The 2024 APSS conference organised by the Poultry Research Foundation (PRF) was a roaring success. The conference broke every record with the most delegates, papers and sponsorship in their 35 year history. Congratulations to the PRF team.
Prior to the first session of APSS we had the pleasure of hosting a Mentoring Session in collaboration with PRF and the Nutrition, Gut Health and Environment Consortium. The session was aimed at providing mentees with some early connections with some seasoned mentors who could ‘babysit’ them throughout the conference, ensuring they could meet new people and have the confidence to participate in all APSS had to offer. The session started with a short introduction and a requirement for each mentor and mentee to put their name in a bowl. Each mentee was then randomly paired with a mentor by plucking names out of the bowl. With over 60 participants we had to flow over to the morning tea area for the one-on-one session. The pairs were then invited to chat together with some guidance and suggested questions from the organisers. From the audible level in the room and the laughter it was clear that the session was achieving what it set out to do. Finally, the larger group was divided into three groups; academic, nutrition and industry. These groups talked about the pathways to employment and the expectations of the employers. It also provided an opportunity for mentees to ask questions of a broad group of mentors. Feedback from the event is strongly supportive of having this kind of event at every APSS, and there have been some excellent suggestions on how to improve the session in the future.
Throughout the conference there were some amazing and thought provoking presentations. Each year PHA sponsors the award for the best student oral presentation. The award is aptly named the “Mingan Choct” award in honour of the continuing support and encouragement Professor Choct provides for the students in our industry. The student presentations were marked by several people in the audience and were focused on how the student presented together with the content and why their project mattered. It was a tight contest this year and after much deliberation the winner was Mr Caleb Wellard from Deakin University with his presentation “Circadian Rhythms And Adaptive Development: How Understanding Circadian Rhythms During Meat Chicken Incubation Could Improve Development And Timing Of The Hatch Window”. Congratulations Caleb, we look forward to hearing more about your project over the coming years.
In the above photo, Caleb Wellard is proudly holding his award.
