The signing into law of the Protection of Personal Information Act in November 2013 has presented many an organisation, institution and business with a conundrum: How do we comply and how does this affect us immediately?
The Mandela Institute at Wits hosts a morning seminar tackling several issues with regards to the Protection of Personal Information Act: a brief overview and summary of the Act; the legal implications of the Act on your business; practical steps that all businesses must take immediately; ensuring compliance with POPI in the short, medium and long term; and providing solutions: how to stay out of court and in business.
The seminar takes place on Saturday, 22 February 2014 from 08h30 to 13h00. RSVP to Julie.Dunsford@wits.ac.za on (011) 717-8468. Members of the media are welcome to attend.
The seminar will be presented by Verine Etsebeth, senior lecturer specialising in information security and data protection law, and the co-ordinator of, and a lecturer, on Wits’ LLM course in cyber law.
She will be joined by Iain Currie, Professor of Law who teaches intellectual property law, media law and privacy law. He is an author and co-author of books on the South African Bill of Rights, constitutional and administrative law and on the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
“With the enactment of this Act topics such as securing customer information and protecting client data is no longer voluntary. Rather they have become necessities to businesses wishing to thrive, and perhaps even more importantly survive, in the information age,” says Etsebeth.
To view the programme, .
Cheating at the Comrades
- By Wits University
Mark Dowdeswell, a Comrades runner and a lecturer in Mathematical Statistics at the University of the Witwatersrand, presents some damning evidence that point to runners cheating at the Comrades Marathon.
Dowdeswell has done statistical analysis on various aspects on the results data that is produced by the Comrades Marathon and Championship. Through this analysis Dowdeswell discovered a few irregularities and presents his findings on Run Talk SA. Listen to Dowdeswell and read more.
Medical first years end off O-Week
- By Vivienne Rowland
After the festivities, it was time for some home truths and honest conversation.
For more than 200 first year Wits medical students, it was a morning of almost information overload when they had a session in the Wits Great Hall tackling a variety of topics on Friday, 7 February 2014.
The information session was the conclusion of what has been a rollercoaster week for the newbies, during which they partied, got to know the campus, made new friends and prepared themselves for the years of hard work ahead. Orientation Week at Wits kicked off on Sunday, 2 February 2014 when more than 5000 first year students and their parents were officially welcomed to Wits University.
Issues such as peer pressure, sexual harassment and how to live a balanced life while achieving academic success were discussed, with fun competitions and intervals in-between.
The Acting Dean of Health Sciences, Professor Sharon Fonn, addressed the new recruits and told them to have fun, work hard and develop a strong sense of self and others while studying and shaping their life paths.
“You will each have a career trajectory. Work on your ability to work in a team and have respect for your peers. You are in the process of developing yourself, so be open to new things,” she advised.
The newly appointed Dean of Student Affairs, Dr Pamela Dube, who joined Wits in December 2013, advised the students about the different facilities, services, societies and clubs on campus, and where they should seek help for any problems.
“I want to assure you of our support to ensure that you have all the opportunities to reach your true potential – personally and professionally as global citizens. I hope that you can play a positive role in the socio-economic development of our country. Remember, it starts with you,” said Dube.
The academic year starts officially on Monday, 10 February 2014 for all Wits students.
The story behind Blombos
- By Wits University
South Africa’s Blombos Cave is a window to our past, and perhaps our future. In an article by Cheryl Lyn Dybas published in Oceanography, the official magazine of the oceanography society, she reveals the story behind Wits archaeologist Christopher Henshilwood’s discoveries in the cave.
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Wits remembered in Madiba's will
- By Wits University
The University of the Witwatersrand is honoured and deeply appreciative to learn that it is a beneficiary of former president Nelson Mandela’s legacy, and we are indeed humbled that he chose to remember the University in his will.
Wits accepts this generous bequest from one of our most illustrious alumni and commits to using it to address the development of higher education in South Africa, for the benefit of the University and its students, but more importantly to advance and perpetuate the values that our inaugural President has bequeathed to our nation and the world.
Madiba emphasised the need to address inequality – one of the greatest threats to our young democracy, and Wits is determined to utilise this endowment to tackle this societal peril without delay, through the provision of additional scholarships for our students.
We understand that this endowment brings with it a tremendous responsibility, given the character and legacy of our great leader and his commitment to the transformative power of education.
Thank you, Tata, for remembering us in your will – you live on in our memory and in our lives.
Professor Adam Habib
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of the Witwatersrand
3 February 2014
A selection of media coverage on the Wits endowment:
In line with the recommendations that emanated from the Sexual Harassment report last year, the University has appointed Professor Jackie Dugard as the new Director of Wits’ Sexual Harassment Office as from 1 February 2014.
We are confident that Professor Dugard brings with her the necessary skills, experience and leadership qualities required to develop the requisite structures required for the University to deal with any form of sexual harassment.
Professor Dugard has been tasked with assessing the current structure to deal with sexual harassment on our campuses, and to adapt it as appropriate, in line with the University’s new approved policies and procedures. Her role will include working with relevant University departments to ensure that Wits has sufficient, trustworthy systems in place to ensure a safe environment on our campuses.
The University welcomes Professor Dugard to Wits in this new role and we look forward to working with her to establish a system that will ensure that the rights and dignity of our staff and students are never again violated on our campuses.
Professor Dugard can be reached via email at Jackie.Dugard@wits.ac.za. We will keep you abreast of developments on this front as they occur.
Short Biography
An admitted advocate, Dugard is no stranger to Wits having obtained her BA, BA Honours degree and LLB qualifications from Wits. She also holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex (UK), and an MPhil and PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge (UK).
The co-founder and former Executive Director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, Professor Dugard has an impressive track record for advancing human rights and socio-economic rights in particular through advocacy, research and public interest litigation.
Professor Dugard served as a Senior Researcher at the Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies from 2004 to 2009 on her return from the United Kingdom. Whilst in the UK, she worked as a consultant in the Political Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat for several years. She has significant teaching and research experience at the tertiary level and has lectured at Wits, Harvard and several local universities in a number of areas ranging from human rights to property law. She is currently lecturing Property Law at the Wits Law School.
A member of several local and international advisory boards and committees, Professor Dugard is widely published both in academic journals and the popular press.
Media Coverage
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Broadcast
Tackling illiteracy one library at a time
- By Vivienne Rowland
Two staff members from the Division of Languages, Literacies and Literatures and the Foundation Phase Division in the Wits School of Education are tackling the literacy crisis one library at a time.
The opening of a new library at the rural Klipspruit Combined School in the Kwena Basin, between Waterval Boven and Mashishing (formerly Lydenberg) in Mpumalanga, is an extension of the Kwena Basin Schools upliftment programme. The programme took its first uncertain steps in 2000, when students from the former Johannesburg College of Education and Wits handed over a donation of literacy resources to the farm schools.
This began a story during which the schools in the vicinity saw vast improvements in terms of resources, teaching and infrastructure. As collaboration between the schools, Wits and the Kwena Basin community, third and fourth year students, registered for any B. Ed programmes at Wits, apply to spend three weeks each year in the community and farm schools during their teaching experience.
In the 13 years since the programme commenced, more than 350 young student teachers were given an added advantage by working in the Kwena farm schools. They have been exposed to teaching multi-level classes, teaching in a language the learners have had little exposure to and working in classrooms where their role became one of a leader rather than a student working with subjects they have not studies themselves.
“We try to encourage students to come to Kwena who have no experience of farm schools at all. Their growth and professional development is phenomenal. The long lasting effects of this Teaching Experience can be seen by the number of students, now teachers who travelled back to Klipspruit Combined to celebrate this day with us, supporting our vision of encouraging self-sufficiency within communities rather than dependency. A resource centre/library is our first step towards being able to enable learners to take control of their learning,” says Grant Coltman from the Division of Languages, Literacies and Literatures in the Wits School of Education.
The project has added to research on early literacy practices in farm schools and has been shared at a number of local and international conferences and symposia, so much so that the first four years of working in the Kwena Basin farm schools is documented in a thesis by Dr Jean Place, Project Leader and Principal Tutor in Foundation Studies in the Wits School of Education, entitled The College Book Sack Project in the Kwena Basin Farm Schools, Mpumalanga: A Case Study.
Since then the work on the project has been ongoing and a model for Teaching Experience in very challenging situations has been developed through experience, which could serve as an example to other like-minded individuals who are wishing to uplift their communities through education.
The opening of the library was attended by nearly the entire community: staff and learners of the school, principals of feeder schools, parents and members of the school governing body, members of the Kwena Basin Education Trust and members of the community who have supported the project over many years, all came to bask in the wonderful moment.
“It was a very special moment when the library door was opened and the first children walked in with Professor Graham Hall, who had the honour of opening the library, having been present at the first meeting of education students, lecturers, teachers and children at Spoelklippies Farm School 13 years ago and who had pledged this community our support,” said Dr Place.
For more information on the Kwena Basin community project click here
Wits scientists debunk climate change myths
- By Kanina Foss
Wits University scientists have debunked two big myths around climate change by proving firstly, that despite predictions, tropical storms are not increasing in number. However, they are shifting, and South Africa could be at increased risk of being directly impacted by tropical cyclones within the next 40 years. Secondly, while global warming is causing frost to be less severe, late season frost is not receding as quickly as flowering is advancing, resulting in increased frost risk which will likely begin to threaten food security.
According to Jennifer Fitchett, a PhD student in the Wits School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies (GAES), there has been an assumption that increasing sea surface temperatures caused by global warming is causing an increase in the number of tropical cyclones.
But looking at data for the south-west Indian Ocean over the past 161 years, Fitchett and co-author Professor Stefan Grab, also from GAES, confirmed the results of previous studies which have found that there has been no increase in the number of tropical cyclones and that much of the perceived change in numbers is a result of improved storm detection methods. “From 1940, there was a huge increase in observations because of aerial reconnaissance and satellite imagery,” she says.
