Use TripAdvisor to do research and compare prices for conference travelling

The street beach in Brisbane, really worth a visit

I only joined TripAdvisor in 2013, but since then this website is an important part of my research ritual for conference travelling. This is not the only site I use for research. When attending a cruise conference or combining a conference with a cruise, I also check Cruisecritic and for flights also Travelstart and Airwander. Mostly, I use the Tripadvisor site to read reviews by other travellers before deciding where to book accommodation especially when we are not familiar with the city or neigbourhood. 

A recent trip to Trinidad to attend the Transatlantic Race and Religion Round table (TRRR) conference (which will be held in Washington in 2017), we decided to end the conference trip with a weekend in Tobago. The reviews on Tripadvisor helped me to search for something nice, not too expensive and with a good average rating. 

Another time, when we visited Brisbane in Australia, I booked the hotel that was recommended by the conference organisers and nearly fainted when I read the reviews afterwards on TripAdvisor. So I did damage control by requesting a room not facing the railway tracks, on a higher floor where the noise level would be less and the refurnishing already done.

When reading reviews, make sure that you read both positive and negative ones and also check the dates as some of the reviews dates back a few years. You will get a more accurate description of both the positive and negative points of the hotel here, rather than on the hotel web page. However, when you want to book, make sure that you also check the hotel web page for better structured packages and prices.   

Use TripAdvisor to plan, compare, review and even book accommodation, flights, restaurants, things to see and do (including tours) or to ask questions about your travelling which often comes in very handy indeed. 

Save money and see the world with stopover flights

On our way back to SOuth Africa from Australia, we opted for a stopover at the magnificent Viceroy Abu Dhabi hotel - worth every cent and a must for all Formula 1 fans like us

A relatively new search engine to look for nice stopover experiences when flying is Airwander. The purpose of this page is to travel more by adding stopovers that allows you to discover more of the world while on your way to and from your destination. More often than not, these stopover flights are cheaper than non-stop flights, and you get to see places that your normally would not. This works best when you do not have a preferred airline because adding stopovers for less often requires the use of regional airlines (which can be challenging and adventurous).

When using the Airwander page to search for nice and affordable stopovers, do not change the currency to South African Rand. Keep it in US Dollar of Euro or Pound (I usually keep it in US Dollar and convert later to our currency). For some strange reason, when changing the currency to our Rand, some Internet pages start to act strangely. I saw this also when searching for hotel rooms, and it is even true for large hotels that have South African interests, like the Hilton group. If the currency is in US Dollars, there are 15-20 options on the page, but change the currency to Rand and suddenly there are no rooms available. Why providing such an option then, we all ask but as you know, there are no answers to such questions.

Keep in mind the time of year when you search for stopovers. In some places, winter can be a challenge if you are stuck in a small city due to a snowstorm and unable to get to your destination in time. Other places, like the United Arab Emirates, is much cheaper during their summer months than during their winter time. Talking about the UAE, I just got the call for papers fro the 4th International Conference on Humanities, Social Sciences and Education (ICHSSE-17), and the due date is the 1st of January - so not much time if you want to present at this conference on March 13-14, in Dubai.

Avoid paying for seats on the aircraft and getting faster service

Emirates has a nice selection of special meals to order from but on the down side they also charge additional fees to select a seat on long international flights

After many many years, we once again had a rainy Christmas. Nearly 20 mm of rain soaked the earth and the day went by much quieter than usual because the neighbours preferred not to gather around the pool and the barbecue. With Christmas gone for another year, we can start looking at those abstracts (you still have a week for the ICDE early bird abstract), conferences and travelling. 

Well, let us focus on how to get faster service on aircraft first. When booking, you can choose your meal preferences. Make sure that you choose something other than the standard meal and you will be served first with your meal. That way you will be finished with your meal and already sleeping or watching a movie when the standard meal cart arrives at your side. Depending on the airline, you will have a good or great selection to choose from and if you are adventurous, try something you do not usually eat at home. There are also religious food options on most international flights. The down side of this is that more and more people are ordering special meals and therefore even this service is becoming slower than what it used to be. 

More and more airlines add fees when you want so select a specific seat, even on long international flights. This must also be brought into consideration when doing the initial research for the costs of the ticket because you normally pay in US Dollars or Euros which could add a significant amount to the price of the ticket. One way to avoid this is to select your seat only when you check in, usually 24 to 48 or 72 hours before the flight but then most of the better seats are already taken. You can also use your loyalty membership benefits to ensure that you do not need to pay for your seat. Normally, when you reach the second level of membership, your benefits include options to select a seat when booking without having to pay for it and the option to board with first class and business class passengers even if your seat is in economy class. So do check the benefits of the different levels of membership of your preferred airlines and start to use them to your advantage the next time you travel. 

Get set for next year but do take a break

 Christmas roses outside a store in Montreal

Due to the fact that the sale of air tickets will soon end - Qatar and Emirates sales will end next week - I bought our 2017 tickets yesterday. I did not know this beforehand, but one piece of important information that you need to know when trying to book by combining miles and cash, is that if one part or leg of the itinerary is not provided by your preferred airline,  you cannot use your miles to pay. We have a short leg from Los Angeles to Seattle and the service provider is not Emirates but Air Alaska. And we cannot use our miles to book the other legs. Fortunately, we will also fly to Toronto with no other short legs, so we will be able to use our miles to book that flight. We used Emirates because the fly to more destinations than Qatar, and we get better service due to our higher loyalty status with Emirates but I am still investigating a few other options for the flights later next year. 

