“Come lets network in the Tropentag” says Dhusenti Manoharan, a graduate student from University of Hohenheim Attending the Tropentag conference for the 3rd time round this year, this early career scientists in Tropical and Sub tropical agriculture is looking forward to the 3 day conference from 19th to 21st September 2012 in Göttigen. Asked why “ As a student in the agricultural sciences, this is the best place to be as it presents a great opportunity for the young students and scientists to present their scientific findings, have others critic it and network with potential employers” she responds. It is here that she had the opportunity to present her work last year. “Last year we made a presentation on Ethics and Agriculture in one of the sessions on food and nutrition security just to get the views of those in the field and what they thought.” She recalls. “The response was quite good and this led to the introduction of the Ethics and Agriculture module at my University. I participated in the whole process and this was an enriching experience ”

As every year, the meeting of “Friends of CGIAR” took place in Tropentag 2011. "This public event is a great opportunity for networking, job opportunities and update of current news of the 15 centers of the Consultive Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR” said Prof. Dr. Asch, University of Hohenheim. Brigitte L. Maass, from CIAT- International Centre for Tropical Agriculture-, speaking in four languages showed her friendly predisposition for contacting with researches from everywhere. She is an agronomist specialized in forage. She was talking with Erica, a Colombian student who is making his master in Germany. Erica was asking for potential field work “I want to make my field work in Colombia for my thesis”. Brigitte was working in Colombia for many years as a young scientists. And now, she is located in Nairoby, Kenia. Something will work out of this meeting!

International conferences, like Tropentag, are excellent platforms for scientific knowledge exchange, networking, and for talented new professionals to present themselves. At least this is the experience of Dr. Barbara Ramsperger, the Executive Manager of the center for Agriculture in the Tropics and Subtropics of the Univesity of Hohenheim. This experienced researcher also has advice for new and ambitious researchers: - If you have a poster, show what you have already done with confidence. Exploit your 3 minutes of fame! - Be proactive and don’t be afraid to approach people and talk to them - Participate in the conference activities that you’re interested in. Environmental issues in tropical countries have different dimensions: There are many researchers working with these issues from different perspectives, such as poverty and development. Tropentag brings together Universities, researchers, students, NGOs and other institutions and allows them to share their knowledge in several poster sessions, oral presentation, plenery sessions and social events.