The big surprise came when Fitchett and Grab looked at where storms have been happening. As the oceans have warmed and the minimum sea surface temperature necessary for a cyclone to occur (26.5 degrees Celsius) has been moving further south, storms in the south-west Indian Ocean have been moving further south too.
Most cyclones hit Madagascar and do not continue to Mozambique, and those which hit Mozambique develop to the North of Madagascar, but in the past 66 years there have been seven storms which have developed south of Madagascar and hit Mozambique head-on. More notable is that four of them occurred in the past 20 years. “This definitely looks like the start of a trend,” says Fitchett.
South Africa is already feeling the effects of this shift. The cyclones that hit southern Mozambique cause heavy rain and flooding in Limpopo. But according to Fitchett, the trend becomes even more concerning when one considers that the 26.5 degrees Celsius temperature line (isotherm) has been moving south at a rate of 0.6 degrees latitude per decade since 1850. “At current rates we could see frequent serious damage in South Africa by 2050,” she says.
“This is not what we expected from climate change. We thought tropical cyclones might increase in number but we never expected them to move.”
In a separate study, Fitchett and co-authors looked at different types of citrus – oranges, lemons and tangerines – in two cities in Iran, where the existence of heritage gardens meant data were easily available. They found that while global warming is causing the fruit trees to flower as much as a month earlier than 50 years ago, which is a very rapid shift, changes in late season frost are not happening nearly as quickly.
Before 1988 there were zero to three days between peak flowering and the last day of frost in Kerman, Iran; since then, the number has increased to zero to 15.
“The layman’s assumption is that as temperatures get warmer, there will be less frost. But although the severity of the frost has decreased, the last day of frost hasn’t been receding as quickly as the advances in flowering. The result is that frost events are increasingly taking place during flowering and damaging the flowers. No flowers equals no fruit,” says Fitchett.
According to the study, at current rates, it will take only 70 years before it becomes a certainty that frost will occur during peak flowering in Kerman. Already, since 1988, frost has occurred during peak flowering in 41% of the years.
“Iran is a top citrus producer but they don’t export and we don't yet have data on whether there has been an impact on their citrus yields. We think that if there hasn’t already been a huge impact, there soon will be,” says Fitchett.
South Africa also produces a lot of citrus – for local and international consumption – and the country has been experiencing similar climate warming to Iran. South African farmers are not yet recording the flowering dates of their crops which makes it hard to repeat the study locally, but according to Fitchett, the threat is of concern.
According to Grab, who supervised Fitchett’s research, there are many questionable reports by scientists, governments and the media on climate change. “We are on a quest to test and challenge such reporting, based on the analysis of quality data available to us. The work of Fitchett and other postgraduate students at Wits University is of the highest international quality and bodes well to a future generation of South African climate and environmental change scientists.”
Images: (Click on an image to download a high res version.)
Top: Category 4-strength Cyclone Favio was closing the gap between Madagascar and mainland Africa on February 21, 2007, preparing to strike Mozambique in coming days. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows Favio stretched across the Mozambique Channel at 9:35 a.m. (local time) Wednesday morning. The outermost bands of clouds on the western side of the storm were already brushing the coast of Inhambane province in southern Mozambique. A thick ring of “boiling” clouds surrounds the eye of the storm. Credit: NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center
Bottom: Jennifer Fitchett. Credit: University of the Witwatersrand
Construction conference at Wits
- By Wits University
The 8th Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Postgraduate Conference will be hosted by the Wits School of Construction Economics and Management and the CIDB under the theme Advancing construction industry development through innovative research and new thinkingfrom Monday, 10 February 2014 to Tuesday, 11 February 2014.
The conference takes place from 08h30 at the Main Hall, Wits Sports Administration Building, Raikes Road, Sturrock Park, Braamfontein West Campus, Wits University. Click here for a map to the venue.
In a new age of sustainable and digital technologies, the conference seeks to encourage new ideas for delivering value for money and a critical examination of conventional business and delivery models in construction.
The Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, is expected to deliver the opening address on Monday, 10 February 2014, preceded by a welcome address by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Ian Jandrell, and remarks by the CIDB CEO, Mzwandile Sokupa.
Keynote speakers over the two conference days include Professor Chimay Anumba, Department Head and Professor of Architectural Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University in the USA; Chrisna du Plessis, Associate Professor at the Department of Construction Economics, University of Pretoria; Dr Ron Watermeyer, founder of Infrastructure Options; Libby Schweber, Associate Professor in the Sociology of Sustainable Construction in the School of Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Reading, UK; Will Hughes, Professor of Construction Management and Economics at the School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, UK; and Alex Lubbock, Business Information Modelling Development Manager for Carillion Construction Services in the UK.
Topics to be discussed include New developments andfuture directions of research in the built environment; Adapting the built environment to climate change in a post-sustainable world; Realising value for money through procurement strategy in the delivery of public infrastructure; The use of theory in construction research; Advancing construction industry development, innovative research and new thinking; and Use and implications of Building Information Modelling in construction procurement and integrated project delivery.
To view the programme and other information regarding the CIDB Postgraduate Conference, click here.
For more information contact Conference chair: Associate Professor Samuel Laryea Samuel.Laryea@wits.ac.za; Conference secretary: Dr Eziyi Ibem Eziyi.Ibem@wits.ac.za or Ms. Ntebo Ngozwana from the Construction Industry Development Board on ntebon@cidb.org.za
New Director for the Wits Business School
- By Wits University
The Wits Business School appointed Professor Steve Bluen as the new Head of School from 1 February 2014.
Bluen has previously held top positions at the South African Breweries after joining them as a consulting psychologist in 1993, holding several Directorships within South African, African and Asian businesses.
Bluen is no stranger to Wits, having been educated at the University, where he received a PhD in Psychology. He also completed the Development Programme in Labour Relations at UNISA and an Executive Development Programme at the University of Michigan. He was Head of the Psychology Department and Professor of Industrial Psychology at Wits. He has also served as an academic at other leading institutions in South Africa.
In 2002, Professor Bluen was appointed HR Director of SABMiller’s South African operation and, from 2005, headed up HR in both the Beer and Soft Drinks Divisions of SAB Ltd. In 2007/8 he also served as SAB’s Acting Corporate Affairs Director. Bluen also ran a consulting business where he worked closely with top South African companies.
Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Adam Habib said the appointment marked the beginning of a substantive academic and managerial turnaround given the administrative challenges that Wits Business School (WBS) has had in recent years.
“I am particularly excited about this new appointment given Professor Bluen’s strong academic and commercial background and the success he has enjoyed in both spheres. The WBS has had some administrative challenges in recent years. However, this appointment and others in the faculty is the starting point of a substantive turnaround to position the WBS as both nationally responsive and globally competitive, and as a national and continental asset located at the heart of the African economy,” said Professor Habib.
The new Head of School is joining the WBS at a time when the MBA enrolment numbers are at their highest compared to previous years. “The School’s flagship programme, the MBA, is starting the year on a high note with the full-time class having grown by more than 114% compared to last year. We hope to see a steady growth from now on under Professor Bluen’s leadership,” added Habib.
Three senior appointments in Clinical Medicine
- By Wits University
The School of Clinical Medicine in the Wits Faculty of Health Sciences recently appointed three alumni in senior positions.
PROFESSOR GUY RICHARDS
Professor Guy Richards was recently appointed to the newly created post of Academic Head: Division of Critical Care Unit which falls under the surgical cluster in the School of Clinical Medicine along with surgery and anaesthesia.
For the first time all the academic units at the various hospitals will be incorporated into this division, engendering more cooperation between them and enabling senior staff members and fellows to rotate between the units to gain a better all-round experience and utilisation of resources.
“It is a step in the right direction in terms of training specialists and sub-specialists,” says Richards.
A Wits alumnus, Richards qualified for his MBBCh degree in 1978 and specialised as a physician in 1985. In 1992 he was awarded a PhD. Trained in both critical care and pulmonology, Richards pays tribute to his mentors, Professors Saul Zwi and Jeremy Kallenbach for his career success. He has 106 peer reviewed publications in accredited journals and is widely sought after as a speaker nationally and internationally on critical care topics.
PROFESSOR PRAVIN MANGA
Internal medicine is a huge department and spreads over three teaching platforms. It boasts 130 consultants and fellows, and 110 registrars. It is complex to manage because of its size and geographical distribution.
Professor Pravin Manga is the new Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and it will fall on his shoulders to run this department which, as he says, “has been well run in the past but not well resourced”.
A former Wits student and the deputy head of the department for the last five years, he understands the needs and dynamics in the three main areas which are clinical service, teaching and research.
Of the expectations and challenges Manga says: “The expectation that student numbers will increase will be challenging but the department is prepared for it,” says Manga.
However, this will result in an increased workload which would have to be resourced. He is concerned that it will also take time away from research and to prevent that from happening, more staff will be needed to teach.
In terms of research output the department already produces a significant number of publications, accounting for almost a third emanating from the School of Clinical Medicine. The challenge, he says, is not only to maintain this output but to increase it. To this end he hopes to create a culture which is research-focused. He believes he has a high calibre team in Internal Medicine that can drive this initiative at registrar and fellowship level. New registrars and fellows will be encouraged to do MMeds via the publication route.
He is also contemplating starting a medical journal in which papers could be published, with the aim to get it accredited in due course. He served his registrar training in Internal Medicine at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. He has always been attracted to Cardiology and underwent his subspecialty Fellowship training in Cardiology at Wits, in Natal and at Tulane University in the United States. His PhD thesis was on Mitral Stenosis, which he says was hard work but very gratifying. He has been Academic Head of the Division of Cardiology since 1996.
