Instructions and Upload Information
The 2026 Australasian Road Safety Conference invites your submission for possible inclusion in this year’s conference program.
The ethos of the ARSC submission handling process is that all decisions are fair and transparent. Decisions and deadlines apply to all authors equally.
Before submitting your Extended Abstract or Interactive Workshop proposal, ensure you read the below guidelines carefully.
Submission Templates
To submit an Extended Abstract for an oral or poster presentation or an Interactive Workshop proposal, use the appropriate template below.
To submit, go to the ARSC Submission Portal. Detailed instructions are provided in the portal.
- Extended Abstract – Download the template here
- Interactive Workshop proposals – Download the template here
Submissions for 2026 are now open!
- Prepare your oral presentation – Oral guidelines and template
- Prepare your poster presentation – Poster guidelines
- Instructions for Chairs and Co-chairs – Chair guidelines
Submitting your presentation
There is no requirement to submit your oral presentation before the conference.
All speakers are required to pre-load their presentation onsite, at the speaker’s preparation room at least 2 hours prior to their session commencing.
Submission Information
Please note that all correspondence will be sent to the email address you provide when submitting.
One author must be a registered attendee for each accepted submission.
A link will be sent to the main author to register. Any costs incurred remain at the responsibility of the presenting author.
Conference Theme
From Evidence to Action: Shaping a Brighter Future
We are at risk of missing the 2030 targets for death and serious injuries. Impactful collaboration is critical to developing optimal and innovative solutions, and a brighter future.
At the 2026 Australasian Road Safety Conference in Sydney, we will consider:
- The evidence and the action:
- What is the evidence telling us
- How are we transforming evidence into action?
- What are our key messages? How do we create a sense of urgency in the community?
- How do we educate and persuade leaders, influencers, and the community?
- How do we engage key groups (e.g. medical professionals and first responders)?
- The future:
- What challenges threaten road safety?
- How do we combat these threats?
- What must we do differently
Submissions which demonstrate evidence of collaboration are encouraged.
As well as established presenters, we call on newcomers, such as medical responders and the broader triple-zero community, to participate in conference.
The focus on education, persuasion, messaging and influencers is aimed at road safety communications including the field of social media.
Topics
We welcome delegates to submit their Extended Abstracts or Interactive Workshop proposals under the following categories:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Automated Vehicles
- Communications and media
- Community and school programs
- Crash data collection and analysis
- Cyclists
- Distractions and inattention
- Early childhood
- Emergency services, medical and post-crash care
- Enforcement and policing
- Fatigue
- First Nations
- Heavy vehicles (trucks, buses and drivers)
- Intelligent Transport Systems
- Local Government
- Low-cost treatments
- Motor cyclists
- Motor vehicles
- Novice driver/rider training and licensing
- Older road users
- Pedestrians
- Personal mobility devices (e.g. e-scooters)
- Policy development and implementation
- Restraints
- Road safety across cultures
- Road safety in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC)
- Road safety management
- Road user behaviours and human factors
- Road user training
- Roads, road design and road environment
- Rural roads
- Safe speed, speeding, travel speeds
- Safe streets and neighbourhoods
- Workplace and work-related road safety
Conference Prizes
- Best Conference Theme Submission
- Best Road Safety Poster
- Best Submission by a New Road Safety Practitioner
- Best Submission by a Road Safety Practitioner
- Best Submission by a Road Safety Researcher
- Best Submission by a Road Safety Researcher
- Best Submission with Implications for Improving Road Safety Policing
- Tom McLaughlin Prize for Best Submission with Implications for Improving Road Safety for Children
Peer Review of Submissions
All submissions will be screened to ensure the quality and compatibility with the conference.
All Extended Abstracts are peer-reviewed using the Distributed Peer Review approach. This approach shares the workload across the submitting authors. First authors will be allocated up to a maximum of five (5) reviews. Authors who do not complete the allocated peer-reviews and have their own submission accepted will be offered a Poster Only.
Note: authors submitting to the ARSC for the first time will not be invited to review.
All Interactive Workshop proposals are reviewed by the Scientific Committee (SC) and Scientific Advisory Group (SAG). If some members of the SC and SAG cannot score a proposal because of a conflict of interest, the final score is adjusted so all scores count equally.
The final decision on acceptance, and presentation formats will be determined by the peer-review and available spaces in the program with preference given to the highest quality submissions from practitioners and researchers.
All authors will be notified of the outcome of their submission via email.
