When discussing challenges in tropical agriculture, is it actually necessary to talk to researchers from the tropics? Birgit Zipf, second-year student reporter for the Tropentag 2014 conference, certainly believes so! She's tired of attending conferences where German, British, and American presenters are “talking about the ‘others’” from developing regions, instead of inviting and “rather talking with them.” But why is this distinction particularly important to Birgit? Birgit is beginning her doctoral research, wherein she will investigate the drivers and constraints of farmers’ adaptations to drought in Africa (University of Potsdam, Germany). In 2012, she completed her Masters of Science in Geography (University of Durham, U.K.), focusing on risk and environmental hazards. In her role as student reporter, she is particularly interested in meeting other researchers investigating tropical drought adaptation. The chance to meet colleagues from African institutions, and talk directly with them, is particularly exciting to her. She sees the Tropentag Conference as a “big but small conference at the same time.” Although around 800 people from around the world will gather in Prague this week, based on her experience from the 2013 Tropentag Conference, she expects the community to feel intimate—and the “top down” attitude of North-South—pleasantly absent.