21–23 October 2026 · Upington Protea Hotel Marriott, Northern Cape
| Time | Session / Activity | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Plenary — Welcoming & Keynote Addresses · 08:30–12:00 | ||
| 08:30–09:25 | Arrival & Registration | Registration |
| 09:25–09:30 | Mr. Mxanxathi Mabadi — MC Welcome · Vice-President, SAIAE | Welcome |
| 09:30–09:40 | Mr. Pranesh Moodley — Welcome Address · President, SAIAE | Welcome |
| 09:40–10:00 | Mr. Thembinkosi Madikane — President, Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) | Keynote |
| 10:00–10:20 | Mr. James Motladiile — Senior Vice-President, South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) | Keynote |
| 10:20–10:40 | Mr. Thomas Lee — Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder, Compound Bridge | Keynote |
| 10:40–11:10 | North-West University — Sponsor Speaker | Platinum |
| 11:10–11:30 | Dr. Mathews Phosa — Chairperson, Agricultural Development Agency (ADGA) | Keynote |
| 11:30–12:00 | University of Pretoria — Sponsor Speaker | Platinum |
| 12:00–12:15 | Group Photo | Plenary |
| 12:15–13:00 | Buffet Lunch & Viewing of Exhibits and Posters | Lunch |
| Technical Session 1 · 13:00–15:00 — parallel tracks | ||
| 13:00–13:10 | Bvi Consulting Engineers — Sponsor Speaker | Silver |
| Track A — Irrigation & Post-Harvest Management | ||
| 13:10–13:30 | Mr. Mfundo Hlatshwayo — The use of Agri-mats in addressing irrigation water demand and soil water evaporation in selected Agri-Parks | Technical |
| 13:30–13:50 | Dr. Macdex Mutema — Transmission water losses at South African irrigation schemes: Is it a crisis? | Technical |
| 13:50–14:10 | Dr. Dayton Tagwi — The Development of an Empirical Equation for Determining Minor Losses Due to Bends in Smooth Pipes for Irrigation System Design | Technical |
| 14:10–14:30 | Mr. Natalian Mamogobo — Integrating Agricultural Water Management and Soil Functionality in Farmer-Led Irrigation Development Systems in South Africa | Technical |
| 14:30–14:50 | Ms. Perm Mthethwa — Enhancing Food Security Through Low-Cost and Energy-Efficient Postharvest Preservation Technologies | Technical |
| Track B — High School Learner Introductory Programme (Chair: Ms. Zikhona Buyeye) | ||
| 13:00–13:10 | Ms. Zikhona Buyeye — Welcome & Icebreaker for High School Learners | Learners |
| 13:10–13:30 | Ms. Zikhona Buyeye — What is Agricultural Engineering? — An Introduction | Learners |
| 13:30–13:50 | UKZN, UniVen & UFS (Bronze Sponsors) — Studying Agricultural Engineering: University Career Talks | Learners |
| 13:50–14:10 | Ms. Zikhona Buyeye & University Reps — Open Discussion / Questions from Learners | Learners |
| 14:10–14:30 | Symposium LOC — Guided Tour of Exhibitions | Learners |
| 14:30–15:00 | Wrap-up — Learners join delegates for Afternoon Tea | Learners |
| 14:50–15:00 | Panel Discussion / Questions | Panel |
| Afternoon | ||
| 15:00–15:30 | Afternoon Tea & Viewing of Exhibits & Posters | Tea |
| Technical Session 2 · 15:30–17:30 — parallel tracks | ||
| Track A — Irrigation (cont’d) & Hydrology & Dams | ||
| 15:30–15:50 | Ms. Sana Jina — An Integrated Decision-Support Framework for the Conversion of Irrigation Canals to Pressurised Pipeline Systems | Technical |
| 15:50–16:10 | Prof. Jeff Smithers — Improved Design Flood Estimation in South Africa | Technical |
| 16:10–16:30 | Mr. Sandile Dladla — From Dependence to Design: Uncertainty Propagation in Copula-Based Multivariate Flood Frequency Analysis | Technical |
| Track B — Agricultural Mechanization & Precision Technologies | ||
| 15:30–15:50 | Dr. Francis Onyando — A Novel Wireless Clamp-On Tractor Instrumentation System for Determining Tractor Draft Energy Requirements | Technical |