Remember to also research and book your hotel stays and airport transfers. And also the extra tours if needed. I have a notebook (yes even in the computer age note books do have a purpose), in which I write the entire itinerary, including all the booking reference numbers and also indicate if the booking is already paid or not. This small book fits into my backpack and I can easily refer to it when at the airport for the reference number of the shuttle or the hotel. 

Academic life is coming to a standstill for a while over the Christmas and New Year festive time. The university closed at noon today and those of us who are planning to do some academic work will have to do it from home or on our lap tops from where we will be. As usual, most academics have to work on abstracts, overdue articles or research that just never get done in time. May your work be successful and may you also have a wonderful time with your loved ones during this festive season. 

A few more travel assistance tips to investigate during the holidays

This was the view from our hotel room in Sydney where we got a room upgrade due to our loyalty membership

Paying with your credit card for air tickets usually means that you do not need to buy additional insurance from the airline. Contact your credit card provider or bank to find out what type of insurance they offer before you make the booking at the airline because different cards and different levels (for example gold or platinum) have different benefits.  Some countries also ask for proof of medical insurance when you apply for a visa. Your medical scheme also provides some medical cover depending on the option you have chosen, so also contact the medical aid to enquire about your options.

Be flexible if you can when investigating hotel costs and remember to check for extended stay discounts. Hotels often offer cheaper deals when you book for a longer period, sometimes more than three days or more than five days or seven days. This means that you can plan for an extra day or two to do sightseeing and visit local tourist attractions without paying much more.  Also, check if it is really cheaper to book Bed and Breakfast because the breakfast is often very expensive and if you do not need to be at the hotel early morning, you can get breakfast at a fraction of the price elsewhere. I already spoke a few weeks ago about the benefits of a loyalty membership at hotel groups and I really think this is a good way of saving money and getting nice upgrades to what we can afford.

And check the rand value before you book air tickets, hotels, excursions, or make any other travel related payments. This is not an easy thing to do because we never know what the rand will do next, but I always try to do bookings when the rand is on an upward curve (and not when there is sensational breaking news that upsets the financial applecart).

Academic citizenship expansion during the festive season

Beautiful Mauritius, more than just the sea

Academic citizenship at our institution means more than just the need to present at conferences and publish articles related to our presentations. We constantly need to expand our involvement to fulfil our obligations to our institutions. During the festive season, I usually have a few days leave and because I have tons of work to play catch-up with, I am normally in front of my computer. So, when I want to take a break, I look for some extra things that I want to be involve with but during the year simply cannot find the time to do some research on.  

One such web page that provides links to extra opportunities for involvement is that of Common Ground Publishing. Most of you probably already know that Common Ground Publishers changed to a non-profit organization and that they are now known as Common Ground Research Networks.  Visit the page if you are interested in becoming an associate editor, join the advisory board, become a Research Network partner or even if you want to host one of the Common Ground conferences. You can also publish a book or publish articles in their 77 journals. Also, ensure that you sign up for their new and still expanding social platform called Scholar to broaden your academic network.

If you are still undecided about the conferences you want attend in 2017, there are 24 different research networks including most academic disciplines linked to Common Ground. Some of the networks, like the Sustainability network already has a call for papers for both 2017 and 2018. And I also saw that the Interdisciplinary Research Network will host their 2017 conference in Hiroshima, Japan, in 2017. I previously blogged about The Learner Research Network conference that we attended in Mauritius which was a very positive experience. Common Ground was established in 1984 and they really have the knowhow and experience to host wonderful conferences. 

Sale: Book and buy your 2017 conference air tickets now

The emirates flag in the background is also on the tails of their aircraft

Both Qatar and Emirates are promoting their annual sale prices of air tickets. If you book on Qatar before 26 December and fly before 16 June 2017, you will save 10% in economy class and 15% in business class which could add up to a few hundred rand. If you also sign up to their loyalty programme and book on-line you will get a bonus of 2000 miles extra. And remember that you can also book a stopover in Doha – definitely worth considering.

Well, almost all that is said about Qatar is equally true of Emirates.  If you book before 28 December and fly between now and end of March, or middle April to end November, you will see that the cost of the tickets is cheaper – the flights I am monitoring are more than R600 cheaper. Direct Flights are cheaper than multi-city flights when booked on this special offers and remember to also look for alternative airports or transit airports that could be cheaper.  Emirates also have Featured fare specials available until 18 January 2017, but there are terms and conditions linked to these prices so make sure that you know what you are buying.

Personally, I prefer to fly with Qatar, but seldom do so because of their limited destinations and partner options (when compared with Emirates). We will go to Los Angeles and from there to Seattle. When searching for options on this, booking on Emirates provided me with more than 20 options throughout the day and on different airlines. When trying to do such a booking on the Qatar page, Seattle simply could not be selected.

It is worth taking some of your well-deserved time off to search and compare the airline fares during the festive season to prepare properly for the 2017 academic conferences. Even if the university is paying for the ticket, it is to the benefit of both the institution and the academic to save on expenses. And if you are planning to take someone with you on the next international trip, do your research and compare prices but also take advantage of the sale options by your favourite airlines.

Excellent opportunities are often lost because of not paying attention to detail

Ackland: there is always time for tourism while attending a conference

Excellent opportunities are often lost because of not paying attention to detail  

I often delete conference calls from my inbox after scanning the name of the organization and then deciding that it is not really in my field of specialization although I would like to visit the host university or city. Take for instance the call for papers from the Australian Historical Association for their annual conference 3-7 July 2017 at the University of Newcastle. Even if you get to read the theme which is ‘Entangled Histories’ many of you will think that you will not be able to present at this conference. But read this: ‘The conference theme will explore the ways in which peoples, ideas and goods circulated across the boundaries of empires and nations. ‘Entangled History’ views all cultures and societies as connected. We welcome submissions that consider the value of entangled frameworks for historical analysis from all historical periods, themes and research areas.’ Don’t you agree that this description opens up opportunities for a much larger number of academics to present their research?

