The Australian Cotton Research Conference is a biennial Research Conference run by the Association of Australian Cotton Scientists (AACS) hosted each time by a different Research Organisation and administered by an Organising Committee. This was the third Conference and was hosted by CSIRO in Canberra at the CSIRO Discovery Centre. The Committee for the 2017 event was Danny Llewellyn, Chair (CSIRO, Canberra); Paul Grundy (QDAF); Warren Conaty (CSIRO, Narrabri); Ruth Redfern (CRDC); Mark Peoples (CSIRO, Canberra);Iain Wilson (CSIRO, Canberra); Filomena Pettolino (CSIRO, Canberra); Colleen MacMillan (CSIRO, Canberra); Philippe Moncuquet (CSIRO, Canberra);Lisa Ermanli, Admin Support (CSIRO, Canberra). The objectives of the biennial Australian Cotton Research Conferences are to serve as a platform for cotton researchers to present and discuss concepts, key issues and the latest findings in research relevant to the Australian cotton industry, and cotton research community. The conference also encourages networking and collaborations, and a better understanding of the scope of science performed across the breadth of the cotton industry. The three day conference included plenary lectures from renowned speakers (including one international invited speaker, Dr Juan Landivar Bowles, Texas A&M, USA), and research talks within a range of themes, as well as tours of the High Performance Plant Phenomics Centre at CSIRO. There was a welcome reception on the first evening at the CSIRO Discovery Centre and a conference dinner on the second night at the National Museum of Australia, where a number of Association Awards were presented (including the Association’s Early Career Scientist Encouragement Award that was presented to Dr Guna Nachimuthu (NSW DPI) in acknowledgement of his contributions to soil science, the Service to Cotton Science Award to Dr Lewis Wilson (CSIRO) for his contributions to cotton IPM research and the Scientific Publication Award to Drs Grant Herron (NSW DPI) and Lewis Wilson for their recent publication on resistance management strategies to recover insecticide susceptibility in the cotton aphid in Australian cotton. Nilantha Hulugalle, Ian Rochester (posthumously), Jim Peacock, Geoff Baker, and Stephen Allen were elected Lifetime Members of the Association in recognition of their distinguished careers in supporting Cotton Science in Australia). The Annual General Meeting of the Association was held on the final day at which a new Executive committee was elected, including Paul Grundy as the new President. Cleave Rogan (Deputy Chair, CRDC) closed off the conference noting the high international standard of the research being undertaken in Australia and the obvious renewal happening in the research space as many of our older industry stalwarts move on and new blood is attracted to the industry to fill their places, ensuring that the research base of the industry is in safe hands for the future. Details of the conference, invited speakers and abstracts are available at the AACS website. The conference was well attended and all sessions were actively participated in. All delegates that elected to give a talk were accommodated in one of the many sessions. About half the delegates went on the tour of the HPPC. This was the first time that we have used a Conference App for tablets and smart phones instead of a printed Conference booklet and this was well received by the conference delegates. There were also no physical posters displayed but the eight posters received were available through the App and on the conference website for download and were displayed on the large screen during some of the breaks. The conference was well attended and achieved its goals of fostering exchange of information and establishing and reinforcing collaborations between researchers within and across the industry. The next conference will be held in 2019 at the University of New England, Armidale.