Workshops at APPS 2025

You will learn how two hands-on Thursday workshops at APPS 2025 dealt with naming species and seeing federal biosecurity at work. One met at the Royal Botanic Gardens to work through taxonomy of fungi, bacteria and viruses, and the other met in Mascot to walk through the federal system from inside.

The details cited in this entry were checked on workshop details and pricing.

What did the taxonomy morning actually cover?

When you study diseased leaves, rots, wilts or leaf spots, you need a name that other people will understand. The session called How to Name a Species: Navigating the Taxonomy of Fungi, Bacteria, and Viruses was set for Thursday 29th May 2025 from 8.30am to 12.30pm. That timing gave you a full morning before the main conference flow, with time to talk, ask and compare notes. If you follow the Sydney meeting retrospective you can place this session in the pre-program part of the week.

Why do names for fungi, bacteria and viruses matter to you?

You cannot report a disease, request a test or apply quarantine rules without a shared name for the pathogen. Fungi, bacteria and viruses each have their own naming habits, and that can confuse students and new diagnosticians. This workshop put the three groups side by side so you could see where the rules differ and where they align. The goal was practical clarity for your next sample, not theory for its own sake.

Where did the naming group meet?

You were asked to meet at Woolloomooloo Gate, Royal Botanic Gardens. That meeting point put taxonomy next to living plants and preserved reference material rather than in a lecture room. The contact on the day was Tracey Steinrucken on 0409 937 377. You could save that number before you left your accommodation so you could find the group if trains or buses ran late.

What did the biosecurity session promise to show?

The second Thursday session was called First Line of Defence and Beyond: the inner workings of Australia's federal biosecurity system. It was set for Thursday 29th May 2025 from 9.00am to 2.00pm at 185 O'Riordan St, Mascot. That address put you outside the conference venue and inside the working environment where federal procedures operate. For growers and early-career researchers, that shift in place helped link policy language to desks, rooms and reception steps.

Why start in a lobby next to a cafe?

You were asked to meet in the ground-floor lobby next to the Arium cafe at 8.40am. The early meeting gave staff time to check the group, walk you in and start on time. If you arrived after 8.55am, you were asked to catch the lift straight up to Level 7 and make your way to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reception desk where you would be signed in and escorted to the Waratah Room. You can check workshop details and pricing in the same listing if you want to confirm how ASN Events framed access and timing.

What should you bring for the Mascot visit?

You were asked to bring photo ID because it is a security requirement of the department. That rule makes sense once you picture a federal office with controlled entry and escorted movement. The contacts on the day were listed as Sophia on 0468602219, Megan on 0411851874 or Montana on 0468550332. You could keep one of those numbers in your phone and keep your ID in hand before you reached reception.

How did bookings work for workshops and field trips?

Tickets must be pre-purchased for all pre- and post-workshops and field trips. That rule applied across the program, not only to these two Thursday sessions. If you had not booked and you wanted to attend, you were asked to contact ASN Events to check availability. The Workshops page does not publish the fee in text and points to a separate view for details and pricing. If you also enjoy outdoor learning, the field trips give you more time with fungi in place.

Where do workshops sit in the wider APPS week?

On the ASN Events site, the Workshops entry sits alongside General Information, Delegate Handbook, Venue Information, Venue Map, Poster Sessions, Social Events, Speaker Information, Field Trips, Sponsors and Exhibitors, and Exhibition Information. That placement tells you how the Society treats workshops as part of delegate planning, like posters and social events. You can use the diagnostics resource hub to keep taxonomy and biosecurity notes linked after the meeting.

How do you use these two sessions now?

You can use the taxonomy morning to tighten how you write pathogen names in reports, labels and database entries. You can use the Mascot visit to picture who signs you in, where you wait and how a federal team escorts visitors between rooms. Keep the date, time, meeting point and contact format together in your notebook, then compare them with your own herbarium visit or surveillance task. Pull out your last disease note and rewrite the pathogen name, host and location lines in the same plain order you practiced in Sydney.