Below is the preliminary programme. Presentation descriptions and speaker profiles have been included for all confirmed presentations. The finalised programme will be distributed on 5 March.

DAY 1: Tuesday 12 March 2013

08:30 – 09:00 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome and Introduction, Justin du Toit
09:15 – 10:00 What is science? (And what is not?), David Spurrett
10:00 – 10:30 People, the environment, and community research, Susi Vetter
10:30 – 11:00 TEA
11:00 – 11:15 How SAEON and researchers can work together, Beate Hölscher
11:15 – 11:45 Making platform presentations, Susi Vetter
11:45 – 13:15 Data management – making it easier for you, Victoria Goodall
13:15 – 14:00 LUNCH
14:00 – 14:30 The research question, David Ward
14:30 – 15:00 Finding funding for research, Wayne Truter
15:00 – 15:30 Package deal to academic success, Bettie de Kock
15:30 – 16:00 TEA
16:00 – 16:30 Writing an academic project proposal, to be confirmed
16:30 – 17:00 Sampling vegetation for plant identification, to be confirmed
17:00 – 17:30 Photography in the field, Clement Cupido

DAY 2: Wednesday 13 March 2013

07:00 – 08:30 REGISTRATION WITH BREAKFAST AND COFFEE
08:30 – 08:45 Welcome and Introduction, Wayne Truter
08:45 – 09:30 Originality and usefulness in science, David Spurrett
09:30 – 10:00 What makes a good experiment? David Ward
10:00 – 10:30 11 seconds - presenting a successful poster, Wayne Truter
10:30 – 11:00 TEA
11:00 – 11:30 Writing scientific papers, Tony Palmer
11:30 – 12:00 Current issues in animal ethics, Vanessa Anderson
12:00 – 12:30 Tips and tricks for managing spreadsheet data, Justin du Toit
12:30 – 13:00 iSpot – virtual identification, Liza von Staden
13:00 – 14:00 LUNCH
14:00 – 14:30 Reviewing, Tony Palmer
14:30 – 15:00 Managing photographs for optimum use, Clement Cupido
15:00 – 15:30 Basic introduction to R, Victoria Goodall
15:30 – 16:00 Where we end up – choosing a career path, Luthando Dziba
16:00 – 16:30 TEA and end of Research Skills Workshop