NATA announces speaker lineup for two-day Accreditation Matters 2024 conference

The National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) has announced its initial speaker lineup for its Accreditation Matters 2024 event in June, headlined by a keynote from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and featuring presentations from the National Measurement Institute (NMI), Standards Australia (SA), CSIRO, and others.

In a statement on Wednesday, NATA said the event on June 25 and 26 will “focus on the crucial role accreditation and conformity assessment play in trade, construction, health in ensuring Australians can live their lives safely.”

The keynote will be given by Devin McDaniels, Deputy Secretary of the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee, on the importance of accreditation and conformity assessment, standards and regulations to global trade.

Accreditation Matters 2024 will be held at the International Convention Centre Sydney and is expected to host over 400 “industry leaders, technical experts, and quality champions”.

Over 30 sessions are already confirmed, NATA said, “putting the spotlight on the role accreditation plays in the quality and safety of all aspects of our daily lives, and highlighting the importance to global trade for Australian companies.”

Conference themes include Future Focused, Accreditation Matters, Trade and Supply Chains, Health as well as a stream for People Development within Australia’s conformance community.

Besides McDaniels, confirmed speakers include NATA CEO Jennifer Evans, Dr Bruce Warrington, CEO and Chief Metrologist at NMI; Olivier Salvado, Lead AI for Mission, CSIRO; Adrian O’Connell, CEO, Standards Australia; Wodek Jakubik – Innovations Manager, Coregas and Karen Cividin – General Manager Proficiency Testing Australia.

“We will explore the future of accreditation and discuss important topics around global trade by bringing together domestic and international experts to offer insights into the workings of our National Standards and Conformance Infrastructure,” said Evans. 

“Accreditation Matters 2024 will look to the future, but also provide upskilling and professional development opportunities for those in the science community looking to implement change today.

“We will also look at the advent of generative AI and increasingly complex automation used in laboratories, the governance required for these new technologies and how Standards (like the recent ISO/IEC 42001), conformity assessment and accreditation will be vital to securing the confidence of the wider Australian public in these emerging technologies.”

More information on the event is available here.

Picture: credit NATA