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17 September 2021 | Story Nitha Ramnath

Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Free State, South Africa, invites us to rethink our relationship with the world in a series of ‘Courageous Conversations’ on the theme of ‘The Global Citizen’. Prof Petersen argues that COVID-19 has been a powerful ‘disruptor’ – it was a stark reminder of the need to rethink our identity, of where we belong, our ‘normative’ view of citizenship – if we want to secure long-term survival of our civilisation and the environments that support it.

Global Citizen and the role of Digital Futures – Monday, 27 September - 13:30 SAST / 12:30 BST 

How we turn information into intelligence is the subject of SACC’s next ‘Courageous Conversation’ with University of the Free State Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, in his series debating ‘The Global Citizen’.  “I believe the world needs multi-disciplinary solutions to its global problems.  For this reason, I established the Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures at the University of the Free State as part of my vision to infuse the natural and social sciences and the humanities with everything that digital brings to a multi-disciplinary approach in order to solve real-world problems through the power of big-data analysis,” says Prof Petersen.

Prof Philippe Burger, the UFS Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Poverty, Inequality, and Economic Development, together with Prof Katinka de Wet and Herkulaas Combrink, the interim co-directors of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures, will join Prof Petersen to discuss the value that such an approach can bring to finding solutions to real-world problems. They will also share information on some of the exciting projects of international relevance that they are working on. Agriculture and food security, medicine, and attitudes to issues such as, for example, vaccination, education, governance, and ethics are key foci of the centre.

Join us to find out how big-data analysis and a multi-disciplinary approach can transform understanding and deliver solutions to some of the challenges we face as citizens of the world.  

To RSVP click here 


The Global Citizen Courageous Conversations series

In partnership with the South African Chamber of Commerce based in the United Kingdom, the Global Citizen Courageous Conversations series that was launched on 26 May 2021, brings together powerful voices from public life, intellectuals, public interest and business leaders, academics, naturalists, religious leaders, astrophysicists, economists, ecologists, and others.

If you missed our previous Global Citizen Courageous Conversations, you can watch the replay on YouTube, or visit the South African Chamber of Commerce website for the recordings. 


News Archive

British Columbia University staff visit the UFS
2010-02-09

Standing, from the left, are: Dr Dewald Steyn (Internal Medicine), Lyndsay O'Hara (UBC), Justin Lo Chang (UBC), Prof. Christo Heunis (Acting Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Development), Prof. Lucius Botes (Dean: Faculty of Humanities), Dr Katinka de Wet (CHSR&D) and Dr Annie de la Querra (Registrar: Community Medicine).
Photo: Mangaliso Radebe


Representatives from the Centre for International Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC) recently visited the Centre for Health Systems Research and Development (CHSR&D) in the Faculty of the Humanities. The University of the Free State and the UBC are working together on two research projects. The first project, for which funding has been approved, will measure a new Health Information System that is used in hospitals. The Department of Computer Science and Informatics is also part of this project. The second project will be aimed at capacity building in the Free State health-care sector around issues of occupational health. For this project the CHSR&D will work in close cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine, the Department of Computer Science and Informatics, the Free State Department of Health, and various hospitals. Pictured seated, from the left, are: Prof. Jerry Spiegel (Director: Centre for International Health, UBC), Lucky Nophale (Provincial Occupational Health Unit), Dr Kerry Uebel (Free State Department of Health) and Prof. Annalee Yassi (UBC). Standing, from the left, are: Dr Dewald Steyn (Internal Medicine), Lyndsay O'Hara (UBC), Justin Lo Chang (UBC), Prof. Christo Heunis (Acting Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Development), Prof. Lucius Botes (Dean: Faculty of Humanities), Dr Katinka de Wet (CHSR&D) and Dr Annie de la Querra (Registrar: Community Medicine).
 

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