PROFESSOR TREVOR CARMICHAEL
Professor Trevor Carmichael is the new Head of the Department of Neurosciences, a post previously held by Professor Girish Modi.
The department encompasses the disciplines of neurology, ophthalmology, neurosurgery and otorhinolaryngology in the School of Clinical Medicine. Created initially in 2002, it is working well as a cohesive force and Professor Modi was able to lever significant funding to improve the physical infrastructure of the department.
Professor Carmichael will be focussing providing a supportive environment for researchers to ensure that more of their research is published. He intends to ensure that the University processes will be made much easier for researchers in order to produce the desired results.
This should rapidly increase the number of MMed degrees awarded. “The research is already there and simply needs to be captured correctly and well. “I intend working closely with hospital authorities to boost the clinical side of the department, particularly relating to the filling of staff vacancies and the replacing of old equipment,” says Carmichael.
He would also like to see improved facilities for staff within a larger physical space for everyone to enjoy. Professor Carmichael received his MBBCh degree from Wits in 1977. Carmichael was a registrar in ophthalmology from 1982 to 1885, was awarded a PhD in 1991, and an MSc (Med) in biostatistics through the School of Public Health in 2006. He was in private practice from 1986 to 1996, after which he was wooed back to Wits and appointed to the Sam and Dora Cohen Chair of Ophthalmology in 1997.
We congratulate the three professors in their new posts!
SA reaps CERN awards
- By iTWeb
South Africa’s involvement with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), in Switzerland, is paying dividends as the country embarks on new electronics and physics projects, and benefits from knowledge gained at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) …
… Bruce Mellado, an associate professor at Wits' School of Physics, says the tertiary institution is involved with projects to develop fast electronics, a new form of plastic, and create a cheap alternative for high-throughput supercomputing. Read the full article on iTWeb.
Ryerson to assist student startups
- By Wits University
Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada announced the creation of eight fellowships providing student entrepreneurs from leading South African universities the opportunity to develop their businesses at one of Ryerson’s incubators, including the renowned Digital Media Zone (DMZ).
Within the incubators, or zones as they are called, the entrepreneurs will receive mentorship, business development advice and gain valuable international experience. The fellowships will be offered to student entrepreneurs at four universities: three from the University of Witwatersrand, two from the University of Johannesburg, two from Stellenbosch University and one from the University of Venda.
Ryerson University President and Vice-Chancellor Sheldon Levy made the announcement at Wits University as part of a multi-day tour of South Africa where he is meeting with government and university officials. “The future of the global economy is in the hands of our young people,” said Levy. “Ryerson is proud to partner with South African universities in promoting entrepreneurial innovation and great ideas.”
Professor Adam Habib, Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, said collaborations with universities such as Ryerson are of the utmost importance for the development of future entrepreneurs and leaders on the African continent. “Entrepreneurs play a pivotal role in the social and economic development of South Africa and Africa. It is imperative for higher education institutions to play their part in nurturing, training and developing future entrepreneurs and we welcome the three Ryerson fellowships for aspiring entrepreneurs.
As part of the fellowships at Ryerson, the South African entrepreneurs will be provided with transportation, accommodation and a three-to-four-month placement at a Ryerson zone where they will receive office space, mentorship, networking and collaboration opportunities other startup companies. Each participating university will provide a short list of applicants for the fellowships, based on video pitches and a business plan, with the final candidates chosen by a zone steering committee. Ryerson University has previously collaborated in India, Israel and China to build entrepreneurial bridges. In 2012 seven students from universities in India and three from universities in Israel grew their companies within the DMZ. In 2013, the DMZ hosted four Chinese university students. That same year, Ryerson, along with its for-profit arm Ryerson Futures, and the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute Ltd. (BSEI), partnered to create BIL-Ryerson DMZ India, for entrepreneurs to fast-track their startups.
Ryerson has a number of incubators including the Centre for Urban Energy, Fashion Zone, Design and Fabrication Zone as well as the DMZ. Opened in 2010, the DMZ is one of Canada's largest incubators and multidisciplinary co-working spaces for young entrepreneurs. Infused with the energy and resources of downtown Toronto, this hub of innovation, collaboration and commercialization is home to both startups and industry solution-providers. The DMZ leads the way in experiential learning and business success by creating a unique ecosystem of education and entrepreneurship. Emerging leaders can fast-track their product launches and grow their companies in this supportive community by connecting with mentors, customers and each other. Since its launch, the DMZ has stimulated Canada's digital economy by incubating and accelerating 126 startups, and creating and fostering nearly 1,000 jobs. For more information, visit www.ryerson.ca/dmz.
Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education and a university clearly on the move. With a mission to serve societal need, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community, Ryerson offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university is home to more than 38,000 students, including 2,300 master's and PhD students, nearly 2,700 faculty and staff, and more than 155,000 alumni worldwide. Research at Ryerson is on a trajectory of success and growth: externally funded research has doubled in the past four years. The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada's leading provider of university-based adult education. For more information, visitwww.ryerson.ca.
The University of the Witwatersrand, or Wits as it is known, is one of Africa’s premier research universities, striving to be innovative, where boundaries of knowledge are pushed and where the focus is on sustaining globally competitive standards of excellence in learning, teaching and research. Wits runs a number of programmes aimed at identifying young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds but who have strong academic potential. The goal is to increase their academic, social and psychological preparation for admission to and success at Wits or other South African universities. 91 Rhodes Scholars have originated from Wits while 13 Witsies have been awarded prestigious National Orders by the President for their continuing contribution to science, art and medicine in the country. Wits has produced four Nobel Prize laureates – Nelson Mandela (Peace), Aaron Klug (Chemistry), Sydney Brenner (Medicine) and Nadine Gordimer (Literature).
Admissions policy that rebuilds a nation
- By Adam Habib
Professor Adam Habib is the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Witwatersrand. An of this piece was published in the Sunday Times on 2 February 2014.
Two compatible sets of principles should govern the executive and strategic operations of South African universities. The first, found in the preamble of our Constitution, demands that we simultaneously address the historical disparities bequeathed by Apartheid, and build a collective national identity. The second, written in the manifesto and architecture of any great university, is the imperative to be both nationally responsive and cosmopolitan. Managing the balance between these competing imperatives is a real challenge that confronts executives in South Africa’s universities. This complex agenda must also inform our ideas on how to approach student enrolment in our institutions.
Managing these competing imperatives has spawned two distinct approaches to student enrolment at universities: multiculturalism and non-racialism. The former is a practice where some institutions view racial and cultural groups as homogenous and plan the enrolment of these groups as distinct entities. At the most basic level this entails enforced implicit or explicit quotas, often with an intention to retain a historical racial or cultural character. At its most notorious level, this approach is reflected in the university adopting a principle of racial federalism in which specific campuses represent distinct racial and cultural interests.
The non-racial approach, by contrast, rejects cultural homogeneity and believes in constructing an organisational space in which new national identities are built. Students from a variety of racial, religious and cultural backgrounds are enrolled as individuals, and the university is organised to enable constant intermingling and reciprocal engagement of these individuals. This approach holds that through these processes, students come to interact with each other as individuals and not as representatives of racial or cultural entities.
Wits is firmly ensconced in this non-racial tradition as it speaks to the spirit of our Constitution. It is one of the more racially integrated research institutions in the country with just over 70% of our students black, and just under 30% white. Of the black students, about 55% are African. This non-racial setting not only reflects an appropriate balance between the competing imperatives of historical redress and cosmopolitanism, but it also creates a foundation that prepares our graduates to thrive in the non-racial work environment of the 21st Century. This non-racialism is also reflected in our sought after programmes, like Medicine and Actuarial Sciences, with no adverse impact on efficiencies. For instance, Actuarial Sciences at Wits produces about 46% of the country’s graduates even though it has only 20% of the country’s student enrolment.
Yet despite our successes in both Actuarial Science and Medicine, our enrolment strategies in both have been different. In Medicine, there is an admission point score for grades, based on matric results, the national benchmark test and a measure for social engagement and disadvantage, determined from answers to a biographical questionnaire. Students from different racial backgrounds are required to achieve different score thresholds to qualify for admittance into the programme. Race is therefore used but as one among other variables. In Actuarial Science, no such arrangement exists. Students compete on an equal basis, on the basis of their academic results. The only facilitative measure for black students is a scholarship programme offered by the Actuarial Society.
So which approach is more appropriate for our circumstances? Many insist on the necessity of race to determine disadvantage. But the danger with differential requirements for distinct groups is that while it enables historical redress, it simultaneously runs the risk of undermining the constitutional goal of building a new national identity. This is because young white students feel that they are being asked to pay for the sins of their parents. Moreover, it also has the perverse consequence that privileged black students, the children of the BEE barons and the politically connected, are put on an equal footing with the most disadvantaged within the community.
An alternative approach to addressing historical racial disparities without compromising the building of a national identity is to use criteria other than race in enrolment strategies. In this scenario the Wits medical programme would be required to elevate in its admissions process, the importance of variables currently prioritised by its biographical questionnaire. This then begs the question whether academic results should simply be used as a basis for entry into medicine. Should we not for instance advantage those who speak multiple languages because of the necessity of doctors to communicate with their patients? Given the need for medical practitioners in the rural areas, should we not prioritise applications from rural areas in the selection process? Or, as has been often argued, should we not use material criteria as a basis for advantage; students from materially deprived environments, whatever their racial background, would be offered priority access.
Given the overlap between race and class in South Africa, the vast majority of beneficiaries in this approach would be black. Most of the other indicators would also serve as proxies for addressing our racial disparities. But the advantage of this approach is that it would not compromise our attempts to simultaneously rebuild a non-racial identity.
