Paper Submission

There are two presentation formats on offer at ANCOLD 2021. Please consider which format will suit you and your paper. Both presentation formats require a full paper to be submitted.

We will also accept papers as “publish only” for those not wishing to present at the conference.

1/ Oral Presentation

This format is for confident individuals who will be allocated around 12 minutes to present their paper – as a concise and compelling oral presentation, with accompanying PowerPoint presentation slides. There will also be a time allowance for questions and answers from the floor, to be held at the conclusion of each session.

2/ Posters

Poster sessions may be suitable for those who have not completed their research, or are seeking information, views etc. from other interested parties. This format is also available to those authors who are (i) not selected to deliver their paper as an oral presentation, or (ii) do not wish to deliver an oral presentation.

Participants will be required to prepare a display which will be mounted on a display panel in a designated poster area at the conference.

As part of the conference program, a General Reporter will provide a summary of your paper to the delegates, after which the authors will have an opportunity to answer questions during a poster defence session.

3/ Published paper only

This submission type allows for an opportunity to supply a written paper for publication in the conference proceedings without having to present the paper. All papers submitted in this manner will be published in the conference proceedings at the time of the conference and will be published on the ANCOLD website 12 months after the conference.

Theme: Perceptions and Realities of Risk

 Sub-Themes:

Challenges for Multi-purpose Water Storages

This sub-theme provides a forum for papers to cover the issues associated with storages that move beyond simply storing for water supply. As demands on the existing storages increase, our assets are asked to deliver more, sometimes with less. Papers in this theme can also cover the regulatory and governance frameworks of storage use.

This theme can also address the needs of future projects and upgrades to existing assets to deliver increased flexibility for owners and society.

Tailings: Responsible Governance, Design, Management, Operation and Closure

To achieve the objective of reducing the societal and environmental risks posed by tailings disposal, the Global Industry Standard Tailings Management (GISTM) was launched in 2020. In addition to the GISTM, several recently or soon to be released national, international and industry guidelines and standards have resulted in a considerable amount of new requirements and guidance for all participants and stakeholders in the tailings industry

This sub-theme is focused on the challenges, solutions, changes and lessons that have been experienced in the attempt to enact these new requirements and guidance to achieve responsible and risk-informed governance, design, management, operation and closure of tailings storage facilities.

Risk Assessments:  Why and How?

The focus on risk assessments for dams has never been stronger, with an increasing global interest in understanding and undertaking risk assessments for dams. With countries looking to Australia as a leading member in the dam risk assessment field, it is a good time to reflect on the why and how of the risk assessments we carry out.

Papers for this sub-theme should explore the need for risk assessments, methods we use to carry out the assessments and most importantly what we do and how we communicate the results of these assessments.

Dam Operation, Safety and Surveillance: Risks & Reliability of Monitoring and Control Systems

The safe operation of our dams is of critical importance to society. As our assets age, the focus on the controls on the assets is stronger than ever. This theme provides an opportunity for discussion on:

• Advances in monitoring and control systems
• Dam safety management
• Developments in surveillance practices
• Managing regulatory compliance and risk tolerance
• Advances in operation and management

Consequence Assessment and Dam-break Analysis

The importance of the often abstract dam failure inundation maps we produce as part of dam break assessments is revealed when flooding or outflow from a dam failure has a real consequence on downstream population and the environment. Our dam break assessments feed into consequence estimates and risk assessments, which further define the level of design, management and operation we assign to a dam.

This sub-theme looks to explore the issues and challenges associated with consequence assessments and dam break analyses, and to discuss the solutions and innovations that address them. Papers can also explore how the results from these analyses are used to manage risk.

Emergency Management and Communicating Risks to the Community

Emergency management is a continuing critical aspect of dam safety management. The ability of an owner to communicate risks associated with dams both in an ongoing context and in a flood context is critical. This sub-theme provides an opportunity to discuss advances in communicating risks. This theme aims to highlight recent advances in the emergency management context.

Innovation and Technology in Dam Engineering

We live in an age of unprecedented technological growth in all industries. The dams industry is embracing technological growth and innovation. This sub-theme is aimed at exploring how advances and changes in technology have been used to address issues in design, management and operations of dams.

Regulation and Dam Safety: Where is Consistency Important?

