The first South African Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE Project XII) workshop took place at the University of Cape Town in November 2017. The University of Cape Town, Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela University and Cape Peninsula University are part of ACE Project XII. At the workshop, students and supervisors gave talks on their areas of research specialisation, including biogeochemistry, molecular biology, phytoplankton taxonomy and ocean modelling. Ideas were bounced around and from the proposed ideas and progress exhibited, future plans were made.