18 January 2002 International line-up of speakers for Pacific Rim Real Estate Conference

Three keynote addresses, by speakers from Ireland, England and the United States, will be a highlight of the international attention being given to real estate issues in Christchurch this coming week when Lincoln University hosts the 7th annual conference of the Pacific Rim Real Estate Society over 21-23 January.

The conference, in Christchurch's Hotel Grand Chancellor, is a concentrated three-day "talk and think fest" focussed on international cutting-edge research in a wide variety of real estate related areas.

Seventeen different countries will be represented.

"What are the directions in real estate education and research that are going to be important over the next three to five years? What will be the main driving forces for change and development? These are the sort of issues we'll be addressing," says Lincoln University's Professor of Property Studies, William McCluskey,

"And given that there will be academics from 17 different countries present, representing all the major continents, we will get a truly global perspective."

The three keynote speakers and their subjects are –

Monday 21 January, 9.10am: Carolyn Slater, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, London, England, Investing in Futures: education policy for the professional in the 21^st century.

Tuesday 22 January, 9.00am: Professor Alastair Adair, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, Valuation of Property Assets: an international research agenda.

Wednesday 23 January, 9.00am: Professor Elaine Worzala, Colorado State University, USA, Bridging the Practical/Academic Divide: Can we do it? Yes we can!

Session topics over the three days include Valuation, Property Cycles, Property Markets, Land Tenure, Housing Markets, Ethics and Accreditation, Property Taxation, Corporate Real Estate, Residential Issues, Environmental Valuation, Investments, Rural Issues, Valuation Dynamics, Economic Issues, and Legal Issues.

The conference will be chaired by Senior Lecturer in Property Studies Cedric Croft.

The Pacific Rim Real Estate Society originated at Lincoln University 12 years ago in the inaugural Real Estate Educators Conference and this is the first time since then that the conference has been hosted by Lincoln.

The occasion will see a coming together of Lincoln's past professors of real estate – Professor John Baen, appointed in 1988 as New Zealand's first full professor of real estate studies and Professor Terry Boyd who took over the chair in 1993 – and Professor William McCluskey who took up the post at the beginning of last year.

Single day registrations, accepted on the day, are available and the full programme is on the web at http://events.lincoln.ac.nz/prres.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.