Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
02 August 2021 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Supplied
A woman of impact, quality and care - Dr Lentsu Nchabeleng.

Dr Lentsu Nchabeleng currently serves as the Deputy Director in the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office within the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice at the University of the Free State (UFS). She manages the functions of the office to deliver high-quality services that advance gender equality and anti-discrimination based on human-rights principles.

What is the best thing about your job?
To bring about positive change by using collective individualism to make a collective impact on the university community. This includes recognising diverse views that fall outside the norm to solve issues relating to gender inequality. Thus, every engagement and response that takes place can help create change.

What is the best and worst decision you have ever made?
The best decision I have ever made was to listen to my inner voice and tuning into the wisdom of my body. The worst decision I have ever made was to negotiate my worth and value, which at that particular moment I thought were synonymous.

What was/is the biggest challenge of your career?
There are so many challenges. I don’t know where to begin.

What does the word woman mean to you?
Being a woman, to me, means a lot of things. It means being a force to be reckoned with. The embodiment of resilience, courage, and love.

Which woman inspires you, and why?
My mother inspires me. She’s an inadvertent feminist. I feel connected to more women through her because of her ability to visibilise the presence of women in all spheres of life. She carries her identities – mom, sister, wife, teacher, friend, grandmother, gardener, leader, listener – with so much ease and I admire her for that.

What advice would you give to the 15-year-old you?
Other people’s perception of you ain’t none of your business.

What is the one self-care thing that you do? 
Watering my roses helps me relax and recharge. I have recently learned the importance of silence and it’s benefits to the mind and body. I usually take 15 minutes every day to sit in stillness and self-reflect. This helps me to delve deeper into my value system and needs, which helps activate myself and social awareness.

What makes you a woman of quality, impact, and care?
I would say that my ability to be vulnerable, to accept my weaknesses, my strong sense of independence and speaking my truth, makes me a woman of quality, impact, and care.
 
 


I cannot live without … my family.
My secret weapon is … it will not be a secret weapon if I reveal it …
I always have … a bottle of water.
I will never … take my life for granted. 
I hope … to see the end of the gender pay gap.

News Archive

UFS hosts first SA Digital Sky Academy at the Naval Hill Planetarium
2015-10-02


From the left are: Prof Neil Heideman
(Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, UFS),
Jack White (Director: Sky-Skan Oceania),
Dr Michelle Cluver (Department of Astronomy, University of the Western Cape),
Martin Ratcliffe (Director: Professional Development, Sky-Skan).
Photo: Mart-Mari Duvenhage

South Africa hosts some of the world’s largest telescopes, and won the bid to co-host the SKA recently. So it’s not surprising that there is unprecedented interest in Astronomy in our country. Astronomy is seen as a gateway subject that attracts people to the sciences, while planetariums help to make Astronomy accessible to millions of people.  Digital planetariums are especially powerful teaching tools because they are versatile, offer an immersive experience, and explain and illustrate three-dimensional concepts effectively.  On the other hand, scientists, are eager to exploit a digital planetarium’s potential to represent and explore data visually, whether the data relate to medicine, astronomy, chemistry, the environment, or other fields of research.

The four-day ‘Digital Sky Academy’ (DSA) presented at the Naval Hill Planetarium in Bloemfontein from 18 - 22 September 2015 was an opportunity to offer training and first-hand experience of digital planetarium technology to representatives from other centres in South Africa. The Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS) was the host of this event.

The Department of Science and Technology has designated the Naval Hill Planetarium as the South African hub for the training of digital planetarium presenters and operators. In addition to attracting interest from scientists and future planetarium operators and presenters, the DSA workshop provided an invaluable opportunity for our presenters to hone their skills.

A number of experienced and distinguished people attended the workshop. Among them was Dr Mark SubbaRao from Chicago in the United States, who shared information on data visualisation techniques used in the Adler Planetarium. Jack White, Director of Sky-Skan, one of the few companies that provide digital technology for planetariums throughout the world, coordinated the event in partnership with Prof Matie Hoffman from the Department of Physics at the UFS.

Jack travelled from Melbourne in Australia to oversee the workshop. Two Sky-Skan colleagues from the United States, Martin Weiss and Martin Ratcliffe, were on hand to share their expertise on digital planetarium hardware and software. The workshop programme included Skype conference calls with other US-based planetarium experts. Amongst the delegates to the DSA representatives from the SKA, the Iziko Museum, and five South Africa universities. They were here to gain experience, explore the capacity of the digital facility, and share ideas on future collaboration.

During the workshop, a public lecture was held on 19 September. Dr Michelle Cluver from the University of the Western Cape gave a presentation entitled, ‘More than the eye can see: the significance of infrared light in Astronomy.’

 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept