The major conference social activities were the welcome reception on the evening preceding the formal conference launch, a luncheon for members of the Technical Program Committee, session chairs and the AESS Radar Systems Panel, and the Conference Dinner. 

At the welcome reception a number of invited guests joined with delegates to enjoy drinks and nibbles for several hours. Among the guests were representatives of major sponsors and stakeholders. A particular welcome was extended to a visiting UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) delegation headed by Sir Keith O'Nions, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK MoD, which was visiting Adelaide on other business. 

The combined luncheon for members of the Technical Program Committee, session chairs and the AESS Radar Systems Panel was a pleasant occasion for all attending. It offered an opportunity for the Technical Program Chair to thank those colleagues who had made significant contributions to the technical program by reviewing papers and chairing sessions. In the absence of the AESS Radar Systems Panel Chair, Mike Wicks expressed the Panel's appreciation of the conference organisation and subsequently chaired an informal meeting of the panel over lunch. 

The conference dinner was held in the Hilton Ballroom and featured some outstanding examples of South Australia's food and wine, for which the State is justly famous. Guests were entertained by a string quartet and enjoyed speeches from Bob Hill, who described the background and history of the conference series, and Hermann Rohling who, in his inimitable style, gave guests his personal insights into the growth of an exciting sense of community and shared research endeavour within the European Union. 

Presentations were made of those student paper awards that had been decided by the time of the dinner - the final award for best student presentation clearly had to await the completion of all paper presentations. An optional post-conference tour was made available to delegates to experience one of Australia's premier wine-growing districts, the Barossa Valley, just an hour north of Adelaide, and a pre-conference technical tour was offered to a University of Adelaide atmospheric sensing site near Adelaide.

Secretariat

Plevin and Associates Pty Ltd PO Box 54 BURNSIDE 5066 South Australia
Tel +61 8 8379 8222 Fax +61 8 8379 8177 events@plevin.com.au

Last updated 01/01/2004