Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

Qwaqwa research conference highlights value of research that is centred on humanity

11 October 2022 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe

From socio-political dynamics and creativity in the Basotho language, to the improvement of water conditions in the upper Tugela River and antifungal studies of Cydonia oblonga extracts (known as kwepere in Sesotho) – these are just some of the highlights of the research presented at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus research conference.

With a theme focused on research as a tool for the betterment of humanity, the two-day research conference provided a space for the campus to showcase its research for sustainable development in the Afromontane region and beyond, conducted by academics and postgraduate students alike. The two-day event comprised oral student and staff presentations and sessions, with shorter presentations on the second day.

As global trends continue to challenge society to solve big and immediate problems, there has been a natural turn towards research that can make a lasting impact on local and global platforms. Through student and academic presentations, the conference provided insights into how the UFS is playing an active role in responding to some of these challenges by being outwardly focused in their approaches to problem-solving.

Balancing the sciences, industry, and society

With an intentional focus on interdisciplinarity, the guest speakers – all in different science fields – offered solutions to conducting impactful research through the lens of their own work. Prof Percy Hlangothi is currently an Associate Professor of Physical and Polymer Chemistry at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) and inaugural Director of the Centre for Rubber Science and Technology, a research entity in the Faculty of Science at the same institution. By describing his work, particularly on the production of tyres, he focused on the importance of achieving rapport between the sciences, industry, and society.

The second keynote speaker was Lukhona Mnguni, a governance, politics and development specialist and PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He currently serves as the Head of Policy and Research at the Rivonia Circle. Mnguni focused his talk on the breakthroughs of research as stemming from people, and not academic disciplines themselves. Mnguni issued a hard call towards a reflection of what the intellectual and scholarly quest for knowledge is doing to society, emphasising the need for societal involvement in issues pertaining to crises in society.

Prof Dipane Hlalele, Professor of Education at UKZN and a C2 NRF-rated researcher (2022-2027), was the final speaker for the conference. He anchored his talk on the importance of having philosophical frames behind scholarship, and spoke against approaching rural areas as lacking knowledge, to a stance of mutual understanding of knowledge schemes and models of intervention.

Campus focused on making an impact outwardly

Marking the opening of the conference, Dr Martin Mandew, Qwaqwa Campus Principal, said the campus was trying to punch above its weight and evolve its research and knowledge outputs. “We cannot just be consumers of knowledge and finished products that come from abroad. We have to produce our own knowledge that speaks to our own unique circumstances and makes complete sense of our capacities,” he said.

The conference also served as the launch platform for the campus research strategy. During the launch, Prof Pearl Sithole, Campus Vice-Principal: Academic and Research, said the strategy was centred on five frontiers. “We are trying to align what we do outwardly in terms of impact and are working on ourselves as per the commitments of the strategy. We do this excellently, because we want to advance knowledge – there is no question about that – and we put pressure on each other to do that. It does not mean that it will be easy, but we are going to engineer it such that originality and the advancement of knowledge is happening.”

The conference concluded with a prize-giving session for the best oral student presentations.

News Archive

Postgraduate School opens at UFS

2011-05-19

Prof. Maresi Nerad, from Washington university in Seattle, USA
Photo: Stephen Collett

We are celebrating the launch of our new Postgraduate School (PGS) on our Main Campus in Bloemfontein from 16 - 20 May 2011.

In line with national priorities for research-based postgraduate education and the focus of the UFS Academic Turnaround Strategy, the aims of the Postgraduate School are to:

improve the quality of postgraduate student research;
produce graduates who are global citizens, research literate and able to reflect ethically on the purpose, process and product of research;
improve throughput rates of postgraduate students; and
make the experience of being a postgraduate at the UFS one which is stimulating, enjoyable and which contributes to the development of the person beyond the limits of her or his discipline(s).

“We hope that the school will be a pleasant place to pursue research scholarship, discuss ideas and relax, and we look forward to welcoming postgraduates and other scholars to the school,” Prof. Neil Roos, Director of the UFS Postgraduate School said.

This significant event in the academic transformation of the university goes hand in hand with the inaugural lecture of Prof. Maresi Nerad. Prof. Nerad’s impressive CV reads amongst others that she has a M.A. (Political Science) at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany and a Ph.D. (Higher Education) at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also the founding director of the national Center for Innovation and Research Graduate Education (CIRGE).

As Professor Extraordinary in the UFS’s Postgraduate School, she is bringing more to the table than a world of wisdom and her passion for the postgraduate education. “I can contribute lessons learned from four distinct professional experiences, including 17 years of administrative and scholarly leadership in undertaking the conceptual and practical transformational work of organisational change at two US postgraduate schools, where I worked amongst others to improve the quality of mentoring, shorten the time to doctoral degree, and improve doctoral completion rates.”

She also brings to the UFS her experience as founding and current director of the first research center for studies on graduate education in the world. “It is our mission to discover how best to prepare Ph.D. students to be effective leaders in research and society,” she said.

Prof. Nerad says that she is committed to support and consult with the UFS Postgraduate School. She would particularly encourage the use of research to understand postgraduate education in all its dimensions at the UFS better and to use the evidence-based findings as a base for policy-making and resource allocation.

In reflecting on her vision for the UFS Postgraduate School, Prof. Nerad says that five years from now she hopes to see the UFS having strengthened its position as a major driving force in the national South African postgraduate-education community for internationalising postgraduate education. She is also confident that the UFS will supply increased numbers of skilled postgraduates who are “intellectual entrepreneurs and risk takers with a social consciousness, who have sustainability of the systems of the planet as a core value”.

“Five years from now the PSG will have taken the lead in preparing graduate students who are world citizens,” Prof. Nerad concluded.

Presentation on PhD students reveals more than meets the eye

British professor presents a discussion at UFS

Journey from student to scholar

Society will take care of interests

Female academics talk about joys and lessons

Research plus the internet equals the cyber scholar

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept