First Joint NIR Conference for Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

A n important NIR milestone took place in April 2012. For the first time, the Australian Near Infrared Spectroscopy Group (ANISG) and the New Zealand Near Infrared Spectroscopy Society (NZNIRSS) joined forces to conduct a conference at Rydges Lakeland Resort Hotel in the spectacular setting of Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. This conference was the 15 ANISG event since 1988. Following the 2010 conference in Adelaide, a memorandum of understanding was signed by ANISG and NZNIRSS that will see closer collaboration between the two societies in promoting the development and application of NIR spectroscopy in both countries. This, of course, will include holding joint conferences on a regular basis in the future. As is the custom in this conference series, two one-day short courses were offered, held on 15 and 16 April. The first was led by Mr Andre Kok (Bruker Optics, Germany) entitled “NIR: the basics and beyond”. Andre used some memorable visual aids to explain some of the important principles of NIR spectroscopy. The second course was presented by Dr Kim Esbensen, Aalborg University, Denmark, and entitled “Representative sampling in practice—a critical success factor for NIR analysis”. Kim condensed what is usually a three-day course into just one day, but it was enlightening and anyone taking “grab samples” should feel guilty from now on. All the participants gained enormously from the knowledge and experience of the presenters. The conference itself took place on 17 and 18 April and had as its theme “NIR in action under the Southern Cross”. There were 67 delegates, including two from the Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Braunschweig, Germany, and one from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia. The five keynote speakers were Dr Kim Esbensen, Aalborg University, Denmark; Dr Per Hansen, Chemometrics Development Team, Foss Analytical, Denmark; A/Professor Rainer Kunnermeyer, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ; Dr Christian Paul, c/o Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Braunschweig, Germany; and Dr Dave Burns, McGill University, Canada (who is also the 2012 winner of the Tomas Hirschfeld Award). During the conference, 22 oral and 7 poster papers were presented. The topics discussed included current trends in instrumentation, chemometrics and sampling, and applications in the fields of medicine, food quality, authentication of foods (including oysters), agriculture, horticulture, minerals, wool technology, wood science, wine science and animal nutrition. Seven companies were in attendance as conference sponsors: Bruker Optics, Foss, Global Science (Buchi), IM Publications, Perten, TACS Australia (Dickey-John) and Thermo Fisher Scientific. We appreciated their support and interaction during the conference, including the traditional Company Corner and the Happy Hour which followed. The committee was pleased to welcome several students who are using NIR in their higher degree projects as well as a number of new faces from several industries. As always there were many opportunities for interaction between new and experienced NIR practitioners. The conference was fortunate to gain the support of sponsors to bring one of the keynote speakers and three students to the conference. All students presented papers. Umesh Acharya, working with Professor Kerry Walsh at the Central Queensland doi: 10.1255/nirn.1328