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31 July 2020
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As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the 3rd UFS Thought-Leader Series in collaboration with Vrye Weekblad as part of the Vrystaat Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal.
This year, higher-education institutions
globally are placed in the challenging context of COVID-19. Aware and grounded in the reality that the world will not return to the normality of pre-COVID-19, our responsibility as scholars still remains to contribute to public discourse and to offer
innovative solutions that will impact the lives of people nationally and globally in order to help them understand and adapt to a new world order.
Against this background and context, this year’s debates focus on ‘Post-COVID-19, Post-Crisis’,
with Health and Modelling, Politics, Economy, and Predictions for 2021 as the sub-themes. Placed in a COVID-19 context, and in lieu of the Vrystaat Arts Festival,
the series will be presented virtually in the form of one webinar per month during the period August 2020 to November 2020.
Date: 13 August 2020
Topic: Health
and Modelling
Time: 11:30-13:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za
Facilitator:
Max du Preez
Editor: Vrye Weekblad
Biography
Introduction and welcome:
Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS
Panellists:
Prof Salim Abdool Karim
Director: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Chair: South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19
Biography
Prof Glenda Gray
President and CEO: South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
Biography
Prof Felicity Burt
NRF-DST South African Research Chair in vector-borne and zoonotic pathogens research
Biography
Martie Miranda one of only 10 SATI accredited sign language interpreters in South Africa
2015-04-23

Martie Miranda Photo: Stefan Lotter |
The University of the Free State is privileged to have one of the top South African Sign Language (SASL) Interpreters as a staff member at the Unit for Students with Disabilities (USD).
Martie Miranda recently passed the accreditation exam of the South African Translators Institute (SATI), joining Dr Philemon Akach, previous HOD of the South African Sign Language Department of the UFS, in becoming one of only 10 SASL interpreters to be SATI accredited.
SATI is a professional association for language practice professionals in South Africa. Voluntary accreditation is offered at a professional level, ensuring a high standard of language practice. The system has become widely recognised, and is used as a recommendation or prerequisite for job applications by a number of institutions, including the South African government, particularly after the infamous ‘Jantjies incident’ with the funeral service of the late President Nelson Mandela.
Martie, a proud Child of Deaf Adults (CODA), has 18 years’ experience in SASL interpreting, lip speaking interpreting, and community interpreting as well as 15 years’ experience of conference and seminar interpreting. She boasts a Level 2 Advanced Interpreting qualification, and she has been mentoring Level 1 SASL interpreters for the past six years. Her extensive interpreting experience on a national and international level also includes Deafblind interpreting as well as Court and Legislature interpreting. She has interpreted three theatre productions, and has been coordinating the SASL services at the UFS since January 2009. She is responsible for the student management of all the hearing-impaired students at the USD.
Martie completed her BML degree (cum laude) at the UFS Business School in 2013, and received the award for top achiever in the programme during her final year. She will enrol for her MBA at the UFS Business School in July 2015.