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US Embassy and Consulates invests R8 million in UFS mountain-to-mountain research project

05 November 2020 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Prof Mukwada_read more — Prof Geofrey Mukwada says funding from the US Embassy and Consulates in South Africa will reinforce the ARU mandate.

The University of the Free State (UFS) will further strengthen its ties with the Appalachian State University in the next two academic years through a mountain-to-mountain research project funded by the US Embassy and Consulates in South Africa.

The R8 million project between the UFS and the US institution will cover the two master’s degree programmes in underdeveloped niche areas, meteorological weather stations, leadership capacity building for black women in academia, and doctoral research projects. Qwaqwa Campus departments that will be involved are Physics, Geography, Community Development, and the ARU.

Talking about this collaboration, the project leader, Prof Geofrey Mukwada, said it would bring together researchers from both the UFS and Appalachian State University and enable them to work together to develop what is currently an underdeveloped research niche, i.e. mountain studies.

“This project will reinforce the mandate of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU). It will provide the basis for a long-term development agenda through training and infrastructure development. For instance, the project will fund the implementation of two master’s degree programmes – the MSc in Mountain Environments and the MA in Community Development – which are long-term projects,” he said.

“It will also support innovation in climate change research. Through this project, it will be possible to receive climate data from weather stations that are situated in distant, isolated, and generally inaccessible locations without travelling to those locations. We will be able to understand how the climate of the region is changing and assist in developing adaptation measures and decisions that are applicable to agriculture, water, tourism, environment, and other sectors. This will enhance the capacity of the ARU to contribute to the development of research in mountain environments,” he added.

There will be a virtual launch of the project on Tuesday 10 November 2020 at 15:00 (CAT).

News Archive

Kovsie hockey achieves

2010-07-22

Gregg Clark

Three players from the University of the Free State (UFS) Womens Second Hockey Team, Theane Guthrie, Ayesha Samuels and Chantelle Deere, were selected for the South African Country Districts A Team. Theane, Ayesha and Chantelle played for Free State B Team when they participated in the recent SA Country Districts Hockey tournament. The Free State B Team also won the Tournament.

Jason Klinkradt, coach of the UFS Womens Second Team, was also the coach for the Free State B Team.

Eight Kovsies were also included in the Free State Hockey Team that will participate in the National Interprovincial Hockey Tournament in East-London from 19-24 July 2010. The players are Lesley Ann George (captain), Berne van Wyk, Jo-Nelka Swanepoel, Felicia Shongwe, Orpah Pretorius, Cardeux Nel, Nicole Kemp and Hettie Oosthuizen. The Protea under-captain, Lesley Ann is the captain of the Free State Team. Elsie Coetzer, the Kovsie womens hockey coach, is also the coach of this team.

More news from Kovsie hockey is that the national mens coach, Mr Gregg Clark, presented a very successful training camp for the Free State womens and mens teams on the Kovsie Astros. The training camp was open to all Free State coaches and was amongst others attended by Elsie Coetzer and Des Donald, Kovsies mens hockey coach.

Mr Clark was also course leader at the hockey course for schools, attended by 900 learners, presented by the Kovsie Hockey club earlier this year, said Mr Frans van der Watt from KovsieSport.

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