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02 October 2018 | Story UFS | Photo Valentino Ndaba
UFS BRICS-PLUS tackles global challenges
Dr Thulisile Mphambukeli (UFS), Dr Fidelia Dake (University of Ghana), and Dr Victor Okorie (UFS).
Over 70% of the earth is water yet more than two billion people lack access to clean water and sanitation. About 795 million people are food insecure but one third of all food produced in the world, which worth $1.6 billion, is thrown into the dustbin every year. These are the problems, the paradoxes, which seasoned social scientists, engineers and clinicians from universities, research institutions and non-governmental organisations in South Africa, Russia, India, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe deliberated at the BRICS-PLUS conference.

The scholars also noted that the grim statistics of water and food-related human suffering, including illnesses, are on not only the increase but overweight and underweight now co-exist in the same household. Dr Victor Okorie, a Postdoctoral Fellow and Dr Thulisile Mphambukeli, a senior lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Free State (UFS), along with Prof Lere Amusan of the North-West University, successfully hosted the first BRICS-PLUS Conference themed: Water, Food and Health Nexus in BRICS-PLUS: Problems, Progress and Prospects were the topics discussed.

The delegates collectively identified some drivers of the problematic paradoxes: including accelerated climate change, urbanisation, inequality, inequity, and population growth. Others were a move from family to factory food and limited physical activity, among other unhealthy lifestyles.

Recommendations based on observation

After the delegates deliberated on various issues of water, food and health nexus in BRICS-PLUS, they made the following policy recommendations:
• There should be strong collaboration among critical stakeholders such as the state, civil society and knowledge institutions with respect to reducing the challenges of water, food and health.

• Issues of gender and the youth should be explicitly incorporated into policies guiding water, food and health nexus across BRICS-PLUS.

• The BRICS-Plus research team should be upgraded into a more permanent organisation in order to strengthen how it deals with the challenges at hand.

• There is a need to balance competing uses of water and other natural resources to prevent further pollution and destruction of the commons.

• Investments in research on water, food and health to generate innovations for sustainable development should inform BRICS’ science, technology and innovation agenda.

• There is a need to promote a zero-waste circular economy through recycling in production, preservation, processing, more equitable distribution and consumption processes to reduce ecological footprints across BRICS-PLUS, and generate energy for sustainable economy.

• It’s necessary to encourage technology transfer, capacity-building and policy learning among member-states

• BRICS should encourage favourable terms of trade among member states with respect to water, food and health issues.

News Archive

UFS hosts first SA Digital Sky Academy at the Naval Hill Planetarium
2015-10-02


From the left are: Prof Neil Heideman
(Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UFS),
Jack White (Director: Sky-Skan Oceania),
Dr Michelle Cluver (Department of Astronomy, University of the Western Cape),
Martin Ratcliffe (Director: Professional Development, Sky-Skan).
Photo: Mart-Mari Duvenhage

South Africa hosts some of the world’s largest telescopes, and won the bid to co-host the SKA recently. So it’s not surprising that there is unprecedented interest in Astronomy in our country. Astronomy is seen as a gateway subject that attracts people to the sciences, while planetariums help to make Astronomy accessible to millions of people.  Digital planetariums are especially powerful teaching tools because they are versatile, offer an immersive experience, and explain and illustrate three-dimensional concepts effectively.  On the other hand, scientists, are eager to exploit a digital planetarium’s potential to represent and explore data visually, whether the data relate to medicine, astronomy, chemistry, the environment, or other fields of research.

The four-day ‘Digital Sky Academy’ (DSA) presented at the Naval Hill Planetarium in Bloemfontein from 18 - 22 September 2015 was an opportunity to offer training and first-hand experience of digital planetarium technology to representatives from other centres in South Africa. The Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS) was the host of this event.

The Department of Science and Technology has designated the Naval Hill Planetarium as the South African hub for the training of digital planetarium presenters and operators. In addition to attracting interest from scientists and future planetarium operators and presenters, the DSA workshop provided an invaluable opportunity for our presenters to hone their skills.

A number of experienced and distinguished people attended the workshop. Among them was Dr Mark SubbaRao from Chicago in the United States, who shared information on data visualisation techniques used in the Adler Planetarium. Jack White, Director of Sky-Skan, one of the few companies that provide digital technology for planetariums throughout the world, coordinated the event in partnership with Prof Matie Hoffman from the Department of Physics at the UFS.

Jack travelled from Melbourne in Australia to oversee the workshop. Two Sky-Skan colleagues from the United States, Martin Weiss and Martin Ratcliffe, were on hand to share their expertise on digital planetarium hardware and software. The workshop programme included Skype conference calls with other US-based planetarium experts. Amongst the delegates to the DSA representatives from the SKA, the Iziko Museum, and five South Africa universities. They were here to gain experience, explore the capacity of the digital facility, and share ideas on future collaboration.

During the workshop, a public lecture was held on 19 September. Dr Michelle Cluver from the University of the Western Cape gave a presentation entitled, ‘More than the eye can see: the significance of infrared light in Astronomy.’

 

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