That said is it not time for universities to start rethinking their admissions policies so that they can simultaneously achieve both historical redress and the building of a national identity? Some parts of Wits are already doing this. Yet others may not be doing it sufficiently. It is because of this that I am hoping to introduce within Wits a renewed debate in the coming months on an admissions policy that simultaneously addresses the essential but competing priorities, enshrined within the preamble of our constitution.
Ethics Alive explores the right to quality health care
- By Wits University
South Africa’s health care system fails to provide quality care for the majority of citizens, where costly private health care for the privileged few and provides for 16% of the population. – Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
The issue of The Right to Quality Health Care will be discussed during the 6th Ethics Alive Symposium, hosted by the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics and the Faculty of Health Sciences. Presentations will be made by Professor Bonita Meyersfeld, Director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies on The Right to Quality Health Care and Professor Laetitia Rispel, Head of the School of Public Health on The Role of the Office of Health Standards Compliance.
Dr Carol Marshall from the Office of Standards Compliance in the National Department of Health will respond.
The symposium takes place on Thursday, 13 March 2014 at 17h30 in the Public Health Auditorium, School of Public Health Building, Parktown Education Campus. Enquiries: Kurium.Govender@wits.ac.za. The media is welcome to attend.
The symposium is the flagship event for the annual Ethics Alive Week, exploring issues around the theme of health care, kicking off on Monday, 10 March 2014 until Friday, 14 March 2014. The evening will be rounded off with the presentation of the Ethics Alive Undergraduate Bioethics Competition Prizes.
“It is hoped that the newly established Office of Health Standards Compliance is a step in the right direction towards quality health care. The poor in this country have been denied access to quality health care for too long. It is sadly regrettable that a country like ours with one of the most progressive human rights constitutions in the world has thus far failed our people in the realisation of this right,” says Professor Ames Dhai, Director of the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at Wits.
The annual Ethics Alive Week focuses on different aspects of quality health care and encourages debate around this in different forums. Each Annual Week is given a theme that captures the spirit of quality health care, and the topics and nature of the activities are aligned to this theme speaking to, amongst others, ethics, economics, advocacy and communication.
The activities of Ethics Alive Week are structured to involve the Faculty, its students, health care workers at the Wits teaching hospitals, hospital managers, civil society and policy makers and the public.
For more information on Ethics Alive Week 2104, click here.
South Africa celebrates 20 years of freedom and democracy this year. With elections coming up, we reflect on how to take our freedom and democracy forward.
Join the Wits Centre for Ethics hosting a public debate on Opposition Politics In South Africa: Elections 2014 – 20 Years Of Democracy on Tuesday, 4 March 2014 at 18h00 in the Senate Room, 2nd Floor, Senate House, Braamfontein Campus East.
Speakers include political commentator Eusebius McKaiser discussing Does the DA get the race issue?; political scientist Steven Friedman talking about What will it take to build a viable left wing opposition?; seasoned journalist Karima Brown on Strategic blunders of the opposition since 1994; and Professor Daryl Glaser from the Wits Department of Political Science speaking on What is the value of the multi-party democracy?
“Twenty years ago we achieved important political freedom; yet substantial and pressing problems remain unsolved. There is clearly a role for effective opposition parties to play,” says Professor Lucy Allais, Director of the Wits Centre for Ethics.
Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University, Professor Adam Habib echoed the importance of partnerships in South Africa in order to change the landscape of apartheid urban planning.
Habib spoke at the opening of the 8th Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Postgraduate Conference which was hosted by the Wits School of Construction Economics and Management and the CIDB.
“It is absolutely fundamental that we have national, international, higher education and industry partnerships. Our construction industry has for too long been the product of politics. If you look at our urban landscape, it is a construction that has been created to racially divide,” said Habib.
“How do you create an urban landscape that is inclusionary? How do we bring people together through the construction industry? Urban landscapers need to deal with the challenges of sprawling cities and densification, and universities need to partner with them to come up with solutions,” he said.
The conference was held on 10 and 11 February 2014 under the theme Advancing construction industry development through innovative research and new thinking, aimed at encouraging new ideas for delivering value for money and a critical examination of conventional business and delivery models in construction.
CEO of the CIDB, Mzwandile Sokupa, said that he hopes that the conference motivates postgraduate students to aspire to higher levels of excellence.
“I trust that this Conference will provide an ongoing platform for interaction between the academic community and industry stakeholders. Conferences such as these play an important role in the professional development of the skills base in our industry,” said Sokupa.
Keynote speakers included Professor Chimay Anumba, Department Head and Professor of Architectural Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University in the USA; Professor Chrisna du Plessis, Associate Professor at the Department of Construction Economics, University of Pretoria; Dr Ron Watermeyer, founder of Infrastructure Options; Dr Libby Schweber, Reader in the Sociology of Sustainable Construction in the School of Construction Management at the University of Reading, UK; Will Hughes, Professor of Construction Management and Economics at the School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, UK; and Alex Lubbock, Business Information Modelling Development Manager for Carillion Plc.
Topics discussed included the Latest developments in the field and future directions of research in the built environment; Adapting the built environment to climate change in a post-sustainable world; New ways of delivering value for money in construction; Putting theory to work in construction research; Refereed journal papers: practice and process; and Use and implications of Building Information Modelling in construction procurement and integrated project delivery.
Nike Fly Run – Witsies did it!
- By Buhle Zuma
Witsies have used many words to describe the Nike Fly Run and we certainly agree with all of the adjectives and superlatives. It was electric!
Nike teamed up with Wits University to host the Nike Fly Run, a 5km run around campus on Thursday, 6 February 2014 as part of Orientation Week. The run provided a perfect springboard to start a new years’ resolution such as getting fit and igniting a running movement on campus.
Artist Ricky Rick and MTV Base VJ Sandile provided pre-race entertainment while the Witsies mingled with athlete Caster Semenya, South African middle-distance runner and world champion; and Charné Bosman, one of South Africa’s top road runners. Student Representative Council President Shaffee Verachia fired the starting pistol and set the crowds running up Sturrock Park, the home base of Wits Sports Administration.
Heena Ramjee who wrote via twitter: “Third year @wits and I ran past stuff ive never seen before.” The route was deliberately designed to expose Witsies to areas around campus that they might not necessarily notice as they move between classes and go about their normal day-to-day business.
It must have felt like a tropical jamboree for Craig Maitin-Casalis @adiCasalis who wrote “Body paint, LED lights and 5kms of party.”
The experience was a challenge and exhilarating and the Wits Facebook page is abuzz with testimonies of fatigued but joyful novice runners. Thaddeans Frederick Mathebula says “it was dope, going down was easy but the uphillz yhoooo really chowed me.”
The run ended at the Wits Tower of Light where the 2800 registered runners and spectators continued partying under showers of rain.
Seruscka Naidoo, Nike South Africa Communications Manager, has praised the Witsies for their amazing energy.
She added that the Nike Fly Run aims to go beyond product activation and seeks to educate the youth about the importance of a healthy body and fitness. It is widely acknowledged that a healthy body equals a healthy mind. With lifestyle diseases on the increase and obesity a national concern, the Nike Fly Run served as an important catalyst in getting Witsies to seriously think about preserving their greatest asset – a healthy body.
Andrew Keightley-Smith, a multi-athlete and Chairman of the Wits Sports Council who holds a Wits BSc degree with interests in construction management and is currently pursuing his LLB said:
“Everyone had a good time and it was a really an enjoyable event which encouraged mass participation. Nike really out did themselves.”
Keightley-Smith took part in the Midmar Mile swimming race in Pietermaritzburg this weekend.
To keep the momentum going Witsies are encouraged to join the weekly run taking place every Thursday at 05:30 starting at the Bozzoli Sports Pavilion on the Wits East Campus.
Wits awarded new centres of excellence
- By Wits University
Wits University has been awarded a new Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The University is also currently in negotiations for another new CoE, in Child Development and Livelihoods, in collaboration with the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
The CoE for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences will focus on two themes reflecting the pure and applied nature of the mathematical sciences. These themes are mathematics paradigms for the Earth and the environment, and mathematical, statistical and computational modelling of the Earth and the environment.
The CoE in Child Development and Livelihoods will focus on increasing South Africa’s understanding of child development and livelihood challenges in the first 1 000 days, and on finding cost-effective interventions to overcome these challenges to ensure that children are given a better start in life.
“Wits, as a leading research university on the continent, is pleased to be involved in two new Centres of Excellence, in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, and Child Development and Livelihoods. We welcome the enabling research environment provided by these Centres, and the fact that they facilitate continued scientific collaboration with other universities in the country,” says Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Adam Habib.
Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, announced five new CoEs in total. The aim of the CoEs is to promote collaborative research, and provide support and training in priority research areas. “The new CoEs will contribute to South Africa's knowledge-generation capacity, increase the number of world-class researchers, and attract and retain research excellence,” said Hanekom.
There are now 14 DST/NRF CoEs in total. Wits hosts three of these 14 (in Palaeosciences, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, and Strong Materials) and co-hosts a further two (in Child Development and Livelihoods, and Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, jointly with the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town). Wits academics also participate in the Centre of Excellence in Catalysis, based at the University of Cape Town.
Another CoE, the National Aerospace Centre, operates at Wits under the auspices of the Department of Trade and Industry. Wits hosts two more CoEs which were recognised in 2012 by the African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation. They are in Antiviral Gene Therapy and Advanced Drug Delivery Technology.
New Research Chairs for Wits
- By Wits University
The National Research Foundation (NRF) has announced three new research chairs which will be hosted by Wits University under the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), funded by the Department of Science Technology and administered by the NRF.
The Research Chair in Critical Diversity Studies will be taken up by Professor Melissa Steyn of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS). The WiCDS aims to build capacity to meet the challenges of diverse societies, especially in post-apartheid South Africa.