In addition to the general theme, the following are also included: Indigenous histories; histories of violence; migration and refugee histories; Mobilities, transnational spaces and borders in history; histories of sexuality; digital histories; histories of health, illness and disability; intimate histories of families and localities; public histories and cultural heritage. Affiliated with the conference, there are also strands included on Women’s history, environmental history, religious history and oral history.

Because I am a theologian, I attended two previous conference and presented papers in the Religious history strands while enjoying the general history discussions of the main strand and other themes very much. I presented on South African Church History and the level of understanding and knowledge of our situation surprised me. I also met people from Australia and New Zealand who were doing research on aspects of South African history and culture and we engaged in interesting and thought provoking discussions. 

Reminders about upcoming conferences and a few more tips to consider during the holidays

Always nice to fly during the holiday season. This was a few years ago in the terminal building of Cape Town airport

Keep in mind that the early call for papers is open for the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). If you submit your proposal before the end of December, you will get feedback by the end of January and you will have enough time to do research and planning for the trip in October 2017 to this conference that is hosted every second year. 

For those of you who are planning to attend the Postgrad supervision conference in Stellenbosch end of March 2017, the organisers added interesting tours before and after the conference dates that can add value to this experience. If you are not a member of the young (2016) Postgraduate Forum for Southern Africa yet, please join this very important and enriching forum either now or while attending the conference at Spier. 

And now for a few for money saving tips when travelling: Compare the price of the airport shuttle or Gautrain with hiring a car (when using loyalty miles you get really good car rental deals). For us (we are however, normally two or three persons travelling together) it is usually much cheaper to rent a car and drop it off at the airport than taking the shuttle. The car hire drop off and pick up points are conveniently near to the terminals at OR Tambo airport.

If you do not yet use WhatsApp on your phone, download it immediately as this will not only save you lots on money while travelling internationally, it will also lower your mobile phone bill immediately. Using this application, you can chat (like sms), send photos or videos and even call for free. Yes, also from outside the country, as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection. This is super: We were sitting next to the pool in Tobago recently and could first send a video of our surroundings before calling the kids without having to keep it short because it did not cost us anything. 

Be flexible; it saves money and provides additional sightseeing opportunities

Ask yourself - do I need to fly? What about the bus, boat or train?  

When doing research to book your tickets to attend an international conference, look further than the obvious choices. A few years ago, one of the air ticket options was significantly cheaper. At first I thought it would be because of a long airport lay-over, but when I investigate, I saw that the airline substituted an air ticket between Belgium and France with a first class super-fast train ticket. We decided to take this option because 1) at that stage super-fast trains were something we really would like to see and experience, 2) this way we would be able to see much more of the two countries and 3) because of the price. We enjoyed every second on this trip.

Also note that alternative and nearby airports, such as Gatwick and Heathrow in London or our own OR Tambo and Lanseria, often offer cheaper and sometimes even more convenient options for you to choose from, so included these options when you enter information into the search engine or ask the travel agent to investigate such alternative options for you. Sometimes, however an air ticket can be cheaper but the visa cost, even for transit only, could be much higher. This is one of the reasons I start doing research months before I need to book a flight.

When you are investigating tourist attractions and things to do and see before or after the conference, also keep in mind that it is often cheaper to book and pay online and in advance. We normally do this for accommodation, the transfers from and to the airports and scheduled tours such as Viator or the Big Red Bus Tours. This way we not only save money, but most of the expenses is paid before we leave, so we do not need to calculate and keep track of all payments while travelling. 

Conferencing on a tight budget

The lovely botanical garden next to the harbour in Sydney which does not charge an entrance fee.

Today I want to share with you a few more tips for conferencing on a tight budget as this is always the case when we travel – there is no extra money. So, over the years we discovered a few things that make it easier to enjoy as much as possible without having to spend too much money.

One of the most important things that saves me money and also add wonderful experiences to our travelling is to shop where the locals shop. Local supermarkets provide a great variety of local foods at a fraction of the price that you have to pay for hotel food. We normally book bed and breakfast and rely on our own supply of food from home (rusks, cookies, dried fruit and nuts if the country allows these in; cup-a-soup and instant noodles), and small purchases at supermarkets if needed to get us through the day. Often the conference organisers provide lunch and tea so we do not need much more.

Supermarkets usually also stock local speciality products at a much lower price than the airport shops and the souvenir shop. Recently, in Canada, the supermarket around the corner from the hotel sold exactly the same little bottles of maple syrup as the souvenir shop at a lower price. In Mauritius the supermarket provided a large variety of souvenirs and, to our amusement and shock, also magic mushrooms! No, we did not buy the mushrooms, only a beautiful seashell.

Another great way to keep money in your pocket and still enjoy authentic experiences while travelling is to do research before you travel and to note all the things you can do and places you can visit for free. Most travel web sites list these activities and it often includes unexpected delights such as the free rides on the white and red boats in Brisbane which my husband calls 'floating coke-bottles'. We enjoyed riding on these boats daily during our stay there to explore the city and to enjoy the view from the river – for free.

