RISK newsletter:
Overview of the 1995 SRA Annual Meeting

Record Number of Abstracts Submitted

Source: The Society for Risk Analysis' RISK newsletter, Third Quarter 1995

The 1995 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, which will be co-sponsored by the Japan Section of SRA and will be held at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel in Hawaii, has attracted a record number of abstracts "more than we've ever received before," said SRA Executive Secretary Richard J. Burk Jr.

The SRA Secretariat's office received around 350 proffered abstracts and more than 25 symposium proposals, some of which require two or three sessions. The Japan Section received an additional 38 abstracts and four proposals. The theme of the meeting, which will be held December 3-6, is "Learning from Cross-Cultural Comparison."

The 1995 meeting marks the first time in the Society's 14-year annual meeting history that an annual meeting has had a co-sponsor and the first time it is to be held outside the continental United States.

Initially, the meeting location had raised some concerns among members that a meeting in Hawaii would have a low attendance. While the record number of submissions appears to belie those concerns, economics indicate that there will be fewer attendees from U.S. government agencies than in the past.

The 1995 Annual Meeting Committee, chaired by SRA President-elect John D. Graham of the Harvard School of Public Health, met with the Secretariat staff on July 7 to organize the program, and the Secretariat sent out letters of confirmation of accepted papers the second week of August. The preliminary program will be mailed the first week in September and will include information about pre-meeting workshops, hotel accommodations, and tours; a schedule of the sessions, including topics and presenters; and registration forms and information.

Additional tracks. In order to accommodate all of the paper submissions, nine concurrent tracks have been scheduled three tracks more than the 1994 SRA Annual Meeting required. One track is devoted to the papers and symposia organized by the Japan Section.

Extended sessions. The meeting's final sessions will end Wednesday at 5 p.m., instead of earlier in the afternoon as in previous years.

Regulatory reform session. A special plenary session titled "Impact of Regulatory Reform Legislation" is scheduled for Wednesday morning, December 6. SRA councilor Gail Charnley of the Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management will chair the session. The speakers, including Frederick R. Anderson of Cadwalader, Wickersham, and Taft, Lester B. Lave of Carnegie Mellon University, Gilbert S. Omenn of the University of Washington, and Paul Slovic of Decision Research, will discuss their views and challenge one another's views on how U.S. regulatory reform legislation will affect the risk communication, cost/benefit, health, and judicial review aspects of risk regulation. The audience will also have an opportunity to debate and question the issues.

Specialty group meetings. The five SRA specialty groups will hold their meetings at two different times to allow attendees to participate in more than one group. Two groups will meet one day, and three groups another day.

Pre- and post-meeting opportunities. For annual meeting attendees who plan to spend a few vacation days in Hawaii before or after the meeting, the Secretariat has arranged for the conference rate for the hotel rooms to extend from November 29 through December 9. The Secretariat is also arranging for special room rates at hotels on the island of Maui and the "Big Island" of Hawaii. Attendees who would like to visit either or both of these islands will make their own hotel reservations, as well as their own travel arrangements through one of Hawaii's inter-island air shuttles (after arriving in Hawaii or earlier through a travel agent).

For more information about the 1995 SRA Annual Meeting, read the preliminary program or contact the Secretariat in McLean, Virginia.

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