From Sheffield to Sydney: Representing NTDC at the 2024 TechNet Conference

"I was fortunate enough to represent the National Technician Development Centre at Western Sydney University (WSU) for the 2024 TechNet Conference in early December.

With a journey from Sheffield to London, from London Heathrow to Sydney, it was a slightly longer journey than I’m used to for attending conferences!

Arriving at the lovely Western Sydney University campus, the first thing I noticed, other than the warm December sun, was the spectacular array of birds on display. It felt a long way from the freezing Sheffield I had left a couple of days before!

It was a pleasure to meet Dr Shane Griffin, Director of the WSU Office of Teaching and Research Technical Services, in person. We’ve been on video calls (at all hours of the day) for a few years now, so it was great to finally meet in person. Shane quickly introduced me to Kellie and Jennie, who had helped me arrange the trip and who had played such instrumental roles in making the conference happen. Everyone from Western Sydney and beyond was so incredibly hospitable and friendly that it made for a really positive and collaborative conference atmosphere. 

With representatives from over 25 organisations from across Australia and New Zealand, there was a fantastic buzz about the conference. There were so many great sessions that the only downside of the programme was that it meant I couldn’t attend some of the talks that were on at the same time!

It was great to see colleagues from so many different organisations connecting and chatting about their work and experiences. Personally, it was really interesting to hear how many of the challenges technical staff face in Australia and New Zealand parallel those seen by technical staff in the UK.

After my talk on the National Technician Development Centre, and the challenges and developments for technical staff in the UK in recent years, a number of delegates stuck around after to talk more about the situation at their organisation and their desire for support in highlighting and developing their technical workforce going forward.

It was a real pleasure to hear about all the amazing work technical staff are carrying out across Australia and New Zealand, and to see all the enthusiasm for shining a bigger spotlight on this work going forward. Hopefully the momentum from 2024’s TechNet Conference can be carried forward. The NTDC is looking forward to continuing to support technical services across Australia and New Zealand in their journey in the coming years.

I heard lots of talk throughout the conference about getting the next one in the diary as soon as possible. Hopefully I can be there for the next one too!"