South Africa’s UCT warns of bogus conference

University leadership urges academics to report suspect meetings to police

The University of Cape Town has urged staff to be wary after an “apparent scam” conference falsely claimed the university’s campus as its venue.

UCT issued the warning in a circular to staff on 21 February. The conference, slated to take place at UCT on 20-22 February, was advertised as covering food security and hunger. Its organiser—a company called Ending Scientific Merits—has been listed as a predatory conference organiser by the United States’ California Institute of Technology’s library division.