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11 January 2021 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
Vincent Clarke
Dr Ralph Clark

The Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), the flagship research group of the University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus, has recently been granted R8,4 million to establish a Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre programme.

The Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre (RVSC) programme was established by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) as part of the Global Change Research Plan for South Africa and is funded by the DSI through the National Research Foundation (NRF). The RVSC will focus on the need to generate and disseminate knowledge about risk and vulnerability on global change challenges faced by local policy makers/ governance structures and communities in South Africa.

Invited to participate  

Dr Ralph Clark, Director of the ARU, says the UFS, together with the University of Zululand and the Sol Plaatje University, has been invited to participate in Phase 2 of the RVSC programme. Dr Clark was approached by the DSI (on referral from the South African Environmental Observation Network – SAEON) in February 2020 regarding the potential for establishing a RVSC at the UFS Qwaqwa campus.

Subsequent interactions were held between the UFS and DSI, and in March 2020, the UFS formally accepted the DSI invitation. It has since been agreed that the RVSC: UFS will be hosted as a RVSC under the ARU umbrella, with dedicated personnel embedded at the UFS in this regard (internal processes and reporting) but reporting directly to the NRF regarding the RVSC.

Interest and support welcomed

Dr Clark welcomed this interest and support from the DSI-NRF, saying that the funds will further assist the UFS in growing its excellent and growing research portfolio and building more research capacity on this traditionally undergraduate-focused campus. “The RVSC will contribute to much-needed solutions in an area marked by major sustainability challenges and will assist in moving Phuthaditjhaba away from its negative apartheid history towards becoming a sustainable African mountain city,” says Dr Clark.

News Archive

Children’s author donates material for research
2012-04-04

 

Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French receives more than 70 books, manuscripts and translations from Kovsie alumnus Jaco Jacobs.  
Photo: Stephen Collett
4 April 2012

The well-known children’s author and former Kovsie, Jaco Jacobs, donated more than 70 of his books, manuscripts and translations to the University of the Free State. The work will be included in the authors’ room of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French on the ground floor of the UFS Sasol Library.

Mr. Jacobs is an award-winning author who also worked as editor of Volksblad’s youth supplement, Jip. He received the degree B.A. (Communication Science) cum laude from our university. He has been awarded, amongst others, the Alba Bouwer Prize, C.P. Hoogenhout Award, MML Prize for Literature, Elsabé Steenberg Award and eight ATKV children’s book awards.

Mr Jacobs says he hopes the donations will provide insight into the writing process. “It would be wonderful if someone could do research because youth literature is not a genre that receives a lot of attention.”

Prof. Hennie van Coller, Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, says the donation is very valuable in terms of research. He says in other parts of the world, a lot of money is paid for this type of work.

 

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