Research for Development in 21st Century: What do we need from a Global Challenges Research Fund?

Andrew Thompson, Professor of Global and Imperial History and Professional Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford will be present this seminar.

Thompson He is the co-chair of the Global and Imperial History Centre at the University of Oxford. Andrew's research interests span global histories of humanitarianism, human rights and development; the history of modern globalisation and the relationship between globalisation and empire; the effects of empire on British private and public life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; histories of migration and mobility (especially postcolonial migrations to Britain and France); and the history of colonial and apartheid South Africa. He has also written on Anglo-Argentine relations, transnational migration and migrant remittances, and public memories and legacies of empire. He is currently researching international humanitarianism and human rights and the emergence of the modern aid and development sector which forms the subject of his forthcoming work Humanitariaism on Trial: How a global system of aid and development emerged through the end of empire (Oxford University Press).

This seminar is hosted by WiSER and the Global Change Institute.

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O'Week Witsie for Life

Your Ticket to Becoming a Witsie for Life

11:00: Meet at Gate C, Hostel Drive, to collect your T-shirt and enter the stadium. Follow the sounds of the Bidvest Wits Band

11:00 - 12:00: Getting branded as a Witsie: face-painting, foam fingers, kudu horns, selfie-frames.

Kick-off is at 12:00

ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY FOR ALL FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

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The “yuck” emotion: How disgust influences people’s risk perceptions and behaviour

Professor Siegrist Michael from ETH Zürich, Switzerland will present this seminar.

Food intake, sexuality, or interactions with other humans not only have obvious benefits, but these activities are also associated with the risk of getting in contact with pathogens. Michael will present results of various experiments and surveys suggesting that disgust sensitivity is not only related to hygienic behavior, food intake, and food waste production, but other issues such as how immigrants are perceived. Disgust is also a factor that influences people’s risk perceptions of food hazards and the acceptance of novel food technologies. Disgust is an important emotion that protects us, but there is also a dark side to this emotion.

This lecture is hosted by the  School of Human and Community Development and the Global Change Institute.

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South Africa’s Energy Transition

The Wits Business School will host this panel discussion.

 The climate crisis dominated discussion at the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) conference in Davos. With an increasing sense of urgency, a global transition away from fossil fuels is gaining traction. Will South Africa be able to manage this transition? How? What will 2020 bring for our energy industry and its transition? Wits Business School, along with our partners FTI Consulting, invites you to the Africa Energy Leadership Centre (AELC)’s first public event of the year, where our panel of experts will share their views on this critically important topic. Our panellists include:

• Ed Cameron, Senior Vice President, Alternative Gas Supply at Sasol
• Kiren Maharaj, Chairperson at SANEA
• Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena, Head of Africa at PUMA Energy
• Priscillah Mabelane, Chief Executive Officer at BP

The discussion will take place at FTI in Rosebank, and will be facilitated by Professor Rod Crompton, Director of the AELC at Wits Business School.  

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Global Women's Breakfast 2020: Bonding to create future leaders

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) will host a global women's breakfast, themed "Bonding to create future leaders."

Scientists from around the world are invited to participate in the IUPAC 2020 Global Women’s Breakfast (GWB2020). This global event will be held on a single day, February 12, 2020, one day after the United Nations Day of Women and Girls in Science. The overall purpose of GWB2020 is to establish an on-going virtual network where women in the chemical and related sciences can connect with each other in a meaningful way to support their professional aspirations.

This event is open to female academic staff and postdocs in the chemistry and related sciences fields. 

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Walter Hood: Recent Work

The Wits School of Architecture and Planning will host Walter Hood, a landscape designer and artist to present this lecture.

Hood creates urban spaces that meld architectural and fine arts expertise with a commitment to designing ecologically sustainable public spaces that empower marginalised communities. Over his career, he has transformed traffic islands, vacant lots, and freeway underpasses into spaces that challenge the legacy of neglect of urban neighbourhoods. Through engagement with community members, he teases out the natural and social histories as well as current residents’ shared patterns and practices of use and aspirations for a place.

Hood is also the founder and creative director of Hood Design Studio. He is the recipient of the 2017 Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award, the 2019 Knight Foundation Public Spaces Fellowship, the 2019 MacArthur Fellowship as well as the 2019 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.

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African Americans and Africa: From Slavery to Present

Professor Nemata Blyden from George Washington University will present this Black History Month talk.

Hosted by the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS), the talk is based on Blyden's 2019 book. 

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Myths, lies, and theories of change – when do skills programmes lead to employment?

The Centre for Researching Education and Labour will host Dr Rosie Lugg to present this seminar.

Dr Rosie Lugg is the Team Leader for ‘’JOBA’’, the Skills for Employment project funded by Ukaid in Mozambique. She holds a PhD in Education (Policy Studies) from the University of London.

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Preventive audiology: Focus on occupational noise induced hearing loss

Professor Katijah Khoza-Shangase and Dr Nomfundo Moroe will host this event as part of World Hearing Day observed on 3 March.

As part of establishing a Wits Preventive Audiology Research Focus (towards Research Unit), this event is aimed at providing contextually relevant and responsive research in occupational noise induced hearing loss (ONIHL) and Hearing Conservation Programmes (HCPs). At this event Khoza-Shangase and  Moroe  will announe their latest publications. 

Launching of a Special Issue Journal:

Khoza-Shangase, K & Moroe N (March, 2020). Occupational Hearing Loss in Africa: An interdisciplinary view of the current status: Special Issue. South African Journal of Communications Disorders (Eds) (SciELO).

Announcing upcoming edited books:

1. Khoza-Shangase K & Kanji A (in press 2020). Early Detection and Intervention in Audiology: An African Perspective. (Eds) Wits University Press – NIHSS Funded
2. Khoza-Shangase, K. (Ed). (2020). Preventive Audiology: An African Perspective (1st edition) (Ed) AOSIS - NIHSS Funded
3. Khoza-Shangase, K & Moroe, N (Eds). (2021) Occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss: An African Perspective (Eds) AOSIS - NIHSS/CARTA funded

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The Possibilities of Collective Space

The Wits School of Architecture and Planning (SoAP) will host this lecture and exhibition from Future Part with Boogertman & Partners.

The Possibilities of Collective Space’ is a collaborative exhibition which poses six questions about architecture and the future role of the architect. FuturePart is a collective agency for rigorous research and experimental design thinking, with a strong focus on process and digital technology.

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Global Labour University Seminar Series

Ronald Wesso and Amy Tekié from One Wage Campaign will host this seminar.

One Wage has been fighting for the rights of farmworkers, domestic workers and EPWP workers to earn the full

minimum wage, and ultimately a living wage. Join us for a discussion on the challenges of mobilising precarious workers in the traditional labour movement.

