The 54th AA National Amenity Conference
Returns to Exeter in 2020
TREES & SOCIETY
University of Exeter, 6–9 September 2020
The Arboricultural Association’s 54th conference is beginning to take shape with ‘Trees & Society’ generating widespread interest from within the industry and beyond.
Public awareness of trees and their benefits is increasing with each day and they are now higher on the political agenda than ever before. ‘Trees and Society’ comes at an important time in the history of our industry and represents a fantastic opportunity to define the critical role of arboriculture in managing and shaping the future treescape.
Call for papers draws record response
We are delighted to report that there has been a huge amount of interest in Conference 2020, with a record number of abstracts for an AA event submitted from arboricultural and urban forestry experts all over the world, as well as from a range of other disciplines. In order to assist with the difficult task of narrowing down the wealth of options into a final programme, the AA has put together a Scientific Committee representing many different facets of our industry. In 2020 this Committee comprises:
Alan Simson
Leeds Beckett University, AA Trustee
Barbara Milne
City of Westminster, Chair of London Tree Officers Association
Emma Gilmartin
Woodland Trust
Felicity Stout
Peak District National Park Authority
Jeremy Barrell
Barrell Tree Consultancy
Michelle Ryan
Transport for London, AA Trustee
Navin Sehmi
Down to Earth Trees Ltd., AA Trustee
Vikki Bengtsson
Pro Natura
The Committee, joined by John Parker and Simon Richmond of the AA, met at the end of January to discuss the abstracts and agree on speakers. The final conference programme is currently being put together and will be released soon. The AA would like to thank the Committee members, who have put in so much work to make Conference 2020 a success.
AA Events Coordinator Sophie Chappell (assisted by other members of the team at AA headquarters) is busy leading on the organisational side of Conference, including preparing for our traditional Sunday Field Trip. Details of this will be announced in the near future but it is shaping up to be a fantastic day out.
Trees & Society will shed light on many important questions about the significant role trees, and our industry, can play in the coming years. They include:
- Are we properly considering those benefits of trees which are impossible to quantify?
- Are the benefits of trees equally distributed across society?
- What role can trees play in education, healthcare and community cohesion?
- Why are trees important to people?
- And how can we apply these ideas to our day-to-day work?
The timetable of speakers and topics is expected to become available towards the end of April, so be sure to come back to this page to be kept informed.
Delegate booking will open in May.