The Australasian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation (ASGRG) was formed at a meeting of mathematicians and physicists in Canberra in September 1994. The Society aims to bring together researchers who work in a wide range of areas within mathematical, theoretical and experimental gravitation: exact solutions of general relativity, mathematical relativity, numerical relativity, quantum gravity, cosmology, estimation of the gravitational wave signals produced by astronomical sources, and development of techniques and technology for detecting these signals with earth- and satellite-based antennae.
It was decided to form the society to facilitate discussion of mutual problems of interest and to provide greater cooperation to solve the outstanding problems in the various fields. We see our role as providing a regional forum in Australia and New Zealand similar to the recently formed Topical Interest Group in Gravitation of the American Physical Society, and the international GRG society.
The official name and constitution of the Society were adopted at the first General Meeting, which was held during the First Australasian Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in February, 1996. The second conference, ACGRG2, was held in Sydney, in July, 1998. The third conference, ACGRG3 was held in Perth, 11-13 July, 2001, and the fourth conference, ACGRG4, in Melbourne, 7-9 January, 2004. The Kerr Fest in celebration of Prof Roy Kerr's 70th birthday also took place that year in Christchurch. In July 2007 we hosted the international GRG18 and Amaldi7 conferences in Sydney. Our next conference will be ACGRG5 in Christchurch, February 2010.
