7th Postgraduate Cross-Faculty Symposium
- Wits University
Over 170 posters and oral presentations vied for prizes at the 7th Postgraduate Cross-Faculty Symposium
Students who are on a quest for deeper knowledge and in pursuit of innovative solutions exhibited their research at the 7th Postgraduate Cross-Faculty Symposium, held in March where over 170 posters and oral presentations vied for prizes.
The Symposium was opened by Professor Mary Scholes, Director of Postgraduate Affairs who introduced the keynote speaker, Nonhlanhla Masina.
Masina, a Wits graduate, is a Mail & Guardian top 200 young South African and Chief Business Development Officer of the African School for Excellence.
She is currently doing her masters in pharmaceutical sciences focusing on chemical modification methods for biopolymers for innovative application in drug delivery.
Prizes were awarded for the top three posters and orals in each Faculty. The top ten winners then competed in the cross-faculty presentations.
The first prize for the cross-Faculty oral presentations was shared between Ofentse Makgae from the Faculty of Health Sciences and Taahira Mangera from the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment.
Makgae holds numerous other awards under his name and is also the recipient of the 2016 Rhodes Scholarship where he will read for a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Materials Science at Oxford University.
This year, the judges were hard pressed at the Symposium to select the winners as they agreed that the quality of research presented has never been so high.
“The quality of the presentations was the highest it has ever been and all the students who participated should be praised and thanked for the effort they made to prepare world class posters and oral presentations,” says Scholes.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Postgraduate Affairs closed the Symposium with a prize giving and cocktail lunch.