AARES Conference 2026: Adelaide, awards, and a song or two

Yet another large cohort of staff from the Centre for Agricultural Economics & Development (CAED) and the Centre for Environmental Economics & Policy (CEEP) travelled to Adelaide to participate in the 70th Annual Conference of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (11-13th Feb 2026).

This year the event began with a Pre-Conference Early Career Day that featured contributions from A/Prof Michael Burton on getting published, Professor David Pannell on communicating economics, and Dr Claire Doll on getting grants. Students from our Centres also benefitted from mentorship sessions and presentations.

Our researchers were recognised with the AARES Quality of Research Discovery Awards.

Dr Sarah Whitnall received the award for the Early to Mid-Career Researcher category, for her paper (co-authored with Tim Beatty at UC Davis) on postharvest losses, published last year in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Professor David Pannell, A/Prof Michael Burton, A/Prof Abbie Rogers, and Cheryl Day (together with co-authors Prof Robert Johnston and A/Prof Sayed Iftekhar) received the award for the Senior Researcher category, for their paper titled ‘The value of a value: The benefits of improved decision making informed by non-market valuation,’ published last year in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

One of the top highlights of the conference came courtesy of Professor David Pannell, who composed and performed three songs celebrating retiring AARES members. One song featured A/Prof Ben White, A/Prof Steve Schilizzi, A/Prof Michael Burton, and Prof Dave Pannell himself, as key AARES members who have recently, or will be soon, retiring from UWA. It was a fun and affectionate farewell gesture. If you would like to see the performance, it has been captured here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAR-T246YDo

Overall, AARES 2026 delivered interesting research and the chance to network with collaborators and friends.

---