Pre-conference Workshops
Pre-Conference Workshops will be held at GCCEC on Tuesday 21 April 2026. There is a morning half day option, afternoon half day option and a full day option. Tickets to the workshops must be pre-booked, numbers are limited. Please book via the registration form.
Half Day Workshops – Tuesday 21 April 2026
Morning Multi-hazard planning in the built environment: pathways to preparedness
Facilitator: Natural Hazards Research Australia
Cost: $175 pp
Time: 8.30am – 12.30pm (includes catering)
This workshop will explore broad strategies and research insights to strengthen community resilience, ensuring that planning and design approaches contribute to safer, more prepared, and sustainable communities in the face of natural hazards.
Morning Modelling bridges and culverts in HEC-RAS
Cost: $385 (Earlybird Rate)
Time: 8:30 am – 12:30 pm (includes catering)
In partnership with HydroSchool, we invite you to take part in a pre-conference workshop covering structures in HEC-RAS. HEC-RAS is a free hydrologic and hydraulic modelling program that provides one-dimensional and two-dimensional flood modelling: About HEC-RAS
This workshop provides hands-on training in modelling hydraulic structures using HEC-RAS, with a focus on culverts, bridges, and levees. Participants will explore key hydraulic principles, supported by practical examples and guided workshops.
Afternoon Room for the River Workshop
Cost: $175 pp
Time: 12.30pm – 5.00pm (includes catering)
A guide for putting Room for the River concepts into practice. A half-day workshop providing explanation and examples of the concepts described in the recently released NZ River Managers SIG – Room for the River Guidelines. The technical basis for the Room for the River concept will be explained along with examples of the methodology that can be used to determine river management lines and agreed intervention protocols to facilitate effective implementation.
Key themes:
- What is Room for the River.
- How can it be used to manage flood and erosion risks within the context of climate change and Te mana o te wai;
- How to determine river management design lines;
- Interventions and dealing with critical assets within the river management design lines;
- Implementation enablers including planning controls.
Outcomes: A better understanding of how to derive river management design lines and how they can be implemented to achieve Room for the River outcomes.
Who would benefit?: Local authority engineers and asset managers, consultants and contractors actively involved in river management, or who have a specific interest in and experience of rivers and their management
Afternoon Modelling pipe networks in HEC-RAS
Cost: $385 (Earlybird Rate)
Time: 1.00pm – 5.00pm (includes catering)
In partnership with HydroSchool, we invite you to take part in a pre-conference workshop covering pipe networks in HEC-RAS. HEC-RAS is a free hydrologic and hydraulic modelling program that provides one-dimensional and two-dimensional flood modelling: About HEC-RAS
This workshop provides hands-on training in modelling interconnected pipe networks using HEC-RAS, including inlet pits. Participants will explore key hydraulic principles, supported by practical examples and guided workshops.
For those interested in building the hydraulic models from scratch, HydroSchool will be providing an additional pre-conference workshop on Monday 20 April 2026. This workshop is being held independently of the FMA conference.
Please visit https://www.hydroschool.org/fma/ for workshop and registration details.
Full Day Simulating evacuations and life loss with LifeSim software
Cost: $825 (Earlybird Rate)
Time: 8.30am – 5.00pm (includes catering)
In partnership with HDR and the Australian Water School, we invite you to take part in a pre-conference workshop covering LifeSim software. LifeSim is a free USACE agent-based system for estimating life loss by simulating population redistribution during evacuations from high-hazard events, including floods, dam breaches, tsunamis, cyclones, and fires. Using Monte Carlo simulation, it captures natural variability, uncertainty and potential for life loss in complex situations: About LifeSim
Participants will develop practical skills, build a complete flood risk model, and apply the examples to real-world applications for infrastructure planning, emergency response, and policy development in flood risk management.
LifeSim utilises two-dimensional flood models which will be provided to course attendees. For those interested in building the 2D models from scratch, HydroSchool will be providing an additional pre-conference workshop on Monday 20 April 2026. This workshop is being held independently of the FMA conference.
Please visit https://www.hydroschool.org/fma/ for workshop and registration details.