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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

2015 First-years: this is how Kovsies will welcome you
2014-11-20

The UFS can hardly wait to welcome you into our family! Wondering about when, where and how? Read on and find out all you need to know... 

The official welcoming of the 2015 first-years will take place on Friday 16 January 2015 at 18:00 in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The welcoming of 2015 first-years by the various faculties will take place from 09:00 on Saturday 17 January 2015 at the different faculties.

•    Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in the EMS Auditorium
•    Faculty of Education in the New Education Building
•    Faculty of Health Sciences in the Kovsie Church
•    Faculty of the Humanities in the Odeion
     Session 1 - 09:00 ; Session 2 - 11:00
•    Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in the Wynand Mouton theatre
•    Biological groups in the Wynand Mouton theatre
•    Agricultural programmes in the Agriculture Building, LG 1, 2 en 3
•    Consumer Sciences in the Agriculture Building, LG 4
•    Physics and Chemistry in the Chemistry Building, CEM 108
•    Information Technology in WWG 114
•    Mathematics and Applied Mathematics in WWG 226
•    Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Sciences in the West Block, W111
•    Geography in GEO 1,5
•    Geology in the Main Lecture Hall 1
•    Architecture in the Architecture Building
•    Faculty of Law in the CR Swart Auditorium
•    Faculty of Theology in the H van der Merwe Scholtz Hall 10 (HMS 10)

An information centre will be available at the parking area in front of the Red Square.

Also, the Campus Ministries Forum will be welcoming first-years during an inter denominational church service on Sunday 18 January 2015 from 09:00-11:00 at the Kovsie Church. Everyone is welcome to attend this.  
 
2 February 2015:  lectures start

More information for 2015 first-year students

 

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