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Contesting the Degeneration of Democracy

Professor Michelle William will present her inaugural lecture.

Democracy is in crisis, registering in the rise of exclusionary politics, authoritarianism and neo-fascist movements around the world. The hollowing out of democracy has happened over three decades of neoliberalism’s assault. In this inaugural lecture, Williams unpacks the forces behind the degeneration of democracy and looks to experiments contesting democracy’s capture.  Looking to emancipatory alternatives provides a compass through which to build more robust forms of democracy that engender social and ecological justice. 

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Current urban policies and practices in Egypt:Informal settlements and new urban developments

Hassan Abdelaziz Elmouelhi from the Technical University of Berlin will present this seminar.

In Cairo, like in many metropolises in the Global South, informal settlements or ‘ashwa’eyat (meaning haphazard) are the product of rapid uncontrolled urbanisation in recent decades. Cairo’s ‘ashwa’eyat, largely ignored by the former neoliberal state regime, are frequently the only option for the rural migrants and the Cairo urban poor to fulfill their housing needs. Since informal urban processes are strongly influenced and shaped by the residents, it is paramount to study their culture in relation to informality and urban space. Culture is the complex set of values and controlling mechanisms that govern behaviours. Dismantling culture is a key for resolving its complexity. One of the main questions to discuss is: how do different cultural factors interact with the urban physical characteristics to influence Cairo’s ‘ashwa’eyat development to form “informality”? This seminar will briefly try to contextualize an ongoing process adopted by the Egyptian state to address development, and specifically urban development, within the framework of neoliberalism, as indispensable from politics, and power, based on the case of the Cairo New Administrative Capital (NAC). 

Elmouelhi is an architect and urban planner by training and works as a senior researcher and lecturer at Berlin Technical University. His academic interests within international urbanism include, culture and urban informality in relation to aspects of urban development and governance, focusing on the Arab region. In partnership with several universities, and international cooperation organizations, he coordinates and acts as a principle investigator for several projects in different interdisciplinary topics, mainly informal urbanism, urban management, urban mobility, new settlements, in addition to the localizing of SDGs. He holds a PhD from TU Berlin, entitled: “Culture and informal urban development: A case study of Cairo’s informal settlements”. He participated as an expert and consultant in activities related to the global south urbanism, including Germany, Tunisia, Tanzania, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and India.   

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A U-turn to the Future: Sustainable Urban Mobility since 1850

Ruth Oldenziel, Professor of history and innovation at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands will present this seminar.

Mobility from local bike-sharing initiatives to overhauls of transport infrastructure is one of the most important areas in which modern cities are trying to realize a more sustainable future. Yet even as politicians and planners look ahead and focus on the future, there remain critical insights to be gleaned from the history of urban mobility and the unsustainable practices that still impact our everyday lives. In exploring the notion of a “usable past,” the presentation “A U-turn to the Future: Sustainable Urban Mobility since 1850” examines the the ecological, social, and economic aspects of urban mobility in its relation to urban planning. It shows how historical inquiry can make both conceptual and practical contributions to the projects of sustainability and urban renewal. Based on the just published book and the collective investigation, this presentation shows how our cities came to be as unsustainable in the recent past and uncovers hidden histories containing important clues for how to make cities more sustainable in the future.

Oldenziel is editor in chief of Technology and Culture and directs a Research-Book-Web-Teaching project Cycling Cities: The Global Experience.

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Wits Digimine Digital Mining Seminar

The Wits Mining Institutes’ Digital Mining Laboratory, “Digimine”, will host this seminar on digital mining technology.

The seminar sheds light on digital technology trends within the mining industry and will be headlined by a keynote address by Sibanye-Stillwater’s CEO, Neal Froneman.

“The seminar is for anyone interested in digital mining in the underground environment,” said WMI director Professor Fred Cawood. “We will showcase our laboratory and our research agenda –developing digital technologies for mining applications.”

Professor Cawood said delegates will learn about the research and case studies developed in recent years by the DigiMine, the WMI and its partners. The keynote address, which will focus on Sibanye-Stillwater’s view of mining in the digital age, will be followed by a range of informative and interactive sessions highlighting technological systems for the mining industry.

“It is a unique event that provides delegates with access to information on advanced fundamental and applied research and demonstrates the value of application through real word case studies”, says Alex Fenn, Sibanye-Stillwater’s group head of innovation. “The seminar is unique in the sense that it truly bridges the gap between industry and academia, a much-needed connection given the times”.

Attendees will gain first-hand insights into how these have been applied to solve 21^st century mining problems. The seminar also counts as a Wits University-accredited short course, so participants will receive a certificate of competence.

The semiar highlights include a keynote address Neal Froneman, on Sibanye-Stillwater's view of Mining in the Digital Age, and talks by Professor Ian Jandrell (Dean of Wits University’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment) and Alex Fenn (Head of Technology and Innovation at Sibanye-Stillwater).

There will also be a visit to the DigiMine laboratory, demonstrating the process within the laboratory as well as highlighting key best practice technology and systems. Selected postgraduate research students and technology partners will present their work and demonstrate their solutions – highlighting the unique and symbiotic relationship between the DigiMine's research agenda and industry in general.

There will be additional case studies on best practice systems as well as opportunities for the delegates to participate in various simulated environments as individuals and groups.           

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Daughters of the dust

The Wits School of Arts Film and Television Department with partners will host this film screening.

Daughters of the Dust is the story of a African American family preparing to move north at the start of the 20th Century. The film brings to life the changing values, conflicts and struggles that confront them as they leave their homeland for the promise of a new and better future. Daughters of the Dust explores the unique culture of the Gullah people, descendants of slaves who lived in relative isolation on the sea islands of the Georgia coast.

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Free ear examinations: World Hearing Day

The Speech Pathology and Audiology Department at Wits will offer ear examinations for staff and students in celebration of World Hearing Day on 3 March 2020.

Students in the department (under supervision) will perform otoscopy (an ear examination) and tympanometry (middle ear pressure readings) on the day. Full hearing screenings can be arranged with the University Speech and Hearing Clinic in the Umthombo Building

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Frottage; Frictions of Intimacy across the Black Diaspora

Narrative Enquiry for Social Transformation (NEST) project will host this panel discussion.

Panellists include

•  Dr Keguro MAcharia, ( Independent Scholar)
•  Gorota Chegeta ( Wits University)
•  Zethu Matebeni ( University of Stellenbosch)
•  Danai Mupotsa ( Wits University)

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Integrating different kinds of knowledge: How ‘autonomy tours’ from LCT are the way to go

Professor Karl Maton, Director of the Centre of Knowledge-Building at the University of Sydney will present this seminar.