Steyn said that the chair’s aims were to theorise contextually grounded understandings of diversity, difference and otherness, as these become salient through the current operations of power; to research how these dynamics are “at work” empirically in specific sites and locations; and to develop knowledge and materials that address South African needs.
The second new chair, the Research Chair in Mobility and the Politics of Difference, will be taken up by Professor Loren Landau of the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at Wits, one of Africa’s leading scholarly institutions for research and teaching on human mobility.
Landau said that the chair would build on the work that the ACMS had been doing for the last decade, which is to understand how migration in all its forms is reshaping politics and societies across Africa.
“We proposed the chair about three years ago. The impetus was that while people have studied migration, most of the work has been done from an economic or public health perspective – very little has linked the movements of people to politics. As we’ve seen from xenophobic attacks against immigrants or hostility towards people from other provinces, migrations – whether local or international – can’t be separated from politics,” he said.
Landau is a political scientist by training, but he has been working at the ACMS – an interdisciplinary institute – for over a decade. “This chair will draw on the insights of political science, sociology, human geography and other disciplines,” he said.
Finally, the Centre for Health Policy (CHP) has appointed Professor John Eyles, an eminent international research scientist as the Chair for Health Policy and Systems Research. The research portfolio associated with this chair will focus on universal access (also referred to as universal coverage) to quality care for all South Africans. This is necessary to strengthen the public health system’s ability to use resources effectively and efficiently, while increasing the production of skilled health workers.
Eyles is world-renowned in the field of health systems and policy research, and will strengthen the field in South Africa as the Department of Health embarks on a major health systems reform program to boost the country’s health outcomes which fall below international targets in some areas. Read more.
In addition to the three new chairs, the NRF has announced that an existing chair, the Research Chair in Bioinformatics of African Populations, based within the University’s Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, will be filled by its first incumbent, Michèle Ramsay, a professor in the Division of Human Genetics at the National Health Laboratory Service and Wits.
Meanwhile, Professor Thokozani Majozi of the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering has taken up the Research Chair in Sustainable Process Engineering. To read more about Majozi, click here.
Post Office honours Blombos artefacts
- By Wits University
The South African Post Office has included artefacts from the Blombos Cave in its new stamp collection under the theme: Symbols of South African Cultures.
The Blombos Cave, near Still Bay in the Western Cape, was discovered in 1991 by Christopher Henshilwood, Professor in African Prehistory at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University and the AHKR Institute at the University of Bergen, Norway.
It is an archaeological site made famous by the discovery there of two pieces of ochre engraved with abstract designs, 75 000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells, and 80 000-year-old bone tools. The engraved pieces of ochre are regarded as the oldest known artwork.
Announcing the new collection in a statement, the Post Office stated South Africa has a rich and diverse cultural history that goes back thousands of years. “Throughout the years, the different cultural groups have communicated their traditions, beliefs and social customs in a variety of forms such as religious objects, utensils, artefacts, clothing and accessories. Many of these have remained intact to tell their stories to this day,” the statement reads.
The set of 10 stamps features some of these fascinating historical symbols, and includes:
The Blombos ochre (Earliest symbolic design in South Africa, Henshilwood, Witwatersrand and Bergen Universities): Unearthed by Henshilwood in 2000, this cross-hatched engraving represents evidence of the earliest symbolic behaviour of human beings.
Blombos Nassarius kraussianus shell beads (Oldest symbolic ornaments in South Africa, Henshilwood, Witwatersrand and Bergen Universities): These intentionally bored estuarine shell beads are 75 000 years old and represent the earliest and oldest evidence yet to be found for ornamentation in southern Africa. Worn around the human body, they communicated a message about the wearer to viewers – perhaps about age or status.
“I am delighted that they think that the Blombos artefacts are important enough to rank among the culture symbols of South Africa and that the Post Office made two special stamps that feature these artefacts. It is a great honour for our research team and for Wits and Bergen,” says Henshilwood. Read more about the collection.
Wits to launch new Centre for Diversity Studies
- By Vivienne Rowland
A new centre aimed at building capacity to meet the challenges of diverse societies, especially post-apartheid South Africa, is being launched at Wits on Thursday, 20 February 2014.
The brand new Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS) is based in the Faculty of Humanities at Wits and will further its cause through interdisciplinary postgraduate education, public engagement, and research.
The launch takes place at 18:00 at the Wits Art Museum, University Corner, corner Bertha and Jorissen Streets, Braamfontein. RSVP to info.wicds@wits.ac.za.
The opening will be hosted by the Dean of the Wits Faculty of Humanities, Professor Ruksana Osman, welcoming speakers Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Finance, Human Resources and Transformation Professor Tawana Kupe; social activist and analyst Nomboniso Gasa; and Wits Centre for Diversity Studies Director, .
Steyn is also newly appointed as the South African Research Chairs Initiative Chair in Critical Diversity Studies at Wits by the National Research Foundation.
“The Chair’s aims are to theorise contextually grounded understandings of diversity, difference and otherness, as these become salient through the current operations of power; to research how these dynamics are “at work” empirically in specific sites and locations; and to develop knowledge and materials that address South African needs,” says Steyn.
The opening of the WiCDS has been preceded by a programme of events including the opening of the exhibition Queer and Trans Art-iculations: Collaborative Art for Social Change by the two well-known visual activists Zanele Muholi (Mo(u)rning) and Gabrielle Le Roux (Proudly African & Transgender and Proudly Trans in Turkey). The exhibition ends on 30 March 2014.
It is quite significant that Wits opens a Centre for Diversity Studies in the same year in which South Africa celebrates 20 years of democracy, says Professor Melissa Steyn, Director of the Centre.
Steyn spoke at the official opening of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies on Thursday, 20 February 2014, which took place at the Wits Art Museum amidst attendance by more than 150 people.
The Centre is aimed at building capacity to meet the challenges of diverse societies, especially post-apartheid South Africa and is based in the Faculty of Humanities. The Centre will further its cause through interdisciplinary postgraduate education, public engagement and research.
“It is symbolically significant that we are launching this Centre in the year when we celebrate 20 years of democracy. Every day we see examples of people being marginalised. Every generation has a responsibility, a historical obligation of telling what has been passed on to them, examining and doing the kind of introspection and analysis that will enable them to pass on a better society to their children,” says Steyn.
Social activist and analyst Nomboniso Gasa addressed the guests and said she has the greatest confidence that the Centre is going to tackle relevant issues facing today’s society.
“I believe that you understand how big your agenda is. I believe that your commitment will inspire us, to commit to a process and a struggle, because living with diversity is actually a struggle. We are living with contradictions within ourselves and within our community. I wish you great strength and a thick skin,” said Gasa.
Steyn is also newly appointed as the South African Research Chairs Initiative Chair in Critical Diversity Studies at Wits by the National Research Foundation.
“The Chair’s aims are to theorise contextually grounded understandings of diversity, difference and otherness, as these become salient through the current operations of power; to research how these dynamics are “at work” empirically in specific sites and locations; and to develop knowledge and materials that address South African needs,” said Steyn.
A former researcher at the Universities of Stellenbosh and Cape Town, Steyn said she is happy to be working at Wits. “I am really privileged to work at Wits, in Johannesburg, on this project, to be able to do this work here, in this city, in this context, of creating consciousness, and helping talented young people to take these issues very seriously”.
The opening of the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies was preceded by a programme of events including the opening of the exhibition Queer and Trans Art-iculations: Collaborative Art for Social Change by the two well-known visual activists Zanele Muholi (Mo(u)rning) and Gabrielle Le Roux (Proudly African & Transgender and Proudly Trans in Turkey). The exhibition ends on 30 March 2014.
Six students from Wits University brushed shoulders with eight world known Nobel laureates in India recently.
The students took part in the Sixth Nobel Science Conclave, a Science popularisation programme, which was held in Allahabad, India in December 2013.
The Science Conclave is a multi-disciplinary congregation of Nobel Laureates and eminent scientists, hosted by the Government of India in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Inaugurated in 2008, the Conclave has been held annually at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Allahabad, India. Now in its sixth year, it continues to fulfill its vision to not only provide a platform for young students, teachers and researchers to freely interact with high-profile intelligentsia; but to also evoke a favourable worldwide response.
“When the request came from the Wits International Office to nominate bright meritorious students/researchers from the University in November 2013 within a short notice, our School jumped at the opportunity to nominate some of our best postgraduate students,” said Professor Sunny Iyuke, Head of the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering.
Thus, for the first time a group of six postgraduate students from the School were invited to be part of the student and researcher delegates from African countries to participate in the Conclave.
The lucky students were MSc students Lerato Lekhanya, Dineo Lioma; and Nikita Ranchod; and PhD candidates Gloria Hlongwane, Desmond Edem Fiawoyife; and Kapil Moothi.
IIIT-Allahabad provided an interactive forum for participants from Angola, Brunei, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tunisia, USA, and Vietnam to meet and share experiences with the intention of creating and strengthening networks between students and eminent scientists in the fields of science and technology.
“I am absolutely delighted that Wits students were the first from South Africa to participate in this event. Brushing shoulders with eight Nobel laureates and engaging with participants from all around the globe was a profoundly rewarding and inspiring experience, both academically and personally. Working together with academic departments, diplomatic missions and sponsors we hope to create more such opportunities for our students in the future,” said Samia Chasi, Acting Head: International Partnerships.
The week-long mega event with over 2000 participants, local and international, had quite a unique conference format which was arranged into day-to-day programmes sub-divided into formal and informal sessions.
The formal sessions comprised of plenary lectures conferred by Nobel Laureates along with international and national scientists about their respective scientific research work, interests and contributions. The eight Nobel Laureates who graced the event were Prof. I. Giaever (1973 recipient), Prof. R.J. Roberts (1993 recipient), Prof. D.D. Osheroff (1996 recipient), Prof. H.W. Kroto (1996 recipient), Prof. C.C. Tannoudji (1997 recipient), Prof. W.J. Kohn (1998 recipient), Prof. J.C. Mather (2006 recipient) and Prof. S. Haroche (2012 recipient).
