We Really Are Meta Together

What a great week we had at the TMOS 2022 Meta Together Conference!

TMOS launched in 2020, and in the last week of November, we gathered in-person as a whole group (almost!) for the very first time. The five TMOS nodes, along with collaborators from around the country and the world, came together for three days of science and socialising at the beautiful Bridgeport Hotel in Murray Bridge, SA.
For many of us, this was our first opportunity to meet face-to-face with people we have been working with over Zoom and email for the past few years.

Welcome

It was so exciting to see so many TMOS people in one place as everyone arrived and registered. We had lots of fun goodies to give away, including t-shirts, pins, tote bags, and even holographic drink bottles.
On our first night, we were honoured to have a Welcome to Country smoking ceremony from Harley Hall of the Ngarrindjeri People, who taught us about one of the oldest instruments on earth, the yiḏaki, or, didgeridoo, and about the healing properties of smoke.

The Conference

We had lots of great talks throughout the three days of the conference. We heard from international speakers, had panel discussions on working with industry and on careers after PhD, participated in collaborations on our flagship programs in holograms and in wearable sensors, learned more about the TMOS Outreach program, and heard presentations from many of our own TMOS researchers. These discussions and collaborations were just the beginning, and we can’t wait to see all the great work that will come out of the relationships that have been formed here.

It’s not all work…

Science is fun, but we also made lots of time to relax and socialise with our colleagues. We enjoyed some friendly competition at Trivia Night. And on the last night of the conference, we celebrated the many achievements of our hard-working and truly talented team with the Inaugural TMOS Annual Awards Gala. Congratulations to all our award winners! (See the full list of winners below.)