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12 May 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Wilku Meyer is the co-recipient of the Junior Captain Scott Memorial Medal for Plant Sciences, awarded every second year by the South African Academy for Science and Arts for the best MSc dissertation awarded at a South African university.
In 2016, sunflower rust was very prominent, causing trouble in the agricultural industry. With the latest information on this topic published as far back as the 1990s, Wilku Meyer, PhD Botany student at the University of the Free State (UFS), saw the gap in research and decided to make sunflower rust the focus of his master’s dissertation. 

“After seeing the work researchers are doing in the Department of Plant Sciences at the UFS and how it can be applied, it was reassuring to know that the work you are doing can, in addition to broadening your own horizons, also help other people,” says Meyer. 

Not only will his research one day possibly make a positive difference in the agriculture sector, but he has also received acknowledgement for this work from the prestigious body, the South African Academy for Science and Arts. 

Best MSc dissertation in Plant Sciences

With his dissertation: ‘Phenotypic and genotypic variation of Puccinia helianthi in South Africa’, Meyer is the co-recipient of the Junior Captain Scott Memorial Medal for Plant Sciences, awarded every second year by the South African Academy for Science and Arts for the best MSc dissertation awarded at a South African university. Ruan van der Nest from the Stellenbosch University Department of Agronomy shared the award with him. 

The focus of his dissertation was to see how many different races of the Puccinia helianthi fungus are responsible for sunflower rust. He explains: “I followed two approaches to this, namely the phenotypic approach whereby specific sunflower lines are infected with spores of different Puccinia helianthi isolates collected from sunflower fields in South Africa. With the second approach, the genotypic approach, I looked at the DNA of collected rust samples and compared them with each other.” 

In the end, he was able to identify six races in total that were spread across four main genetic groups.

Meyer did not settle for subpar results and kept going, no matter how much work it was, or the time required. He put all his time and effort into this study. He believes that the guidance of his supervisors and the support of his family and friends also helped with this big achievement.

Hard-working, dependable, and mature researcher

Prof Botma Visser (Botany), one of Meyer’s supervisors during his master’s study, describes him as hard-working, dependable, and a mature researcher. According to Prof Visser, the one attribute that will benefit him with his PhD, is his computer skills, especially in the field of Bioinformatics. “This is becoming an important skill set for postgraduate students, whereby huge datasets generated with the newest DNA sequencing technologies are analysed to provide next-generation results and understanding the interactions between a plant and a pathogen.” 

“Finally, and maybe his best quality, is that he really loves what he is currently doing – from the practical hands-on work in the greenhouse, to the laboratory and computer-based molecular analyses of the plant pathogen,” adds Prof Visser. 

Meyer, in response to the award from the South African Academy for Science and Arts, says it is an honour. “I'm very grateful that all the time and effort is being recognised. It is a confirmation that I'm doing what I should be doing.”

He started his PhD study this year (2021), again under the supervision of Prof Botma Visser and Prof Willem Boshoff (Plant Pathology). 

News Archive

Alcinda Honwana: Youth Protests Main Mechanism against Regime
2015-05-25

Prof Alcinda Honwana

"Enough is Enough!": Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa (speech) 

The Centre for Africa Studies at the UFS hosted an interdisciplinary project on the Bloemfontein Campus from 20-22 May 2015.

The project, entitled Contemporary Modes of Othering: Its Perpetuation and Resistance, looked at different perspectives, representations, and art forms of otherness, how it is perceived, and how it is resisted.

The annual Africa Day Memorial Lecture was held on Thursday evening 21 May 2015 at the CR Swart Auditorium. Guest speaker Prof Alcinda Honwana addressed the subject of ‘Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa’.

“Youth now seem able to display what they don’t want, rather than what they do want,” Honwana said in her opening remarks. “Thus, we see the young driven to the streets to protest against regimes.”
 
Honwana shed some light on recent examples of youth protests in Africa that have enjoyed global attention. Looking at the protests in Tunisia (2010), Egypt (2011), Senegal (2012), and Burkina Faso (2014), it is clear that these events in northern and western Africa have inspired others globally. Yet, Honwana stated that, despite these protests, no social economic change has been seen, and has left dissatisfaction with new governments as well.

“Once regimes fall… young activists find themselves more divided, it seems…

“Which leaves the question: Will street protests remain young people’s main mechanism to avert those in power?”

Background on Prof Alcinda Honwana:

Alcinda Honwana is currently Visiting Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the Open University (UK). She was chair in International Development at the Open University, and taught Anthropology at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and the New School for Social Research in New York. She was programme director at the Social Science Research Council in New York, and worked for the United Nations Office for Children and Armed Conflict. Honwana has written extensively on the links between political conflict and culture, and on the impact of violent conflict on children and youth, conducting research in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Colombia, and Sri Lanka. Her latest work has been on youth and social change in Africa, focusing on Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia.

Honwana’s latest books include:

• Youth and Revolution in Tunisia (2013); 
• Time of Youth: Work, Social Change, and Politics in Africa (2012);
• Child Soldiers in Africa (2006);
• Makers and Breakers: Children and Youth in Postcolonial Africa (2005, co-edited).

Honwana was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Chair for Development and Equity in the Netherlands in 2007.

 

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