Pretoria: Information Communications and Technology (ICT) students will have an opportunity to showcase their research and network with industry leaders, when the South African Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) gets underway next month.

The conference, in its 15th year, is recognised for the platform it affords to young scientists, engineers and academia in the ICT sector to share views on key challenges facing the industry, and to discuss the progress achieved in applied research.

“One of the most important aspects of SATNAC is the platform it provides for post graduate students to network with leaders in industry, showcase their research and highlight the successes,” said Alphonzo Samuels, Telkom’s Managing Executive for Network Infrastructure Provisioning and Conference Chairman.

The programme also provides industry with an opportunity to engage with students working on various projects at the Telkom Centres of Excellence.

Several post-graduate students and students from the 16 centres will present their research projects at the conference.

The Centres of Excellence (CoE) have been established across the country, at various universities, making it the largest coordinated research effort in ICT in South Africa. To date the programme has produced approximately 2 400 doctoral and masters level graduates.

“Many talented post-graduate students are attracted to exciting opportunities both locally and overseas, and the CoE programme is demonstrating that they don’t have to leave SA to do exciting work,” said Samuels.

SATNAC 2012 will take place from 2 – 5 September at Fancourt, George in the Western Cape. All registrations have to be completed online (www.satnac.org.za).