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30 December 2019 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah
Gavin Dollman
Gavin Dollman is involved in virtual prospecting for fossils using a drone.

Gavin Dollman is one of the young researchers selected for the international research programme funded through the US-SA Higher Education Network. This prestigious programme is aimed at giving PhD candidates and their supervisors the opportunity to regularly travel to the USA and spend time at participating US universities where their co-promoters will be based.

“The University Staff Doctoral Programme (USDP) has allowed me to bring my idea of collaborative science to fruition. It’s an exciting opportunity,” Dollman said.

Dollman added that his PhD studies would focus on the machine and deep learning for prospecting for palaeontology. He is studying with the Appalachian State University. Other participating universities are Montana and Colorado State.

He has also had the privilege to work alongside a team of Geologists and Paleontologists from the universities of Birmingham, Zurich and Oxford in a project under the auspices of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Evolution Studies Institute (ESI) on a site in rural Eastern Cape.

“My role within this massive project is to perform a detailed survey of the sites and the surrounding area for later analysis. I used a drone known as the DJI Phantom 3 Pro with which I took hundreds of pictures that were later put together to create a detailed map,” he said.

“The maps allowed for virtual prospecting by the team and will in the long term serve as the basis for a predictive fossil model for the area.”

Dollman is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics on the Qwaqwa Campus.

News Archive

Kovsie Xtravaganza with Lize Beekman
2008-11-22

It's Kovsie Xtravaganza time! Kovsie Xtravaganza: Xmas Festival with Lize Beekman will be held on Saturday, 22 November at 19:30 in the Sand du Plessis Theatre.

This year promises to set the benchmark with performances by the cream of Kovsie talent. Singers that will be performing include Caroline Haasbroek, Sanli Jooste, Thabo Hlongwane, Chizano Mathediso (Spontaan Winner), Klitsgras and Karpos.

Lize Beekman (website) who is known for songs like Sonneblom uit Bethlehem, Draadkar oor die See and the new title song for the television programme Pasella will be the guest artist. Old-Kovsie Hanno van Heerden, who has made a name for himself on South African stages and also won the 2006 ATKV Songwriters competition, will also make a guest appearance.

Tickets cost R90 and are available from PACOFS.

Contact the Kovsie Culture office at x2819 for more information.

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