Poultry@Sydney

Welcome to another edition of Poultry@Sydney!

In this Edition, we will feature Dr Wendy Muir’s work on the productivity and welfare of long-life laying hens, an interview of the General Manager for Farming at Inghams, Dr Sheridan Alfirevich and the profile of PhD student, Christine Clark.

In addition, I would like to talk briefly about our flagship poultry science conference, the Australian Poultry Science Symposium, known as APSS.

The Australian Poultry Science Symposium

The Poultry Research Foundation (PRF) of the University of Sydney has always valued its interaction with the poultry industry since its inception in 1958. It held workshops, seminars and an annual symposium aiming to update the industry on the happenings around the world in poultry science as well as the Foundation’s own research outcomes. In 1989, under the leadership of PRF Director, Dr Derrick Balnave, the Foundation Symposium became the APSS as a joint conference series with the Australian Branch of the World’s Poultry Science Association.

The annual conference of APSS is always held in February in Sydney, organised by dedicated PRF staff of the University of Sydney. APSS 2024 will be the 20^th conference for Jo-Ann Geist, who has indeed become synonymous with the conference itself. Thank you Jo!

Over the years, APSS has become a “must-attend” conference for poultry researchers and industry experts across the globe because it focuses on frontier science relevant to industry and attracts top experts to deliver outstanding talks. Furthermore, since the conference attracts around 250-300 delegates, it is not too large that you lose yourself and it is not so small that you are only mixing with your familiar crowd. As such, APSS offers the balance: you will be able attend most, if not all, sessions to immerse yourself in the science over the 2.5 days of the conference as it is run without concurrent sessions, whilst you will have ample opportunity to mingle with researchers, industry colleagues and students in a relaxed atmosphere in one of the world’s best cities, Sydney.

APSS 2024 will be our 35^th Symposium. As per our 1^st Announcement, APSS 2024 will cover an exciting array of topics, including but not limited to, breeder nutrition and chick quality; genetics, productivity and welfare; and nutrition, microbiome and gut health. It will run from midday Monday the 19^th of February to Wednesday the 21^st of February 2024 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, Sydney.

I hope you will come and join us. Regards, Mingan