On behalf of the entire local organising committee, I would like to cordially welcome participants to the 2017 Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG) conference in Brisbane. This year’s conference is being hosted by The University of Queensland on the St Lucia campus. We would also like to recognise those from University of the Sunshine Coast, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and Central Queensland University for their input.

This year’s conference theme is ‘Geography Counts’, stressing the role of geography in informing policy from a holistic, global perspective. We also would like to stress the breadth of the discipline, and welcome participation across all sub-disciplines, and from those using a diversity of methodologies. The committee also welcomes your input on anything we can do to make the conference better, and to encourage alternative disciplinary perspectives wherever we can. The diversity of keynote speakers reflects this, and we hope that both geographers and non-geographers from Australasia and beyond attend and contribute. We look forward to seeing you in July in Brisbane!

Dr Thomas Sigler, Lecturer in Human Geography, The University of Queensland
IAG 2017 Conference Chair