Welcome to SMAANZ 2018
On behalf of the University of South Australia (UniSA) and the SMAANZ 2018 organising committee I’d like to welcome everybody to the website for the conference and share some details of the planning that has been taking place so far.
For those of you who have been to Adelaide in the past 5 years, you’ll know what a great city it is, how much there is to do and see here, and how easy it is to get around and fall into the relaxed pace of life we enjoy in our wonderful city. For those of you who have not been to Adelaide previously, Adelaide is consistently ranked in the top 5 cities in the world to live in by The Economist, and in 2017 Lonely Planet ranked South Australia (the State where Adelaide is located) in the top 5 regions in the world to visit. A pretty good combination of acknowledgements!
In 2017 UniSA was ranked number 32 in the top Universities throughout the world under 50 years old by Times Higher Education, with the UniSA Business School (where our sport management degree sits) being ranked in the top 1 per cent worldwide by the QS Business School rankings.
Hosting SMAANZ in 2018 is a privilege and an honour for us, especially as it will be the first time the conference has come to South Australia. The academic proceedings of the conference will be held on campus at UniSA which is located in the heart of Adelaide and in close proximity to an abundance of accommodation options, restaurants, and bars. Our opening function will be held at the soon to be opened Pridham Hall, which is the new purpose built home of sport and functions at the UniSA City West Campus. The conference dinner will be held at the iconic Adelaide Oval which is only a 10 minute walk from the University.
On Wednesday the 21st November we will be organising a golf day at the North Adelaide Golf Club (10 minutes from City West Campus) and a wine tasting tour to one of South Australia’s famous wine regions. We can also help delegates arrange a number of other social/entertainment options they may be interested in such as sight-seeing, tickets to sport fixtures, surf trips/lessons, brewery tours, and many other possibilities.
UniSA is only a 15 minute taxi ride from Adelaide International Airport and the entire city is easy to get around via free tram within the central business district and an efficient bus service, and obviously all other transport options such as taxis, Uber, Lyft, and bike rental.
We are really excited to continue the planning for what we hope will be a memorable SMAANZ conference and we do hope to see you all in Adelaide in November.
A reminder the call for papers is now open and can be viewed here. The call for papers will remain open until June 30, 2018.
All the best for now,
Ian O’Boyle (Conference Chair)
