To the membership of SAERA

I do hope that each of you and your families are well and safe

The executive committee has met last week Friday to consider its activities within the context of this COVID-19 pandemic. The following decisions have been taken by the executive and in consultation with the SIG co-ordinators and conference hosting universities:

1. 1. The planned October 2020 conference is now officially cancelled.
   2. Nominations for SAERA Research Honours Award and Best Thesis Award for 2020 will continue as planned – kindly make nominations for these awards.
   3. The October 2021 conference will be hosted by the School of Education at WITS University.
   4. The October 2022 conference will be hosted by the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Cape.
   5. For the duration of the next six months, the Special Interest Groups (SIGs),  through their respective co-ordinators, will lead various forms of engagement through Zoom and other platforms, on issues related to their respective SIG’s activities within the context of COVID-19.
   6. We encourage that member of SAERA to pay their membership fees directly to SAERA. This is an important issue as it has legal, accountability, auditing and organisational implications as a Research Association. The membership fees are as follows: Full membership R400.00; student membership R200.00; retired academics R200.00. Request for an invoice or banking details from Rosemarie, our administrator via email.In organising the activities for the next six months, we invite you to suggest any specific issues that you would like the SIGs to focus on. Kindly send your suggestions to Rosemarie (rose@saera.co.za) by the end of the week so that it can be incorporated within the plan.
   We also invite thought leaders in any specific discipline, areas of scholarship or responsive issues to the current and unfolding educational matters to also lead a Zoom session. Should you take up this offer, kindly communicate with Rosemarie and myself so that we can set this up for you.
   I am also consulting with our webpage designer to explore possibilities to post up short writing (up to 2000 words) of Education and Educational Research within the context of COVID-19. More information on this will be made available to membership as we progress with developing our webpage.All the best and keep safe

   Labby Ramrathan

Programme outline