50th Annual Conference of the AASR
Rural Religion and Religious Heritage

4 - 5 December 2025
Federation University Australia
Ballarat

Register for the conference now

location

Federation University’s SMB campus, in the historical city centre of Ballarat, is a 5-minute walk from Ballarat train station, just 90 minutes by train from Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station or just 90 minutes by airport shuttle from Melbourne International Airport!

Keynote speakers

Professor Lori G. Beaman (University of Ottawa) Title: TBA
Professor Clara Saraiva (University of Lisbon) ‘On the Sacred Mountain of the Moon:
Monastic Cloisters, Druid Circles and Holistic Spiritualities in Portugal’


Call for Papers and panels

The offcial call for papers and panels has now closed. Please contact the organisers
to inquire if room remains in the program: AASR2025@federation.edu.au.

In December 2025, Federation University Australia invites scholars from across the world to join us in the historic city of Ballarat for the 50th annual conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion.

In this golden anniversary conference, hosted on Wadawurrung country by Federation University’s Future Regions Research Centre, we welcome papers and panels on all aspects of the academic study of religion, especially on the topics of rural religion and religious heritage.

We particularly welcome papers and panels on the following topics:

  • Rural religious communities and histories across the world

  • Religion, rural migration and rural cosmopolitanism

  • National and international recognition and legal protection of religious heritage

  • Religious communities preserving religious heritage

  • Religious heritage in rural spaces

  • As the golden anniversary conference of the AASR, hosted on the site of a significant gold rush, we also welcome papers and panels on the relationship between religion and gold across eras and cultures.

All individual papers and panel submissions relevant to the worldwide academic study of religion are also welcome. We particularly welcome proposals from PhD students. Special sessions are planned for higher degree students.

A conference publication on the topic of rural religion and religious heritage in global perspective is planned.

All inquiries can be directed to the conference committee at AASR2025@federation.edu.au.


Further information

Costs

  • Registration fees. Full rate: 100 AUD inclusive of morning/afternoon tea and lunch (but not the conference dinner). Student and concession rate: 50 AUD inclusive of morning/afternoon tea and lunch (but not the conference dinner). The student and concession rate applies to students, including PhD students, unwaged and part-time workers. Day rates available. Registration is online now!

  • All presenters will be required to be members of the AASR by 30 November 2025. Members of the New Zealand Association for the Study of Religion are exempt from this requirement.

Transport

  • Melbourne International Airport (MEL) is the closest airport. Ballarat Airport Shuttlebus runs buses between the airport and Ballarat statation. The journey takes 90 minutes. The Melbourne Airport Skybus runs to Southern Cross station, in central Melbourne, from where V/line trains run to Ballarat station, 90 minutes from Southern Cross.

  • Ballarat train station is 90 minutes from Melbourne’s Southern Cross station. (Timetable). The fare is $11.00 using the Myki ticket system. Fed Uni’s SMB campus is a short walk from the station down Ballarat’s famous Lydiard Street.

  • Didi, Uber and taxis (13 2227 / 13 1008) all operate in Ballarat.

Accommodation

  • Conference participants have multiple accommodation options, including two types of accommodation through Federation University, on the nights of December 3 and 4.

  • Our Camp St campus accommodation, located two blocks from the SMB campus conference venue, offers individual ensuite studio rooms with kitchenettes. On-site parking is available, subject to availability. The cost is $150 per night.

  • Our Mt Helen campus, in the southern suburbs of Ballarat, offers individual bedrooms with a shared bathroom and kitchens in 4-bedroom apartments. On-site parking is available. The cost is $98 per night. Mt Helen is a typical Australian ‘gumtree’ uni campus, about 10km from the SMB campus in central Ballarat, accessible via bus routes 21 and 22.

  • Accommodation at Camp St and Mt Helen can be booked through this link.

  • Ballarat offers other accommodation options, via usual hotel booking sites, as well as Airbnb. In central Ballarat, Craig’s Royal Hotel and Oscar’s Hotel are popular options with visiting academics, as is the Mercure Ballarat, in the suburbs.

  • Early rising participants from Melbourne can consider commuting via V/line train, 90 minutes from Southern Cross to Ballarat station, for just $11. Fed Uni’s SMB campus is a short walk from the station down Ballarat’s famous Lydiard Street.

  • PLEASE NOTE that because of the sold-out Spilt Milk music festival in Ballarat on Saturday, December 6, accommodation will be very limited (and expensive) in Ballarat after the conference on Friday and Saturday nights. We recommend international and interstate guests visit Melbourne or another regional Victorian city over the weekend. Some organisers and guests will be catching the train to Melbourne after the conference on late Friday afternoon. Please email the organisers if you have questions.

Social events

  • A conference dinner is planned for the evening of December 4. The cost of the dinner will be in addition to conference registration.

  • Tours of Ballarat will be conducted by Federation University students. Dates and details will be available closer to the conference.

Register for the conference now
 

Conference organising committee:
Dr Ibrahim Abraham
Professor Keir Reeves
Associate Professor David Waldron

All inquiries can be directed to the conference committee at AASR2025@federation.edu.au

Since 1976, the Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR) has been fostering the development of high-quality scholarship on religion, creating community and mutual opportunity for established and emerging voices.

Federation University Australia started as The School of Mines in Ballarat in 1870. Today, Federation is regional Victoria’s largest education institution, with campuses in Ballarat, Berwick, Gippsland and the Wimmera.

Federation University Australia acknowledges the Custodians of the lands and waters where our campuses are located and recognise their continuing responsibilities to care for country at these sites of teaching and learning. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Nations Peoples. This conference takes place on the lands of the Wadawurrung People.