A key question for education is how to bring together different forms of knowledge. Teachers need to connect students’ experiences with academic knowledge and integrate study skills into teaching subject areas, and bring together disciplines. Scholars often need to bring together different disciplines in their research. In this talk Professor Maton will discuss the LCT concepts of ‘autonomy codes’ which conceptualise where knowledge practices come from and for what purpose they are used. He will draw on classroom data from a major research project to analyse how teachers attempt to integrate two different forms of knowledge and why a particular way of teaching called ‘autonomy tours’ is the key to success.

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Touring like a champion: Workshop on the new concepts of ‘autonomy codes’ from LCT in research In th

Professor Karl Maton, Director of the Centre of Knowledge-Building at the University of Sydney will present this workshop.

In this workshop, Professor Maton will introduce the newest dimension of Legitimation Code Theory: Autonomy. These concepts are particularly valuable for understanding how different things come together, such as using apps on digital devices in classrooms, teaching mathematics in science, using everyday examples to explain history, and more. In this workshop, Maton will also work through some examples of detailed analysis of data using the concepts, giving participants a flavour of how they work and what they can reveal.

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New ways of researching the arts

The Humanities Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Key Concepts Series will host a conversation on new ways of researching the arts.

Speakers include:

Dr Andile Khumalo: a music composer and theorist based at the Wits School of Arts. His talk will focus on Practise – Led Research: The Act of Doing as a way of investigating the Arts.

Dr Same Mdluli: an art historian, manager and curator at the Standard Bank Gallery, she is interested in contemporary South (African) art, Black expressive modes and aesthetics as well as the conversations between jazz and visual art. 

Dr Nicola Cloete: a scholar based in History of Art and Heritage studies at the Wits School of Arts, will engage with the idea of walking pedagogies in arts-based contexts.  

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Are we coping with Covid-19 in SA and Africa? A webinar by Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine

The Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine & Wits University Press, sponsored by Sabinet, present a Covid-19 webinar on 11 June,16:00 CAT (10:00 EST). #WJCMCovid-19

Join medical experts in discussion about current management protocols and the impact of Covid-19 in South Africa and other parts of Africa. (16:00-17:00pm Central Africa Time and 10:00-11:00am Eastern Standard Time for the US & Canada). #WJCMCovid-19

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

AGENDA 

The Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine is a peer-reviewed, Open Access scientific research journal published triannually, and was established to provide a forum to showcase scientific research from the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg as well as from other institutions nationally and internationally. Submissions are welcomed and the journal has a particular focus to encourage clinical and translational research especially from new academics, including students, fellows and junior consultants.

This journal is indexed with PubMed Central.

The current issue of the journal is a Covid-19 Special Issue. The next issue of the Wits Journal of Clinical Medicine will be published in July 2020.

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Day of Africa's Scientific Renaissance

The 30th of June is commemorated on the AU calendar as the Day of Africa’s Scientific Renaissance.

This year, the Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment at the Wits Business School in partnership with MINDS, the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge systems at Uiniversity of Kwazulu Natal (UKZN) and AUDA – NEPAD are convening African researchers to discuss African languages in Science and Technology and Africa’s contribution to medicine and the healing arts.

The speakers include:

• Mrs Graca Machel – Chairperson, Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS)
• Dr Nkosana Moyo – Founder, Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS)
• Hassan O. Kaya – Director of the DSI-NRF Centre in Indigenous Knowledge systems, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
• Mr Amine Adoum – AUDA-NEPAD Director of Programmes Delivery and Coordination
• Dr Aunkh H Chabalala – Director of the Indigenous Knowledge-Based Technology Innovation Unit of the South African Department of Science and Technology.
• Professor Muxe Nkondo – Member of Council, University of South Africa
• Ms Sara Menker – Board Member, Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS)

The audience will have an opportunity to engage with these speakers. Look forward to join this if you are interested in Africa’s progression and learning of the African way of Science and Technology.

Registration https://bit.ly/317U92R 

Livestream: https://bit.ly/2zW1wiG 

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Subjective experiences and practices of sexual performance concerns among young men in Mwanza City

Simon Mutebi, an assistant lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania will present this seminar.

Sexual performance concerns have become widespread among young men in many African countries, including Tanzania and have even become the subject of not only the national parliamentary debate but also in social media outlets in the country. However, despite being the subject of debate, it is surprising that there is no in-depth qualitative study which has been conducted on the meanings and experiences as well as practices of the phenomenon from young men’s themselves.

Mutebi's work fills this gap by exploring how young men in urban Tanzania subjectively experience, and act on, their sexual performance (concerns) in urban settings, and how their experiences and practices are shaped by particular cultural constructions of the body and the larger socio-economic contexts in which they live.

Theoretically, the work builds on social-constructionist studies of the body and embodiment in order to show how young men’s experiences of their ‘failing’ bodies shape their everyday sexual and other social encounters and how they navigate the urban healing market in Tanzania in order to find remedies for their suffering. Based on 13 months of ethnographic research in Mwanza City, the work has explored the individual and collective experiences of young men’s sexual performance concerns in relation to wider changes in gender and family relations in the context of urbanization; the importance of the (social) media for young men’s identity constructions; and the pluralistic health care setting in Mwanza which promises relief for sexual performance concerns.

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The impact of Covid-19 on nutritional status and food insecurity

The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development and the Global Health Research Institute together with partners will host this webinar.

 Panellists:

 Dr Julian May, DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security │An overview of the impact of lockdown interventions on food security in South Africa

Dr Chantell Witten, University of the Free State│ Policy analysis of the exacerbated children’s nutrition crisis and interventions that can be made

Dr Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, DOHaD Africa and the African Population and Health Research Centre, Kenya │ The impact in Kenya on food insecurity and its implications for Kenya’s child nutrition plan

Dr Asmaa El Hamdouchi,  Unité Mixte de Recherche en Nutrition et Alimentation, CNESTEN-Université Ibn Tofail, Morocco│ Impact of Covid-19 on food security in Morocco : How accessible has healthy and affordable food been during this time? Challenges and recommendations

Professor Caroline Fall, MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Research Unit/GHRI (Southampton) │Moderation and response

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The unanticipated costs of Covid-19 to the NCD burden of South Africa and the whole of Africa

The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development and the Global Health Research Institute together with partners will host this webinar.

Panellists:

• Professor Abdallah Daar, DOHaD Africa and University of Toronto │ Is the Covid-19 risk to people with chronic non-communicable diseases getting the attention it needs in Africa?
• Distinguished Professor Lenore Manderson, Wits School of Public Health │ Why the importance of the continued care of people living with other lifelong medical conditions must be continued and strengthened within the context of the swing of attention and resources to Covid-19

Moderation and response: Dr Lisa Ware, DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development and MRC-Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit.

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Covid-19 and its socio-economic impacts within South Africa

The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development and the Global Health Research Institute together with partners will host this webinar.

