SAEON’s Graduate Student Network 10th annual Indibano - Yesterday’s data, today's science, building tomorrow’s policy

SAEON’s Graduate Student Network (GSN) hosted its 10th annual Indibano at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town from 10-15 September.

The Indibano is a national student conference bringing students from various disciplines together, and focusing on long-term ecological monitoring in South Africa.

The theme of this year’s conference, “Yesterday’s data, today's science, building tomorrow’s policy”, links to SAEON’s mandate of incorporating information from historical data in monitoring environmental changes and identifying their causal factors. This information is vital to inform policies regarding the management and conservation of our aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

The call for students to attend the Indibano brought in over 110 abstract submissions, of which only 22 delegates were selected from various universities including KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the Witwatersrand, Walter Sisulu, Fort Hare, Venda, Limpopo, Pretoria, Zululand, Cape Town (UCT) and Western Cape. The conference costs, which covered delegate registration, flights, accommodation and food, were sponsored solely by SAEON.