

Te Pūkenga Region 4 Research Symposium: 30 November – 1 December, Invercargill
The annual Otago Polytechnic, Southern Institute of Technology, and Ara Institute of Canterbury joint research symposium (OPSITARA) is now the Te Pūkenga Region 4 research symposium. In 2023 the symposium will be held at the SIT Invercargill Campus on Thursday 30th November and Friday 1st December.
The purpose of OPSITARA is to showcase the diversity of research undertaken by staff and postgraduate students across Te Pūkenga. All research disciplines and methodologies of inquiry are welcome, including (but not limited to) applied and technological research, rangahau Māori, creative practice, and pedagogical research. As there will be no national symposium in 2023, we are inviting participation from all regions of Te Pūkenga. Registration is free.
Abstract submission was open from 20 June to 25 August (extended deadline 1st September) 2023 through the following link: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/OPSITARA2023. If you submitted an abstract, you can view your submissions and engage with the review process using the same link.
Registration for the symposium is now open. If you are planning to attend the symposium in person, please fill in the registration form at the following link: https://forms.office.com/r/M65R9Lhrdm.
Dr James Savage and Dr Sally Bodkin-Allen
Symposium Chairs
If you have any questions about the symposium or submission process, please contact us: researchoffice@sit.ac.nz
Key Dates
20 June | Call for abstracts opens |
25 August (1st September) | Abstract submission deadline (Extended deadline) |
1 September | Registration opens for in-person attendance |
29 September | Notification of abstract decisions & reviewer comments |
13 October | Deadline for revisions and responding to reviewer comments |
20 October | Draft programme released. |
27 October | Registration closes |
24 November | Deadline for submission of pre-recorded presentations |
30 November | Symposium begins |
29 March 2024 | Submission of full papers for conference proceedings |
Presentation Options and Guidelines
There will be five categories of presentation at this even, and corresponding authors may submit at most one abstract per category. OPSITARA will be primarily run as an in-person event this year, however, there is one option for those who cannot or do not wish to attend in person.
Attendees interested in organising a meeting of a Research Community of Practice during the symposium should also make a submission (details below). We will review meeting requests at the deadline and allocate a timeslot for your meeting in the conference programme that does not clash with talks.
Type | Format / Description | Submission Guidelines |
Five-minute Findings (in person) | A five-minute presentation (in person) plus two minutes for questions. Maximum of THREE slides (not including title slide and references / acknowledgements). | Submit a title and a short abstract (maximum 150 words). Five-minute Findings are an appropriate format to present in-progress work, results from a literature review, teaching practice, or useful tools, methods or resources. Short summaries of completed research are also welcome. |
Pre-recorded presentation (online) | A pre-recorded presentation of up to ten minutes. | Submit a title and an abstract (maximum 300 words). If you are presenting the results of a research project, the following information should be included:
If you are presenting in-progress work, results from a literature review, teaching practice, or useful tools, methods, or resources feel free to submit a shorter abstract with a different structure. Citations and references should NOT be included in your abstract. |
Research Presentation (in person) | A fifteen-minute in-person presentation plus five minutes for questions. | Submit a title and an abstract (maximum 300 words). The following information should be included:
Citations and references should NOT be included in your abstract. |
Creative Practice Presentation | A display, performance, or interactive presentation of creative work. Examples include (but are not limited to):
Accepted presentations in this category will be presented during a two-hour creative showcase, during which authors will also have the opportunity to give a short talk about their work. | Submit a title and an abstract (maximum 300 words) explaining the creative practice that you intend to present. Please also include any technical requirements needed for the creative presentation (e.g. space requirements, piano, sound system, audio visual system). Optionally, you may also upload supporting documentation such as photos of the artwork, audio files of music, links to games or video clips of films, animations or performances (up to 20MB per file). Hyperlinks to larger files may be included at the end of the abstract if needed. |
Research Poster | Posters must be A1 size (portrait or landscape). The presenter will be expected to stand by the poster during the dedicated poster session so that conference attendees can ask questions while viewing the poster. | Submit a title and an abstract (maximum 300 words) containing the following:
If you are presenting in-progress work, results from a literature review, teaching practice, or useful tools, methods, or resources feel free to submit a shorter abstract with a different structure. Citations and references should NOT be included in your abstract. |
Research Community of Practice Meeting | A meeting of a Research Community of Practice in a particular field (e.g. Health and Wellbeing, Business etc.). Accepted meetings will be assigned a slot during the symposium. The submitting author(s) will be expected to organise the meeting with support from the symposium chairs. | Submit a title (preferred form ‘RCoP Meeting: Field of Research’) and a short abstract (maximum 150 words) containing the following:
Please include any confirmed co-organisers or panel members as authors when making your submission. We will follow up with these contacts for further details. |
The organizing committee may offer to accept a submission in a different format than the type selected. For example, following peer review an abstract submitted as a Research Presentation may be offered acceptance as a Five-minute Findings.
Abstract Submission Process
Please submit your Abstract through this link: https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/OPSITARA2023.
If you do not already have a Microsoft CMT account, you will first need to register for one and verify your email. Please use your institutional email address so we can verify your affiliation. After creating your account and logging in you will reach the Author Console page. Click on the ‘Create a New Submission‘ button and fill out all the required fields as instructed, then click ‘Submit‘ at the bottom. You will be taken to a printable confirmation page, and will also receive an email confirmation of submission.
If you make a mistake during submission, you can edit any part of your completed submission from the Author Console page up until the submission deadline.
If you are submitting a creative practice presentation and would like to upload supporting documentation, you can add Supplementary Material to a submitted presentation on the Author Console page.
During abstract submission, you will be asked whether you would like to attend or be a panel member on a Research Community of Practice Session. This is to gauge interest in holding dedicated sessions for RCoPs during the symposium and will not influence decisions about abstract acceptance.
All abstracts for research or creative presentations will be peer reviewed.
Indicative Programme
Thursday 30 November | Friday 1 December |
11:30: Mihi whakatau | 09:00-12:00: Parallel presentation sessions |
12:30-17:00: Parallel presentation sessions | 12:30-14:30: Parallel presentation sessions |
17:30-19:30 – Poster Session & Creative Showcase | 14:30-15:00: Symposium ends |