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13 March 2018 Photo Stephen Collet
Interdisciplinary master programme in human rights launched at UFS
Back row (from left): Aphiwe Ntoyi and Marita van Kraayenburg, Prof Rian enter.Second row (from left): Nduvho Nesengani Davhana, Tembisa Leeuw andDonnae Sandt, Dionne Van Reenen, Marlize Ramsden, Rev Martin LaubscherFront row (from left): Dr Mwiza Nkhata,Penelope Nhlapo, Prof Loot Pretorius,Sikelela Ndlazi Ndlazi, and Ofentse Seate.
The Free State Centre for Human Rights at the University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Law launched a new interdisciplinary master’s degree programme in human rights in the 2018 academic year. The interdisciplinary focus of the programme is unique and it is currently the only one of its kind in the country.

Prof Jan Pretorius, Coordinator: Postgraduate Programmes and Research at the Centre, said the programme is constructed in such a way that makes it accessible to students coming from various academic disciplines, making it dynamic and attractive in modern academia. After acquiring a general orientation in the theoretical foundations of human rights and contemporary human rights critiques (module 1), the international human rights systems and important interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives on human rights (module 2), students can choose from a number of elective courses that best suit their individual preferences (module 3). The latter includes human rights in domestic and international law, human rights and education, human rights and politics, environmental management and human rights, health and human rights, religion and human rights, human rights and development, and gender and human rights. A module in research methodology (module 4) prepares students for completing the mini dissertation (module 5).

The Centre received a large number of applications for the programme and started off with 12 selected to make up the first cohort of 2018. With the recent appointment of a new director (Prof Danie Brand) and the further expansion of the Centre’s ranks, more students will be accommodated from 2019 onwards. The students were welcomed at a first meeting on 19 February. The highlight of the occasion was a guest lecture on the African human rights system by Prof Mwiza Nkhata, from the University of Malawi, and postdoctoral fellow at the Free State Centre for Human Rights. He shared his ideas on the evolution of the system, its achievements and challenges.

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UFS researchers are producing various flavour and fragrance compounds
2015-05-27

 

The minty-fresh smell after brushing your teeth, the buttery flavour on your popcorn and your vanilla-scented candles - these are mostly flavour and fragrance compounds produced synthetically in a laboratory and the result of many decades of research.

This research, in the end, is what will be important to reproduce these fragrances synthetically for use in the food and cosmetic industries.

Prof Martie Smit, Academic Head of the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS, and her colleague Dr Dirk Opperman, currently have a team of postgraduate students working on the production of various flavour and fragrance compounds from cheap and abundantly available natural raw materials. 

Prof Smit explains that most of the flavours and fragrances that we smell every day, originally come from natural compounds produced mainly by plants.

“However, because these compounds are often produced in very low concentrations by plants, many of these compounds are today replaced with synthetically-manufactured versions. In recent times, there is an increasing negative view among consumers of such synthetic flavour and fragrance compounds.”

On the other hand, aroma chemicals produced by biotechnological methods, are defined as natural according to European Union and Food and Drug Administration (USA) legal definitions, provided that the raw materials used are of natural origin.  Additionally, the environmental impact and carbon footprint associated with biotech-produced aroma chemicals are often also smaller than those associated with synthetically-produced compounds or those extracted by traditional methods from agricultural sources.

During the last four years, the team investigated processes for rose fragrance, vanilla flavour, mint and spearmint flavours, as well as butter flavour. They are greatly encouraged by the fact that one of these processes is currently being commercialised by a small South African natural aroma chemicals company. Their research is funded by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation through the South African Biocatalysis Initiative, the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis and the Technology Innovation Agency, while the UFS has also made a significant investment in this research.

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