Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
11 May 2021 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Anja Aucamp
Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa is Professor and Director of Pharmacology at the University of the Free State (UFS) and the chairperson of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Expert Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicines for COVID-19.

The Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) for Health in the Department of Pharmacology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has been awarded an annual Technology and Innovation Agency Platform (TIA) grant of R17 million for the next five years.

This research and teaching programme in the School of Clinical Medicine will now be rebranded and be known as the African Medicines Innovations and Technology Development Platform (AMITD), which will strive to respond to community health needs and address industry research challenges.

Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, Professor and Director of Pharmacology, says the AMITD will aim to stimulate economic growth directly and indirectly by providing science-based solutions and developing technologies that utilise indigenous knowledge (IK) and South African iconic biodiversity to produce high-quality proprietary and commercial IKS/ African Traditional Medicine (ATM) products, focusing on priority diseases. 

Prof Matsabisa is also leading Africa’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic after being appointed chairperson of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Expert Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicines for COVID-19 last year.
“Through this platform, IKS will be in a position to increase the number of postgraduate students being trained and developed in the fields of IKS health and pharmacology, technicians and technologists, scientists, researchers, and communities nationally and across our borders.”

“We will work with IK communities of practice in the field of health and traditional medical knowledge, together with the traditional health practitioners (THPs) in South Africa, encouraging them to participate meaningfully in the formal economy of the country by utilising the knowledge of the rich South African biodiversity. This will be done through an inclusive model, which will significantly empower the involved communities to become full participants in the formal economy,” says Prof Matsabisa. 

AMITD will answer industry needs and questions through technology development 

According to Prof Matsabisa, AMITD will work with private pharmaceutical companies to address technological challenges regarding herbal or ATM products that need improvement, and even develop new products for the market. The main scope of the platform will be to conduct applied and need-driven IKS health research.

The AMITD is envisaged to be a unique platform in that it will include focused technology development, community and indigenous knowledge-holder participation, inclusive innovation, bioprocessing, early commercialisation, and support. The focus will be on inclusive development and holistic research of IK-based products across the value chains, i.e., research, development, and commercialisation.  

Prof Matsabisa says the awarding of the IKS platform will see the UFS IKS compete favourably with other institutions globally. The UFS has declared the IKS as its flagship initiative and would like to advance IK-based innovation by transforming informal sectors into formal secondary economies that will be translated into actual decent job creation. 
“In the longer term, the plan is to establish an AMIDT Institute, and to become the international IKS research hub. To continue maintaining this position as the preferred research institute for training, research, and technology development for industry, government, local communities, and forming partnerships with leading national and international institutions.” 

“The overall benefits will be skills development, job and wealth creation at community level, high-level training at higher-education level, and industrial and business developments around IKS/ATM production activities. The AMIDT will move the country from the current resource-based thinking to a more intensive knowledge-based thinking and development.  Abundance of natural resources means nothing to the country if those resources cannot add value and develop commodities for industry development and job creation, including social impacts,” says Prof Matsabisa. 

Why IKS TIA platform for UFS

The UFS is recognised as a national leader in pharmacology as well as research and development of IKS and traditional medicines.  The UFS has developed and built infrastructure in this field of scientific research, and has the best modern equipment for the training, teaching, and development of prototypes and products for commercialisation based on IKS.  Interdisciplinary and interfaculty research is undertaken in this study area, and we have an excellent track record of sound community engagement with relevant stakeholders. 

“UFS pharmacology research is also recognised internationally as the science force in South Africa and Africa on IKS and traditional medicines research.  We have hosted and continue to host international students and researchers in our facilities and laboratories, which meet international scientific research standards and pharmaceutical manufacturing standards,” says Prof Matsabisa.     
 
The appointment of Pharmacology IKS as platform will further strengthen our current local, regional, and internationally active research collaborations.  These collaborations exemplify the strength and potential that the AMIDT platform could have in Asia, Africa, the UK, the US, Latin America, and Europe. We will strive to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with relevant players in Australia to make this a truly global IKS platform/research institute. 

The short-term goals of the platform are to

• create internationally competitive, quality, safe, effective, and easy-to-use products from local, commercially cultivated medicinal plants that consumers and patients have confidence in;
• develop and pilot locally developed technologies to meet local pharmaceutical needs;  
• create SANAS-accredited, standardised research methodologies on plant extraction, research, and validation;
• host students, technicians, technologists, researchers, and scientists (from South Africa, Africa, and abroad) to undertake short-term and long-term collaborative research;
• market the value of IKS to a competitive local industry and establish an ATM-based pharmaceutical industry in South Africa; and
• grow the platform through employment of qualified and competent personnel.

News Archive

New building for Centre for Financial Planning Law
2012-04-23

 

A graphic illustration of the new building for the Centre for Financial Planning Law.
19 April 2012

 

During a recent tree planting ceremony, the Centre for Financial Planning Law in the Faculty of Law officially handed over the site for a new building for the centre. The building should be complete by the end of 2012.

The Centre for Financial Planning Law’s present premises has become too small for the needs of the centre, thus a decision was taken to build a new building.

The centre, which was opened in 2001 with three staff members, grew during the past 11 years to a centre with 13 permanent staff members. Some 1 300 students – 120 undergraduate and 1 200 postgraduate students in the Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law and the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning Law respectively – are enrolled at the centre. Undergraduate students attend weekly contact sessions while the postgraduate students all study electronically through distance education.

According to Mr Rudolf Bitzer of Bitzer Design Studio, one of the two architecture firms involved in the development of the building, the new building was planned in order to to make provision for future extensions. “The opportunity for the centre to function independently was important from the beginning and facilities had to be positioned in such a way that the lecture hall and committee room could be hired out commercially when lectures were not being presented.

“The building consists of a large reception venue, which gives access to a lecture hall (which can be subdivided), a committee room, public amenities and a reception counter. The centre will present about ten lectures annually in its own building and the lecture hall can accommodate 80 students. Exams will also be written in the venue,” said Mr Bitzer.

The usable inside area of the building totals 827 square metres.

The staff function in their own section of the building, with the offices arranged around a courtyard. Security access makes it a secure environment. In addition, staff have access to a staff room with a service hatch to the reception room, reception counter, personal assistant’s office, nine individual offices and a large open plan office, a storeroom, a cleaners’ room and facilities for staff.

“With the design, an attempt was made to make the building stand comfortably in the landscape without disappearing into the natural landscape. It is an unpretentious building, which seeks to provide well articulated architecture,” said Mr Bitzer.

The architecture firms involved are Bitzer Design Studio and Roodt Architects.

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