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11 March 2022 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Supplied
Dr Ralph Clarke
Dr Ralph Clark, Director of the Afromontane Research Unit.

The African Mountain Research Foundation (AMRF), in association with the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) of the University of the Free State (UFS), and the Global Mountain Safeguard Research Programme (GLOMOS), is hosting the first-ever Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2022). The theme of the conference is Southern African Mountains – their value and vulnerabilities.

The conference will bring relevant people together into one space for networking and information sharing, leading to more robust regional and international collaborations and comparative mountain studies with an increase in research activities, student capacity, researcher capacity and academic outputs that feed into policy and action. 

The conference will take place from 14 to 17 March 2022 in the majestic Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa and Lesotho. 

According to the SAMC2022 website, this is a truly Southern African regional mountain conference, targeting the African region south of the Congo rainforest (DRC) and Lake Rukwa (Tanzania), but including Madagascar, the Comoros and the Mascarenes (i.e., Angola, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [southern mountains], Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, La Réunion, South Africa, southern Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

Dr Ralph Clark, ARU Director, said the conference would be a high-level international event with UNESCO patronage and very valuable sponsors.

“The programme will have six parallel tracks (one being dedicated to postgraduate students), with about 200 papers being delivered. In addition, we have some very high-profile special sessions, such as an MRI special session on long-term monitoring activities and associated data availability for climate change-related applications across Africa’s mountains, as well as a UNESCO special session on regional collaboration. We also have Prof Julian Bayliss, described as the man who discovered an unseen world, as the guest speaker at the closing event.”

The conference will bring together relevant people in one space for networking and information sharing, leading to more robust regional and international collaborations and comparative mountain studies, with an increase in research activities, student capacity, researcher capacity, and academic outputs that feed into policy and action.

The GLOMOS team, one of the long-term partners of the ARU, spent the week of 8 to 11 March 2022 on the Qwaqwa Campus to strengthen collaboration and pave the way for new research opportunities in Phuthaditjhaba and the Maloti-Drakensberg.
GLOMOS represents an interface between the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Eurac Research. Postdoctoral fellow, Dr Stefano Terzi, said: “It’s very interesting for us to look at the Maloti-Drakensberg area because of its diversity. We are in the process of really exciting collaborations.”
Their projects include an understanding of the root causes of land degradation and improving decision-making processes for current water management within the context of water scarcity in the Maloti-Drakensberg.
• For more information on the speakers and the programme, click here 


News Archive

Bloemfontein’s Visser brothers to wow hometown fans
2013-03-27

 

From left: Vincent Visser, Gareth Cliff and Vicus Visser
Photo: Supplied
27 March 2013

South Africa’s YouTube singing sensation, Vicus Visser, will wow Bloemfonteiners on 18 April 2013 with a musical performance at the University of the Free State.

He and his talented brother Vincent will perform at the Wynand Mouton Theatre giving their hometown fans a taste of their recent performances in the United States. Vicus, who has been dubbed Bloemfontein’s Justin Bieber, performed overseas for the first time in February this year when he and his brother performed at events for Black History Month in Washington DC and New York. One of their performances was at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC where they paid tribute to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.

Vicus rose to fame in 2010 when a music clip of him as a ten year old boy, singing “These Arms” by All for One, appeared on the internet. After a massive seven-year search on social media channels by local and international record companies, he was tracked down to Heidedal in Bloemfontein. Vicus and Vincent moved to Johannesburg in 2012 where they were managed and mentored by Gareth Cliff, top radio presenter and judge on Idols South Africa.

Gareth will join the Visser brothers in Bloemfontein on 18 April and will be master of ceremonies at the concert titled Singing the Dream for South Africa - The Kennedy Centre Performance. As with their performance in the United States, the brothers will treat the hometown crowd to a selection of songs in English, Zulu, Sesotho and Afrikaans.

Vicus, Vincent and Gareth will also make special appearances at the two graduation ceremonies hosted at 09:30 and 14:30 on 18 April 2013. Gareth will be guest speaker and the two brothers will give a short performance. They will also have a meet and greet session with students at the Thakaneng Bridge at 11:45.

Tickets for the Singing the Dream for South Africa - The Kennedy Centre Performance cost R 20 and are available at Room 5, Thakaneng Bridge. The show starts at 19:30.

For more information contact Nicoleen Snyman at snymann@ufs.ac.za or 051 401 9598 / 051 401 9102.


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