Dam regulation across Australia varies from state-to-state and even within states, with regulations greatly differing across these regulatory regions. Oftentimes, these regulatory requirements may not fully align with the dam industry’s understanding of current practice, potentially resulting in confusion for owners or incidental non-compliance with regulatory compliance as an extreme outcome.

This sub-theme is focused on exploring the regulatory landscape for dams in Australia, how these regulations align with current industry practice for dam safety and the challenges faced by the dam industry when these regulations and dam safety practices may not necessarily be consistent.

In order to ensure high quality content for the Technical Program, the Local Organising Committee has selected a Technical Review Panel (TRP) to review and accept papers of the highest quality. The TRP will review the proposals and select the authors who will then be invited to submit a full paper.

Authors are requested to submit sufficient detail in their paper proposal to assist the TRP in the review process of the proposals. As a guide, the TRP will use the following criteria in evaluating:

• Is the topic relevant and important to the theme or sub-theme?
• Is the subject matter original or innovative?
• Will the paper add to the knowledge of delegates?
• Will the content attract readers’ attention?
• Is the writing style clear, concise & readable?
• Is the technical subject matter logical and valid?
• Is the content complete and of suitable quality?

Authors are therefore requested to submit proposals of up to 600 words to adequately address the above criteria. The abstract that you will include in the full paper will not necessarily be the same as that of your paper proposal; but should be revised and finessed once you have written the paper.

Please download the Paper Proposal Template and complete it before re-uploading to the portal.

New Submission

• Log in to the submission system via the Conference Website. You will need to create an online account first if you have not previously submitted – enter your email address and the password.
• You will be taken to a screen from which the submission process starts. Please read the instructions on this screen carefully. You will need to update your details before you can submit your proposal.
• Submitting a PROPOSAL is a multi-step process. Each step asks several questions. Some questions are marked “required”, and you will not be able to complete your submission until these questions have been answered.
• If you stop part way through the process, your submission will be held in temporary storage until you return and complete all the questions. When you log in again you can click on your incomplete proposal and resume submission.
• Make sure that you submit your proposal by agreeing to the Terms and Conditions before pressing the “Submit” button; any proposals left in ‘draft’ mode will not be submitted for review. You will receive a confirmation email for each successful proposal submitted. If you do not receive an email, log in again to check your proposal in “Edit Proposals”. Please note once you have submitted your proposal you cannot edit it again. However, you can leave your submission in “draft” mode and make changes up until the time you submit your proposal.

Amending a Submission in “draft” mode

You may wish to change your answers to some of the questions on the submission form, or even change the proposal file itself.

• Log in to the proposal submission system, click on the “Edit Proposals” tab.
• You will see a list of the proposals that you have in draft mode or have submitted. Click on the “Edit” button next to the draft proposal you wish to change and submit.
• Amending a proposal is just the same as for the original submission process, except that the online form will be automatically completed with the answers that you provided previously. You don’t have to change an answer if you do not wish to.

When you reach the final ‘Submit’ step, click on the button stating that you “Agree to the Terms and Conditions” and click “Submit”.  If this button is not available, look at the steps in the left-hand table and address the missing information that does not have a tick.

If you want to withdraw a proposal, please contact the papers coordinator Bree Blackwell

Authors of accepted proposals will be asked to prepare a full paper, a copy of which will be provided to delegates as part of the Conference Proceedings and must register and present their paper at the time allocated within the Conference Program. Authors are reminded that all papers must be original and must not have been published elsewhere. Once selected for inclusion in the Conference Program, papers become the property of ANCOLD Inc. Authors of oral presentations will have the opportunity to make a presentation and answer questions during a session selected by the organisers.

Full papers are required to be submitted for 1^st review no later than 6 July 2021

Please see Key Dates for more information on paper deadlines.

By submitting a proposal, you agree and understand the following:

• All authors who have their papers accepted for presentation must register and pay for their attendance, at a minimum, for the day of the Conference on which they are presenting. Accepted presenters will be given access to the Early Bird Registration rates. ANCOLD is unable to offer any financial assistance to submitting authors.
• All authors who have submitted have approval to travel and attend the event in person.
• By submitting a proposal, you acknowledge and accept the Key Dates noted above (including first draft paper to be uploaded, revised paper addressing reviewer comments and your Final Paper).  Extensions will not be granted beyond these dates
• Authors understand that all papers must be original and must not have been published elsewhere.