In contrast, the informal sessions encompassed interaction sessions classed into smaller domains of different scientific fields of study, book and technology exhibitions, star gazing (through special telescopes) as well as sight-seeing. In addition, on alternative evenings highly anticipated traditional events and folk dances showcasing the diverse cultural heritage of India were held.
The jaunty angle at which the gentleman from Orlando West wore his new hat from the men’s outfitter in downtown Joburg in the 1960s is part of South Africa’s public history; a history that often gets neglected in the post-1994 emphasis on the country’s liberation struggle. Professor Noor Nieftagodien, Head of the History Workshop and the National Research Foundation (NRF) South African Research Chair in Local Histories and Present Realities, explains.
“If we don’t take the trouble to research and record the everyday experiences of people we cannot understand human agency: what drives people to do things or to remain inert. Historians need to move beyond only focusing on the big events because it is what happens between the big events that are so important,” says Nieftagodien.
Since 1994, the emphasis on history in South Africa has understandably been about the liberation struggle and its leaders. Hence if we think of Orlando West in Soweto, for example, we automatically think of Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world to have been home to two Nobel Laureates, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.
“But what about the ordinary people in Orlando West? Is Mrs Ntuli living in a nondescript house in Orlando West not as important as Mandela or Tutu?” asks Nieftagodien.
“The ordinary people in Orlando West and many other communities in South Africa readily answer this question,” he continues. While they acknowledge the historical importance of the liberation struggle and its heroes, they explain that this doesn’t reflect the entirety of their personal and community histories: what they did, how they lived and loved, and the complexities of their daily lives. “Ordinary people want their own stories told, and this is critical to our research focus because it is about the validation and affirmation of their individual life stories.”
Some of the older men in Orlando West, for example, relate how they would catch the train to downtown Joburg, when they had enough money, and head for the well-known men’s outfitters to buy a certain style of shoes or trousers or a hat. They were not wealthy, but fashion was very important to them: it was a statement of their life and times. Other members of the community talk about what it was like to be a black woman in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, or about their schooling and a particular teacher who inspired them with a poem.
These and many other historical accounts of the everyday life of this community in Soweto is part of the research conducted by the History Workshop that started in 2009 and culminated in an illustrated history of Orlando West, published by Wits University Press in 2012.
Similar research has been conducted in several other communities, including Alexandra township, Ekurhuleni and the Vaal Triangle.
The Ekurhuleni research led to a second book entitled Ekurhuleni: The making of an urban region, published by Wits University Press in 2012.
“Our approach in the History Workshop is to centrally involve members of the community in the research exercise,” explains Nieftagodien. “This way people begin to understand history, not only in terms of the broad political brush strokes but in terms of the individual and community experience.”
The History Workshop team, including Nieftagodien, Professor Phil Bonner, Dr Tshepo Moloi (who completed his PhD in 2012) and several postgraduate students who participated in this research, trained young people from the communities to conduct interviews and archive research, to participate in the discussions and to critically assess their research.
Six young people with a matric who were unemployed, bright and involved in various activities in the community were recruited to work on the project. One of the recruits was given the responsibility of taking photos, which included being trained by photographer Sally Gaule.
“As part of our community involvement, we also decided that all the material collected for the Orlando West book – the interviews, the transcripts, the photos – should be kept in a public archive in Orlando West for the people living there to access; for teachers to use as part of their curriculum and for the community to own their history. This is the history we want to encourage,” says Nieftagodien.
The development and awareness-raising of local or public histories is a worldwide trend and the History Workshop has multiple partners, including Oxford University in the UK, Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, Duke University in the US, Basel University in Switzerland and L’Orientale Napoli in Italy. This exposes the History Workshop and NRF Chair students to a variety of public history approaches and intellectual experiences.
The interdisciplinary NRF Chair, which Nieftagodien took over in 2012, is closely linked to the History Workshop, with a specific mandate to support postgraduate research in local histories. In the past six years, over 30 graduates from various disciplines, including history, sociology, politics and anthropology, have conducted local history-based research in 40 different South African communities in Gauteng, the Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West.
Their research projects cover a wide range of issues, including youth politics, relations between traditional and local authorities, the politics of identity, gender politics, African entrepreneurship and various aspects of the anti-apartheid movement and popular struggles.
“The Chair has 15 to 20 students in any given year, and we participate in workshops with universities from other countries, so our students can engage with their global peers,” says Nieftagodien.
Also published by Wits University Press in 2012 is One hundred years of the ANC: Debating liberation histories today – an edited collection.
“We partnered with the History Department at the University of Johannesburg and South African History Online on this, bringing together key researchers from South Africa and around the world to offer a more critical perspective on the construction of a dominant narrative of the ANC’s history,” says Nieftagodien who co-edited the collection.
“The ANC is considerably more complex and fragmented than the omnipotent, unified organisation the dominant narrative presents,” he explains. “At different points in time over the past 100 years, for example, the ANC has often been quite weak and eclipsed by other movements such as the Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union. The collection also reflects on the role of women in the history of the ANC because the dominant narrative neglects the multiple voices and multiple experiences.”
The argument made in the collection is that those in power in the ANC today seem to believe their current position of power was predestined. “They refuse to recognise that they are at a critical crossroads with many aspects of the current regime rapidly unravelling,” explains Nieftagodien. “If they do not address the mounting problems, notably education, unemployment and the deep levels of inequality, which have intensified over the past decade, we are potentially looking at an Arab Spring, where the simmering public anger will become a tidal wave of discontent. I think the ANC is in deep trouble and some of the members seem not to be aware of this or they are so determined to hang onto power that perhaps they don’t care.”
A new study by a Wits University scientist has overturned a long-standing hypothesis about plant speciation (the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution), suggesting that agricultural crops could be more vulnerable to climate change than was previously thought.
Unlike humans and most other animals, plants can tolerate multiple copies of their genes – in fact some plants, called polyploids, can have more than 50 duplicates of their genomes in every cell. Scientists used to think that these extra genomes helped polyploids survive in new and extreme environments, like the tropics or the Arctic, promoting the establishment of new species.
However, when Dr Kelsey Glennon of the Wits School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences and a team of international collaborators tested this long-standing hypothesis, they found that, more often than not, polyploids shared the same habitats as their close relatives with normal genome sizes.
“This means that environmental factors do not play a large role in the establishment of new plant species and that maybe other factors, like the ability to spread your seeds to new locations with similar habitats, are more important,” said Glennon.
“This study has implications for agriculture and climate change because all of our important crops are polyploids and they might not be much better at adapting to changing climate than their wild relatives if they live in similar climates.”
Glennon’s study also provides an alternative explanation for why plants are so diverse in places like the Cape where the climate has been stable for hundreds of thousands of years. Although her study examined plant species from North America and Europe only, she is looking forward to testing her hypotheses using South African plants.
Glennon’s paper has been published in Ecology Letters, a flagship journal for broad-scale ecology research.
Image: Output for Larrea tridentata (creosote bush) diploid and polyploid populations that shows that both ploidies share similar climate habitats, but differ in how they share that climate.
About Dr Kelsey Glennon
Dr Kelsey Glennon is a Carnegie Postdoctoral Fellow in Climate Change Research in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences and the Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She became interested in plant genetics while volunteering in the Hunter Lab at Salisbury University in her second year of college. She pursued a PhD at George Washington University in Washington, DC, studying plant hybridisation, its effects on species boundaries, and resulting conservation issues. Dr Glennon came to Wits University from a prestigious NSF Bioinformatics Fellowship at Syracuse University in New York. She is currently doing active field research on baobab trees in Limpopo Province and the medicinally important plant imphepho (Helichrysum odoratissimum).
Witsies finalists in Budget Speech competition
- By Wits University
Budding economists in the School of Economic and Business Sciences will be in Parliament when the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan presents the much awaited budget speech today, 26 February 2014. Eight Wits students are finalists in the prestigious Nedbank and Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition. Three of the students are competing in the undergraduate category while five students are hoping that their ideas will triumph against their peers from competing universities in the postgraduate category.
In the undergraduate category Wits is represented by Michael Levin, Jenny Rapasha and Lucky Tozana; and in the postgraduate category are Yashvir Algu, Jesal Kika, Nadia Kruger, Mashokane Mahlo and Terry van Staden.
Winners will be announced this evening at the Budget Speech Competition dinner in Cape Town at which the Minister will deliver the keynote address.
Terry van Staden (pictured) was a runner-up in the undergraduate category last year. Read more about Wits’ performance in the previous years.
Winning ideas to solve youth unemployment and the electricity crisis
- By Wits University
Ideas put forward by Wits students on how to solve youth unemployment and views about whether South Africa should provide preferential electricity tariffs to certain industries, have earned Wits students a place of pride in the Nedbank and Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition.
Wits students Nadia Kruger and Michael Levin were among the final winners of the annual Nedbank and Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition.
Kruger came second in the postgraduate category conceding to Lucky Pane from the University of Johannesburg but ranked ahead of Zwelihle Mfundisi from the University of Cape Town. She walked away with a cash prize of R60 000.
Levin clinched third place in the undergraduate category and was rewarded with a cash prize of R10 000 for his insight on the causes of youth unemployment and solutions to the problem. Levin argued that “skills development programs, the youth wage subsidy and educational reform have the potential to allow South Africa to reach the lofty heights set out by the National Development Plan and eliminate high youth unemployment.”
The winners were announced last night, 26 February 2014, at a Budget Speech Competition dinner at which the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan delivered the keynote address, hours after Parliament heard his annual budget speech for the country. The dinner was also attended by captains of industry.
