On August 17 the Swiss Australian Academic Network was delighted to welcome 45 of its members and partners to a special event at Melbourne´s Royal Society, opened by SAAN´s president Matthias Ernst and his welcoming words.

On the occasion of the Rio Summer Olympics and the prevailling threat of the ZIKA Virus predominately in Brazil, Melbourne based and Swiss born Professor Christian D. Doerig, Head of the Department of Microbiology at Monash University, gave an insightful talk.

In order to present the guests with a different topic as well, Prof Doerig´s presentation was followed by Peter Althaus, a most successful Swiss wine maker from Tasmania. 20 years ago, Althaus chose to  close a former chapter of his life when he finished his employment with IBM and started his “Domaine A” winery.  Our guests were interestedly listening to his rather unusual life story.

Peter Althaus was keen to provide SAAN´s guests with a wine tasting. Given the attendee´s response there was no doubt about the quality of his wines.

The Swiss Australian Academic Network kindly acknowledges its guest speakers and long-term partners for their generous support.

Photos: Brittany Scott