| 15:50–16:10 | Dr. Tingmin Yu — Baseline Study through Questionnaire Survey on Mechanisation Requirements of Small-Scale Conservation Agriculture Farmers in Mpumalanga Province | Technical |
| 16:10–16:30 | Mr. Thapelo Ramphisa — Design, construction and testing of a smart herbicide sprayer for small-scale soybean farmers | Technical |
| 16:30–16:50 | Prof. Alwyn Hoffman & Ms. Jessica Jacobs — Intelligent Crop Management based on Machine Learning applied to UAV data | Technical |
| 16:50–17:10 | Panel Discussion / Questions | Panel |
| 18:00 | Networking / Social Event — To be confirmed | |
| Time | Session / Activity | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Session 3 · 07:50–10:40 | ||
| 07:50–08:00 | Mr. Stefaans Erasmus — Welcome Address · SAIAE Branch Chairperson | Welcome |
| 08:00–08:20 | Prof. Chris Roth — President, South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) | Keynote |
| 08:20–08:30 | MBB Consulting Engineers — Sponsor Speaker | Silver |
| Track A — Water Supply & Water Resource Management | ||
| 08:30–08:50 | Dr. Mxolisi Mukhawana — Towards the Development of a National Digitalized Integrated Water and Sanitation Monitoring System in South Africa | Technical |
| 08:50–09:10 | Mr. Benard Chirende — Water Availability Status in the Sabie-Crocodile Water Supply System in the Inkomati-Usuthu Water Management Area | Technical |
| 09:10–09:30 | Mr. Tendayi Makombe — Water Availability Assessment Study for the Kouga and Kromme catchment in the Algoa Water Supply system | Technical |
| 09:30–09:50 | Mr. Aden Myburgh — Towards an Integrated Engineering Framework for Bio-Pond Wastewater Performance | Technical |
| 09:50–10:10 | Mr. Luckson Machingambi — Water Savings in agriculture in the context of declining water resources availability in the Orange-Senqu Basin | Technical |
| Track B — Precision Agriculture & Energy Management | ||
| 08:30–08:50 | Mr. Lourens van der Merwe — An IoT Node for Major Leak Detection and Curtailment in Farm Water Pipelines | Technical |
| 08:50–09:10 | Mr. Anele Sidzumo — Towards physiology-based precision irrigation under a changing climate: diurnal leaf, stem and fruit water potential in pear orchards | Technical |
| 09:10–09:30 | Mr. Louis Lagrange — Energy Management (South African Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Legislation) | Technical |
| 09:30–09:50 | Mr. Harmen Potgieter — Real-time cattle identification using deep vision models | Technical |
| 10:30–10:40 | Panel Discussion / Questions | Panel |
| 10:40–11:10 | Coffee / Tea Break | Break |
| Technical Session 4 · 11:10–13:10 | ||
| 11:10–11:15 | Mr. Louis Lagrange — Sponsor Address · University of the Free State (UFS) | Bronze |
| 11:15–11:20 | University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) — Sponsor Address · Speaker TBC | Bronze |
| 11:20–11:25 | University of Venda (UniVen) — Sponsor Address · Speaker TBC | Bronze |
| Track A — Water Supply & Water Resource Management (cont’d) | ||
| 11:25–11:45 | Ms. Rachel van Zyl — Roof Runoff Behaviour under Low-Intensity Rainfall: Implications for On-Farm Rainwater Harvesting Design | Technical |
| 11:45–12:05 | Mr. Lloyd Hansmeyer — Evaluating Rainwater Harvesting Design Tools Against Measured Field Data Across South African Climatic Regions | Technical |
| 12:05–12:25 | Mr. Amico Eybers — Understanding Climate-Induced Variability in Roof Runoff for Improved Rainwater Harvesting Design | Technical |
| 12:25–12:45 | Mr. Pierre Storey — Dams: Protect Your Invaluable Asset | Technical |
| Track B — Climate Change, Packaging & Structural Engineering | ||
| 11:25–11:45 | Mr. Corne Roberts — Structured Decision Support for Wildfire Response | Technical |
