Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference 2009
Guide to this Year's APPC; Philosophers in the Real World
Public Transport
Accomodation
Attending the Conference
Presenting
Conference Dinner
Public Transport
First you will need to make it to the conference. You should understand that while the final stop for trains is City Central station, the final stop for busses that run between the city and Macquarie University is the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) close to Town Hall Station which is a kilometer and a half north of city central station.
In each case, you can use the trip planner on the website www.131500.info to navigate your way around. It is advisable to make a note of more than one option for travel just in case you miss a connecting bus/train.
Train
The easiest way to get to Macquarie University from Central Station is by train. Macquarie University has its own train station and Sydney’s trains are mostly better managed than its busses. To get to the Macquarie University train station you will first need to take a train to either Epping Station or Chatswood. The trains which can take you to one of these places are the "North Shore and Western Lines" the "Inner West Line" and the "Northern Line". When taking these trains you should be careful to make sure that they are going in the right direction, especially when you’re in the city. If you take the "North Shore and Western Line" you will need to get off at Chatswood so make sure when you’re on the platform that you see it listed as a destination. If you take the "Inner West Line" of the "Northern Line" you will need to get off at Epping so make sure that this is one of the listed destinations before you get on the train. From Epping or Chatswood catch the "Epping Chatswood Rail Link" and then get off at "Macquarie University". For a Sydney rail map check here. Be aware that City Central Station is large and excessively convoluted. It is easy to get lost there, especially early in the morning or late at night (when connecting doors may be closed) or if you are unfamiliar with it.
Busses
Busses which go between the uni and the city include the 288, 290, 292 and 291. These busses will take you to QVB. Busses such as the 290 will either go through North Sydney or take the Freeway. If they go via North Sydney it is often quicker to wait for the next bus. Travel time is between 45 min and 1 hour.
Accomodation
Once you can get around you will need accomodation. If you would like to stay near the university, Macquarie Uni has two colleges which provide temporary accomodation. They are Dunmore Lang College and Robert Menzies College. Both offer a meals service if that takes your fancy. The university also hosts a list of nearby temporary accomodation sources which can be found here. Be aware that you will need to book in advance, moreso for on campus accomodation. If none of the above work for you, or you would prefer to stay in the city please see our links page which is linked to in the side bar where we have listed a hotel and a hostel search engine.
Attending the conference
The conference will be on the west side of the campus in building X5B. The registration desk will open at 9am Wednesday the 15th of April. Keynote addresses will be held from 9:30am each day. The conference will then run to 5pm each day. Presentations will last 45 minutes with addtional 5 minute intervals scheduled between presentations to allow people to change rooms and settle.
The naming practice for buildings at Macquarie University is as follows; far west buildings begin with an X, west buildings are labelled with a C, buildings to the east begin with an E, buildings to the far east are labelled with an F. The rooms for the presentations are booked on the west side of the campus in X5B. See here to view the univeristy map to make sense of this and what follows;
- The closest coffee (apart from that organised by the conference management) will be at the "Coffee Cart" which is between the Macquarie Theatre and the Macquarie University Library (building C7A). Though it may close early due to the teaching holidays.
- The closest food will be in building C10A which houses the university's food court. Upstairs from the University food court you can also find the University Bar, the UBar. Though they may close early because of the teaching holidays.
- The closest supermarket to X5B is a Woolworths on the corner of Epping Road and Balclava Road.
- The closest shopping centre is Macquarie Shopping Centre which can be found to the east of the campus on the corner of Herring road and Waterloo road. The Macquarie University train station is between Macquarie University and Macquarie Shopping Centre. When going to Macquarie Shopping Centre be aware of its curious design; its north and south passages are flat, wheras the corridor on the east side of the shopping centre goes down and the corridor on the west side goes up. This makes using the shopping centre directory a little difficult at times as one will go down or up levels just by walking through the centre's corridors. See here for Macquarie Centre.
- Because a new university library is being constructed path ways which might otherwise be convienient for walking between public transport and the conference venue are no longer accessible. At the moment safest (because simplest) way to get between public transport and the conference venue is to walk to the central east-west path and take that (this is the path which terminates at X5B, the conference venue and which cuts between the library and the university theatre, between E7A and E5A, between E8C and E6B).
- Busses stop at E3A or along University Drive. Macquarie University train station is on Herring Road, to the East of the campus.
Presenting
Presenters will have 45 minutes to give their paper and respond to questions. Our recommendation is that the presentation proper last 30 minutes leaving 15 minutes for questions.
All rooms will be equipped with a lectern with an embedded computer. By plugging in a USB flash drive to the lectern presenters will be able to give Powerpoint presentations via the lectern and its permanently attached projector.
A person to chair the talk will be provided to all presenters.
Conference Dinner
The conference dinner will be held at Rowda Ya Habibi in Newtown.
"With all the hummus, kebab, tabbouleh, vine leafs, falafels etc. you can eat. There will be plenty of choices for vegetarians, vegans and those who require gluten free dishes."
The dinner will cost $30. The restaurant sells soft drinks and has BYO with $2 corkage.
The dinner will start at 7:30 on Thursday the 16th of April.
Details are as follows;
Rowda Ya Habibi
101 King St
Newtown NSW 2042