According to the competition sponsors, the competition seeks to nurture and invest in the next generation of economists, decision-makers and thinkers.
Participants are required to submit an essay responding to a set essay question and the entries are judged on merit and quality by judges from Nedbank, Old Mutual, the National Treasury, the business sector and external consultants. Launched in 1972, the competition is open to all South African students registered for an economics course at a recognised South African institution for higher learning including the Military Academy. Entries for 2014 are now open.
Overall Wits had eight finalists in the competition – three in the undergraduate category and five students in the postgraduate category.
In the undergraduate category Wits was represented by Levin, Jenny Rapasha and Lucky Tozana; and in the postgraduate category were Kruger, Yashvir Algu, Jesal Kika, Mashokane Mahlo and Terry van Staden.
The first South African SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) regional challenge bowl was hosted by Wits Students Geophysics Society at this year's SAGA 13th Biennial Conference. The event took place at the Kruger National Park, which attracted a well rounded number of competitors as well as a lively and intrigued crowd of spectators. Read more.
As dynamic as the Wits students
- By Buhle Zuma
Putting the formal power suit aside, Dr Pamela Dube, the new Dean of Students is as dynamic as the 30 000-strong Wits students that she represents.
Her experience abroad and origins resonate with the needs of the cosmopolitan Wits students who are also of diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
Dube was born in kwaMakhutha, a township in KwaZulu-Natal, known for its active politics and for being, up until the mid-90s, a hotspot for political violence. A mere mention of the area transports many to the times when black-on-black violence fuelled by the state, was at its peak in the region and countless lives were lost. The unstable political environment and the limited opportunities in the semi-rural township are just some of the threats that challenged Dube during her life’s course.
Her aptitude, however, ensured her freedom was awarded through a bursary to study further after she matriculated from the Inanda Seminary in 1984 and went on to obtain her BA degree and a BA Honours in Drama and Performance Studies at the then University of Natal in Durban. However, it was not all plain sailing. As a first year student she was the first and only black students in an all-white female residence on campus then and her resolve was often tested when, as a young girl active in the Struggle, she often had to defend her choice of study which was seen as impractical and had little to offer in freeing the masses from the shackles of apartheid.
But she persisted as she strongly believed in the power of theatre in mobilising and conscientising communities; and it helped her come out of her shell.
“I was terribly shy as a young girl and theatre gave me a voice to claim my existence,” she remembers.
As much as new opportunities opened up to her she also found that her skin colour often led to her and her university mates not being able to perform in certain places because of her presence as the only black in the all-white theatre group.
“I decided then that I want to be part of the education agenda – if I can’t use my voice through theatre, then at least I can use it to empower other young people,” says Dube.
She resigned from a teaching post when an opportunity arose to study further abroad funded by the German Academic Exchange Service.
Her fluency in German is a result of her 10-year stay in the country during which she acquired her masters and doctoral degrees in media studies at the University of Siegen.
Her professional knowledge in people development and experience as a student places her in good stead to understand the diverse needs of Wits students.
Ten percent of Wits students are international students; 50% of Wits students are funded by either the National Student Financial Aid Scheme or bursaries; and a majority of Wits students are day students staying outside of the University’s residences. Furthermore, Wits is serious about being the destination of choice for postgraduate students.
These factors are variables that shape student demands on the University and impact on the University’s goal to create an environment where students receive more than an education.
The mission to create a ‘student centred university’ is something that the Wits management has always pursued and Dube intends on achieving this.
One of her criticisms is that the University does not do enough to show that it is a vibrant university and that students are at the centre of its activities.
“Our global image needs to be reflective of the type of students that the university aspires to recruit and develop,” she says.
Just before taking up her new post in December at Wits, she asked her media students in Kathmandu University in Nepal, to share their impressions of the Wits website.
“I asked them ‘What do you see when you look at this website?’”
They thought that it was intimidating, she says.
“The website stories reinforce the University as a bastion of academic prowess – it’s all about researchers, grants and awards. This is all great because it says this is an achieving University and has aims to stay ahead but at the same time it needs to be about students.”
“You need to get a sense of a vibrant student life and that what we do benefits students.”
The presentation of Wits so far is often one-sided says Dube.
Her vision as she puts together a comprehensive strategy with her management team is to see Student Affairs at the centre of unleashing ‘the edge’ in terms of a holistic development of students as socially responsive citizens.
about the Dean’s plans for her division, exciting proposals to establish a day house for off-campus students and thoughts on clubs and societies who do not deliver quality programmes to their fellow students while collecting membership fees, and developing leaders out of students.
The student services portfolio under the Dean of Students includes the Counselling and Careers Development Unit (CCDU), Campus Housing and Residence Life, Campus Health and Wellness Clinic, the Disability Unit, the Student Development and Leadership Unit, Wits Sports Administration.
Dube joined Wits in December from Kathmandu University in Nepal, where she held a consultative, advisory role to the Vice-Chancellor on strategic partnerships and student matters, and where she also served as a guest lecturer in Media Studies.
Prior to her stint in Nepal, Dube worked at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) as a Special Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor, with oversight of the Student Affairs and Internationalisation portfolios. She was redeployed as the Executive Director for Human Resources and left UJ at the beginning of 2013 after being appointed as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Designate for Student Affairs, Advancement and Internationalisation, to pursue a consultancy opportunity in Nepal.
Her career spans various other areas of work including serving as a Director for Higher Education Policy and Support in the National Department of Education; heading an international partnerships division as well as a learning and people development unit at the Nuclear Energy Commission of South Africa; and serving as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Siegen. She has also served in numerous local and international research and capacity building boards including serving on the Higher Education HIV and AIDS programme steering committee. Her internationally recognised publications include a special focus on gender issues, postcolonial literature, the oral tradition and the broader media.
Outside of work, Dube enjoys spending time with a book and with her pre-teen daughter with whom she has travelled much and loves to create memorable experiences. “The arts and culture and community youth development efforts provide a much needed diversion from the demands of higher education,” she says.
Dube has been involved as commentator or guest speaker at art exhibitions and as a motivational speaker for youth organisations.
New oil and gas degree to meet new needs
- By Wits University
South Africa has an opportunity to rewrite history with the unearthing of new mineral resources.The discovery of shale gas in the Karoo and other mineral reserves, which experts call the black gold, holds great opportunity for South Africa. In light of these developments, the Wits Business School held a public discussion titled Legislation to optimise oil and gas resource exploration and development in SA.
ProfessorSunny Iyuke, Head of the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, announced that Wits intends introducing a new bachelor of science (BSc) degree in oil and gas engineering in anticipation of growing demand for hydrocarbons expertise, as South Africa prepares to firm up its legislative framework for the exploitation of natural gas. Iyuke spoke of the need for skills coordination with Further Education and Training Colleges and other technical institutions to prepare the skills base for South Africa's entry into the exploitation of shale gas. Click here to read an article from the Mining Weekly.
Discussants included:
Andre Andreas, Department of Mineral Resources chief director mining and mineral policy.
Dr Rod Crompton of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.
by Crompton.
ProfessorSunny Iyuke, Head of the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering.
by Iyuke.
Johan Thyse Sasol’s Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs.
by Thyse.
Thulani Gcabasha, Executive Chairman of BuiltAfrica Holdings and former director of Eskom.
by Gcabasha.
Steve Bluen, Director and Head of the WBS delivered the closing remarks. His ten 10 point summary highlights what is required to exploit the opportunity presented to South Africa.
by Bluen.
Wits renews its partnership with Total SA
- By Wits University
Wits University today reaffirmed its commitment to the contribution of the empowerment, up-skilling and education of the country’s youth at a signing ceremony, in partnership with Total South Africa.
The signed document signifies an undertaking by Total South Africa to assist selected candidates with student bursaries that will cover full tuition and textbooks for the duration of their studies.
This year, five Wits students have received full scholarship bursaries from Total South Africa, in a variety of fields. Upon completion of their studies the company offers selected students the opportunity to embark on an internship programme at Total South Africa where valuable practical expertise and on the job training are offered.
In addition, Total will host a delegation of South African students and senior educators at an annual Summer School for a week-long programme in July in Paris. The delegation will attend one of the Energy Seminars hosted by the Total Group.
“Total funds professors who teach two relevant courses as part of the masters in the Petroleum Engineering programme at Wits. The company has also supported our staff and students by sponsoring an educational trip to Paris which is aimed at advancing knowledge in the field of petroleum, oil and gas production,” says Professor Sunny Iyuke, Head of the Wits School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering.
Academics from the Total Professors Association (TPA) have also been involved in the teaching of the geology and geophysics honours programmes from as far back as 2005.
“We appreciate the long-term commitment by the TPA as it provides the School with an opportunity to broaden our students’ learning experience and knowledge by giving them access to top-level professors with extensive experience in the petroleum industry. As the leading geosciences teaching department in Africa with a strong focus on applied geosciences, the School is committed to this partnership and to meeting the training needs of our continent,” adds Professor Roger Gibson, Head of the Wits School of Geosciences.
Initially the first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Wits University and Total South Africa was signed in 2010 and a total of 14 students have been awarded bursaries over the last three years. Demonstrating commitment to the development of these graduates, 11 of the bursary candidates have been offered internships at Total South Africa over the last three years.
“Total South Africa recognises that skills development is essential for South Africa’s economic growth. We are thus committed to work in unison with government, the private sector and institutions of higher learning such as Wits University to assist in alleviating the skills gap and to provide our youth with the chance of a better future through our bursaries and various other education initiatives,” explains Christian des Closières, Total South Africa Managing Director and CEO.
New radio science show
- By Wits University
A new weekly radio show devoted to improving the public understanding of science is being launched by the Wits Radio Academy.
The Science Inside is broadcast on Voice of Wits at 6pm on Mondays and made available online. Each week the show goes inside the science of a theme or story in the news, such as fracking, rhino poaching, a train crash, the salvage of the Costa Concordia or the shortage of ARVs.
