NZ Skeptics Conference 2017
24th-26th November, Sisters of Mercy, WellingtonThis year’s NZ Skeptics Conference is on the weekend of the 24th – 26th of November in Wellington.
The conference is centred around Wellington’s historic Thorndon suburb.
Events kick off on the Friday evening with a conference welcome and skeptically themed pub quiz at the Hotel Bristol.
There’s a full day of speakers on Saturday at the Mercy Conference Centre, followed by a dinner at the Churchill where you can chat with our speakers.
Sunday has more speakers and a panel, and the weekend wraps up with the NZ Skeptics’ AGM.
Amazing Speakers!
This year features an amazing array of both international and local speakers, covering many fascinating skeptical topics.
Cara Santa Maria
Cara Santa Maria is a Los Angeles Area Emmy and Knight Foundation Award winning journalist, science communicator, television personality, producer and podcaster. Cara is the creator and host of a weekly science podcast called Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria and...
Joseph Bulbulia
Joseph Bulbulia is a Professor at the School of Art History, Classics and Religious Studies at Victoria University. He is a past President of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion and is currently co-editor of Religion, Brain & Behavior....
Haritina Mogosanu
New Zealand Mars Society President Haritina Mogosanu is definitely a dreamer. Her fascination with stars has gone back as far as she can remember. As Haritina grew up, her passion for stars grew too, and she learned that many of humankind’s greatest stories were...
Tracey McDermott
Tracey is a student studying a public health and health promotion degree at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia while also working in full time in public health. She has been involved in promoting vaccination since 2011 through a range of avenues including Stop...
Ken McLeod
Ken McLeod is a key member of the pro-vaccination Group "SAVN'". The group was formed in mid 2009 following the death of baby Dana McCaffery of Pertussis, a preventable illness. The group believes that the anti-vaccination propaganda issued by the AVN (Australian...
Kevin Hague
Hailing from Greymouth on the South Island’s West Coast, Kevin joined Forest & Bird as Chief Executive in October of 2016. He has held leadership roles in business, and in the Government and community sectors. Before joining Forest & Bird Kevin served as a Member of...
Dr Alison Campbell
Senior University of Waikato biological sciences lecturer Dr Alison Campbell is well known in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty for promoting science to community groups and school students. She has been nicknamed the skull lady by secondary school students after her...
Dr Vanessa Jordan
Vanessa Jordan is a methodologist specialising in systematic reviews. She has a doctorate in epidemiology and physiology from the University of Otago. Vanessa organises and undertakes the majority of training activities held by the branch along with other promotional...
Dr Jonathan Broadbent
Dr Jonathan Broadbent is Associate Professor and Head of Discipline of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry at the University of Otago. His research interests include the epidemiology of dental caries, tooth loss, and periodontal disease. He has special interests in...
Vinny Eastwood
Vinny Eastwood runs a YouTube radio show which specialises in interviews with activists on many different (and often health-related) issues including fluoride, vaccination, electromagnetic radiation among others. On many of these issues skeptics take a position...
A Weekend of Skepticism
We’ve filled the weekend with great talks, workshops and a round table discussion with influential and interesting skeptics.
Central Location
The Conference Centre is situated at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Thorndon, in central Wellington – with easy access to the train and bus stations. Get thee to the nunnery!
Sisters of Mercy Convent
Bargain Tickets!
A full weekend of talks for less than the price of a 4 Litre bottle of Te Kiri Gold snake oil!
Single Day
- Saturday or Sunday, we’d love to see you
Full Weekend
- Enjoy two days of fascinating skeptical talks
Unwaged Weekend
- Special weekend price for those not earning
Saturday Dinner
- Spend an evening hanging out with our speakers
Conference Countdown
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Accommodation
Check out these websites for affordable accommodation.
Testimonials
We all know that testimonials can’t be trusted, but here are some from recent conferences anyway…
The conference was easily one of the friendliest and most accommodating events I’ve attended in a long time.
Thanks to the organisers of the conference. It’s been fun listening to some great speakers.
Excellent conference, excellent choice of speakers, excellent organisation. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.
Great time at the conference. Well done on a seriously professional job.
I found the speakers all really fascinating and thought provoking, the conversation very engaging and the food delicious.
The weekend would have to be amongst the top 5 conferences I’ve attended over the last 20 years.