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PhD candidate wins Flash Fact competition

21 August 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Keafon Jumbam is a PhD candidate whose research on food and foxes has won her the first prize of R8 000 in the recent Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences’ Postgraduate Flash Fact Competition. Her brief in the competition was to summarise her research in three minutes, using only one static slide.

“The competition started at departmental level on both campuses. The idea was that the best student in each department is then selected to go for the faculty-level competition on the Bloemfontein Campus. Summarising the entire research into three minutes is no easy feat, but a great way to gauge how well one has mastered your work,” she said.

Far-reaching research

“Thought-provoking presentations on research, ranging from technology to track academic progress, traditional medicine as alternatives to expensive prescriptions, and suggesting insects as food alternatives to curb hunger in this era of severe droughts and food shortages. The competition was tough, but it highlighted the level of research competitiveness on the Qwaqwa Campus. I hope that more students will join in such opportunities to build themselves up and to showcase our research output as Qwaqwa students,” added Jumbam from the Department of Zoology and Entomology.

Institutional finals

Her next challenge is the institutional competition to be held on 23 August 2019, which could qualify her for the national competition.

News Archive

Student from Atlanta, USA joins TIA/UFS Metagenomics Platform group

2012-09-11

Kanesha Gillyard from the USA .
11 September 2012

The university and the Spelman College in Atlanta, USA had a joint research venture that ran from June to August 2012. We had the honour of hosting one of the students from Spelman in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Kanesha Gillyard joined the group from the TIA/UFS Metagenomics Platform in the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.

This was the first time that Kanesha had left Atlanta. This is what she had to say about her trip to Africa:

“I was met with a bright smile and open arms on my first day. The university staff and overall student body have embraced me. Furthermore, the Biotechnology Department has made me feel like I am family. Every day I was given the opportunity to work with a group of people dedicated to their goals, persistent regarding their purpose and fluent in speaking the many dialects of this universal language.

My first week here at the university was like walking into a whole new world.

I have learned many valuable lessons after experiencing life in South Africa for the past two and half months. From adjusting to a new environment and broadening my horizons to becoming trilingual in English, Afrikaans and the new universal language of virtue, I have grown tremendously. Being a “Kovsie” for two months and obtaining an invaluable wealth of knowledge has left me with the confidence of a winner, passion of a dreamer and heart of a nurturer. In essence, this experience has taught me the scientific method to repeat in order to reach for infinity and beyond.”

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