Conference on trauma and the Spirituality of Children and the Youth

Unisa - the African university in serve of humanity

Today I want to promote a local conference because of the very important theme that will be addressed. You will most probably not find it easy to locate the call for abstracts on the web, therefore I will include the essential information and also the information that will assist you to contact the organisers. Although this will probably not be a very large conference (I guess just more than 50 people, but hopefully around 100), the topic is relevant to all and the key note speakers will undoubtedly provide us with powerful insight, challenges on how to become involved and stimulate our thoughts and reflections. Here is the short description on the call for abstracts:

‘Trauma can impact children and youth on a physical, emotional, social and spiritual level, causing distress in all of these areas. However, not enough emphasis has been placed on the spiritual consequence of trauma on children and youth. This conference will aim to bring together scholars from various disciplines in order to present research, encourage conversations and critically reflect on the impact of trauma on the spirituality of children and youth.

We invite papers from multiple disciplines, addressing the spiritual trauma children and youth can experience when faced with adversities such as violence and crime, the death of a loved one, accidents, life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses and other healthcare experiences, bullying and cyber bullying, abuse and sexual abuse and pornography.’

This multi-discipline conference will be held at the main campus of the University of South Africa in Pretoria on the 27th and 28th of July 2017. Abstracts should be submitted by 31 March 2017 and must not exceed 250 words. Please send your abstracts to either aposta1 or oberhae at (@)unisa.ac.za, both who are linked to the Department of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology at Unisa. 

Mauritius in July is a must!

The beautiful Sugar beach resort on the west coast of Mauritius.

Oh, combining a conference with a few days on this magical island in July, when it is not too hot to swim or tan or dive or paddle in the sun, is absolute magic (especially when it is winter cold in South Africa). Bonuses are the fact that the flight is not that far and you do not have to pay a lot of money for a visa. So, when academic conferences are listed for July in Mauritius, do investigate and plan accordingly.

In 2017, there will be two conferences running simultaneously in Port Louis by the end of July (26-27 with an additional one day tour of the island at an extra cost of $100). The first conference is the 20^th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (ICSSH). The call for papers is open and the last date for submission in 15 February 2017. This is a general conference with a long list of themes and a long list of invited speakers – do check it out on the web page.

Secondly, the 21^st International Conference on Teaching, Education and Learning (ICTEL) will take place on the same dates and also have the option of a one day tour. Presenters to both conferences pay a registration fee of $400. The web site has an impressive list of themes to guide prospective presenters on a choice of topic. I really like conferences with a wide scope of themes because you can learn and network with people who are specialists in fields adjacent to yours and with whom there is a possibility to start networks an

d multi and interdisciplinary cooperation.

And lastly a tip on accommodation: We stayed on the west coast of Mauritius (to be able to take nice photos of the sunset over the sea) at a resort. We rented a car at the airport and drove each day to the conference venue. That way we effectively combined a holiday with the working and networking opportunity of attending a conference on the one hand and also explored the island and interact with its population on the other hand.

Blended learning at the E learning Update Conference 2017

The entrance to the OR Tambo airport in Kempton Park, near the venue of the conference.

I agree with Masie (2006:22) that all learning is in fact blended learning and therefore I am grateful for the shift towards focusing on blended learning in the E learning environment. For some years now, I put the E Learning Update Conference on my wish list but never managed to make it there (maybe because it is held in Johannesburg – too close for a stayover and each time I thought about the traffic issue, I decided to just ignore the postings on my calendar).  

Next year though, this conference will not only celebrate its tenth year, it will also focus on blended learning. On the web page it is stated that the focus is not on technology but on blending to enhance learning. Like all other inventions (language, writing and the printing press), the technological developments of our current era are just supporting education and not replacing it.

Littlejohn and Pegler (2007:75-6) stated that blended learning consists of four adjustable aspects, namely time, space, media and activity.  The overlap and size of these blending ‘bubbles’ can be adjusted to serve individual educators, students and institutions. And this is where the real value of blended learning lies for me – the ability to adjust and to suite individual needs because we are long past the uniformity of the industrial era. 

The call for papers is open until 15 January 2017 and presenters only pay R3500, delegates pay R7500 (Why?). There are also packages for four or more delegates and early bird discounts available on the web page. The conference dates are 5-7 September 2017 at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park (near the OR Tambo airport for those of you who are flying and not having to negotiate the traffic). You can express your interest on the web page and will be included in the mailing list.

Littlejohn, A. & Pegler, C. (2007). Preparing for blended e-learning. New York: Routledge.

Masie, E. (20060. The blended learning imperative. In C.J. Bonk & C.R. Graham (eds). The handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs (San Francisco: Pfeiffer), pp. 22-26. 

Specials and sales and Black Friday travel offers compared

We had a lovely time in Mauritius and got a large amount of cash back through using our credit card travel partner deal.

I have been paying close attention to both local and international flights for a while now as I am planning two local trips early next year and an international trip in May. So, when the Black Friday specials were advertised, I made a note to check again early Friday morning. This was not the first time I do this, so I was not expecting much. The real specials are normally not for the dates or places or airlines I have in mind. But do not think that it is not worthwhile to check for specials, because every now and again, you do get lucky. Yes, really. So I will check again today, on Cyber Monday, just in case.

If you like to travel with Emirates be sure to have your dates and credit card ready when everybody else is doing last minute Christmas shopping because their great annual sale usually starts just before Christmas and ends in the first week of January. I usually buy all international tickets for the coming year during this time, using my annual bonus to cover the costs. And this year I will also use my loyalty programme miles to cut the costs even further on one of the more expensive trips as Emirates allows you to pay part of the tickets with miles.

When travel locally, make sure you are signed up as a member of a loyalty programme and use it when making flight and hotel and car bookings. You will really save a lot. We are on Discovery medical aid and although I cannot say that I am always impressed with the medical side, the vitality membership and the awesome Discovery credit card linked to it, are simply the best. When using the loyalty programme and paying with my Discovery Credit card, I normally get 50% discount on accommodation (at selected hotels), 35% on the base flight price (including Emirates) and 35% on car rentals. Add this up and it does allow you to upgrade the accommodation or, if you really having to save money, to do just that. This loyalty programme also have international deals which are great, but make sure you read all the fine print before you make your purchases as you will not be refunded you if you do not heed to the terms and conditions (a few years ago, we went to Mauritius and got R8000 paid back to my credit card account). 

