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21 August 2019
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Story Thabo Kessah
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Photo Thabo Kessah
Keafon Jumbam is gearing herself for the institutional Three Minute Thesis competition.
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.
UFS an institution of choice for the most gifted academics
2013-12-05
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| Prof Rob Gordon |
Two lecturers at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Anthropology proved once again that the UFS is indeed an institution of choice for some of the most talented and gifted academics in the country.
Prof Rob Gordon was co-author of the book “Recreating first contact,” which explores how adventure travel, which emerged during the early twentieth century, influenced popular views of anthropology.
It was in this period that new transport and recording technologies, particularly the airplane and automobile and small, portable, still and motion-picture cameras, were used in various expeditions to document the last untouched places of the globe and bring them home to eager audiences.
These expeditions were frequently presented as first contact encounters and enchanted popular imagination. The book further explores the effects – both positive and negative – of such expeditions on the discipline of anthropology itself.
Dr Riana Steyn was co-author of the first Afrikaans play by Athol Fugard, “Die Laaste Karretjiegraf.”
The play focuses on the Karretjie people, itinerant sheepshearers in the Karoo who are direct descendants of South Africa’s first inhabitants. Doing research on the Karretjie people, he came across a master’s thesis in Anthropology by Dr Steyn, who gave him access to her work and eventually co-wrote the play with him.