Panellists include:

• Mr Zeph Nhleko, Chief economist, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) │An overview of the economic impact upon South(ern) Africa and how an expanded infrastructure programme is crucial for the economic recovery from the recession
• Professor Imraan Valodia, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits University │What are the possibilities for a more equitable, more resilient and more sustainable South African economy in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis and what will it require?
• Professor Ronelle Burger, University of Stellenbosch still │What has been the social impact of Covid-19 in South Africa and has there been sufficient social solidarity?
• Mrs Ilanza Perold, Cape Peninsula University of Technology │ What has been the socio-economic impact of the cancellation in South Africa of major public events?
• Dr Kalyanaraman Kumaran, Global Health Research Institute (Southampton) │Moderation and response

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How Covid-19 is exacerbating the crisis of contamination, pollution and climate threats

The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development and the Global Health Research Institute together with partners will host this webinar.

Panellists include:

• Prof Angela Mathee, Environment and Health Research Unit, SAMRC │ What are the implications of Covid-19 for environmental health?
• Dr Nigelle Sweijd, Director, Alliance for Collaboration on Climate and Earth Systems Science, South Africa│ COVID-19: How the pandemic has created unprecedented opportunity and expediency in terms of climate change and pollution management
• Dr Kate Ward, Global Health Research Institute (Southampton) │Moderation and response

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Metallated Complexes & Apoptosis: new bullets in our chemotherapeutic arsenal?

Professor Marianne Cronje, Head of the School of Molecular and Cell Biology, will present her inagural lecture.

Cancer is a growing burden in Africa. By 2040, it is estimated that cancer incidence will more than double in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that more than twice as many cancer deaths will occur in low- and middle-income countries compared to upper-income countries. Worldwide, cancer causes more deaths than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and the global burden is estimated to be 27 million new cancer cases in 2050. Cancer represents a significant and under-appreciated public health problem in Africa.

Most chemotherapeutic agents result in severe side-effects and eventual resistance to treatment. Thus, finding alternative compounds that are target-specific, highly effective yet easy to manufacture and available at low cost remains urgent and important. An overview of our endeavours this past decade will provide further insight into the selective targeting of cell death with metallated compounds in cancer cells and support our belief that these are promising additions to the arsenal of chemotherapeutics.

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Women's Day Talk: Menopause in the workplace

Dr Daphney Conco will present this Women's Day talk.

Join Dr Daphney Conco from the Wits School of Public Health as she talks menopause and its impact on your wellbeing. Whether you are perimenopausal, currently menopausal or post menopausal, you won't want to miss this life changing discussion. 

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Inequality in a Global Perspective

Professor Ravi Kanbur from Cornell University will present the annual inequality lecture hosted by the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies.

This lecture will explore the factual, causal and policy dimensions of the intricate patterns of inequality change within and between countries over the last three decades.

Kanbur researches and teaches in development economics, public economics and economic theory at Cornell University. He is well known for his role in policy analysis and engagement in international development. He has served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He has taught at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Essex, Warwick and Columbia. He has also published in the leading economics journals, including Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory and Economic Journal.
 
He is Co-Chair of the Food Economics Commission and Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress. The positions he has held include: Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, President of the Human Development and Capability Association, President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, and member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty.

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Unlocking Private Investments for Public Infrastructure Development in South Africa

School of Construction Economics and Management in partnership with the Construction Management Foundation will host this seminar.

Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the Head of Investment and Infrastructure in the Presidency will deliver the keynote address.

The panellists include:

• Professor David Root, Head of School at School of Construction Economics and Management
• Dr Sitsabo Dlamini, Chairperson at the Council for the Built Environment
• Mr Ronnie Siphika, Chief Executive at Construction Management Foundation

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Transformation and the position of Women in Academia 26 years post-democracy

The Wits Transformation and Employment Equity Office (TEEO) invites you to a Women’s Month Dialogue with the Chancellor: Dr Judy Dlamini.

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Webinar on Gender-based Violence

Womxn’s Month Webinar On Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

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2020 Southern Africa City Studies Conference

The 2020 conference will feature over 225 speakers presenting from research organisations and higher education institutions based in 19 different countries.

The 2020 Southern Africa City Studies Conference (SACSC) will be held virtually from 31 August to 4 September. This 2020 conference is being co-hosted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), along with the Centre for Urbanism & Built Environment Studies (CUBES), and the NRF Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning, both at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Witwatersrand.

The 2020 conference is the fifth event in this series, following earlier conferences in 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2016. These conferences are interdisciplinary forums for urban scholars and are hosted by a network of South African urban research units. This year the conference offers a variety of paper and themed sessions, panels and events; with over 225 speakers presenting from research organisations and higher education institution based in 19 different countries. As in previous years, the 2020 event provides an important platform for local and international scholars to expose their work to constructive, critical discussion and to engage with ideas, theoretical framings and methodological innovations in the field of urban studies. The event also acts as a developmental platform for younger and emerging scholars, including post-graduate students, to come to the fore and contribute to the wide field of urban studies.

In addition to the impressive variety of urban subjects under discussion, some researchers have offered initial contributions on the implications of COVID-19 for cities, a topic that will surely echo through urban studies for many years to come.
 
Please browse through the programme and the abstract book, and if there are sessions that you would like to attend, please do complete the short registration form whereupon you will be provided with the meeting links. 

Visit the conference website for registration information: https://www.sacsc2020.com/ and follow @sacsc2020 on Twitter for programme updates and session reminders.

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Stories for Africa at Drama for Life Festival

The Drama for Life Festival will awaken your spirit and vanquish the boredom and the mundane that has crept in with the pandemic.

The 12th Drama For Life Conference and Festival invites you to explore the arts landscape in the time of Covid-19. Prepare for a four-day adventure from 20-24 August 2020.

The 2020 DFL is appropriately themed Masidlale: Exploring connection. Masidlale means ‘let’s play’ in isiZulu. The festival provides a space for intergenerational and collaborative exploration between students, learners, children, artists, facilitators, young academics and DFL alumni and staff.

The programme features interactive workshops from writing and acting workshops for children, to panel discussions for content-creators for young audiences that focuses on topical theatre-related issues.

Dr Petro Janse van Vuuren, Head of Drama for Life, says Covid-19 is a time for artists:

“Artists, big and small, we thrive on the unusual. Certainty is boring and we set trends, not precedents. We believe that stories have the power to ignite the imagination, to grow new friends, to build hope, and to create medicine for times of big change. This festival comes at the right time to remind us of the amazing gift to journey into uncharted waters and create new life that may or may not manifest in reality.”

View the programme and book the event of your choice. All sessions are free and will run until Monday, 24 August 2020. All individual events require separate registration.

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A voteless people is a hopeless people

The African Centre for the Studies of the United States will host this virtual townhall debate session.

