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14 August 2018
WomenofKovsies Dr Lize Joubert on flowers and their favourite insects
Pollination is important to maintain diversity in our natural ecosystem and maintain ecosystem health
“Pollination is important to maintain diversity in our natural ecosystem and maintain ecosystem health.” So says Dr Lize Joubert, lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State. “Research helps to understand the interaction between insects and flowers and their many implications on real-world problems.”

Plant systematics and pollination biology, Dr Joubert’s research field, looks at how plants diversify, adapt to environmental changes and how their flowers evolve to keep attracting insects to pollinate them for reproduction. 

Dependency on pollination

Crop production is, in many cases, dependent on pollination. About 75% of the world’s crops are to some extent dependant on pollination. “Pollination is really important for us as human beings, but it is also important to maintain diversity in our natural ecosystem and maintain ecosystem health.”

Dr Joubert obtained her PhD in plant systematics in 2013 and was subsequently awarded the EM van Zinderen-Bakker Prize for an outstanding PhD dissertation in Botany.

She is also the curator of the Geo Potts Herbarium in Bloemfontein, the internationally accredited herbarium housing over 30 000 plant specimens, mainly representing the flora of central South Africa and several special collections from Marion Island, the Okavango Delta, and KwaZulu-Natal. 

Learning from the experts

As a young researcher Dr Joubert became part of the Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP) at the UFS which led her to Cambridge University where she became part of a research group for nearly two years under an expert in her field, Prof Beverley Glover. The PSP at UFS identifies and promotes promising young academics at the university to become full professors with excellent research accomplishments. 

Dr Joubert views the PSP Programme to a large extent as her academic home. She is proud to be part of the programme that has brought her closer to other experts in her field and resulted in collaborations in which she is involved in cutting-edge research. 

News Archive

UFS law students sit in on exceptional case in the Supreme Court of Appeal
2011-09-21

 
At the Supreme Court of Appeal were, from left to right: Dr Beatri Kruger, lecturer in our Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the Faculty of Law; Adv. Ann Skelton, Amicus Curiae instructed by the Restorative Justice Centre; Ms Matsepo Soko, post-graduate student in Criminal Law; and Prof. Annette van der Merwe from the University of Pretoria.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Fourth-year and master’s-degree students, from our Faculty of Law, had the privilege of attending the hearing of one of their prescribed cases in the module, Criminal Law, namely the State versus Tabethe, in the Supreme Court of Appeal. Apart from the fact that they could attend the hearing, the students were also addressed by experienced legal experts, Adv. Ann Skelton (amicus curiae, instructed by the Restorative Justice Centre) and Prof. Annette van der Merwe from the University of Pretoria, on the broad outlines of the case.

In this case, the accused was found guilty of raping his fifteen-year-old stepdaughter. The court imposed a sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, suspended in full, but with certain conditions. The conditions include 800 hours’ community service and stipulate that the accused has to follow a rehabilitation programme and that he has to give 80% of his income to the family in order to support the victim and her family.
 
This was the first rape case where, in following a restorative justice approach, exceptional conditions were imposed to address the interests of the victim who wants to proceed with her studies. The State appealed against the sentence.
 
Dr Beatri Kruger, lecturer in our Department of Criminal and Medical Law, who prescribed this case for the students, said, ‘The law students were indeed privileged to attend this auspicious and enriching occasion, which provided them with an insightful experience of how the law works in practice.’

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