Darwin, the capital city of Australia’s Northern Territory, has been announced as the host destination for the 8th DevelopingEM Conference, to be held 26-30 September 2022.

DevelopingEM Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation which holds regular regional conferences where emergency medicine is rapidly evolving. Past conferences have been held in locations such as Colombia, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Brazil and Sydney. 

DevelopingEM conferences focus on adult emergency medicine and critical care, paediatric emergency medicine and trauma care. The Darwin conference theme of “Global Emergency Medicine” will provide a spotlight on the importance of First Nations Healthcare, as well as remote populations with limited access to health care services, especially relevant during the pandemic.

The five-day conference will be staged at the award-winning Darwin Convention Centre and is expected to attract approximately 300 delegates from around the world. Two days of workshops will be followed by three days of keynote presentations, as well as plenary and discussion sessions.

Aerial Darwin Low

Northern Territory Business Events, the official convention bureau for the Northern Territory, partnered with Darwin Convention Centre to secure this global health sector conference.

“The Darwin Convention Centre looks forward to welcoming the DevelopingEM 2022 conference to Darwin,” said Darwin Convention Centre General Manager, Peter Savoff.

“Our world-class facility is perfectly positioned in northern Australia’s tropical Top End to provide delegates space to think, connect, and engage with the local experts who deliver care to remote populations across the Northern Territory.” 

Rebecca McCaig, Director of Northern Territory Business Events, spoke about the bid win for the Northern Territory. 
“The Northern Territory has established an international reputation for excellence and innovation in the health sector, so we were delighted to be successful in attracting this very relevant conference, having engaged in a competitive bidding process” she said. 

“The Northern Territory’s health sector strengths include critical and trauma care, resilience, disaster response as well as rural and remote health.  Coupled with our ancient 65,000 year old Aboriginal culture, we believe the Darwin conference in 2022 will deliver distinctive and meaningful outcomes for delegates.”

DevelopingEM Co-Director Dr Mark Newcombe, explained why Darwin and the Northern Territory had been selected for the 2022 conference.

“DevelopingEM has long considered returning to Australia for an event as we believe our ethos and aims have a synergy with the health care challenges and opportunities present in rural, remote, regional and First Nations settings in our home country,” he said. 

“After considering multiple options for a host setting for DevelopingEM 2022, the choice of the Northern Territory and Darwin was easily the best option for us. Darwin not only correlated with our thematic considerations but the functional advantages of the Darwin Convention Centre were obvious from our first meeting with the staff there.”

He added that Darwin and the Northern Territory would provide an amazing setting for international delegates, offering a diverse range of locations and activities, which would combine with the conference.

Australia’s Northern Territory is known colloquially as the NT and covers 1,348,199 sq kms, making it six times the size of Britain or the equivalent of France, Italy and Spain combined. It is renowned for its spectacular landscapes, pristine wilderness and iconic landmarks and is enriched by a cultural heritage dating back 65,000 years.  The lush and tropical region known as the ‘Top End’ is located at the northernmost tip of the Territory and includes the cosmopolitan city of Darwin plus natural attractions such as World-Heritage listed Kakadu, Australia’s largest National Park.