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The story behind one of the biggest farming successes in South Africa’s history

Join the Wits Business School for a conversation with Chief Executive of ZZ2 Tommie van Zyl, hosted by Interim Head of School Professor Jannie Rossouw.

A family tomato farm started more than 110 years ago in Limpopo, ZZ2 is now a farming conglomerate which produces and exports not only the familiar “brand” of tomatoes but also onions, mangoes, avocadoes, blueberries and dates, among others.
 
But ZZ2 is not a traditional farming operation: it runs on an “open system” management model which integrates all its stakeholders in a hive of activities which extend from packaging and marketing to horticulture, logistics, engineering and IT. ZZ2 also has interests in other vertically and horizontally integrated businesses, such as insectaries and nature conservation areas, all of which aim to ensure community development and environmental sustainability.
 
From an old-school farm to a conglomerate which embraces the principles of innovation and entrepreneurship, the story of ZZ2 is an inspirational one.
 
Van Zyl will chat about his leadership philosophy, how he has created a “living company” as well as the impact on COVID-19 on ZZ2, the lessons he has learnt and his views on the future of farming in South Africa.
 

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GBV Webinar on the roles & challenges in culture and religion

Presented by the Wits SRC and hosted by Gender and Transformation Officer Lucy Kofi.

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An African Ethics of Duty and Cultural Justice and Injustice

Professor Edwin Etieyibo from the Department of Philosophy will deliver his inaugural lecture.

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Pandemic Pangolin webinar series

The Wits Pandemic Pangolin webinar series debates and evaluates the ever-changing body of knowledge emerging as a consequence of the current COVID-19.

The series probes pandemic innovations, responses and partnerships. The webinars will take place every Wednesday until the end of November.

The first discussion on 16 September is titled Counting the cost of COVID-19: Economy, Gender and Health features Prof. Imraan Valodia and Prof. Daniela Casale hosted by Richard Cooke. Please register to attend the webinar. Learn more about the speakers and their perspectives.

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Human Rights and Fighting discrimination during epidemics

This discussion is part of the Wits Pandemic Pangolin webinar series which debates and evaluates the ever-changing body of knowledge emerging.

This series probes pandemic innovations, responses and partnerships. The webinars take place every Wednesday until the end of November.

This is an iniiative of the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, with Health Systems Sciences and the Adler Museum of Medicine. Free and and open to all, please register in advance. 

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What does Emergency Remote Teaching mean for teaching and learning in the future?

A series of interactive webinars on remote teaching aims to ‘press pause’ so that lecturers can reflect on the ERT tsunami.

The School of Education in the Faculty of Humanities will host an interactive webinar series on Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT).

COVID-19 has presented extraordinary challenges for lecturers who had to transition to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) at short notice. Lecturers have been challenged to adjust their pedagogical knowledge and skills to an unfamiliar mode of teaching and to engage students in learning in unfamiliar online and digital spaces. As we look back over the past few months of ERT and plan for an uncertain future in the midst of the Covid pandemic, how do we reflect meaningfully on these experiences? 

Presenters will include colleagues in the Faculty of Humanities who, as a result of their direct involvement in ERT, have practices to share, pedagogies to think through, or ideas or questions to explore.

Amongst others, topics will include:

• How practice-centred disciplines are moving online
• The affordances of online modalities for writing intensive courses
• The online (im)possibilities of critical or dialogic pedagogies
• Online pedagogies for large class teaching

The live webinar presentations will consist of plenary sessions with respondents, and break out rooms for discussion. Contributions can be viewed online in advance of the presentations, and will later be developed into scholarly publications in 2021.

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11th Postgraduate Cross Faculty Symposium

This annual symposium showcases research by Wits students from different Faculties.

The Postgraduate Affairs Office takes pleasure in informing all postgraduate students that the 11th Wits Cross- Faculty Postgraduate Symposium competition will take place online this year.

The purpose of the symposium is to give postgraduate students and their supervisors the opportunity to engage in a high-level intellectual activity and to engage with colleagues across the five Faculties. To get the full benefit from the symposium, you will need to attend as many oral and posters presentations as possible. Learning to ask questions as an audience member is a critical skill for successful intellectual engagement.

There will be THREE categories for presentations and awards this year, as follows:

• 10-minute oral presentations
• 1 Minute GradFlash  
• Poster presentations

 Postgraduate students are welcome to support their peers!
 

Below are the webinar links for audience members:

Monday, 12 October 2020
Poster Q&A and GradFlash
Click Here

Tuesday, 13 October 2020
Group 1 Orals
Click Here

Wednesday, 14 October 2020
Group 2 Orals
Click Here

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The backbone of COVID: Primary Health Care

Dr Juliet Nyasulu and Professor Richard Cooke will be speakers for this webinar, which is part of Pandemic Pangolins series.

How do we maintain and extend resilience in primary health care during a pandemic? The thorny challenge of how we continue to provide a range of vital health services in a time of crisis is the topic of our Pandemic Pangolin webinar this week.  Dr Juliet Nyasulu and Prof Richard Cooke will speak about how essential services have been affected. Juliet will draw on her recent publication offering insights on applying the World Health Organisation Health systems Framework to assess these effects of the pandemic in South Africa and propose possible solutions to address the gaps. Richard will speak to his hands-on experience of the preparation and functioning of PHC facilities and the Nasrec field hospital during the current pandemic.

Stephen Pentz from the Department of Family Medicine at Wits will host this webinar.

For the Pandemic Pangolins: Systems, Science and Society Website: click here 

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Updating the Johannesburg Spatial Development Framework: Engaging Academia

Dylan Weakley, from the City of Johannesburg’s City Transformation and Spatial Planning Directorate will present this seminar.

The Johannesburg Spatial Development Framework 2040 (SDF) is the main spatial planning policy for the City. The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act  (SPLUMA) gives significant authority to the SDF, indicating for example that those making land use decisions “may not make a decision which is inconsistent with the Spatial Development Framework”. Along with guiding land use decisions, the other major role of the SDF is to direct municipal capital investment in the City.

The SDF was approved in 2016 and  the CoJ will be reviewing it this financial year, 2020/21. The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) has made significant additions and amendments to the SDF during the past five years (including the Inclusionary Housing Policy approved in 2019 and the Nodal Review approved this year) and it will therefore not be a full overhaul of the SDF, just an update. Provisionally, COJ plans to:

• Incorporate new policies approved since 2016,
• Update information on the status quo of the City,
• Report on the progress made in the past 5 years, and
• Address any limitations of the 2016 document.

To kick the process off, the CoJ is holding a preliminary round of public discussions under various themes and interest groups. This seminar is an entry point to engage with academia. The CoJ hopes to gain feedback and suggestions on what it should consider in reviewing the SDF. It will then produce a draft that will be taken out for public participation.