Posters
- All successful applicants will be required to:
- Display their AO poster at the conference
- Stand next to their poster during the Poster Gallery session (Day 2) and discuss their work with conference delegates
- Authors of an accepted ‘Poster presentation with speed oral presentation’ must be available to present their poster including:
- Short three (3) minute presentation on Day 2
- Posters can be printed on paper or fabric and/or laminated. We recommend using a material that is compatible with Velcro which will be used to mount the posters on the poster boards
- Presenters are required to hang their posters prior to morning tea on Day 2
- Posters will be on display for the duration of the conference
Important Information
- All accepted submissions will be published in the conference app available to all conference attendees during the conference
- The full submission including posters and prize winners will be published in the conference proceedings that will be publicly available post-conference
- An author of an accepted submission must register for the conference by the speaker registration date, 14 August 2026 and pay the registration fee
- Accepted submissions that do not have a registered presenter by 14 August 2026 will be removed from the concurrent program. Late registering authors will have the option to present a Poster Only
Table of Contents
Key Dates
-
Submissions open
Sunday, 1 February 2026 -
Submissions close
Thursday, 12 March 2026 5:00PM AEDT
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Registration open
Tuesday, 14 April 2026
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Submissions outcome notifications
Early June 2026
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Early bird registration close
Friday, 24 July 2026 5:00PM AEST -
Presenter registration deadline
Friday, 14 August 2026
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Standard registration closes
Coming soon
Program Enquiries
For conference submission process and scientific review enquiries contact:
Australasian Road Safety Conference Program Managers
c/o MCI Australia
Most Frequently Asked Questions
If you can’t find what you are looking for, please contact the ARSC Program Manager.
Q: How is the topic I will present at the conference decided?
A: See below:
- You decide which topics are suitable for your presentation
- When you submit, you will select one primary topic and up to two secondary topics
- Topics with a small number of presentations may be combined
Q: Is there a limit on how many submissions I can present?
A: See below:
- Yes. Oral presentations are limited to two (2) across all presentation types including long oral, short oral, poster presentation with speed oral and Interactive Workshops
- You may make multiple submissions as the first author. However, if more than two submissions are accepted, a co-author will need to present the additional presentations or you may present a Poster Only
Q: What are the different presentation types?
A: See below:
- Long oral (15 minutes) – present your work in detail with time for in-depth descriptions
- Short oral (7 minutes) – present the highlights of your work with a focus on the main messages. Designed to spark interest and invite follow-up conversations
- Poster options – for work that is best communicated visually. All posters will be displayed in the poster gallery and authors will engage with delegates during the poster gallery session. Delegates can read about your work throughout the conference
- Poster with 3 minutes oral – present the headline messages in the concurrent program. Note the collaboration with graphic communication design students is not available for ARSC2026
- Poster Only – best option if you prefer an informal discussion-based presentation
Q: How is my presentation type decided?
A: See below:
- You select your preferred presentation type when you submit
- All submissions are peer-reviewed and this review returns a score out of 44 (detailed below)
- Scores are used to allocate presentation type with author preference given to high scoring submissions
- If over 200 Extended Abstracts are accepted, lower scored submissions will be added to the Waitlist
Q: My submission was accepted. Is there a deadline to register?
A: See below:
- Yes, Friday 14 August 2026
- Submissions that do not have a registered presenter by this date will be removed from the program and the place will be offered to an author on the Waitlist
- You may register after the deadline, however you will be offered a Poster Only
Q: My accepted submission is on the Waitlist, what happens next?
A: See below:
- You will be offered a Poster Only
- All Waitlist submissions are grouped by topic and ranked based on reviewer scores
- If a place becomes available in your topic, we will offer the author with the highest reviewer score. This may happen if:
- an author who was offered an oral presentation does not accept the offer or withdraws, or
- a presenter does not register by the speaker registration deadline of Friday 14 August 2026
Q: What are the peer-review criteria?
A: See below:
- Strongly disagree to Strongly agree (1 to 5)
- Contribution to road safety knowledge; Theme; Abstract; Introduction/Background; Method/Project Description; Results/Findings; Discussion and Conclusions; Relevance
- Disagree to Agree (1 to 3)
- The writing is clear and easy to read
- Yes / No
- References are complete and correctly cited
- The final decision options are: Accept / Edit for Proceedings / Reject
- Two decisions of Reject are required for an Extended Abstract to be rejected
Q: Who are the peer-reviewers?
A: See below:
- First authors received submissions
- We use the Distributed Peer Review approach, which shares the workload among the submitting authors
- First authors will be allocated up to a maximum of five (5) reviews
- Note: authors submitting to the ARSC for the first time will not be invited to review
Q: What happens if I do not complete the allocated peer-reviews?
A: See below:
- All submissions require two reviews. Where reviews are incomplete, the Scientific Committee and the Scientific Advisory Group will complete the review process to ensure all authors receive an outcome by the deadline
- If your submission is accepted and you have not completed your allocated peer reviews by the deadline, your work will be offered a Poster Only presentation. This approach supports our shared responsibility to ensure a fair and timely review process for all authors.