Online Educa Berlin (OEB) is important for the ODL environment

We opted not to take the train to Berlin but instead to stay in Warnemunde for the day and we really enjoyed every moment

Academics in South Africa normally do not have the luxury to attend conferences at the end of November and the start of December due to the exam marks that need to be uploaded and finalized for submission and also because flights tend to be more expensive in the light of the holiday season (Thanksgiving, etc.). However, if you can manage to get the marking done early, or ask a colleague to help out, or are on leave, do make a point of investigating the possibility of attending the OEB conference that normally takes place the last week of November or the first week of December. This year, the Belin conference will be held from 30 November to 2 December. On the OEB web page, there is an option to receive their newsfeeds and e mails to keep you updated and informed. Even if we cannot attend, please do scan the programme and identify main issues and key figures in this developing field. And although it is certainly too late to present, there is still space available for attendance, should you find yourself in the neighbourhood in the coming week or two.

The Online Educa Berlin (OEB) conference draws more than 2300 participants from more than 100 countries and is really a trendsetter for developments in the field of online education.  This year more than 80 exhibitors will also showcase the latest innovations and initiatives in technology-based education.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Owning Learning’ and the main question that will be debated, is: Can students take charge of their own education? It is already clear that the answer is yes, indeed, they do and will continue to do so even more with the help and support of technology enhanced education options. This opens up huge possibilities but also present great challenges for educators who will have to face the impact of this paradigm shift in their own teaching strategies, especially in the ODL environment.

Maybe next year, maybe... 

A Reformation celebration in Hong Kong?

Beautiful Amsterdam! The center of Lutheranism in the Netherlands.

The International Reformed Theological Institute (IRTI) which is based in the Netherlands is calling for papers for their biennial international conference of 2017. Next year, Protestants all over the world will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation that was started by Martin Luther in 1517. It seems as if we will be spoiled for choice with conferences celebrating this event all over the world and throughout the year. The IRTI conference will be held at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong (yes, this is correct – not in the Netherlands where the Lutheran church is very small).  

The due date for abstracts is 1 February and the conference will be held from 15 to 18 June 2017.  The theme of the conference is "Public Theology in plural contexts" and it focuses on "how to deal constructively with religious, economic, social, cultural and ethnic plurality in different contexts from the perspective of the Reformed tradition as a source of public theology".  Keynote speakers are from Indonesia, South Africa, the USA, China and Hong Kong.

PHD students will pay 135 Euro and other members need to pay 235 Euro for registration, but this fee includes meals, local transport in Hong Kong, as well as a two year membership fee and subscription to the journal. The website also have different options and fees for accommodation available for both PHD students and other delegates.

As I said earlier, there will be conferences celebrating the Reformation all over the world in 2017. South Africa will also offer a number of seminars and conferences, mainly in conjunction with the Theology Departments and Faculties of the major universities and Reformed Churches. So please make a note on your calendar for 2017 to keep the 31^st of October 2017 open to attend one or more of these events.  I will keep posting more information on these events in the coming weeks and months. 

Finally, a Humanities conference in Israel

The bread and the fish

In the early 1990s I was the leader of a small group of Christians who went on a 21-day tour to Egypt, Israel and Turkey and ever since I wanted to go back to Israel, but unfortunately there are not many conferences in Humanities or Theology held in this beautiful country to pick from. Therefore, the 28^th International Academic Conference that will be held in Tel Aviv, 7-11 March 2017 is worth mentioning. This is only the first of five such conferences planned for the first half of 2017 by the International institute of Social and Economic Sciences (IISES). Following the Tel Aviv conference will be Rome, Venice, London and Geneva.

The conference will be multi-disciplinary and includes tracks on Business and Economics, Qualitative methods, Social Sciences and Humanities, Teaching and Education, Health and Welfare, Environment and Sustainable development, Law in society, Energy resources and Policy and Technology and Science.

It will be held at the College of Law and Business in Tel Aviv and the early bird registration fee for non-members is 400 Euro (350 for members). The call for abstracts is open and feedback turnaround is very quick, within one week. This short response time and the fact that the early bird registration will be open until 7 February 2017 provides an opportunity for those who needs to wait for the start of the 2017 academic year before applying for funds or leave.  

The conference ends with a complementary day tour to the Dead Sea (40 Euro for partners). If you consider going to this conference, please do consider to stay on to explore this extraordinary country. Due to the size of Israel, 5-7 days are sufficient to explore and discover the country and the people but I am convinced that it would require a much longer stay to explore in depth the real wealth and beauty of the Holy Land, outside of the well-known tourist routes and attractions. ​

Why is travel planning important?

On our way back from New Zealand we knew we would suffer from jet-lag so we decided to have a short stopover in Dubai to rest and visit the Dubai mall. This lovely shop is close to the entrance next to the Dubai fountain - nice place to wait for the next water display.

Proper planning does not only saves you money and ensures that you do not miss out on terrific travel experiences, it most definitely adds value to the total travel experience. Most of the finer points about travelling we tend to learn the hard way (like making sure that the dates on the visa are indeed corresponding with the dates you stated in the application form – I still get nightmares about this one), but there are also things that we could benefit from by incorporating research results into our travel itineraries. Become your own travel agent and do some research during the planning phase of your trip. I know that this can sound like a waste of time because the travel office or travel agents can do this, but believe me, you will not only learn new skills and competencies and gather knowledge, you will also safe money and ensure that the whole trip is more enjoyable because you can adjust times, stopovers, air tickets, hotels, costs and much more to fit in with your personal preferences.

