AIFS 2022 Conference Insights

I was lucky enough to attend the twice-postponed Australian Institute of Family Studies ( AIFS 2022 ) Conference in Melbourne in June 2022 along with more than 750 other participants.

It was brilliant to have the chance to hear from researchers, practitioners and politicians speaking about their areas of expertise and focus areas on the theme of Putting Families at the Centre.

For me some of the highlights were panel discussions and presentations by some of the indigenous delegates from Australia and New Zealand sharing their practical, people-focused programs and services that cut through silos and focus on what families need in terms of support and assistance based on what their program participants tell them they need!

Seems a no-brainer however too many programs are dreamed up by funders in government departments and those successful in getting access to the funds, have to waste resources on non-value added activities and providing services that don’t fully meet the needs of their local community.

Of course with an event this large there was no way to attend more than a tiny percentage of the 252 oral presentations so I’m really glad that they have recorded and will be making presentations available to participants. The information, statistics and insights shared will be making their way into our training and discussions until next time!

If you were considering attending but didn’t I’d definitely encourage attending next time.