You are in. Welcome to the room.
Your registration for the 3rd RCA Africa Conference has been received. Africa, let’s get into the game.
THANK YOU
Thank you for registering for the 3rd RCA Africa Conference, taking place on 09 and 10 March 2027 at Vredenheim Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, with pre-conference workshops and B2B engagements on 08 March.
You have just secured a seat in the only African room where engineering, law, insurance and finance sit together to protect the infrastructure this continent is building. We are glad you are in it.
If you have any questions please contact us at conference@one-eighty-degrees.com. we are more than happy to assist you.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
1.
Watch your inbox. Speaker announcements, agenda updates and conference news will follow in the months ahead, so keep an eye out for the RCA Africa newsletter.
2.
Book your travel early. Our official travel partner, Travelstart, can assist with flights and arrangements. Contact the team at travelbar@travelstart.com. We recommend the Protea Hotel as your delegate base, with shuttle transport to and from the venue on conference days.
3.
Diarise the dates. Block out 08 to 10 March 2027 now. The pre-conference day on 08 March includes technical workshops, B2B engagements and the opening wine tasting, fireside chat and braai. You do not want to arrive on the 9th and hear what you missed.
4.
Your briefing pack follows closer to the time. In the week before the conference you will receive your delegate briefing pack with the final programme, venue directions and everything you need for your two days in Stellenbosch.
RCA AFRICA
Africa’s industrial future is being built right now. In March 2027, you will be in the room helping to protect it.
We will see you in Stellenbosch.
The RCA Africa Conference Team
Questions about your registration?
Email: conference@one-eighty-degrees.com
Phone: +27 21 447 5258
Website: www.one-eighty-degrees.com
Download Brochures
TRAVEL & ACCOMMODATION
GETTING HERE, SORTED.
Vredenheim Wine Estate sits in the heart of the Stellenbosch winelands, one of the most accessible and rewarding corners of South Africa to travel to. Whether you’re flying in from Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, or arriving from across the region, our travel partner makes the journey simple so you can focus on what matters once you’re here.
Your travel partner: Travelstart
We’ve partnered with Travelstart to handle flights, accommodation, and visa requirements for delegates. One point of contact, the whole trip arranged.
- Email: travelbar@travelstart.com
- Direct line to Travelbar: 021 468 4321
- Website: www.travelstart.co.za
- Packages: packages.travelstart.co.za
Booking flights from your region:
- Nigeria-based delegates: book via travelstart.com.ng (fares in Nigerian naira)
- Other African countries: book via travelstart.com (fares in USD)
Where to stay
Protea Hotel: our recommended base (10.2 km from the venue)
This is where we’re hosting the conference community. Strong value for money, an excellent location, and exclusively for our delegates, a dedicated morning and evening shuttle running between the hotel and Vredenheim across the conference days. If you want the easiest, most connected experience, this is your stay. You’ll be among fellow delegates, and the logistics are handled.
Spier (3.6 km from the venue)
For delegates who prefer a more elegant, resort-style setting, Spier is just down the road. A beautiful option for those wanting to extend the winelands experience.
Ready to plan your trip?
Contact the Travelstart Travelbar team and they’ll arrange your flights, accommodation,
and any visa requirements from start to finish.
FAQ’s
The focus of the conference is to bring all the key players that come together naturally when disaster strikes, these are the underwriters, the project owners, legal professionals, loss adjusters, surveyors and engineers, and materials engineers, to get to the root of the failure.
This year we want to focus on two main themes, a look at exclusions in industrial policies and how materials engineering expertise can be used to revise these exclusions through a better understanding of failure mechanisms.
Secondly we want to bring to the fore how decisions are made when matters go to court or arbitration and how evidence is applied to the decision making process interrogating how evidence should be preserved, chain of custody, and the presentation of evidence, focussing on innovative technologies that bring clarity to complex claims.
We wish to strengthen the networking within the ecosystem by making the conference more engaging within the conference itself and having engaging fire side in the evenings.