With the help of the Internet no one needs to be helpless when it comes to planning and booking air tickets, transfers, accommodation or activities (and if you really do not have the time to do this yourself, ask your travel partner or children or grandchildren to do it for you – you will be surprised at what they can come up with). Search the web pages of your favourite/preferred airline(s) and hotel groups. The hotel groups normally guarantee that they will provide the best and cheapest offers or will match other sites’ offers. I usually test this by first looking at sites such as Booking.com and Hotels.com and Tripadvisor to find their rates and then compare it with the hotel sites. Once or twice I did get a lower price on booking.com (as I already had several bookings with them and qualified for better deals), but after I signed up to the loyalty programmes of two hotel groups, their web sites always wins. This is also the case with air tickets. I usually start my investigation with sites that provide choice and flexibility such as Travelstart and then go to the individual airline web pages to see the price and itinerary differences and stopover or transit options. Again, being a member of one or two airline’s loyalty programmes is paying off and I tend to book directly on the airline page more often as the money I am saving this way is significant (and I like the benefits like the option to board first).

A last word: before you sign up for a loyalty programme with an airline or hotel, ensure that you are comfortable with their style, pricing and coverage. Although you normally do not have to pay to become a member, you could be inconvenienced when your preferred airline does not fly (directly) to the destinations your frequently visit or the hotel group does not have hotels in the cities or regions you are travelling to.  Make research part of travel planning and enjoy much more on each trip.

Driven by Hope: Economics and Theology in dialogue

I  have never been to Leuven, but oh! the glory of  the Belgium Grand Prix is next to none and this photo taken by my son Niel (2010) is simply brilliant with the car in focus and the motion visible in the surroundings.

I immediately opened the e mail with this topic on hope in the subject line because I could not wait to see the ‘what’ and ‘where’ of this conference. The Institute of Leadership and Social Issues (ILSE) and the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation (EHERO) are the organizers of this conference that will take place in Leuven (Belgium), 24-25 February 2017. The conference venue is the Leuven Center of Christian Studies which forms part of the ‘Evangelische Theologische Faculteit’. As can be expected with this topic, abstracts are expected from various disciplines, including Theology, Ethics, Psychology & Methodology, and Economics. Abstracts can focus either on the interplay between hope and/with these disciplines or on the significance of hope in general. Abstracts cannot exceed 500 words and must be submitted before 15 December to be double blind peer reviewed before the end of December.

‘Hope always triumphs over experience’, said Robert Fulghum the famous Texan theologian/author. Hope is also the driving force behind positive change, transformation, innovation and development. Hope helps us to cope and to persevere, and it is also a virtue that is needed in the academic world and especially amongst scholars who are not theologians. Maybe the greatest need for hope is in the economic sector and that is exactly why this will be such an important event. The keynote speakers are Prof. Luigino Bruni, Prof. Patrick Nullens and Dr. Martijn Burger; people who are inspirational and motivating.

Despite suffering severely during both World Wars, Leuven is a beautiful city with several magnificent old buildings that survived the wars (symbols of hope) and which could soon become UNESCO World Heritage Sites along with the two existing sites (the Groot Begijnhof and the Belfry on St Peter's Church) which are definitely worth a visit. The largest and oldest Catholic university is also in Leuven.

Hawaii in July, anyone?

The opening ceremony of The Learner conference in 2011. 

Why not? I think Hawaii would be a perfect place for an academic conference but the one that is held there regularly is in January and that is a difficult time for Academics from South Africa to attend due to the fact that the funding would be allocated from the previous years’  budget on the one hand and there is also the air traffic issues at that time of year – too close to the holiday season which means the tickets are expensive and hard to get what you want and also the possibility of snow and delays at major airports. So why not go in July if the opportunity presents itself?

In 2017, the 24^th International Conference of Learning will be held in Hawaii form 19 to 21 July. This is one of the Common Ground conferences which I personally can recommend. I attended two Learner conferences and they were excellently planned and well attended. The 2011 Learner conference in Mauritius was simply one of my favourites (because we managed to also make a lovely vacation of the time spend on the beautiful west coast of this island – just to make sure we could take awesome photos of the sunset over the sea). 

One aspect of these conferences I like very much is the variety of tracks that are presented. Next year, there will once again be 10 tracks under the special focus theme of ‘New media for new learning’. The learner conference is only one of about 24 research networks linked to Common Ground, and additional to the conferences, there are also a n impressive list of international journals and books which provide publishing opportunities.

The call for papers as well as registration is already open with good early payment discounts available. Conference registration costs USD550 and there is also discounted hotel accommodation available at Waikiki beach. The conference venue is the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. The conference organizers are also arranging a selection of optional activities and tours to ensure that delegates do not only have to focus on academic work while on this lovely and interesting island.  ​

The early approval call for Proposals is open for ICDE 2017 in Toronto

Flowers near Niagara falls, summer 2015

As you probably know by now, Toronto, which is home to the Blue Jays baseball team and their awesome Rogers centre right next to the CN Tower, the hockey hall of fame and the Bata shoe museum is hosting the 27^th International Council for Open and Distance Education world conference in October 2017. This beautiful city also boasts with 11 swimming beaches and lovely waterfront parks. And friendly people. (The people of Montreal is also friendly but most of them speak French and my French vocabulary of about 100 words did not cut it). Another bonus about Toronto is that you get to see the Niagara Falls from the Canadian side! I love food and therefore I need to mention Canada’s poutine here – simply delicious and definitely worth a try.

