 nights $260, 5 nights $325 ($65/night)
ACCOMMODATION
Delegates should be aware that accommodation in the vicinity of Murdoch University is limited. A limited number of beds (50) have been reserved 5-9 Feb in the on-campus student village (5 individual bedrooms per shared apartment, $65/pp/night). There are some Airbnb and lodge accommodations around the university area that may suit groups.
Murdoch University is easily accessible by train from Perth Underground or Elizabeth Quay station, then a short bus ride or 10 min walk from Murdoch Station. With Perth’s famous FringeWorld festival in full swing during VetEd, central Perth or Northbridge should be a lively and enjoyable place to stay (book early).
Recommended hotels in central Perth and Northbridge include:
The Alex Hotel
50 James St, Northbridge
Special rate of 10% off (daily breakfast is included!)
To access this rate delegates should to use the code word ‘FRIEND’ when making booking online.
To access this rate delegates should to use the code word ‘FRIEND’ when making booking online.
QT Perth
133 Murray St, Perth
Doubletree by Hilton
Elizabeth Quay
Alternatively, Murdoch University is readily accessible from the historic and quirkily hip port city of Fremantle, via high-frequency bus routes 998/999 (around 20 mins journey).
Recommended hotels in Fremantle include:
The Hougoumont
15 Bannister Street
Fremantle
Use the promo code VETED23 for a special rate
Quest Fremantle
8 Pakenham Street (corner Short Street)
EXTENDING YOUR STAY?
Conference location
Murdoch University, School of Veterinary Medicine, Perth Western Australia
Get in touch
Location
Murdoch University, School of Veterinary Medicine
90 South St
Murdoch WA 6150
(enter via Discover Way)
Contact Us
For further information or to join the mailing list for updates, please contact [email protected]
The organisers of Vet Ed Down Under 2023 acknowledge the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which the conference will be held. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.