It is One Eighty’s 25th Birthday which is a Silver Anniversary and considering a formal dinner with a band in celebration of the journey of snakes and ladders to get to where we are today on the last evening of the conference. Additional tickets will be available for this event.
The RCA Africa Conference 2027 is designed for professionals involved in understanding, managing, investigating, financing, insuring, adjudicating, and resolving complex failures, losses, and disputes who have a desire to become more proactive at preventing or reducing the consequences of failure for a more robust industrialisation of Africa and its Energy Security strategy.
This conference is particularly relevant for:
Insurance and Risk Professionals
- Underwriters
- Claims managers
- Reinsurers
- Brokers
- Risk managers
- Insurance executives
Asset Owners and Industry Leaders
- Project owners and developers
- Mining companies
- Energy and utilities operators
- Manufacturing and industrial organisations
- Infrastructure owners
- Public sector asset managers
Engineering and Technical Specialists
- Civil, mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers
- Materials engineers and metallurgists
- Forensic engineers
- Reliability and integrity specialists
- Failure analysts
- Technical consultants
Claims and Investigation Professionals
- Loss adjusters
- Quantity surveyors
- Damage assessment specialists
- Forensic investigators
- Expert witnesses
- Root cause analysis practitioners
Legal and Dispute Resolution Professionals
- Attorneys and advocates
- Construction and insurance lawyers
- Arbitrators and mediators
- Judges and decision-makers
- Claims consultants
- Contract and risk advisors
Technology and Innovation Leaders
- Digital forensic specialists
- Data analytics professionals
- Evidence management specialists
- Technology providers supporting claims, investigations, and dispute resolution
- Organisations developing innovative tools for visualisation, modelling, and forensic analysis
Academia and Research
- Researchers in engineering, materials science, risk management, and forensic disciplines
- Universities and research institutions advancing knowledge in failure mechanisms and dispute resolution
The conference will be held on the 9th-10th March 2027 in Cape Town at the Vredenheim Wine Estate, Stellenbosch. Preconference technical workshops will take place on the 8th March, and formal B2B meetings will be arranged those not technically aligned and wish to meet specific delegates for the purposes of high quality networking.
Early Bird Registration is currently open above. For partnerships or speaking opportunities, please contact OE front desk directly.
This conference is about making Africa’s Industrialisation and Energy Security Strategy successful by bringing to the front of each project a conversation about Materials Engineering and how it has a strong commercial impact on the success or failure of these high stakes projects that will affect 2.5 billion people by 2050.
RCA Africa brings together the professionals who investigate failures, manage risk, resolve claims, and determine outcomes. By uniting engineering, insurance, legal, and forensic expertise, it creates a unique platform for collaboration, learning, and innovation across the entire risk ecosystem.
Yes, CPD accreditation is currently being finalised and will be confirmed before registration opens.
Absolutely. We welcome the next generation of engineers and metallurgists, with dedicated sessions and student packages available.
Dr Janet Cotton Pr. Eng. is a materials engineer, metallurgist, entrepreneur, and industry pioneer on a mission to transform Africa through engineering excellence.
As the Founder and Managing Director of One Eighty Materials Engineering Solutions, Janet has spent more than two decades solving some of the continent’s most complex engineering challenges, helping industries understand why things fail, how to prevent it, and how to build more resilient infrastructure for the future. Under her leadership, One Eighty has grown into Africa’s largest materials engineering consulting company, home to the continent’s most widely scoped ISO 17025-accredited laboratory.
With a PhD in Materials Engineering and a passion for root cause analysis, forensic investigation, and sustainable industrialisation, Janet is a recognised thought leader who believes that engineering expertise is fundamental to Africa’s energy security, industrial growth, and economic prosperity.
Known for her bold vision, dynamic leadership, and ability to connect technical excellence with real-world impact, Janet champions the development of African engineering capability to positively affect the lives of 2.5 billion people by 2050.
Her philosophy is simple: bring high-level technology to real-life problems – and never stop asking why.