The SDF 2040, Nodal Review and Inclusionary Housing Policy are available to view at: https://bit.ly/cojcitywide

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The Environment: Driving Hydrometallurgical Process Development

Professor Sehliselo Ndlovu from the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering will deliver her inaugural lecture.

Hydrometallurgy is one of the key branches of extractive metallurgy that has seen significant technological advancements since the 1880s. From rudimentary metal extraction methods to the more advanced modern techniques, the evolution continues to shape the aqueous metal extraction industry. Most of developments have, however, seldom been knowledge-driven, but rather, driven by concerns attributed to issues such as the need for higher purity metal products, economics of a processing route, variations in grade and complexity of the feed material as well as changes in environmental and safety regulations. Using some of the developments observed in gold and copper as examples, this presentation will look at how environmental concerns have contributed to advancing technological changes in the hydrometallurgical sector.

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The African Investigative Journalism Conference

The 16th annual conference of Africa’s premier investigative journalism conference, featuring more than 30 speakers will be hosted virtually.

The 2020 African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) will feature over 25 sessions of great stories, new tools and techniques, networking and master classes. AIJC is organised by the Journalism Department of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Africa’s biggest annual gathering of working journalists, it is an opportunity to share great African work, learn new skills, hear how it is done and share experiences.

For more information visit: https://aijc.africa/ 

Programme: https://aijc.africa/programme/ 

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Decolonial thought and African consciousness for socially just health systems: An imaginative space

The Wits School of Public Health, with partners will host this conference on decolonising health systems in Africa.

The conference foregrounds African people as experts, and provides an opportunity for scholars to discuss solutions to the health systems challenges faced on the African continent. This convening seeks to do that in the area of African Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) by making space for scholars and practitioners to build collective capacity to engage in critical decolonial scholarship with the aim of envisioning socially just health systems on the continent. 

This conference is provided as a space for an African conversation that will begin to build solidarity across countries, regions and contexts, breaking down colonially-imposed divides to reorient African knowledge, realities and people, lifting these up as valuable and legitimate knowledge bearers able to shape the field on the continent and beyond. 

Session speakers include:

• Professor Laetitia Rispel, Wits School of Public Health on Exploring the intersection between decoloniality and African health systems - A conversation in ‘post-colonial’ Africa 
• Dr. Kui Muraya, Post-Doctoral Social Scientist at the KEMRIWellcome Trust Research Programme on Creating an African Project: Rethinking the configuration of knowledge to advance African health and health systems 
• Tanya Charles. Feminist Activist, Program and Impact Lead, Atlantic Institute on From Paradigm to Praxis: Tools for decolonial, African health systems and policy and research 

 Full programme details: https://africanhealthfutures.co.za/program/ 

 More information: https://africanhealthfutures.co.za/ 

Follow the conference on social media via:

Twitter: @AfriDecolHealth
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afridecolhealth/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfriDecolHealth/ 

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Impact of COVID-19 in South Africa and Zimbabwe: Policy perspectives, consequences and implications

The Department of Social Work in the School of Human and Community Development will host the annual Professor Edwell Kaseke Memorial Lecture.

COVID-19 has had a devastating socio-economic effect on both South Africa and Zimbabwe, and it may take years to recover if both governments do not pay prudent attention to the needs and social protection of its citizens. The pandemic has revealed in sharp relief the inequalities and poverty in both countries and raises concerns regarding social justice, human rights and the extent of hunger that exists. This lecture will focus on the policies that these countries have embarked upon in their efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, how effective they have been, the intended and unintended consequences of the respective policies, and the implications of these policies. 

Professor Jean Triegaardt, Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Social Development in Africa at the University of Johannesburg will deliver the lecture.

Respondents: 

• Dr Kabo Diraditsile, Waseda University, Japan 
• Mmathapelo Makofane, MA Social Development Student

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Voting Day - SRC Elections

Voting in the 2020-21 SRC General Election will take place online as per previous years.

For more information please visit University’s official website for the elections. 

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From ‘critical engagement’ to ‘public sociology’ and back

The Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research invites you to a discussion with Dr Karl von Holdt.

Please read the paper by von Holdt prior to the seminar.

Much of the literature on the political engagements of sociologists has been framed by Michael Burawoy’s concept of ‘public sociology’. The aim of this chapter is to develop a critique of this concept, drawing from the writings and practices of a group of sociologists at SWOP in Johannesburg, South Africa, and replace it with the concept of ‘critically engaged sociology’ – ‘engaged sociology’ for short – which emerges through interaction between sociologists and movements in the struggle for change, and which captures more clearly than ‘public sociology’ the richness and complexity of this kind of engagement. Doing this entails the simultaneous critique of the North Atlantic domination of global sociology and the production of a southern theory that provides a better concept of our world – and this is done by retracing a four decade process of concept formation and dialogue between Burawoy and, notably, Eddie Webster, one of South Africa’s most eminent sociologists and SWOP founder, as well as others at SWOP.

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Development In Africa: Reimagining the Past and Living the Present

This webinar will discuss the role of the academy in the development processes: Dimensions and Perspectives at a Critical Juncture for Development.

Professor Sharon Fonn is a professor at Wits University and will be the keynote speaker for this webinar. She currently co-leads the Consortium of Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). 

Moderator: Rosemary Atieno, Associate Professor at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi

Hosts: Professor Karuti Kanyinga, Director of IDS and Dr. Paul Kamau, Associate Director at IDS

Rejoinder: Professor Olanisakin Fumni, Vice President and Vice Principal International and Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at Kings College London and Prof.essor Tade Aina, senior academic and the outgoing Executive Director at PASGR

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How HIV research is helping us tackle SARS-CoV-2

Professor Lynn Morris will present the 2020 AJ Orenstein Lecture.

Morris, who has spent her career doing HIV research, will reflect on how modern science and cross-cutting research can be used to tackle these and future outbreaks of pandemic-causing viruses during the annual AJ Orenstein Lecture.

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Alumni Symposium

This event is part of the Alumni Week 2020.

The Symposium provides a unique platform for Alumni to showcase their research, current occupation or interests and passions. Rather than focus solely on academic research outputs, it is an opportunity to hear more about what our health graduates have been doing since leaving the Faculty.

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Alumni ‘After Dinner’ Speeches and Salon

This will be followed by a class anniversary organised by a class captain.

Professors Martin Veller, Shabir Madhi, and Paul Davis (President of the HGA) will provide a lively update of the Faculty’s health services, especially the effects of the pandemic on teaching and practice within the academy, and address some of the challenges confronting it as it prepares to meet and contribute to the future.

This event is intended to replace the gala dinner ‘after dinner’ speeches that would have been delivered by the Dean of the Faculty and the President of the Health Graduates’ Association. On this occasion, we are placed to have both the incoming and outgoing Dean address our Alumni group.