The theme of the conference is: ‘Teaching in a digital age – re-thinking teaching and learning’ and all proposals must be in line with one of the 5 specified tracks. Presentations can be done in English, French or Spanish. The 2017 conference promise to be even bigger than the 2015 conference that was held in Sun City, South Africa. The Contact North University is expecting 2000 delegates from 95 countries. In line with this large show of interest, the organizers arranged for an early approval option for proposals. Although the last date for proposal submissions is 30 April 2017, people who submit their proposals before 31 December 2016 will receive feedback about the results of the peer review process after about 8 weeks and can start planning accordingly.

Abstract proposals must be submitted on the conference web page and the maximum word count is 600 words. Here are the 5 tracks that will be covered: 1) Emerging pedagogies and designs for online learning 2) Expanding access, openness and flexibility 3) Changing models of assessment 4) New delivery tools and resources for learning 5) Re-designing institutional business models.   

Early bird registration for the 2017 Postgraduate Supervision conference at Spier is open!

The Protea garden at Spier is so nice and beautiful.

This is a conference and workshop that neither M and D supervisors nor M and D students can afford to miss. The conference theme is: Postgraduate supervision: Spaces, journeys and new horizons. If you are enrolled for a M or D, and you can afford this, do attend.  The doctorateness workshop that is led by Leshem from Israel and Trafford from England is a unique opportunity to see a doctoral thesis from a new perspective. Their ‘stepping stones’ focus on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions that the researcher and the supervisor should ask at each step of the way towards the compilation of content that should construct a doctoral degree.

Other workshops, which precede the conference, include ‘Getting them to write and write well’ – also a useful topic for both supervisors and students; ‘Publishing pedagogies’, ‘Trends in doctorate education’ and ‘Supervisory resources’. There is also a full-day workshop on sustainable relationships with international funders which would complicate the choice of where one should focus.

One thing that I personally like is the reduced registration fee for South Africans and students. Early bird registration for South African academics is R5 500, and the workshops cost an additional fee of R1500 each. The welcoming function is included in the registration but the Gala dinner which is always exceptionally well organised and include awesome entertainment, cost an additional R450 per person (and you can take a partner with).

But the very best part of this conference (even better than the opportunities to learn from experts and be amazed by what is indeed possible in the field of postgraduate supervision) is the venue. Spier wine estate, just outside Stellenbosch is simply one of the very best conference venues I ever been to in the Western Cape region. I cannot list all their activities here (check out their web page) but one of my favourite things to do is to stroll over the bridge and walk through the protea garden on the other side of the water. And crossing back on the other bridge down the path, I would stand for a while to watch the birds on the water below. Oh, and there is nothing like the bathrooms (especially the shape of the bath – just right for two people to cuddle in with candles and wine and something to eat to the side). Spier accommodation for the conference is R2060 for two people sharing per night and this includes a very nice buffet style breakfast. Do ensure that you make the booking as soon as possible because each year, they are fully booked and several the delegates then need to find accommodation elsewhere. ​

2 full-day bus tours included with the conference – what a bonus for academics

The bus tour took us to the Niagara falls.

The International Journal of Arts and Sciences or IJAS as it is also known, offers 13 conferences annually in spectacular places in Europe and North America. Each of these conferences hosts several academic tracks, including Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Education and Technology and Science. Best of all, included in the registration fee are two full-day bus tours for all participants (and their companions – at an additional fee) to enjoy the special attractions of the region and to use the opportunity to network with other participants in a very innovative way, outside of the conference venue and setting.

Academics tend to attend subject specific conferences and I also do that, but every now and again, it is fun and an enlightening experience to attend a multi-discipline and more general conference. This is also one way to broaden your networking opportunities for possible multi-disciplinary cooperation with academics from other subject fields.

Two years ago, we attended the Boston conference on the famous Harvard campus and enjoyed it very much. The conference organizers are seasoned in this activity, have a vast knowledge and like to engage with and answer tourist-like questions. This year we attended the Toronto conference and had a ball of a time. To our surprise the same people we met in Boston were responsible for organizing this conference and we are already planning to attend another one of these conferences next year.

The bus tours are normally structured in a particular way; one day is set aside for the major tourist attractions in the area (like the Niagara falls in Toronto and the Black forest in Germany) while the second day focuses on the culture and history of the region (like the Indian village near Boston and the Mormon community market in Toronto – both tours were fascinating and stimulating and provided us with a lot of knowledge and insight and a different perspective on other cultures and the way people live and cherish their heritage.

Another bonus is that all conference registrations include the bus tours, and is charged in USA Dollars (even those in Europe which means that these conferences, although in Europe, are not so expensive for South Africans who are always looking at the hole in the pocket when it comes to other currencies). The registration fee is also the same amount for America and Europe.

One word of advice, please study the itinerary of the bus tours before you pack your suitcase as some of the excursions include a day at the beach (so pack a swimsuit and sun protection) or other activities that you would need to plan for. And if you do not want to eat the special lunch (for instance the lobster included in the Boston tour), there are always other options available.

The IJAS is hosting conferences in the following cities: Prague, London, Rome, Freiburg, Malta, Vegas, Paris, Harvard, Sicily, Montreal, Toronto, Venice and Vienna. So make your pick, read the conference page to ensure you know what the bus tours will be like and sent your abstract through! ​

Can Qatar match Emirates with stopovers?