| 11:45–12:05 | Mr. Grant Jepthas — Climate Change Impacts on River Systems: A Case Study of Flooding, Soil Erosion and Mitigation Measures | Technical |
| 12:05–12:25 | Ms. Amelia Lamprecht — Improving Production Flow in Strawberry Packhouse | Technical |
| 12:25–12:45 | Mr. Siboniso Zakwe — Simulation of the Airflow Pattern and Temperature Distribution Inside the Pig-House Environment Using CFD Models | Technical |
| 12:45–13:05 | Mr. Michael van Niekerk — Grape Packhouse Design: Innovation through Smart Tech and Engineering | Technical |
| 13:05–13:10 | Panel Discussion / Questions | Panel |
| 13:10–14:10 | Snack Platter Lunch & Viewing of Posters | Lunch |
| Technical Session 5 · 14:10–16:10 — parallel tracks | ||
| Track A — Hydrology & Dams (2-hour Workshop) | ||
| 14:10–16:10 | Dr. Udhav Maharaj (GroundTruth) — Improved Design Flood Estimation in SA using NaFSAT | Workshop |
| Track B — Circular Economy & Tour Induction | ||
| 14:10–14:40 | Mr. Chisenga Mubanga — Cellulose content and structural characterization of agricultural waste biomass for feedstock selection in cellulose-based biocomposite material production | Technical |
| 14:40–15:00 | Mr. Gert Meiring — Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment on Farms | Technical |
| 15:00–15:20 | Ms. Zikhona Buyeye — Agro-Processing Wastewater Management and Resource Recovery Opportunities in South Africa | Technical |
| 15:20–15:40 | Panel Discussion — Circular Economy Q&A | Panel |
| 15:40–16:10 | Mr. Aggenbach (Kathu Solar One) — Karoshoek CSP Solar (100 MW) induction video — for the Day 3 Tour to Karoshoek Solar One (Group A) | Video |
| 16:10–16:40 | Afternoon Tea & Viewing of Posters | Tea |
| Round Up & SAIAE AGM · 16:40–17:45 | ||
| 16:40–17:00 | SAIAE Executive Team — Round Up | Plenary |
| 17:00–17:45 | Mr. Pranesh Moodley — SAIAE Annual General Meeting · SAIAE President | AGM |
| Gala Dinner · from 18:00 | ||
| 18:00 | Bus transfer to Gala Dinner venue | |
| 18:30–19:15 | Arrival, Welcome Drinks & Wine / Gin Tasting | |
| 19:15–19:25 | Mrs. Chikondi Gurira — MC Opening & Welcome | |
| 19:25–19:40 | Ms. Newrene Klaaste — Official Address · MEC for Agriculture, Environment Affairs, Rural Development & Land Reform (Northern Cape) | |
| 19:40–20:00 | Starters & Entertainment | |
| 20:00–20:30 | Prof. Piet Croucamp — Guest Speaker · NWU Associate Professor, Political Studies & International Relations | |
| 20:30–20:50 | Main Course | |
| 20:50–21:30 | SAIAE Awards | |
| 21:30–21:50 | Dessert & Entertainment | |
| 21:50–22:00 | Vote of Thanks | |
| 22:00–Late | Networking & Closure / Bus transfer back | |
| Time | Session / Activity | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Technical Tours & Close of Symposium · 23 October | ||
| 07:20–07:30 | Mr. Marius Pretorius & Mr. Stefaans Erasmus — Briefing: Technical Tour Arrangements & Close of Symposium | Briefing |
| Technical Tours · 07:30–12:30 — select one group | ||
| Tour Group A | ||
| 07:30–09:30 | Visit One: Van der Colff (VDC) Raisins | |
| 10:30–12:30 | Visit Two: Karoshoek Solar One — Concentrated Solar Power (100 MW) | |
| Tour Group B | ||
| 07:30–09:30 | Visit One: Karsten Group, Roepersfontein | |
| 10:30–12:30 | Visit Two: Orange River Wine Cellars (ORC) | |
Delegates select one tour group. Lunch packs are provided — please advise the LOC of any dietary requirements in advance.
Parallel technical tracks run concurrently in separate venues — delegates may move between them. Times are subject to minor changes; items marked TBC are still to be confirmed.
The 2026 SAIAE Biennial Symposium takes place 21–23 October 2026 in Upington, Northern Cape. Secure your place and meet the speakers.