diff --git a/api.php b/api.php
index 7254383b..bfc9523a 100644
--- a/api.php
+++ b/api.php
@@ -874,7 +874,6 @@ switch($request[0]) {
 			case 'add':
 				// be logged in as a student in order to create a project
 				$user = user_load($_SESSION['users_id']);
-				$ret['userdat'] = $user;
 				if(!$user || !in_array('participant', $_SESSION['roles'])){
 					$ret['status'] = 'error';
 					$ret['error'] = "You must be logged in as a participant to create a project";
@@ -899,7 +898,7 @@ switch($request[0]) {
 
 				// if we got this far, then all's good and we can return the project data
 				$ret['status'] = 'ok';
-				$ret['project'] = getProject($regId);
+				$ret['project'] = getProject($_SESSION['users_id']);
 			break;
 
 			/*	APIDOC: project/view
@@ -908,7 +907,7 @@ switch($request[0]) {
 			*/
 			case 'view':
 				if($u=user_load($_SESSION['users_id'])) {
-					$p=getProject(getRegistrationsId($_SESSION['users_id']));
+					$p=getProject($_SESSION['users_id']);
 					if(is_array($p)) {
 						$ret['status'] = 'ok';
 						$ret['project'] = $p;
diff --git a/register_participants.inc.php b/register_participants.inc.php
index cc8a865d..d88e1114 100644
--- a/register_participants.inc.php
+++ b/register_participants.inc.php
@@ -677,15 +677,32 @@ function getRegistrationsId($user){
 	return $result['registrations_id'];
 }
 
-function getProject($registrations_id){
+function getProject($userId){
 	global $conference;
+
+	$userid = intval($userId);
+	$result = mysql_fetch_assoc(mysql_query("SELECT registrations_id FROM users WHERE id = $userId"));
+	if(!is_array($result)){
+		return "register_participants.inc.php::getProject -> User not found";
+	}
+	$regId = $result['registrations_id'];
 	// FIXME - in the future, this should be able to handle a many-to-many
 	// relationship in projects to registrations (so remove that LIMIT 1)
 	$fields = implode(',', array(
-		'id', 'projectdivisions_id', 'title', 'language', 'req_electricity',
-		'registrations_id', 'req_table', 'req_special', 'summary'
+		'projects.id',
+		'registrations.num',
+		'projects.projectdivisions_id',
+		'projects.title',
+		'projects.language',
+		'projects.req_electricity',
+		'projects.registrations_id',
+		'projects.req_table',
+		'projects.req_special',
+		'projects.summary'
 	));
-	$q = mysql_query("SELECT $fields FROM projects WHERE registrations_id='$registrations_id' AND conferences_id='".$conference['id']."' LIMIT 1");
+	$q = mysql_query("SELECT $fields FROM projects 
+		JOIN registrations ON registrations.id = projects.registrations_id
+		WHERE projects.registrations_id='$regId' AND projects.conferences_id='".$conference['id']."' LIMIT 1");
 	if(mysql_error()) {
 		$returnval = "register_participants.inc.php::getProject -> " . $returnval;
 	}else{
diff --git a/testapi.php b/testapi.php
index 080f2323..4fd13a33 100644
--- a/testapi.php
+++ b/testapi.php
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ email address: <input type="text" name="email"></input><br/>
 </form>
 
 <h2>Project related commands</h2>
+<h3>Start a new project</h3>
+<a href="api/project/add">start a new project</a><br/>
 <h3>Join a project</h3>
 <form method = "post" action = "api/project/join">
 <label>project e-mail address:<input type="text" name="email"></input></label><br/>