The beautiful departing facility at Dubai airport

Today my focus will not be on international conferences as such, but instead on getting there and back. And more specifically on the wonderful opportunity to add a short stopover on to your journey. A few days ago I was stunned to read something like this on an economic forum post: One advantage that CEOs and celebrities have is that they do not need to spend time on uninteresting and time consuming issues such as making travel plans. Really? Searching for interesting stopovers, different airfares linked to different transits, and planning a day or two that can be added onto the trip just to unwind and recharge, is one of the major joys of travelling. Well, at least that is how I see it. I spend hours and hours on planning and also start months in advance – and because I do it in ‘my personal time’ I see this activity as my hobby.

   

This week Qatar announced that, like Emirates (which is based in Dubai), they would provide 96 hour visas to passengers using their airline and airport hub (Doha) to get to their final destination.  This is great news to me because although I only managed to fly Qatar once before, I was seriously impressed then with their standard of service and personal attention and would also like to see more of Doha than just the airport. We were treated like royalty on board the aircraft and because we only had three hours to connect with our next flight, were escorted by an official from the aircraft right through to the door of the next aircraft – support service that I liked a lot – and no, we flew ordinary economic class and we are not VIPs.  

We are members of the Emirates loyalty program and we really enjoy the stopovers that we usually take on our way back to South Africa. The arrangements for airport transfers, hotel accommodation that includes breakfast and the visa issues are all taken care of by the Emirates office in Johannesburg and done electronically. We just select when and where we want to go and they arrange it. And on arrival at the airport in Dubai, there is always a person waiting for us with my name on a board before we come to customs to provide me with an info pack and to direct me to the Arabian Adventures booth where the transport is arranged to get us to the hotel of our choice.

The first time I was informed about the stopover program was when I booked a flight and we had a transit time of more than 8 hours in Dubai. Someone from Emirates phoned and said that Emirates would like to put us up in a hotel so we do not need to stay at the airport. Wow. We enjoyed this so much and after that, arranged for our own stopover, each time that we fly Emirates. On a recent trip, we had a stopover of 5-6 hours early morning and were given vouchers for breakfast that we could use at one of several restaurants. Again, we were pleasantly surprised by the gesture and had a lovely breakfast without our South African wallets suffering due to our indulgence.

So I cannot wait to try the Qatar stopover to compare it to that of Emirates…hopefully soon. 

A late but much needed start for Digital Humanities in South Africa

One of the many beauties in the town of Stellenbosch is the lovely huge and very old trees.

One can ask why it took so long for South Africans working within the field of Humanities to establish a Digital Humanities association but it would be more productive to focus on the fact that it finally happened and to everyone’s delight, the first Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa conference will be held early next year in the lovely town of Stellenbosch, able to accommodate about 220 people.

From the sound of it, I gathered that this must be a relatively new subject field, but I was proven wrong. The father of ‘Humanities computing’ is Roberto Busa who already in the 1940’s introduced the subject field and the name change only came in 2008 when the publication ‘A Companion to Digital Humanities’ saw the light under editorship of Unsworth, Schreibman and Siemens.

Digital Humanities is, as the name suggests, the area of scholarly activity at the intersection between technology and Humanities. The movement is in both directions: Naturally, scholars use technology to enhance their work within the field of Humanities, but they also subject technology to investigation from their particular point of view.

What I want to do today is to inform you about the DHASA conference that will take place at the University of Stellenbosch on 17-20 January 2017. The first two days will packed with workshops and the conference will commence thereafter. The organizers also arranged for lovely and worthwhile tours and excursions on the weekend following the conference (at extra costs). There are two wine tours in the vicinity of Stellenbosch, the city tour of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula tour that will take us to where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. O and the gala dinner promise to be something out of this world with the price tag set at R470 per person for a three course meal and the dress semi-formal.

As I said, better late than never, and hopefully the Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa will grow extensively and rapidly and have a huge positive influence on lifting Humanities high in academic life. All the best of luck for the conference organizers and thank you for getting the ball rolling. 

Now why would academics not want to combine a conference with a cruise?

Our cruise ship anchored in Germany during one of the shore excursion days after the first conference day at sea.

Conducting conferences and training workshops on board large cruise ships is a trend that the medical profession established well but unfortunately this kind of conferencing is not very common for other disciplines. In 2012 and 2013 the Clute Institute organized cruise conferences in Europe, linked with a more traditional conference that preceded the cruise conference in the city of departure. These conference cruises catered for all four of the Clute Institute’s research publishing tracks and I am sure it could have expanded substantially and developed into a very nice trend if they only would persist and allow the concept to grow.  

For a number of years now, I also follow the Academic Forum conferences which usually offered an annual cruise conference just before Christmas. So I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that the Academic Forum is expanding their cruise conferences for 2017 by adding a conference cruise to Alaska in May, and another cruise conference in October (of which the details are not yet available), in addition to the December conference cruise.

The call for papers for the May cruise conference to Alaska is already open and there is a long lists of topics on which research can focus, grouped under the themes of Business, Public Administration and University pedagogy. The cruise reservations are also open and the special offer for participants ends 16 November 2016, so if you are interested, ensure that you visit the Academic Forum page.

One of the greatest advantages of a cruise conference is that you accommodation is fixed and you do not have to pack and unpack every second day, but at the same time you are constantly moving from one exciting and beautiful place to another, at no extra transportation costs. You also have ample time for networking with other conference attendees and the conference organizers.  

So why are there hundreds of academic conferences listed on the web, but I can only find one academic cruise conference that is not linked to the medical profession? Could it be that the cruise conference is more expensive? Probably, but the cruise is inclusive of all meals and you do not need to pay extra for transportation between ports. The conference facilities are usually excellent on the ships and the ‘at sea’ days provide enough time for engaging and stimulating academic discussions and proper time slots for presentations.

Therefore, please conference organizers, do look into and invest in providing this option for the broad academic community.