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New levels of understanding emerge when seemingly unrelated fields of interest intersect

25 November 2020 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

Interdisciplinarity in Action

Lunchtime learning webinar on

The Intersection between Science and Visual Arts

In this webinar, Prof Willem Boshoff and Prof Louis Scott, both from the University of the Free State, will discuss the intersection between science and the visual arts. The webinar will explore how new levels of understanding may emerge when seemingly unrelated fields of interest intersect, supported by the ideas we may find in the endless diversity of nature.

This webinar is part of a series of three webinars on Interdisciplinarity presented from November to December 2020 via Microsoft Teams for a duration of 45 minutes each. The webinar topics in the series explore the intersection between Neuroscience and Music, between Science and Entrepreneurship, and between Science and Visual Arts.

Date: Tuesday 8 December 2020

Topic: The intersection between science and visual arts

Time: 13:00-13:45 (SAST)

RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 7 December 2020

Platform: Microsoft Teams

Introduction and welcome

Prof Corli Witthuhn – Vice-Rector: Research at the University of the Free State

Presenters

Prof Willem Boshoff

Willem Boshoff is a Senior Professor in Fine Arts at the University of the Free State. As a conceptual artist, he engages primarily with language. Notably, his works have included the writing of several themed dictionaries, most often made accessible to a broad audience in the form of large art installations. His broad interdisciplinary interests, including the fields of botany, music, and lexicography, have over the years led to the development of a digital research archive, which he recently donated to the University of the Free State. Prof Boshoff’s work is exhibited extensively, both locally and abroad, and has been included in major private collections and museums. Recently, he became the first South African artist to be awarded an A2 rating by the National Research Foundation (NRF).

Prof Louis Scott

Prof Louis Scott is a retired professor and mentor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the UFS, with an interest in visual arts. He studies fossil pollen in natural lake, cave, swamp, and fossil dung deposits. He attempts to reconstruct our heritage associated with African prehistory through environmental history, including natural long-term processes of change. Prof Scott is widely published in this field, serves on the editorial boards of international journals, and has a B-rating with the National Research Foundation.

News Archive

Food insecurity at university campuses under the spotlight

2015-08-20

"Food insecurity is becoming an increasing problem at South African universities, much to the surprise of university managers." - Dr Louise van den Bergh, senior lecturer and researcher at our department of Nutrition and Dietetics

More than 70% of early university dropouts in the country were forced to abandon their tertiary studies because of food insecurity and financial need.

This was one of the conclusions drawn during the first higher education colloquium on food insecurity. The colloquium was hosted on by the University of the Free State (UFS) on the Bloemfontein Campus on 14 August 2015, where researchers from universities across the country shared their research about food insecurity on university campuses.

In South Africa, university campuses are not usually associated with food insecurity but, over the last few years, tertiary education has become more accessible to an increasing number of first-generation students and students from low-income households.

Some of the research indicated that students from lower-income households are often lacking financially, even with bursaries. The research has also shown that students frequently have to use part of their bursary money to support their families. This results in students not having enough money to buy food, which means they will do almost anything to get food.

A study by the UFS Department of Nutrition and Dietetics found that as many as 60% of our students are food insecure, and experience hunger frequently. This study was the first of its kind in South Africa. In 2011, the UFS launched the No Student Hungry Bursary Programme to provide food bursaries to food-insecure students.

At the opening of the colloquium, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, said by helping students with a basic commodity like food, you give them much more than food; you give them humanity and dignity.

Dr Louise van den Bergh, senior lecturer and researcher in the UFS Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, explains that the problem is considerably more complex than just providing for students financially.

Dr Van den Bergh says that funders need to reassess bursaries, keeping issues such as food insecurity in mind, and not focusing just on tuition.

Research presented at the colloquium: (PDF's van die slides)

UFS Food environment and nutritional practices

UFS Skeleton in the University closet

UKZN Achieving food security

UKZN Food security and academic performance

UKZN Hunger for knowledge

UKZN Perceptions of food insecurity complexities

UW Food acquisition struggles

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