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Disease of the Diseased

Professor Mrudula Patel from the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease in Faculty of Health Sciences will present her inaugural lecture.

Oral candidiasis or candidosis is the most common oral opportunistic infection seen in immunocompromised patients. Although the mortality rate due to this infection is low, morbidity is high due to the pain while eating, swallowing and talking. This has consequences such as weight loss, nutritional deficiencies and further reduction in immunity. Untreated oral candidiasis can disseminate to other parts of the body causing serious illness and death. Patients with HIV/AIDS, diabetes mellitus, organ transplant, and cancer patients, who are on treatment, are particularly vulnerable to this infection. The causative agent is a group of Candida species, with C. albicans being the most common species.

Although it is a commensal, systemic and local host factors, as well as phenotypic and genotypic, characteristics of Candida can convert it into a pathogenic state which can cause pathology and provoke an immune-inflammatory reaction. Patel and colleagues have studied some of these aspects to understand this switch between the commensal and pathogenic state. Systemic and topical antifungal agents, such as polyene or azole are used to treat this infection.

However, these therapeutic agents are toxic and have side effects. In addition, C. albicans is developing resistance to some of these antifungal agents. This infection is recurrent in these patients and therefore a preventative approach is favourable. Cheap and easily accessible remedies are generally preferred due to its required regular use. Their research findings have shown some promising remedies.

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HIV and Disability: Impacting movement from cell to thriving

Professor Hellen Myezwa, Head, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences will deliver her inaugural lecture.

Disability is complex and grips the individual, family and community. In South and East Africa, HIV seems to modulate and compound disability. This lecture exposes the nature, extent and relationship of disability in HIV from the cell to the thriving individual; and explores the interventions and service delivery offerings that have been tested through research over three decades. The experiences of an evidence-based, rehabilitation focused physiotherapist.

Professor Myezwa is an expert in HIV and disability, and she conducted one of the first studies to define the extent of HIV disability in the African setting. Subsequently, she has been involved in research to understand the scope and impact of disability in people living with HIV and has conducted one of the first population-based studies. Additional research projects include understanding the impact of HIV on the risk of ischaemic heart disease and community-based intervention to minimize this risk. The effect of exercise programmes on peripheral neuropathy in HIV and several projects exploring the musculoskeletal function in HIV. In addition to this, Professor Myezwa has expertise in the epidemiology of disability.

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The 4I=R2 Framework: Advancing an agenda for psychological assessment in South Africa

Professor Sumaya Laher, Head of the Department of Psychology at Wits will present her inaugural lecture.

The unprecedented rise in the use of technologies across all sectors during COVID-19 hastened South Africa's participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). However access and distributional challenges in South Africa remain core concerns amidst a volatile and complex global context. Psychology and psychological assessment in particular requires a rethinking within this time and space.

This lecture will present a brief history of assessment internationally and locally to contextualize the need for a 4I=R² framework for assessment in South Africa. The 4I=R² framework affords an opportunity for the discipline to advance beyond traditional assessment practices where the 4 I’s of Inclusion, Indigenisation, Innovation and Impact will be discussed as necessary components for a relevant and responsive discipline.

In so doing the lecture will present evidence where traditional forms of assessment are evolving in line with social contexts and technological developments. The extent to which this aids in addressing challenges in the South African assessment landscape with regards to theory, research, policy and practice will be discussed together with what still needs to be done to meet the 4I=R² vision.

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Health and health care in the time of Covid-19 and beyond

Professor Frederik Booysen will present his inaugural lecture.

Pandemics are rare events that fundamentally disrupt the social and economic fibre of societies. Covid-19, the first global public health crisis to hit the world in a century, holds far-reaching consequences, not only for our present health and well-being, but for health care and its delivery, organisation and financing, now and into the future.

In this lecture, Booysen will outline the pre-existing inequalities in the South African health care landscape. He will then proceed to use various analyses and evidence to illustrate the pandemic’s likely implications for South Africans’ health and well-being, highlighting the likely role of emotional support in curbing the impending increase in the country’s mental health deficit. The lecture will conclude by reflecting on the various policy implications of the pandemic and its longer-term impacts on society.

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What if the unthinkable happened?

Professor Daynia Ballot from the School of Clinical Medicine will present her inaugural lecture.

This has been the year when the unthinkable happened.  How can we navigate uncertain times? Understanding our local context assists us to plan for the future. The practice of quality improvement, with continual reflection on patient care and outcomes, with ongoing efforts to improve, is essential for any health care practitioner.  In this lecture, Ballot will talk about this in the context of high risk newborns – survival, sepsis and developmental outcome. 

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Black empowerment, affirmative action and the racist economy: Have we failed, and if so, why?

The Southern Centre for Inequality Studies will host this lecture.

India | USA | Malaysia| South Africa

South Africa has been a democracy with equality before the law for more than two decades, but its economy is marked by racialized inequality, to an extreme degree, in patterns of employment, labour market outcomes and the ownership of productive assets. Policy to transform the racial composition of the private ownership, corporate structures and managerial hierarchies have advanced under the banner of “Black economic empowerment”. Most agree that progress has been glacial. Systemic racism remains entrenched.

The emergence of the “black lives matter movement” in the US has put wind in the sails of efforts to overcome systemic racism. It has also underscored the centrality of action to address race-based economic exclusion to the transformation of society. South Africa, Malaysia, India and the United States have approached the struggle for racial and caste equity in different ways. There are lessons from their achievements and their setbacks that all can learn from. The webinar will explore these comparative experiences.

This event forms part of a SCIS review of black economic policy in South Africa undertaken with support of the Open Society Foundation (OSF).

Guest Speakers

• Ashwini Deshpande is Professor of Economics and Founding Director of the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) at Ashoka University, India.
• Darrick Hamilton is joint Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and Director of the doctoral program in public and urban policy, at The Milano School of International Affairs and The New School for Social Research at The New School in New York.
• Hwok-Aun Lee (PhD) is a Senior Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.
• Vuyo Jack CA(SA) is the executive chairman of the South African BEE rating agency, Empowerdex.

Facilitator

Dr Nomfundo Xenia Ngwenya, Visiting Research Fellow: Wits School of Governance| Southern Centre for Inequality Studies

Register now

RSVP: nthabi.mofokeng@wits.ac.za | Technical enquiries: siba.gcilitshana@wits.ac.za
Zoom meeting details to be provided on RSVP

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Rethinking the university in the age of covid-19

A discussion between colleagues at Wits University, Johannesburg and the Nationalutonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City.

Click here to view the list of speakers.

Convened by Prof. Sarah Nuttall, Director of WISER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) at Wits University. Nuttall has built and developed a wide-ranging programme in the critical public humanities at WISER over two decades, and has reflected in her recent writing on the university itself, including on ‘the shock of the new old’, ‘the politics of upsurge and turbulence’, and on the what universities ‘will have been for what they are becoming’ as the past, in a psychoanalytic sense, haunts the present as it remakes memory as a conflictual site of transformation and change.

