NZABA 2011 Conference Summary & AGM Minutes
Minutes of the AGM NZABA 2011
The AGM was held on Sunday August 28th 2011 at the 8th Annual conference of the New Zealand Association for Behaviour Analysis.
Dr Maree Hunt was elected as the next chair of NZABA.
Dr Oliver Mudford was elected in his absence as the treasurer of NZABA.
Victoria University of Wellington was confirmed as the conference venue for 2012.
Other Note-worthy Happenings at the NZABA Conference
An award was made to Professor Michael Davison to acknowledge his considerable and sustained contribution to the development of behaviour analysis in New Zealand.
The conference was very well attended with over 70 in attendance on the first day of the conference, and nearly still that many at 5:00 pm on the Sunday when the conference ended. There were 35 presentations and 13 poster presentations. The standard was excellent, and was remarked upon by the two judges of the best student presentations.
John Bai (The University of Auckland) received the award for the best student presentation in the experimental analysis of behaviour award for his presentation, “Context Matters: Resistance to Change in a Combined Stimulus Context”.
Victoria Burney (the University of Auckland) received the award for the best student presentation in the applied analysis of behaviour award for her presentation, “Using Brief Functional Analysis to Determine the Functions of Emerging Speech in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder”.
Rebecca Sargisson was awarded the spear.
———————————————-
Michael Davison Says Thanks
Dear NZABA members
Thank you for giving me a lifetime contributions award at the recent NZABA Conference in Hamilton—a superb glass bowl on a lovely piece of Kauri. I won’t say I am humbled (that’s never been a problem of mine), but it really did give me a warm glow. Thank you, too, for the things you said about my contributions. But really, I don’t need a reinforcer because I enjoyed most all of the journey—and anyway, it would be silly to reinforce the terminal behaviour unless you expect me to do it all again in another life. That would be plagiarism, so I’ll take it as a sign to give up and go do something else.
Thank you, also, to all my excellent collaborators and students over the last – er – 42 years. Without you, I could have got nowhere. I hope the experience did you some good, too!
Thank you also for not making the presentation into a Roast. I’m so glad that I didn’t get a retelling (and surely an amplification) of some of the things that might have happened at prior conferences. I’m sure they didn’t. And if something like them did, they would surely not be good signposts for the young and unsullied amongst you. To you with a future and no past, I say: Remember the future perfect tense!
As I said at the conference, my journey through my academic career has been parallel to the development of NZABA to its current and excellent status. A few of us started in the late 1960s attending the NZPsS conferences and having symposia; a few years later, we attempted (initially unsuccessfully) to form a Division for Behaviour Analysis within the NZPsS –and when we achieved this, it was against some fearsome opposition from members of the NZPsS Council. But, then, we began to outgrow the time that could be allocated within the annual conference, and we were forced to go our own way. Probably, this was the best thing we did, because it allowed us to become masters and mistresses of our own fate. Some of the things we did as an independent organization were excellent: We had cheap conferences in which the waged essentially paid for the student unwaged, which fostered the attendance of, and presentations by, graduate students; and we also managed to support (to some extent) students travelling to the conference from the other island. Both of these have contributed hugely to making NZABA the success that it is now—as clearly evidenced by the recent conference. I do hope you’ll be able to maintain them.
I’ll miss all of you, occasionally, as I start Phase 3 (back to baseline? Or a new experimental condition?). I’ve had a great time, and just remember: It’s all a game!
Michael
———————————————-
ABAI Annual Convention – Seattle 2012
NZABA Poster:
Rebecca Sharp and Denys Brand from the University of Auckland will be presenting the NZABA Poster at the ABAI Expo on Saturday evening at the 2012 ABAI Annual Convention in Seattle (8-10:30pm on the 26th May). They would appreciate it if NZABA members came along to support them and to hang out around their presentation area to add a bit of a social dimension to the presentation.
Submissions:
The deadline for submissions to the 2012 Annual Convention in Seattle is this Wednesday, October 12, 2011, at 11:59 pm (EDT). With the exception of posters, submissions will be rejected after this deadline. To avoid high web traffic, submit here now: http://www.abainternational.org/Events/conv2012/CFP/CFPIndex.asp
You may submit a maximum of one oral presentation and one other submission as a chair or discussant.
Alternatively, you may submit two presentations as a chair or discussant.
In addition, you may submit up to two posters, making four the maximum number of submissions per person. Only posters submitted by next Wednesday, October 12, will be included in the program, receive priority scheduling, and be eligible for student presenter grants. Poster presenters who need more time to collect data will be able to submit in January.
Register now to benefit from early registration discounts.
Please email mail@abainternational.org or call 269-492-9310 if you have any questions about submissions.
———————————————-
ABAI International conference in Spain
Dear colleagues,
The Association for Behavior Analysis International is excited to announce the upcoming 6th International Conference in Granada, Spain, November 24–26, 2011. The event will feature invited presenters and a poster session, encourage the dissemination of behavior analysis in Spain, and facilitate collaboration among and networking opportunities for behavior analysts internationally.
Granada is a dynamic and vibrant town located in Andalusia at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near the Mediterranean shore—a mixture of ancient culture and youthful student life.
We invite you to join your colleagues from more than 30 countries for this exciting event.
The pre-registration conference rates listed below will be available only through October 21.
Student: $125/€95
Resident of Spain: $348/€260
ABAI Member: $413/€315
ABAI Nonmember: $565/€435
Take advantage of the discounted prices by registering now. To join ABAI or renew for 2012 click here and receive member pricing for the conference.
We hope to see you in Granada!
