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PhD student Emmie Chiyindiko runner-up at international science summit

23 November 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

With her talk on ‘Breaking the walls of darkness’, Emmie Chiyindiko came in second out of the 74 pitches presented at the recent Falling Walls Science Summit.

“I need you to take a moment and imagine trying to do everything that you do every day … without reliable energy. Or I’ll ask you this … How far would you walk to charge your phone if you didn’t have electricity? Would you walk for hours? Kilometres?”

“Well, that’s what millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa do daily to charge their phones. One billion people globally don’t have access to electricity in their homes and in sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the population remains in the dark.”

This was the introduction to Emmie Chiyindiko’s talk at the recent Falling Walls Science Summit earlier this month. Emmie, who is a PhD student in Chemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS), came in second out of the 74 pitches presented with her talk on ‘Breaking the walls of darkness’ in the ‘Breakthrough of the year in the emerging talents category’.

Falling Walls Lab is a world-class pitching competition, networking forum, and steppingstone that brings together a diverse and interdisciplinary pool of students, researchers, and early-career professionals by providing a stage for breakthrough ideas, both globally and locally.

Emmie, who sees getting out of bed every morning as just another opportunity to “be the exceptional young black female scientist that I am”, won the local Falling Walls Lab in Cape Town in October, which resulted in her going through to the finals in Berlin. She plans to host the Falling Walls Lab in Zimbabwe, her homeland, next year.

This innovator and science communicator, whose work has been covered in Forbes Science, News24, and the Sunday Times, among others, refers to her obtaining second place on the international stage for her research as “a tremendous achievement and a new height in my science communication career. That level of recognition from the world leaders in science, technology, and science engagement cannot be overstated”.

Ending energy poverty

She believes Sustainable Development Goal 7 – leaving no one behind and eradicating global poverty – must be preceded by intentional efforts to end energy poverty. “My research on dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSC) with special metal complexes is among the most interesting alternatives to conventional solar cells.”

Emmie explains: “The design of the cells is inspired by photosynthesis – that good old process plants use to transform sunlight into energy via chlorophyll. Instead of a leaf, the cells start with a porous, transparent film of eco-friendly titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The film is also coated with a range of different dyes that absorb scattered sunlight and fluorescent light. When sunlight hits, it excites the electrons in the dye, creating an endless supply of energy.

The bright side of this research is that there are several benefits to this invention. It produces energy that is cheap, reliable, and relatively simple and inexpensive to produce. Emmie adds: “These next-generation cells also work impeccably in low-light and non-direct sunlight conditions, providing all-year-round energy with no disruptions. DSSC is also three times cheaper than conventional cells and produces 40% more energy.”

Improving livelihoods

She continues: “It does not degrade in sunlight over time as do other thin-film cells, making the cells last longer, and requiring less frequent replacement. DSSCs are also mechanically strong, because they are made of lightweight materials and do not require special protection from rain or abrasive objects.”

Emmie has proven that solutions to our current energy situation are available. “We are on the cusp of an energy revolution, and we must act now. Solutions are available, and if we do not seize them during a time of crisis, when will we?”

She believes that creating technology like this can end the energy crisis and improve livelihoods. “Billions of people simply lack enough energy to build a better life. Affordable, abundant, and reliable energy can go a long way to store food, power life-saving medical equipment, and run trains and factories. It can help communities to grow and prosper and to access opportunity and dignity. Societies where people have access to energy have lower childhood mortality, a higher life expectancy, they eat better and drink cleaner water, and have a better literacy rate.”

News Archive

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC

2005-08-03

The UFS Central SRC

Address by the first Inaugural President of the Central SRC of the University of the Free State, Mr Tello Motloung on Wednesday 3 August 2003

The Chairperson of the UFS Council, Judge Faan Hancke,
The Vice-chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie
The Vice-Rector Student Affairs of the UFS, Dr Ezekiel Moraka
The Presidents of the main campus SRC and the Vista campus SRC
Colleagues in the Central SRC, campus SRCs, students and fellow South Africans

Please receive my heartfelt revolutionary greetings

Vice-chancellor and rector what I bring here with me assisted by facts, is just the work of my imagination. Like a love letter addressed to a sweetheart miles away, even though you do not know how she feels, what she wants to hear, and do not even know what she looks like.

I value speech as just an honest intimation, that’s why I got into a habit of establishing a dialogue with people, looking at each other’s face, and persuading one another of what we are saying.

Vice-chancellor, today marks an important milestone in the history of the existence of the UFS. Today reflects the confidence and trust that students of the UFS have placed in us. They are confident that the Central SRC has both the will and the capacity to take our university forward as we confront the challenge of transformation.

Students are confident that they are correct to trust the Central SRC as the principal agent of change in our university that is genuinely committed to the objective of building a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic university. We need to frankly ask ourselves, as CSRC members, whether are we up to all these challenges?

All Central SRC members have to understand this fully, internalize it, and ensure that everything we do, does not betray the confidence and trust of students, or disappoint their expectations. I say this knowing that all Central SRC members have committed themselves to serve the students of the UFS, black and white, and no one among us (CSRC) needs any special lectures about this central commitment.

The UFS should be an omnibus, welcoming everybody on board. But we should be a bus with a clear direction. We will certainly lose our way if we, as an institution, don’t have a clear road map spelling out where we are heading to.

There should be clear guidelines on the role of students in the transformation process. Students should also be viewed as role players in transformation along with the University management, and not just opposing forces. There is no right time, other than this one, to move away from the politics of opposition to politics of transformation.

However, we need the support of management to do so. The University should value the role and contribution of student leaders, hear our legitimate claims and consider them as part of political and policy decision making.

Vice-chancellor and Rector, it remains our task to ensure that the UFS is transformed into an institution that is seen to be playing a vigilant role in developing students academically, intellectually, socially, culturally, politically and otherwise. The process of transformation is not ending tonight, it is just beginning tonight.

Judge Hancke, Prof Fourie, Dr Moraka, fellow students and fellow South Africans, I lead students at this university with a sense of pride and duty, and I know very well that I lead men and women, students who are all determined that we reach our destination safely and on time.

A navy divided within its ranks will be destroyed and vanquished by the enemy, but the navy united in purpose and action, loyalty and commitment will not sink but sail on to victory.

It is befitting to mention that every drop of my blood is telling me that the UFS is my home. I firstly became a student here, I became the SRC treasurer in my first year here, I became the deputy president here, and I became the first president of the Central SRC of the UFS.

Therefore you should never doubt my commitment towards the transformation of this university. To paraphrase what was said by students at another institution, “If there is no UFS in heaven, then I am not going.”

Let me conclude by thanking my ancestors for teaching me that even if I wined and dined with kings and queens, I am not a king myself, so I should not turn my back on people who made me what I am today.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the Almighty God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving me time and power to lead this university.

It will be theoretically irresponsible if I ended my speech without indicating that “Only a Kovsie knows the feeling”.

I thank you.

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