Non ABSANZ Events
We are delighted to invite you to the next One Health Wonders webinar: One Health and biodiversity threats with surging impacts. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, 21 April 2026 from 2:00-3:00pm AEST.
We will be discussing biodiversity and biosecurity threats and their impact on environmental, human and animal health systems.
Speakers will share and explore case studies of One Health frameworks in action – including how they’re being used to respond to existing and emerging biosecurity and biodiversity threats.
The webinar will feature the following speakers:
- Dr Joanne Walker (Wildlife Health Australia)
- Niraj Meisuria (University of Sydney)
- Tanja Strive (CSIRO)
Speakers will discuss:
- feral animals as a One Health issue
- wild animal carcasses and disease transmission
- One Health and rabbit biocontrol in Australia
This webinar will feature presentations followed by a facilitated Q&A session.
Please note: this webinar will be recorded.
Register your attendance for this webinar here: One Health Wonders webinar: One Health and biodiversity threats with surging impacts | Join meeting in Teams | Microsoft Teams
Please feel free to share with your networks as appropriate and bring along your questions for discussion.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Warm regards,
The CDC One Health Unit and CSIRO team
One Health Unit
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As climate impacts intensify, understanding physical climate risk - the direct effects of physical hazards on assets, infrastructure and operations - has become increasingly important for organisations to understand and respond to. You are invited to a live webinar exploring current approaches to assessing physical climate risk, which has become essential for meeting regulatory expectations and building long-term business resilience. This webinar continues the conversation from earlier CSIRO AI for Climate events and brings together an industry × research panel to share perspectives on current practices, emerging challenges, and future directions in physical climate risk assessment. Geared towards individuals and organisations engaged in physical climate risk assessment, particularly asset owners and asset managers, we conclude with an interactive audience Q&A. PanelistsDr Judith Landsberg – Australian Climate Service, Chief Scientist Judith works with the Australian Climate Service, contributing to national efforts to improve access to authoritative climate risk information. Her role focuses on supporting consistent, decision-relevant climate risk assessment across government, industry and communities. Mark Jones – NBN, Executive Manager Sustainability Mark Jones works at NBN, where he is involved in integrating physical climate risk considerations into infrastructure planning and resilience. He brings an asset-owner perspective on assessing and managing climate risks to support long-term service delivery. Dr Nick Wood – Director, Climate Policy Research PL, Industry Fellow, Institute for Climate Risk & Response, UNSW Nick Wood is an independent climate policy consultant with 25 years of experience supporting government and industry on climate risk, regulation and transition planning. His work focuses on translating evolving climate policy and regulatory requirements into practical approaches for organisations. Dr Geoff Lee – CSIRO, Senior Research Consultant Geoff works within CSIRO at the intersection of climate data, analytics and decision support. His work focuses on improving how physical climate risk information is developed, interpreted and applied to support policy, regulatory and business decision-making. Maria Wikstrom – CSIRO, Product Manager Maria's work focuses on aligning research and technical solutions to market needs in order to maximise impact for government, industry and communities. She serves as bridge between cutting-edge climate science and actionable decision-support tools for physical climate risk. ModeratorDr Cara Stitzlein – CSIRO, Senior Research Scientist Cara works within CSIRO as a human factors researcher who applies responsible innovation and design thinking methodologies to complex socio-technical systems. Her work supports stakeholders to navigate emerging technologies through rapid prototyping and futures thinking, with a current focus on climate-related financial disclosure and enabling sustainable transitions across diverse industries. |
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Registration closes Tue 19 May 2026 AI for Climate: Physical climate risk, from regulation to resilience - CSIRO |
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About BSL4ZNet
The BSL4ZNet is a partnership of animal and public health organizations from Canada, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The network was established to strengthen coordinated responses to current and emerging high‑consequence zoonotic and infectious disease challenges, using a One Health approach supported by robust international collaboration.
More information is available on our website: BSL4ZNet Website
About the Conference
Our bi‑annual international conference is a core event for the BSL4ZNet community. It provides a platform for scientists, program leaders, and high‑containment specialists to exchange new research, innovations, and lessons learned related to high‑containment laboratories and high‑consequence pathogens. The 2026 conference will be our fifth event.
The conference will be held virtually in May and June, 2026, with live sessions each day (session times vary by day; please see the full schedule for details).