The programme is aimed at the youth, and is being produced with financial support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST). It intends to make scientific topics interesting and entertaining without sacrificing accuracy.
Prof Franz Krüger, director of the Wits Radio Academy, said the new project is a very exciting one. “Radio is a great medium to extend interest in science. It’s an important challenge: as we know, South Africa’s science and maths education was ranked second last in the world last year, just ahead of Yemen, according to a World Economic Forum Report.”
The first episode tackles the science behind chemical weapons, much in the news because of the Syrian conflict. It’s a grim and bloody topic, but the episode opens with a young woman telling the story of how a friend’s pepper spray was dropped in a girl’s bathroom.
She starts to laugh when she explains how each girl – for the rest of the night – squeezed into the cubicle, pulled down her pants and burnt her ass.
The story about pepper spray, what one expert called the world’s simplest chemical weapon, helps ease the tension before the show focuses on these outlawed weapons of war, which listeners discover have unexpected South African connections.
The first show interviews a professor of military science, a chemist and a senior Research fellow for the Institute for Security Studies.
The show will rely on interviews with top journalists, researchers and activists, and will also feature listeners’ questions, answered by a university student in the appropriate field. A regular feature called “Two-minute Science” will look at new developments, while another, “The Science OUTside” will take the show on a trip out of the studio.
For the first episode listeners are taken to Body Worlds, a traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination. The exhibition recently visited South Africa and drew over 250 000 visitors.
Tommy Makhode, chief director of communications at the Department of Science and Technology (DST), said: “The partnership between the DDST and Wits Radio will help to profile and raise awareness about the contribution of science and technology to socio-economic development and other important innovations. The department is excited about this initiative and looks forward to its implementation.”
Prof Ian Jandrell, Dean of the Wits Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, has expressed support for the project, saying: “This is one of the most effective ways to bringing science to life - embedding in society that science is actually not a mystery - it is about the world we live in and our everyday experience of that world.”
The show is aimed at young people, and opportunities are being explored for partnerships with other radio stations to reach further audiences.
You can hear clips and get a download of the full show each week at www.soundcloud.com/witsradioacademy. Extracts from the show, as well as additional material - images, text etc. - can be found on www.scibraai.co.za.
Further details from Prof. Franz Krüger, Director of the Wits Radio Academy, at 082 903 4196 or on franz.kruger@wits.ac.za.
New book explores the “politics of science”
- By Vivienne Rowland
A new book by Wits academic aimed at explaining the role of science in trade conflict has reached bookshelves around the country and internationally.
The book, titled Risk Regulation, Science, and Interests in Transatlantic Trade Conflicts, was written by Dr David J Hornsby, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Assistant Dean of Humanities, Teaching and Learning at Wits.
The book is part of the prestigious International Political Economy Series published by Palgrave Macmillan. The authors in the series are part of an international group focusing on how politics and the economy intersect.
The launch of Hornsby’s work follows closely on the heels of a book on teaching large classes which he co-authored and published late last year.
“With this book I look at how science influences trade conflict over regulations pertaining to food safety and the environment. By considering the role of scientists in moments of conflict at the World Trade Organisation, I am shedding light on a set of important factors that has been little considered from a political science/international relations angle,” says Hornsby.
The intersection of risk and trade has resulted in protracted and acrimonious trade conflict that questions the right of sovereign states to address the threat of harm. When regions such as Canada, the US and the EU have disagreed over the legitimacy of risk regulations, they have placed science at the centre of international trade conflict. As such, scientists become important actors in these moments and deserve to be better understood.
In this sense, Hornsby offers to deepen our understanding of how scientists can impact policy decision-making. Indeed, this work contributes to building an understanding of how scientists communicate with policy-makers and how political factors impact the uptake of scientific advice.
Hornsby started the book as part of the research for his PhD at the University of Cambridge, which he completed in 2010. He recently decided to revisit the work and add new material, resulting in Risk Regulation, Science, and Interests in Transatlantic Trade Conflicts.
“There has been a lot of consideration of the role of scientists in politics, and I am one of the few who looks at it in the trade dynamic and from an international relations point of view. Many of the existing literature explore trade conflict and different actors from a public policy, sociological or legal angle,” says Hornsby.
“While the case studies focus on North American and European examples, the findings and analysis has relevance for African states as well, particularly as many seek to trade in agricultural products and have to accommodate foreign food safety and environmental regulations.”
Hornsby is the 2013 recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Individual Teaching Award and the Friedel Sellschop Award in recognition of his outstanding research.
The Naphuno Regional Court has handed down judgment against Matome Maponya, managing director of clay mining company Blue Platinum Ventures. Pleading guilty, Maponya was sentenced to five years in prison for causing damage to the environment in an area where the mine was not authorised to operate. His sentence was suspended for five years on the condition that the land damaged by the mine’s activities is rehabilitated in the next three months. To date, this is the first time that a mining company’s director has been convicted for environmental offences.
Blue Platinum Ventures has been mining clay near the Batlhabine village in Limpopo since 2007, causing much environmental damage to the surrounding area and encroaching on land where it was not authorised to operate. The mining company has also neglected to fulfil its duty to rehabilitate the land damaged by their operations, which would cost an estimated R6.8 million.
Mashile Phalane, Community Liaison Officer at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), Wits, was instrumental in instigating the court case against Maponya and Blue Platinum Ventures. His role involved mobilising the mine-affected Batlhabine community, and forming the Batlhabine Foundation as a platform for challenging the mining activities in the region. The community tried on numerous occasions to appeal to the Department of Mineral Resources to take action against the mining company with little success. The community, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights, eventually laid charges against Blue Platinum Ventures and its directors. Both the company and Maponya pled guilty to the charge of contravening Section 24F of the National Environmental Management Act.
CALS welcomes this landmark judgment and would like to congratulate the Batlhabine community and the Centre for Environmental Rights. The ruling shows that the courts are willing to uphold the environmental rights of communities affected by mining and to hold directors accountable for their companies’ failure to comply with environmental and mining regulations. This case is an inspiring example of communities organising effectively to combat unlawful mining activities that threaten the land that is both a source of sustenance and identity. The judgement was handed down on 31 January 2014.
The question of why an individual would actively kill itself has been an evolutionary mystery. Death could hardly provide a fitness advantage to the dying individual. However, a new study has found that in single-celled algae, suicide benefits the organism’s relatives.
“Death can be altruistic – we showed that before – but now we know that programmed cell death benefits the organism’s relatives and not just anybody,” says Dr Pierre Durand from the Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology and the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) at Wits University.
When Durand and his colleagues from the University of Arizona released the results of their first study on suicide in single-celled algae in 2011, they showed that when an organism commits suicide by digesting up its own body, it releases nutrients into the environment that can be used by other organisms.
Now they’ve proven that these nutrients can only be used by relatives. In fact, the nutrients inhibit the growth of non-relatives, so not only does suicide benefit relatives, it can also harm competitors. This is remarkable. Even after death an organism can continue to exert species-specific fitness effects on its neighbours.
“If one focusses purely on the individual organism, programmed death doesn’t fit with the paradigm of survival of the fittest. Why should something like suicide exist at all? This has been an evolutionary mystery and we have discovered one of the clues,” says Durand.
The team used Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a type of alga) as a model organism, but they suspect that this phenomenon is happening in all unicellular organisms. The trigger is a stressful environment. “When the environment becomes difficult for everybody, some individuals sacrifice themselves for the benefit of kin. We suspect that it’s the older and more damaged who are more likely to commit suicide,” says Durand.
For example, during algal blooms in freshwater or marine environments the nutrients eventually run out causing some algae to commit suicide to sustain the others.
The increased environmental stresses of climate change could also impact the dynamics of programmed death. “The planet won’t be able to sustain everyone at the current rate of exploitation. Whether we’re talking about humans or microbes, it’s becoming a crowded place and this is impacting the way microbes respond,” says Durand.
The paper has been published in the scientific journal Biology Letters and was co-authored by Durand, Rajdeep Choudhury, also from the SBIMB, and Armin Rashidi and Richard Michod from the University of Arizona.
Image (click on the image to download a high res version): Dr Pierre Durand. Credit: University of the Witwatersrand
Dr Jane Goodall speaks at Wits
- By Kanina Foss
In the year of her 80th birthday, world-renowned British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and United Nations Messenger of Peace, Dr Jane Goodall, began a public lecture at Wits University by paying tribute to her mother, who supported her early love for animals and paid no attention when people accused her of being irresponsible by letting her 23-year-old daughter go off to Africa on a boat.
It was in Africa where Goodall met the famed paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, the man who employed her first as his secretary and later as a researcher of chimpanzees in Gomba in what was then Tanganyika, where she made a ground breaking discovery when she observed a chimpanzee using a tool to fish for termites.
Goodall delivered the lecture on Friday, 7 February 2014, less than two months before her 80th birthday. She reflected on her long and distinguished career as first a scientist and later – when she began realising the plight of chimpanzees, as well as the often desperate conditions of the people responsible for their endangerment – as an activist.
She encouraged the students in the audience in particular to follow their own instincts in deciphering the world around them, and not to let their superiors constrain their thinking. “There is still so much out there to learn. We’re continually learning new things,” she said.
Goodall referenced the incredible capacity of the human brain, which distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal kingdom, and questioned the ways in which we are using our brains. “We’re the most intelligent creatures to walk the planet. Why then are we destroying the planet?”
She said she was continually meeting people who didn’t seem to have much hope for the future, but that she vested her hope in the rise of a critical mass of young people who would teach the older generations how to change.
“Our human brain is capable of doing incredible things if we link it to the love and compassion of the human heart,” she said.
FM, 4 February 2014