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03 July 2018 Photo Rulanzen Martin
Prof Peacock elected president of World Society of Victimology
Prof Robert Peacock from the Department of Criminology has recently been elected president of the World Society of Victimology.
Prof Robert Peacock was recently elected as the new president of the World Society of Victimology (WSV) in Hong Kong recently and is the first from Africa to serve in the position. His term runs until 2021. Prof Peacock is head of the Department of Criminology at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof Peacock is particularly excited about the positioning of the Department of Criminology as a strategic partner of the WSV and key roleplayer on the African continent and broader scientific communities. 

“I am excited to share our African values of interconnectedness as the art of being human in our scientific endeavours to protect and advance the collective well-being of our respective communities, scientific and otherwise,” he said.

His vision for the organisation is to “advance peace and justice on the planet through the development of reciprocal relationships between the global South and North”. “In the past, Africa and her broader communities were misrepresented in the context of academic privilege and status.”

WSV is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation with Special Category consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and the Council of Europe. It has been instrumental in developing and operationalising the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power with the aim of improving victims’ access to justice, fair treatment, restitution, compensation and support, as well as taking steps to prevent victimisation linked to the abuse of power. 

News Archive

Researchers receive study grant for research into Congo Fever
2015-03-10

UFS researchers will be contributing significantly to the search for a vaccine against the deadly tick-borne disease known as Congo Fever.

Prof Felicity Burt from the Department of Medical Microbiology and Virology was recently awarded a research grant by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) to study candidate vaccines for Crimean-Congo heamorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus and other arboviruses.

Arboviruses are viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, or other arthropods.

Prof Burt is an internationally-recognised expert on the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF). The Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus is a tick-borne virus that is associated with severe haemorrhagic disease in South Africa and other parts of Africa, Asia, and eastern Europe. Her interests focus on medically significant viruses that are transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes. Her research group is involved in determining the immune responses that are induced by different viral proteins.

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus, a tick- borne virus found in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and eastern Europe, causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks.

Although a number of tick species are capable of becoming infected with CCHF virus, ticks of the genus Hyalomma, commonly referred to in SA as the “bont-legged ticks”, are the principal vector. The ticks have distinctive brown and white bands on their legs.

In February 1981, the first case of CCHF was recognised in South Africa (SA). To date, there have been nearly 200 cases of CCHF infection in SA with a 20% fatality rate. The majority of cases occurring in SA were in patients from the Northern Cape and Free State provinces.

“The funding that has been awarded will be used to profile immune responses against CCHF viral proteins, and investigate mechanisms and strategies to enhance these immune responses. We hope that the study will contribute knowledge towards the development of a vaccine against this medically significant virus.”

For more information or enquiries contact news@ufs.ac.za.

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