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Prof Mogomme Masoga appointed as Dean: Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS

13 December 2022 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Mogomme Masoga as Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities for a five-year term during its quarterly meeting on 25 November 2022.

He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zululand.

“Prof Masoga has extensive and an impressive national and international research standing, established networks and partnerships, and substantive management experience. He is a visionary leader and a renowned scholar and will be able to lead and manage the faculty at academic, research, engaged scholarship, and community-service level,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

Prof Masoga holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of the Free State. He began his academic career with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he proceeded to complete two honours and a master’s degree. He received a second Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of South Africa.

Prof Masoga has an excellent record of research publication within the broad niche area of Oral History, Africanism, and Indigenous Knowledge System Studies. He has developed a well-grounded sense of autonomy and involvement, as he has been able to establish a number of research projects and has produced single and co-authored articles. He was able to synergise and sustain his research niche on Africanism and Indigenous Knowledge Studies, which has informed his research over the years.

He has maintained a coherent research trajectory as a recognised NRF-rated scholar in Indigenous Knowledge System Studies. Prof Masoga’s participation in international collaborative projects has had a positive impact on his scholarly growth, as well as on other colleagues and departments in his faculty at the University of Zululand.

“Prof Masoga will be able to sustain his existing networks and build new ones that will support research and postgraduate studies at the UFS. This will be particularly valuable in support of the university’s Vision 130, which expresses the institution’s strategic intent to position itself in the period leading up to 2034 when the university will be 130 years old. Vision 130 furthermore exemplifies our commitment to be acknowledged by our peers and society as a top-tier university in South Africa, ranked among the best in the world,” says Prof Petersen.

Prof Masoga will assume duty on 1 March 2023.

News Archive

Short course in Applied Conservation Genetics developed at UFS

2014-08-22

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

During discussions with stakeholders in Kenya in 2013, a need was identified for training in conservation genetics with an African emphasis. In answer, Prof Paul Grobler from the Department of Genetics developed a short course in Applied Conservation Genetics.

Some of the phenomena studied in this field include:
• hybridisation between species such as blue wildebeest and black wildebeest,
• wildlife poaching and
• potential inbreeding in small game-farm populations.

From the onset, the course has been developed as an international venture. To this end, Dr Frank Zachos from the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria, committed himself to the project. Dr Jamie Roberts from the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech University in the USA also came on board. Both pledged their time and expertise to the course – without any financial gain.

Subsequently, our Department of Genetics presented this short course at the National Zoological Gardens (NZG) in Pretoria earlier this year. The team of presenters included Prof Grobler, Dr Zachos and Dr Roberts. They were joined by Dr Desire Dalton from the Research Division of the NZG, who added valuable practical experience to the presentations.

The course assumes a degree of prior knowledge of population and molecular genetics. A strong emphasis is placed on practical applications. The programme includes a strong component of statistics and hands-on training in the many approaches and software used in population genetics.

The group that attended the course included a contingent from the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Dutch postgraduate students currently working at the University of Johannesburg and delegates from across South Africa.

This successful meeting followed an experimental first round of the course presented in Nairobi during 2013, attended by representatives from Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Mexico and Belgium.

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