Daily Themes
- Day 1: Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 9:00 AM–3:00 PM ET: Advancing Research, Safeguarding Health: From Vectors to New Technologies in BSL‑4 Environments
- Day 2: Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 9:00 AM–3:00 PM ET: BSL‑4 Training, Practice, and Human‑Centered Biosafety
- Day 3: Wednesday, June 2-3, 2026, 7:00 PM–1:00 AM ET: Inactivation to Integration: Strengthening Global High‑Containment Science and Partnerships
- Day 4: Wednesday, June 10, 2026, 4:00 AM–10:00 AM ET: Global Perspectives on Facility Launch, Cybersecurity, and Communication Strategies
Each conference brings together experts from government, academia, industry, and non‑profit organizations working in areas such as emerging and re‑emerging infectious disease challenges, high‑containment research, biosafety and biosecurity, laboratory operations, and science policy.
The conference is free to attend and open to the public, supporting broad participation and global knowledge exchange. Our most recent event in 2024 welcomed more than 1,300 participants from 57 countries, underscoring its international reach and value to the high‑containment community.
BSL4ZNet International Virtual Conference Registration
The full program and daily schedules are available here:
Register | 2026 BSL4ZNet International Virtual Conference
November 15-19, 2026
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO)
University of Saskatchewan (USask)
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
https://cabs-acsb.ca/highcontainment.aspx
The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and the Canadian Association for Biological Safety/L'Association Canadienne Pour la Sécurité Biologique (CABS-ACSB) and Merrick Canada ULC are pleased to co-present the International High Containment Operations and Maintenance Workshop.
This workshop addresses the increasing needs of facility operators, maintenance and operations staff for training in relevant aspects of biocontainment facilities and fills a critical need within the operations and maintenance community. The focus of this workshop is operational-based, not research based.
This four day course allows participants to gain hands-on experience in some of the special containment and facility support areas (CL3 and CL3-Ag) of the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), Canada's newest and largest CL3-Ag facility.
Proposed workshop topics will include:
- Physical integrity verification of containment laboratories
- Assessing the performance of HVAC and HEPA filtration systems
- Performing maintenance and operational functions on critical containment systems
- Integrating operations and maintenance with the scientific program
- Assessing and verifying the performance of primary containment devices
- Waste treatment and solid waste systems
- Energy centre operation
- Electrical systems and maintenance
- Decontamination procedures for animal containment spaces
In addition, participants will be presented with an overview in biosafety and biosecurity, as well as lessons learned in facility design and construction.
After successful completion of this 4 day workshop, participants will be able to:
- Describe a HEPA filter, how it works and how it is certified
- Explain the purpose of a BSC and how it works and identify the elements of BSC certification
- Identify and describe different systems and roles found within the energy centre of a large facility
- List different methods of treating liquid effluent from a biocontainment laboratory and identify items that could be considered when selecting a treatment system for biological laboratory waste
- Define purpose of room integrity in a containment laboratory and describe how it is tested and verified
- Describe how to safely maintain the different electrical distribution systems in a containment facility
The uniqueness of this workshop is in its intensive, participatory-based approach. Teams will work with different instructors each day to complete technical modules, supplemented by plenary lectures and discussions.
All aspects of the workshop will be conducted in English. It is important for safety reasons that all participants be comfortable working in this language. There are only 20 spaces available for this course. The deadline for application is July 30, 2026.
The cost to attend is $3,600 CAD (inclusive of the 5% Goods and Services Tax).
If you have questions or need more information, please contact us at info@cabs-acsb.ca
The application process is now open! All applicants will be informed of the Committee's decision by August 15, 2026.
The Canadian Association for Biological Safety/L’Association Canadienne pour la Sécurité Biologique (CABS-ACSB) is happy to present the 2026 Canadian Biosafety Symposium!
Join us in person in Winnipeg, Manitoba from September 21-23, 2026 for Canada’s annual event for biosafety professionals and personnel involved in biosafety and/or biocontainment facilities.
The 2026 Canadian Biosafety Symposium is Canada's premier source of new knowledge and opportunity for dialogue across the biosafety community. It is the forum for advancing professional development and for building capacity for new solutions to be applied to the emerging challenges in laboratory biosafety and biosecurity. The Symposium consists of oral presentations and panels related to biosafety and biosecurity and provides networking opportunities for all biosafety professionals.
The symposium will feature presentations on an array of biosafety topics that may include:
Emergency Management for Labs
Lessons Learned
Biosafety Culture
Biosafety and Public Health
Emerging and Re-Emerging Diseases
Regulations
Audits and Inspections
Biowaste Management
Airflow, Ventilation, Design and Biosafety
Laboratory Acquired Infections
The CABS-ACSB Annual General Meeting will also take place on September 22, 2026.
Information on sponsorship and registration costs will be posted in the upcoming weeks on the CABS-ACSB website.
We anticipate opening registration in May and providing a draft program at that time.
This symposium will be a unique opportunity for the biosafety community to learn and share knowledge with colleagues from across Canada and other countries.