 Please listen to Nuttall’s podcast on the topic prior to the Webinar.

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Africa Evaluation Indaba Online Series

This webinar series will focus on issues in the evaluation field, share indigenous knowledge generation and its use in evaluation in Africa.

The webinar series consists of seven events focusing on key themes.

The first event titled Transforming Evaluation: The Race, Power, Gender and Class Struggle takes place on 16 November 2020. It aims to:

• Unpack what is meant by transforming evaluation practice, in the broader context of decolonial thinking and the dismantling of systems and structures of power, race, gender and class.
• Envision what a transformed evaluation practice would look like.
• Propose practical steps in transforming evaluation practice in Africa.

Speakers

• Candice Morkel Deputy Director, CLEAR Anglophone Africa
• Khalil Bitar EvalYouth Global Network Chair
• Mjiba Frehiwot Research fellow at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana

More Details

Website: https://www.wits.ac.za/clear-aa/

Email: CLEAR.AnglophoneAfrica@wits.ac.za

Twitter: @CLEARAA1 #LetsTalkEvaluation

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Debating made in Africa evaluation

You are invited to the second session of the Africa Evaluation Indaba online series.

Titled: Debating made in Africa Evaluation: taking the agenda forward, oppotrunities for Africa-rooted practices.

The quest for contextually relevant approaches, methods and practices gave birth to the Made-in Africa (MAE) evaluations paradigm. MAE emphasises the centrality of contextual relevance and places an importance on indigenous knowledge systems. The paradigm acknowledges that context, culture, history and beliefs shape the nature of evaluations, specifically in the diverse, often complex African reality. The webinar aims to respond to the following:

• Where did we get stuck? Nearly a decade of MAE discourse;
• Unpacking the MAE paradigm: methods, approaches and tools
• Exploring the role of indigenous knowledge systems in evaluation practice;
• Practical steps towards building a body of knowledge on MAE. 

Speakers

Mokgophana Ramasobana Independent Consultant (Welcome, Opening Remarks and Moderator)

Adeline Sibanda Managing Consultant at ADESIM Developments

Nozipho Ngwabi Evaluation Researcher at CREST Stellenbosch University

This webinar is one of seven events from 16 -26 November bring held by the Africa Evaluation Indaba. View programme.

David Sul Founder and Principal of Sul & Associates International

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Decolonising African Education Systems

The Centre in African Philanthropy and Social Investment at the Wits Business School will host this webinar on decolonising education in Africa.

Many African formal education institutions, like others in the global south, have their roots in colonialism. With the advent of imperialism, Western models of education were adopted in African schools and institutions of learning that largely excluded indigenous knowledge that is on the continent. As a result, existing African knowledge and practices were decimated to a large extent in formal settings of instruction.

How can we develop and exchange deeper insights on the effects that colonialism has had on African education systems in order to reclaim the continent’s own history, culture, language and identity? What needs to be done in order to ensure that the knowledge that is generated in our education systems is contextualised to our nations and regions?

Evidently, the complete decolonising of Africa’s academic systems will not happen overnight. This is an endeavour that goes beyond the confines of the academic institutions themselves, as it requires rethinking of our education systems that taps into all sectors of society.

Facilitator: Chilu Lemba, Voice Over Professional

Panellists:

• Keratiloe Mogotsi, Programme Manager, Wits Business School
• Prof Sunday O Ojo, Executive Director, Inclusive African Indigenous Language Technology Institute:
• Dr Grieve Chelwa, Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town

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Open Access Webinars 2020

Wits University and ReCreate SA Open Access Webinars 2020.

You have been invited to the two Wits University and ReCreate SA Open Access Webinars: Open with Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion taking place on the 4th and 7th of December 2020.

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Open Access Webinars 2020

Wits University and ReCreate SA Open Access Webinars 2020.

You have been invited to the two Wits University and ReCreate SA Open Access Webinars: Open with Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion taking place on the 4th and 7th of December 2020.

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Challenging Questionable Publication Practices: Strategies and Solutions

Topics to be discussed, include: Understanding the problem; The need for mitigation strategies; and Knowing your digital solutions.

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Memorial Service for Professor Belinda Bozzoli

Prof. Belinda Bozzoli, was an illustrious academic and strategic leader who served the University for nearly four decades.

Read her profile.

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Conference on Rural Development

Hosted by DSI/NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development and Department of Science and Innovation

The advent of COVID 19 pandemic and its predicted disastrous effects for the poor is a game-changer. It exposes the weaknesses in our urban biased model of development and highlights the fact that we ignore the development of rural communities to our own detriment.

Rural areas in South Africa are characterised by poor physical infrastructure, especially with respect to the scarcity of running water and poor sanitation, lack of work opportunities and skills to harness business opportunities. The economic fallout that is expected in South Africa as an aftermath of the pandemic is likely to hit rural areas hardest. 

The conference is intended to stimulate a focused research activity on rural development in southern Africa.

• Conference Facilitator: Prof. Monde Makiwane
• Respondent: Prof. Somadoda Fikeni
• Welcoming address: Rose Msiza (Department of Science and Technology)

PLENARY PRESENTERS:

• Peggy Luswazi – “Rural Development in new South Africa; Lessons learnt and a proposed paradigm shift”

AC Jordan Chair in African Studies at the University of Cape Town; and holder of the National Research Foundation (NRF) Research Chair in Land Reform and Democracy in South Africa.

• Lungisile Ntsebeza – “Land Issues”

An expert on rural development and former Director of the Centre for Rural Development at the Walter Sisulu University.

• Ian Couper – “Rurality and Health – what is the connection?”

An internationally renowned expert in rural health who works at the Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health, Department of Global Health, in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Stellenbosch University.

• Andries du Toit – “Will the "new normal" hurt rural employment - and what can we do about it”

Director of Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape, who is currently working on critical understanding of the politics of knowledge production in the government of poverty and marginal livelihoods.

SPLIT SESSION CONVENERS:

• Land and Agricultural Issues: Mr Thozi Gwanya – Chief Executive Officer at Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA).
• Communication and Language: Prof. Ernest Khalema – Dean and Head of School of Built Environment and Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
• Business in Rural Areas: Mr Septi Bukula – founder and director of Osiba Management.
• Rural Health: Dr Daphney  Conco – Public Health Specialist; Treasurer of the Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA); board member of the Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) and Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition in South Africa (SRJC-SA); Senior Lecture at the School of Public Health at the Witwatersrand University.

Register in advance for the plenary session

AND

Register in advance for one of the four split sessions

You will receive an email with confirmation and instructions on how to join the webinar.

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