Location & Dates
The 2026 AEMA Conference will be hosted at the University of Newcastle, located in the city of Newcastle, NSW. All sessions will be held in the Q Building in the Newcastle City Campus, and this can be located on the Newcastle Campus map. All sessions will also be hosted live through zoom for online registered attendees.
Sessions will take place on Wednesday 30 September, Thursday 1, and Friday 2 October 2026. The conference timezone is AEST, and all sessions will be scheduled within a 0900-1800 AEST window. The conference schedule will be released after the CFO closes.
Conference Catering & Conference Dinner
There will be catering provided for in-person attendees as well as the informal reception on Friday night – all included in the registration.
The conference dinner will be held at venue TBA. The conference dinner is not included in the registration fee, and will be at attendees’ own expense, however, prices are very reasonable!
Please advise the conference team by 28 September if you plan on joining the group at dinner.
Accommodation
Newcastle has a range of accommodation to suit most budgets, and it is recommended that interstate and international attendees arrange for accommodation close to the cite university campus (not the Callaghan campus) to save on transport costs. Numerous hotels, motels, hostels, and other options are located within a 10-15 min walk of the city campus.
Transport
For interstate and international attendees, there are four ways to arrive in Newcastle: by air, by rail, by coach, or car.
Newcastle Airport is serviced with direct flights from most Australian capital cities (except for Sydney). Be aware that the airport is not centrally located, being about 30-40 minutes from the CBD, depending on traffic. You can take the 130 Bus from the airport to Newcastle Interchange, but the bus operates on a 30 minute rotation, give or take. Taxi is suggested as Uber can be unpredictable from the airport. There is a convenient taxi rank available.
Suburban/intercity trains operate continuously between Sydney and Newcastle and an intercity train can be taken from Brisbane to Newcastle (around a 12-hour journey). Please note that the train will take you as far as Newcastle Interchange station. From here it is about a 10–15 minute walk or a short journey by light rail to Honeysuckle or Civic Station. All Newcastle public transport options accept Opal cards or paywave enabled bank cards.
If you plan on driving to Newcastle, there is ‘some’ free, though time-limited, parking in and around campus. If you have further questions about on campus parking options, information is available here.