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19 September 2018 Photo Malia Maranyane
Student Affairs host future UFS leaders during leadership conference
2018/2019 student leaders gather in the EBW Auditorium for the annual Leadership Conference
Newly elected 2018/2019 Kovsie student leaders, comprising the Student Representative Council (SRC), Residence Councils (RC), and Residence Assistants (RA), gathered in the EBW Auditorium for training during the annual Student Leadership Conference. This year’s conference was also privileged to be joined by the South Campus SRC members.

The Director: Student Affairs, Dr WP Wahl, kicked off the programme with a session highlighting the importance of creating value-driven communities. Pulane Malefane, Assistant Director: Residence Life, spoke about student leaders fulfilling their roles and responsibilities as RC and RA representatives.

The Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane, delivered a presentation based on The Role of Student Leadership as Aligned to the Student Affairs Strategic Plan, Pedagogies and Policies. Students also enjoyed an inspirational talk about Lessons in Leadership: What Leadership Taught Me presented by UFS Council member, David Abbey. 

 
The conference concluded with a delightful dinner and networking session for Kovsie’s future leaders.

News Archive

Researchers reach out across continents in giraffe research
2015-09-18

Dr Francois Deacon and Prof Fred Bercovitch
busy with field work.

Researcher Dr Francois Deacon from the Department of Animal, Wildlife, and Grassland Sciences at the University of the Free State is conducting research with renowned wildlife scientist, Prof Fred Bercovitch, from the Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology, Kyoto University Primate Research Institute in Japan.

Dr Deacon’s ground-breaking research has attracted international media attention. Together with Prof Nico Smit, he equipped giraffes with GPS collars, and conducted research based on this initiative. “Satellite tracking is proving to be extremely valuable in the wildlife environment. The unit is based on a mobile global two-way communication platform, utilising two-way data satellite communication, complete with GPS systems.”

Prof Bercovitch was involved with GPS tracking from elephants to koala bears.

Some of the highlights of the joint research on giraffes by Dr Deacon and Prof Bercovitch focus on:
 
• How much time do certain giraffes spend with, and away from, one another
• How do the home ranges of herds and individual giraffe overlap
• Do genetically-related animals spend more time together than non-genetically-related animals
• How much time do the young bulls, adult bulls, and dominant bulls spend with cow herds
• Herd interactions and social behaviours of giraffe
• The role of the veld and diet on animal behaviour and distribution

 

Their research article, “Gazing at a giraffe gyroscope: Where are we going?”, which was published in the African Journal of Ecology, assesses recent research by exploring five primary questions:

- How many (sub) species of giraffe exist?
- What are the dynamics of giraffe herds?
- How do giraffe communicate?
- What is the role of sexual selection in giraffe reproduction?
- How many giraffe reside in Africa?

They conclude this article by emphasising that the most essential issue is to develop conservation management plans that will save a wonderful species from extinction, and which will also enable scientists to conduct additional research aimed at answering their five questions.

In addition, they are working together on a grand proposal to get National Geographic to cover their work.

 

 

 

 

 

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