Time: 09:00am – 12:30pm
Venue: QT Canberra
Cost: Free
Facilitators:
Summary:
Galaxy eDNA Lab brings together the tools you need for every stage of eDNA metabarcoding analysis – from raw data quality control and sequence manipulation, through taxonomic assignment and community-level inference, to visualisation and export – all accessible through an intuitive graphical interface. No command-line expertise is required.
The Galaxy platform adds further power: tools can be linked into end-to-end workflows that are reproducible, shareable, and reusable across projects and teams. Whether you work with short or long read data, in freshwater, marine or terrestrial systems, or across pure and applied research, eDNA Lab is designed to support rigorous, efficient analysis.
Galaxy eDNA lab has just launched and is free to use.
In this workshop we will introduce how to use eDNA Lab. With guidance from the instructors you will build a complete end-to-end workflow that starts with raw data (supplied), moves through QC, taxonomic assignment, visualisation and data publishing consistent with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.
You will leave with an understanding of how to use Galaxy Australia’s eDNA lab to conduct your own analysis and format your data following FAIR principles, knowledge of the many additional tools available in the lab. and confidence to use it for even more complex analyses.
Time: 09:00am – 12:30pm
Venue: QT Canberra
Cost: Free
Facilitators:
Summary:
High‑quality standards, standardisation, and robust decision‑making frameworks are fundamental to ensuring that molecular testing and diagnostic outputs are reliable, reproducible, and actionable. Molecular methods such as qPCR and high‑throughput sequencing are inherently sensitive, capable of detecting minute quantities of nucleic acids; however, this sensitivity also makes them highly susceptible to variability arising from sampling, laboratory processes, contamination, and analytical pipelines. Without rigorous quality standards—such as validated assays, appropriate controls, and transparent reporting—results may be difficult to reproduce across laboratories or even within the same study over time. Standardisation further addresses this challenge by harmonising protocols, defining common performance metrics, and enabling comparability across datasets, which is critical in contexts such as environmental monitoring, clinical diagnostics, and regulatory decision‑making where consistency and traceability are essential.
Equally important is the development of decision‑making frameworks that translate complex molecular outputs into clear, defensible conclusions. Molecular data are rarely binary; instead, they are probabilistic and subject to multiple sources of uncertainty, including detection limits, amplification variability, and bioinformatic filtering choices. Without structured frameworks, there is a risk of over‑interpreting weak signals or failing to act on meaningful detections. Decision frameworks provide a formal mechanism to incorporate uncertainty, define thresholds (e.g., detection criteria or read count cut‑offs), and link results to predefined actions. In doing so, they transform molecular measurements into evidence‑based decisions, ensuring that outputs from qPCR and sequencing platforms are not only scientifically robust but also fit‑for‑purpose in management, regulatory, and diagnostic contexts.
This workshop offers a practical view to how standards provide reliable avenues to minimize and measure uncertainty in molecular eDNA workflows, which cement the utility of decision-making frameworks to act based on eDNA results.
This workshop has a strong emphasis on learn-by-doing approaches and involves active engagement and practice from attendees at the University of Canberra. We recommend bringing personal computers as guided practice examples will be used to achieve objectives:
Time: 09:00am – 12:30pm
Location: Outside, details to be confirmed closer to the conference.
Cost: Free
Facilitators:
Summary:
This workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to eDNA sampling in a field setting, with a focus on practical implementation across a range of sampling approaches. As eDNA moves toward routine application, there is a growing need for practitioners to develop confidence in how samples are actually collected, handled, and deployed under real-world conditions.
Participants will be invited to journey to an outdoor field site, where they will rotate through a series of guided sampling stations. Each station will showcase a different sampling approach or configuration, led by experienced practitioners, and will include both demonstration and participant-led sampling.
The workshop will focus on core aspects of field collection, including:
Participants will have the opportunity to handle equipment, observe workflows in real time, and actively participate in sample collection. Facilitators will draw on their field experience to highlight practical considerations and lessons learned across different sampling contexts.
Time: 01:30pm – 5:00pm
Location: QT Canberra
Cost: Free
Facilitators | SeDNAs ECR Team:
Summary:
This workshop is a structured networking and engagement event designed for students and early career researchers (ECRs) attending the conference. The primary purpose is to provide an accessible and informal environment that facilitates peer-to-peer connection, cross-disciplinary interaction, and early integration into the broader conference community.
The workshop aims to facilitate networking and peer connection among students and early career researchers, while building confidence in conference participation and communication skills. It also provides informal, interactive opportunities to support career development, interdisciplinary exchange, and research communication skills.
Specifically, it will:
Time: 01:30pm – 5:00pm
Location: CSIRO, Canberra
Cost: Free
Facilitators:
Summary:
In this workshop, you will learn how to publish your own eDNA metabarcoding data through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and see why it is worth doing. GBIF is increasingly the logical home for interpreted and analysed biodiversity data: a place to publish it in a standardised format, alongside and integrated with biodiversity data from every other source.
We open with a demonstration of what is possible with DNA data on GBIF: searching, filtering and downloading DNA data, using the sequence search and taxonomic identification tools to place unknown sequences in a global context, and a look at recent developments (e.g. continuous taxonomic reinterpretation and the DNA reference library catalogue).
The rest of the session is devoted to publishing. You will learn how to structure and format your own data, then publish it using the Metabarcoding Data Toolkit (MDT) and eDNA Bridge. Along the way, you will see exactly what publishing gets you: standardised formatting, global visibility, citation credit, and a place in a continuously updated, searchable resource used by researchers worldwide, as well as direct impact on policy making relying on GBIF data.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
Prerequisites
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