Sadly IPSERA 2008 is behind us, but the good memories of this event will remain for a long time. Hot summer days and warm evenings set the scene for IPSERA 2008 in Perth, Australia.

A full Program comprising over sixty competitive, working and practitioner papers together with ten invited papers from senior practitioners ensured that the Conference Theme was achieved -

"Building Practice and Research Collaboration".

The Conference "Best Paper" was awarded to Pietro Romano and Pamela Danese for their paper "Configuring Supply Networks for Quick Response".

Authors of a number of competitive papers will be approached to revise their papers for submission to the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management and the the Journal of Public Procurement. All authors of both competitive and working papers are encouraged to revise and submit their papers for publication.

Special thanks are due to the Conference sponsors, the authors of the many papers and, especially, the delegates who travelled from more than fourteen countries and across Australia to make the 17th IPSERA Conference a great success.

Details of the event will be updated regularly on this site. For details of IPSERA 2009, to be held at Oestrich-Winkel, Germany from 5 - 8 April 2009, please go to www.ipsera2009.com.

The Conference Social Program demonstrated to delegates the meaning of Tim Winton's words which appear below.

There is nowhere else I'd rather be... I am at the beach looking west with the continent behind me as the sun tracks down to the sea. I have my bearings.     Tim Winton, Lands Edge (1993)

Western Australia (WA), Australia’s largest state, is isolated by desert from the population and power centres in Australia’s east. There’s a feeling that the west is somehow different, almost a separate country.

It is packed with wonders, many of which are just being ‘discovered’. Chances are you will be the only person swimming in the idyllic lagoons of Ningaloo Reef on a particular day; you might also be one of a handful of people who camp inside a gorge in the spectacular Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) National Park in a month.

The hub of WA is its cosmopolitan capital city, Perth, which is packed with classy hotels, excellent restaurants and great shops. Perth’s wide range of activities and entertainment options include symphony orchestras, hip nightclubs and beautiful ocean beaches. Not far away is the vibrant, historic port of Fremantle, and a short ferry ride will take you to the get-away-from-it-all Rottnest Island.

Lonely Planet, Western Australia (2001 11-12 )