About
Building on the highly successful 1st Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2022), SAMC2025, to be held at the Champagne Sports Resort in the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains, from the 17th to 20th March 2025, is organised by the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU – University of the Free State) in partnership with the African Mountain Research Foundation (AMRF), and Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS – United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, and Eurac Research).
Focusing on mountains in the southern African region, SAMC2025 will be a fully face-to-face event, bringing together academics, researchers, early career professionals, practitioners, policymakers, postgraduate students and government officials, amongst others, to engage and exchange experiences, research findings, problem-solve and foster partnerships toward the transboundary and transdisciplinary sustainability of southern African mountains.
Call for Abstracts and Proposals
The Call for Abstracts and Proposals for Panel Discussions/Workshops is open to any discipline – single, multi-, inter- or trans-disciplinary, and may be submitted in any of the following categories: (i) Science; (ii) Policy; and/or (iii) Practitioner. The final programme of sessions will be determined by the subjects of the abstracts received and accepted.
Bearing in mind that SAMC2025 focuses on the mountains of southern Africa, topics of interest could include, amongst others:
- Agriculture and rural development
- Biodiversity
- Climate change
- Communities and livelihoods (including e.g. education and training, health, youth, services, crime)
- Economics and Investment
- Energy
- Geo-landscapes and geoscience
- Governance (including law and order)
- History, culture and heritage
- Indigenous knowledge
- International cooperation and inter-relations
- Natural and man-made risks
- Protected areas and conservation
- Social justice (including gender and inclusion)
- Tourism
- Water resources
High-quality abstracts that speak to the overarching theme of SAMC2025 but do not necessarily fall within any of the sub-themes above, will be considered for a possible ‘open track’ conference session. Abstracts should be submitted via the online submission system by 1 September 2024. Each abstract will be reviewed through a double-blind online review process which will be handled on an “as received basis” – thus the earlier the abstract is submitted, the earlier an outcome can be communicated and attendance planning by each delegate can begin.
Key Deadlines
- Submission of abstracts: 1 September 2024
- Early bird registrations: 30 November 2024
- Registrations after 15 February 2025 will raise a 10% penalty
Cover image by Tim Johnson.
