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29 September 2021

Research is an important pillar of any institution of higher learning. It provides an opportunity for both the student and the institution to gain deep insight into a research area. Research allows for the generation of sustainable solutions to problems. The most fundamental purpose of the Three-Minute Thesis competition is to support the mandate of the University of the Free State, which is to be a research-led institution, by increasing the number of research outputs and publications.

The competition aims to help participants develop presentation, research, and academic communication skills, as well as to support the development of research students. Participants from each faculty competed against each other, and the winners of each faculty will battle it out for the title of UFS Three-Minute Thesis winner. Who will reign supreme?

Students are invited to join the live broadcast of the competition:

Date: 1 October 2021

Time: 10:00-15:00

Platform: Blackboard Collaborate

RSVP link:

https://bit.ly/3u1sBsy

Please note that the link to the live broadcast will only be sent to participants who have RSVP’d.

UFS INSTITUTIONAL PRIZES FOR 2021 ARE:

Position Prizes 2021
Master’s winner R6 000
Master’s 1st runner-up R4 000
Master’s 2nd runner-up R2 000
PhD winner  R8 000
PhD 1st runner-up R6 000
PhD 2nd runner-up R4 000

 

Winners of the UFS competition will take on other universities on 29 October 2021.

 

 

 

News Archive

Ecofeminism a possibe solution to impending famine
2016-05-12

Description: Ecofeminism Tags: Ecofeminism

Dr Inge Konik (right) is pictured with her postdoctoral supervisor, Prof Bert Olivier, Senior Research Professor at the Department of Philosophy.
Photo: Valentino Ndaba

In view of the environmental and social problems faced in South Africa today, researchers such as Dr Inge Konik are hard at work mapping these issues and seeking long-term solutions. Dr Konik,  a lecturer in the Department of Journalism, Media and Philosophy at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) shared her views in a presentation on 6 May 2016. She spoke about revaluing indigenous ways of life and subsistence-focused lifeways, linking this to materialist ecological feminism, or ecofeminism for short.

Dr. Konik’s presentation, hosted by the Department of Philosophy at the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS), was entitled: “Transversal reflections on ecological feminism and ubuntu.” The research underpinning the presentation derived from Dr Konik’s doctoral thesis which was supervised by Ariel Salleh (University of Sydney) and Andrea Hurst (NMMU).

Dr Konik’s research suggests that ecofeminism - which is a convergence between environmentalism and feminism - may hold the answers to the question of how we may work against environmental and social injustices. She also proposed that society look back toward subsistence communities of the past, and those currently being marginalized in our industrial societies, and linked the values evidenced in the practices of these communities to the African philosophty of ubuntu. In order to solve  complex contemporary challenges Dr Konik suggests that we combine these seemingly disparate theoretical frames - ubuntu and ecofeminism - by applying a transversal approach, which involves openness to dialogue  between traditions.

“My focus was on ecological feminism and critical theory and very specifically on South Africa, given the challeges South Africa faces - the environmental and social challenges and what kind of frameworks would be helpful,” said Dr Konik, who will officially become a postdoctoral research fellow at the department as of July 2016.

Prof Pieter Duvenage, Head of the Departement, stated that compelling research outputs are anticipated from Dr Konik as a fellow.

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